To musariven125 and StellaBrella, for all the support and encouragement.

Prologue:

His body slick with sweat, Brandon Lyons bowed before walking offstage. His pulse was still hammering from the performance, and he was still high on the adrenaline. Grateful for the backstage lounge stocked with refreshments, he toweled himself down, listening to the thunder of Copperhead fans yelling for an encore.

Brandon's heart was still pounding from the exhilarating show, and he took a deep breath reliving the night, thinking of the success of Copperhead's last performance. He pulled off his soaked t-shirt and tried to calm his breathing.

"Did she get the ticket?" Brandon asked Kevin Caulder, the band's manager, who was busy texting on his phone.

"What? Who?" Kevin shot back, shoving his phone into his suit pocket. "Good show tonight," he told the group, ignoring Brandon's question.

Musa Morgan, lead singer and Brandon's best friend, was bouncing up and down, still pumped as Brandon was. "We did rock it," she grinned, tossing her dark hair over her shoulder as she hydrated herself.

Sky Davis, their bassist, collapsed onto a chair sloppily, his eyes clouding as he grunted something. Brandon glanced at him worriedly – Sky hadn't been very good at holding up his energy recently. But Brandon decided to pick that up later, he had bigger concerns now.

"I asked you if Stella Solaria picked up the VIP tickets I told you to leave for her," he glared at Kevin.

Kevin shrugged noncommittally, "I wouldn't know about that."

Brandon scowled again, frustrated (not for the first time) at his manager's attitude. Lately, Kevin's lack of consideration for the wants and needs of the band members had been grating on Brandon's nerves more and more. Musa might have been considering using Kevin for her solo career, but Brandon was sure he wouldn't be going anywhere with this guy anymore.

"Fucking find out," Brandon snarled. Kevin scoffed at Brandon's persistence.

"What's the deal with this chick, anyway? It's just another piece of-" Kevin was cut off as Brandon dropped the towel in his hands and stepped forward as if to hit him.

"I dare you to finish that sentence," Brandon said, his eyes flashing. Kevin tried to match up to his height, as if to say 'challenge accepted.'

"Whoa! Simmer down," Musa slipped her petite body between the two men, before hell broke loose.

"You," she pointed at Brandon. "Go put on a shirt and take a walk before your girl shows up," she shoved his arm gently but firmly, then turned to Kevin, "You go check for Stella Solaria before he attempts to pull your teeth out."

Kevin gave Brandon one last look, then stalked off, Brandon's eyes on him until he turned the corner out the door. Musa, left the other way, taking Sky back to his room to rest.

Despite everything good Kevin had done for the band, helping them hit the top of the charts, he cared about nothing but success. He didn't seem to care that Copperhead was more than his personal money-making scheme, more than just a band, they were people with real feelings, issues, and lives. Which was why he didn't seem to comprehend how serious Musa and Brandon both were about changing their futures.

Ryan Malcolm, their drummer, had left already to be with his wife and two daughters back home in Los Angeles. Sky was another story: if he didn't stop with the drugs, he wouldn't have a future to worry about.

As for Brandon, he now wanted more from his life than the fame and the travel that he thought so important way back when. He hoped for her.

His eyes flicked back to the door, his stomach gripping painfully. Still no sign of Stella. He put his head in his hands, wondering if she'd even considered his invitation... Was she to come backstage, or had she decided to ignore the invitation... And him? With her gentle voice, that beautiful mane of golden hair, and those lovely amber eyes, she'd anchored herself somewhere deep inside his heart. And yet, she hadn't been enough to make him stay as he went in search of fame, fortune, to quench the powerful hunger to be something more.

But it was Stella's face he saw everywhere, the one he thought of as he dove into meaningless relationships in a futile attempt to paint over her memory. And it was Stella's voice he heard whenever things were hard and he had to keep going. Funny how that worked. Brandon wondered if she had ever thought of him in all these years, was she, perhaps, as excited to see him as he was to see her?

A loud scream brought him back, and he looked up to see a half-dressed, bleached blonde run in, a horde of women running just behind her. Brandon cursed Kevin again, the man never listened. Brandon had specifically told him not to let any of their crazed fans backstage.

"I told you not to send in groupies here," Brandon shouted to Kevin over the clamor of their fans. Especially not tonight, not when he was expecting Stella.

"Not my fault," Kevin threw his hands up. "Security probably didn't get the message."

But Brandon wasn't buying it, Kevin always knew what he was doing, he always had an agenda.

"BRANDON!" the bleached-blonde shrieked, the sound piercing his eardrums. He turned just as she threw herself at him.

"Oh, my god. When you sang up there, I just felt such a personal connection to you! Baby, especially with 'Kill for this Love,' I just knew you were singing about us! God, I've missed you so much," she wrapped her arms around his bare body, pressing herself up against him, almost as if she was trying to clamber over him.

"What?" Brandon blinked, before realizing who she was. Terrible, he didn't remember her name, but he did know she was one of the countless women he had spent one more meaningless night with a few years ago.

"Oh, baby! I love, love you," she cooed, rubbing herself against him as she tried to kiss him.

"Rob!" Brandon called out for the bodyguard who usually prevented him from being mauled, but he was nowhere to be seen.

Musa walked in then, her eyes wide at Brandon and the woman wrapped around him, the crowd of fans pushing him against a wall. Brandon pulled his arms out of the embrace, and tried to pull her off him but she clung to him. He looked up helplessly trying again to extricate himself from her, then caught sight of a pair of wide amber eyes staring at him from across the room.

Unmistakable. That's what she was. After all these years, it was unmistakably her, he knew it.

Brandon could see her studying him, the expression on her face conveying feelings of hurt, disbelief, pain, disgust… Looking down, he saw what she did – it looked as if he was pulling the crazy fan into him. This wasn't what he had invited her to see.

Catching Musa's eye, he swallowed, and gently pushed the girl away. Stella gulped, eyeing the door.

"Stella…" he breathed, feeling wounded as she flinched at the sound of her own name.

"I… I shouldn't have come," she said quickly, stepping fast towards the exit.

"No, Stel," he didn't know what he could say to fix things. "I'm glad you came… This isn't what it looks like."

"But it is your life, isn't it? The one you worked so hard for," she said shaking her head to herself. "Um, it was nice seeing you, I'm happy for you" she said weakly. Brandon watched as she turned to leave, then just before she left for good, their eyes locked.

In the briefest of moments, they saw in each other the spark they had shared between them years ago.