Sienna and I joined Double Strife on stage and helped close the show like we had a few nights earlier. Only this time I noticed that Justin stood a little closer and touched my face while we sang the last verse to each other. The effect was good, even better than the first time we sang it together, creating a chemistry that the audience loved, but I knew without question that it would bother Jack.

After the show, Jack was quiet, but agreed to go out for a post show celebration with the bands. Jack seemed to hit it off with Reed, the tour manager, and the two of them became engrossed in talking business while Sienna and I did our usual routine of tequila shots. I loved that Jack could go anywhere and talk to all different kinds of people. I never needed to stand at his side and keep him company. But no matter where we were, he always either had a hand or an eye on me.

After our third tequila shot, which was one too many for me since I hadn’t eaten anything since early that morning, Sienna went out to dance and I turned and smiled at Jack, who was talking nearby to a few of the guys from the Double Strife band. He caught my glance and gave me a sexy half grin as he excused himself.

“You’re looking happy,” Jack said, opening my legs to stand between them as I sat on a stool at the bar.

I sighed. “What’s not to be happy about? My life is pretty perfect. I get to do what I love, and I have an amazingly sexy man that I can’t get enough of.” I wrapped my hands around his waist as I spoke.

Jack smiled and our eyes stayed locked for a minute before he gave me a tender sweet kiss. I exhaled, still feeling his mouth on mine even after our kiss had ended. Never before in my life could I have described how I felt as a moment of bliss until that moment. Complete and utter bliss.

***

An hour later I was on a path to sobriety, thanks to Jack who insisted I drink two bottles of water, which left not much room in my stomach for alcohol. But Sienna on the other hand looked like she had taken a different path, emerging from tipsy and heading for straight-out bombed. Jack and I laughed as we watched her hold court at the end of the bar with a couple of the guys from the band, and simultaneously blow off a handful of men as quickly as they attempted their pick-up.

Sienna found her way back down the end of the bar and ordered two tequila shots for us. She was oblivious to the fact that I was almost sober and she was half-past tanked. I wasn’t one to waste, so of course I joined her in the shot and found Jack looking amused as we licked the salt in tandem.

Sienna was always a happy drunk, a happy chatty drunk that is. “I think I got one for our list tonight, Syd.” Her voice was slightly slurred.

Even though it had been years since we had spoken about the list, I knew exactly what she was talking about. “I’ll be the judge of that. Share, my crazy friend.”

“Hey, do you have a twin sister? No? Then you must be the most beautiful girl in the world!” We both laughed at the bad pick-up line. Sienna and I had started a list of the worst pick-up lines years ago. Some of them I could still remember.

“Worst pick-up lines list I assume?” Jack smiled and ordered another two bottles of water from the bartender. What was with him always feeding me water?

I nodded and smiled at him, then raised an eyebrow. “Hey, are you selfish? No? Well if you’re going to have that body for the rest of your life, how about you let me use it for tonight?”

Sienna laughed and hiccupped at the same time, causing us to laugh even more. “Can I borrow a quarter? What for? I want to call my mom and tell her I just met the woman of my dreams.” Immediately she followed with another hiccup.

It was my turn. “Baby, you remind me of my big toe. Why? Because sooner or later I just know I’m gonna bang you on the table.”

Jack raised both eyebrows shocked at the crassness of the lines we had actually heard over the years.

It was Sienna’s turn. “Can I buy you a drink or do you just want the money?”

All three of us laughed at that one. It was actually one of my favorites.

My turn. “I’ll be Burger King and you be McDonald’s. I’ll have it my way and you’ll be lovin’ it!”

Sienna hiccupped while laughing and then it was followed by a snort. She had no idea how amusing she was to watch as she diligently attempted to complete her sentences between slurs and hiccups.

“Don’t forget our all time favorite, Syd.” Sienna and I spoke in unison, “Baby, if you were a booger, I’d pick you first!” Yes, there really was a man out there somewhere who had thought that doozy might help him get into my pants.

***

A little while later I had to talk Sienna out of another round of shots. She could certainly handle her alcohol, but she was teetering on passing her limit. Unfortunately, the only way I could talk her out of more shots was to agree to dance with her. The dance floor was pretty packed and I wasn’t sure it was a good idea to dance at 2am in the middle of a room full of drunk men with one bombed Sienna and Jack watching. It seemed like a recipe for disaster.

We weren’t out on the dance floor for three minutes when the first guys approached. I politely blew them off and Sienna and I continued to dance by ourselves. A few minutes later, another attempt came. This time the guy put his hand on my arm when I tried to brush him off. The music was loud and I gave up on trying to scream over it, so instead I removed the man’s hand from my arm and pointed at Jack, who was staring at us like he was ready to kill someone. I was happy that did the trick, because Jack didn’t look like he had much patience left. Luckily, we made it through the next two songs untouched and I was able to convince Sienna that we should sit and have some water.

We made our way back to an opening at the bar and Jack ordered us two waters. Kyle and Justin were sitting nearby. Kyle was talking to a pretty redhead, who had her hand on his chest as she giggled. A few seats down, Justin looked like he was stewing.

The bartender came over to Sienna and I. “Two tequila setups?”

“Two waters,” Jack responded sternly before either of us could speak. Sienna pouted at his response.

A few minutes later, we were getting ready to leave when I heard Justin’s voice over the speakers. “I hope you all don’t mind, but I’d like to share a song I’ve been working on with you all. I’ve been inspired the last week, more inspired than I have been in years, and this song’s for my inspiration.”

The women in the bar swooned and screamed and Justin had to motion down with his hands in order to get started.