I felt nervous about the flight, so I took another valium, thanks to Hope, to get me through. I promised myself I wouldn’t take any more of those things, but it seemed like I was taking at least one a week now. It helped when I felt anxious about something.

The flight to California took forever, and after switching planes in Houston and sitting through a two-hour layover, I was exhausted and slept through the rest of the trip.

Grabbing my luggage, I made my way to the spot Zeke told me he’d meet me. I saw him before he saw me. He was leaning against a pole with his arms crossed, looking out at the scenery around the airport. He wore a black T-shirt and dark jeans. His boots were barely tied as usual.

His dark hair was over his face, and the aviator shades he wore covered his brown eyes. I was almost across the airport to him when he turned and looked my way. His serious expression changed and a sweet smile pulled at his full lips.

I smiled back and dragged my luggage behind me. He met me halfway, taking all my bags from me, and gave me a soft kiss.

“You look beautiful,” he whispered in my ear.

“I highly doubt that. I’ve been stuck on a plane most of the day.”

“Trust me, baby. I know what I’m talking about here.”

I followed him out to a car that I didn’t recognize, and he stuffed my bags in the back. I tried to help, but he smacked softly at my hands and told me he had it. He opened my car door for me, but before I could get in, he pushed my hair to the side and kissed me.

It was the kiss of a starving man, all hot and deep. He drank me in and pushed me over the edge of decency. I tugged on his T-shirt and pushed a hand under it to run my fingers across his hard abs. He released my mouth and hissed and bit down on his lip.

“Okay, that’s more than I can handle right now.”

He gave me a pop kiss and shut the door behind me after I climbed in. Once he got inside and cranked up what I could only assume was his new car, he reached out and intertwined his fingers with mine.

“So where are we going?” I asked.

“Straight to the show. I’m sorry, I know you’re tired from your flight, but it’ll be nice to have you there while I play.” He squeezed my fingers.

“No, that’s fine. You know I love watching you.”

He grinned over at me, then lifted my hand to kiss my fingers. Mine… That’s all I could think.

The rest of the band welcomed me backstage when we got there, and I sat to the side as the boys prepared for the show and passed around a joint. I didn’t miss the fact that Zeke declined when it came his way.

He smiled over at me shyly and I smiled back, letting him know I was happy with his decision. Although, with the way I was popping valiums these days, there wasn’t much I could say about what he did to relax.

I stood to the side of the stage and watched when the band went out. The crowd went wild; the noise lifted the roof and forced me to peek my head from behind the supports. The amount of people staring up at the boys was shocking.

The first song they played was familiar to me, and I found myself bobbing my head to the music. Every now and again, Zeke would look over at me and wink. I loved watching him play, the way his fingers moved across the strings so effortlessly. The peace that moved across his face when he played was beautiful. I envied that peace.

A little while later, he was drenched in sweat and playing his heart out. The crowd was crazy and full of crowd surfers. Once, a girl tried to climb up on the stage but was quickly removed. That didn’t happen, however, the second time a girl tried to climb up. She narrowly missed the big guy who was a part of the crew, and she made it on stage.

She stood waving her hands out at the crowd, and then she ran straight to Zeke and threw herself against him. He jerked back with a smile, but she moved quicker and planted her lips against his. Fire flew through me, and had there not been so many people out in the crowd, I would have gone out there and ripped out her hair. Zeke nicely pushed her away and grinned down at her. His fingers continued to move across his guitar.

Finally, the girl was taken away and the boys continued to play, but I couldn’t get over Zeke’s smug grin after the girl kissed him. Did he like it? He didn’t seem bothered by her being all over him.

He continuously peeked over at me, but I wouldn’t look at him. The longer they played, the more pissed off I was. I couldn’t handle these girls being all over him and knowing had some guy done the same to me, Zeke probably would’ve killed him.

After the show, Zeke came straight over to me. He kissed me on the lips and then pulled back with a big happy smile on his face.