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I chuckled into the phone "Are you harassing Mateo?"

"No, but if he would have taken 79th instead of 77th, as I told him, ouldn’t be stuck in this traffic" His voice was loud, clearlyhis point to both Mateo and I as he spoke I s hoell I knew Jack’s personality

"Listen, we had some bus problems and we are all packed into our bus for the next day or so"

"I heard"

"You heard?" At first I was confused, but then I realized of course he had heard Arminio, our new security, probably reported every step we took to him The security detail turned out to be less intrusive than I had iet involved in our business -- or at least I had thought he didn’t until then

"Is your ad to Justin, but I wasn’t going to give Jack the satisfaction of pretending it was obvious "My ads to irl and wants in your pants?"

"Very nice, Jack"

Jack chuckled "Well, if you’re going to pretend you don’t knoho your admirer is, I need to besuit," I replied sarcastically

We talked until it was alo on, and I told Jack I would call hi

"Lock your bedrooh he couldn’t see ht, Syd"

How did he do that? I shook ht in a frustrated tone, which ht and our post-show party ended up taking place right outside of the bus rather thanto the nearest bar as we occasionally did A few excited fans were allowed to join us, who I noticed were all attractive feirls were nice, asking for Sienna and I to pose for pictures with them and Justin and Kyle, but othersup with the guys, and gave Sienna and I attitudes

When it was finally ti party on wheels Adding four ed the dynamic from the usual post-show bus ride that Sienna and I would have had alone

Sienna and I took on Kyle and Justin in a Rock Band drinking game that we’d created, where the tea had to do a shot Perhaps Sienna and I should have thought about the fact that both Kyle and Justin were professional guitar players before accepting the challenge By the end of the fifth song, I was slurringno pain

Lucky forand pulled out of the game while I could still walk Sienna, on the other hand, was never able to walk away fro only made her more emphatic that she would win Which never happened

Eventually, Sienna sturoupie who had been parked patiently next to hiht and lead her to the back of the bus I knew there were groupies, but seeing it firsthand still shocked et on a bus filled with ht, only to be dumped at a rest stop the next day, usually hundreds of er needed

I looked to Justin, as sipping a beer and staring out theat the other end of the couch We were suddenly alone and the room was quieter than it had been since they had all joined us

"Doesn’t it bother you guys to sleep omen that have no idea who you really are? They want the rock star and don’t seem to care who the man is"

Justin turned his attention to et"

"That’s not true You guys can get whatever you want"

Justin poured a shot of tequila and handed it toI probably shouldn’t after all I had already drank But Justin and I had finally started to get along again and I didn’t want to turn him down

"Not whatever ant, Syd" Justin held up his shot and motioned cheers and I watched as the liquid disappeared down his throat in one long s Justin truly was a handsoe that easily elevated his status to sorthy for his female fans I sed my shot and it dawned on ht any of the woht back to the bus, but he hadn’t

I handed Justin ht?" My words cahtly slurred

Justin’s faceto tell ht" His voice was a lohisper, his words spoken with inti my brain, but it wasn’t until that moment that I realized what heintowith desire It made my breath hitch unexpectedly and Justin noticed it

I watched as he looked froain Then he leaned in and kissed me It all happened in slow motion, yet so fast that it tookBetweenin tequila and the softness of his lips onaway But I did pull away