Chapter 15: No Hard Feelings

After Dallas, the tour meandered through the Midwest. It was just as flat, open, and spacious as Kellan had told me. I found the monotony of the environment relaxing, it allowed my mind to drift. And, like it so often did, my mind drifted to Kellan-my past with Kellan, to be exact. The bus was noisy and boisterous with so many boys on it, but I found small pockets of time throughout the day where I could hide in the back bedroom and write a paragraph or two.

This bus was a lot like the last bus Kellan and the guys had been on, more designed for capacity than comfort. The "bedroom" in the back was basically a larger version of a cubby-a thin mattress shoved up against the back portion of the bus. It constantly smelled like engine exhaust. The flimsy door cut out some of the sound though, and the bed was large enough for Kellan and me to sleep side by side, so I was satisfied. It wasn't as nice as our place back home, but it was better than the bunk beds.

We'd left Sienna about a week ago. She'd headed back to her tour with a smirk on her face, and we'd packed up and moved on to the next location. The headlines the next morning were huge-Sienna Sexton Surprises Boyfriend on Tour! Even though I should have expected it, the gossip shocked me. It just didn't seem to matter what Kellan said or did; everything was twisted around in the media to make it seem like he and Sienna were deeply in love.

The still shot of Sienna kissing Kellan's shoulder that night was everywhere. I'd even seen fans ask Kellan to sign copies of it backstage. He never did. Saying that Sienna wasn't his girlfriend, and the photo was misleading, he always asked them if he could sign something else. And the fans always looked at him like his devotion to keeping his relationship with Sienna quiet was endearing. They loved him all the more for the way he protected her, when in reality, Kellan was protecting me.

"Irritated" didn't even begin to describe how I felt about Kell-Sex being the number one gossip story again. At least it would eventually die back down, now that they were apart. And Kellan wouldn't agree to another duet if she happened to "show up" for another publicity stunt; he'd already told me as much. Kellan would just have to keep doing his best at squelching the rumors while we patiently waited for another celebrity couple to pull at the world's heartstrings. And I was sure it would eventually happen. People loved to hear about power couples, especially when the power couple had problems.

We were in South Dakota today, to do a promotion for the tour that cracked me up every time I thought about it. The radio station that was sponsoring the event called it "Darts with D-Bags." They had rented out a local pool hall for the afternoon to host the band and a few dozen contest winners. Kellan was looking forward to throwing darts, but he wasn't the best pool player. Me either. The other D-Bags were decent though; Griffin in particular had a true talent for it. As we drove to the hall in one of the radio station's vans, Griffin started to give Kellan some pointers.

"Now, if the girl is bending in half to make her shot, that means she totally wants you to grab her ass."

"Griffin," I groaned, closing my eyes. What the hell did my sister see in him?

Griffin looked around Kellan to scoff at me. "What? That's what it means. There's no shot on earth that a chick has to bend over that far for. It's obviously code for, 'Grab me now and do naughty things to my no-no places.'"

Looking over at Kellan, I asked him, "Would you mind?"

Smiling, he answered, "Not at all," then reached over and smacked Griffin on the back of the head.

"God, just trying to help, man," Griffin muttered, rubbing his skull.

While Griffin switched his conversation to Evan in the front seat, I leaned my chin against Kellan's shoulder, silently thanking him for understanding what I wanted. He kissed my head as he softly laughed. True, I was trying to be nicer to Griffin, but some comments deserved a good smack. Even Anna would have thwacked him for that one.

We arrived at the pool hall and were ushered through the back doors by the radio personnel. Kellan and the boys posed for photos with the DJs while I waited with a group of interns. One girl chewed on her lip while she watched Kellan flash the cameraman a heart-stopping grin. Maybe it was my imagination, but I thought I heard her groan.

Playing with my wedding ring, I debated if I wanted to try my hand at darts. I wasn't all that coordinated, and there was a distinct possibility that someone could get injured if I threw a pointy object across the room. The intern switched from watching Kellan to watching me. I glanced over at her with a puzzled expression.

"You came in with the guys," she said as her eyes darted to my ring. "You married to one of them?" I could tell she was silently praying that I said no. Nerves clenched my stomach. I hadn't anticipated someone asking me about my relationships. True, this was a one-on-one conversation and not an official interview, but this girl had the ears of the DJs. Saying something to her was akin to saying something to the whole city. Well, maybe it wasn't that dramatic, but I still didn't like the idea.

Not knowing quite what to say, I simply told her, "No. Not married." That was the truth, since legally I wasn't. She looked about to ask me more, but, getting uncomfortable under her scrutiny, I excused myself and walked away.

The contest winners were divided up into four teams, and each team was assigned a D-Bag as its captain. The girls on Kellan's team were very excited. More than a few girls on the other teams seemed a little jealous, but quickly got over it; they were shooting pool and throwing darts with rock stars, after all. I weaseled my way onto Kellan's team. I wouldn't do much good in helping him win, but I could at least give him moral support when we lost. If we lost. I suppose I should start thinking positively. Go Team Kyle!

Each D-Bag had ten contest winners on his coed team. The team was then subdivided into a team of five that would play against another team of five. Plastered on a wall nearby was a complex bracket system that would eventually tell us which "Bag has the largest D." There was even an ostentatious D-shaped trophy for the winning team captain to take home. But the scoring process was more complicated than any statistics assignment I'd ever had at school, and I couldn't figure out how it all worked. All I knew was that even though Kellan and I were on the same team, he insisted on trying to distract me so much that I botched almost every shot.

During the dart game, Kellan would reach over and pinch the back of my thigh right as I was about to shoot. I missed the board three times in a row. One time when he did it, I'd been concentrating so hard on hitting the target-any target-that I hadn't noticed him behind me. Right as I was getting ready to throw, he nonchalantly ran his hand around my hip and into my front pocket. It scared the shit out of me. I twisted as I tossed, and flung the dart into a clump of pool players. It hit Griffin in the ass. Fortunately, or unfortunately, we were playing electronic darts, and Griffin wasn't injured. He did retaliate, though, by flicking a blue cue chalk at Matt, whom he'd incorrectly assumed had tagged him.

Kellan laughed so hard he had to step away from the game. A crowd of girls hovered around him like cats circling an open can of tuna. But again, the people around didn't seem to think it was weird that Kellan flirted so much with me. Probably because they all shamelessly flirted with him. It was like Pete's on crack. Kellan spent most of his nonplaying time swatting touchy-feely palms away, and politely redirecting wandering fingers. Even I had to admit, it was pretty amusing.

When our group switched over to the pool tables, the team's rankings were: Griffin's team, Evan's team, Matt's team, and then Kellan's team. I wasn't surprised that we were dead last. Nobody on our team was focusing very well, except maybe the three male contest winners. Although, even those guys found it hard to shoot pool with so many flirtatious girls around.

While two of the men on our losing team hit on a tall redhead who clearly only had eyes for Kellan, I leaned over to him and whispered, "Twenty bucks says I sink more shots than you."

Kellan scoffed at me. "Forty bucks says you just lost twenty bucks." I laughed at his remark and stuck my hand out to shake his. Kellan's lip curled into a smile that sent my heart soaring. "No, let's make this interesting. If I win, we have sex backstage tonight. If you win, we have sex backstage tonight."

I wanted to laugh again, but the way he said sex froze my brain for a second. "Um . . . I don't think you understand how betting works."

Moving in close to me, he breathed his response into my ear while he rested his hand on my stomach. "Don't I?"

"Okay," I muttered, wanting him to slide his hand down a little. "Deal." I had no idea where we'd find privacy in the circus that was the backstage area, but I didn't really care at that moment.

Kellan and I both proceeded to miss shot after shot after shot. I was beginning to wonder what the rules of our bet were if we tied with zero, when the sun shone down upon Kellan and he finally sank a ball in a pocket. He seemed just as surprised as me. Throwing his fist in the air, he shouted, "Yes!"

Since our team was still dead last, everyone around looked at him like he was slightly off-kilter. Kellan didn't care, though. Grinning like a little boy, he started playing his pool cue like it was a guitar. I rolled my eyes, but the girls watching him flew into a giggling fit.

While they fawned over how adorable he was, he told me, "I win." I knew I'd probably have one more chance to sink a ball, and I also knew the odds of me doing that were pretty slim. And I also knew that it didn't really matter who won this game-we were hav**g s*x backstage tonight.

As for who won the D-Bag cup, that honor eventually went to Evan. It was an upset heard around the pool hall. Mainly because Griffin let out a Braveheart-worthy yell of defeat when his team lost by four points. Who knew a kitschy plastic trophy was such a point of pride?

Evan proudly displayed his giant "D" on his lap the entire ride back to the radio station. By the time we all headed out to the venue, Griffin was so bent out of shape, he wouldn't even look at Evan anymore. "You cheated," he muttered.

"How could I possibly cheat?" Evan countered.

Sniffing, Griffin murmured. "I don't know, but you definitely cheated."

"If you mean I cheated by being better than you, than yes, I totally cheated."

Kellan chuckled at his band mates while Griffin scowled at Evan. As the conversations shifted to less combative topics, Kellan looked over at me with pure, undiluted desire in his eyes. "I'm really looking forward to the show tonight. I can hardly wait."

I felt my cheeks heating as his innuendo hit me full force. Wanting to match his playfulness, I murmured, "Yeah, I know. I think it's going to be a real rager." Oh my God, did I just say that out loud?

Kellan's eyes widened, along with his smile. "I think I'll be drenched by the time I'm done."

I immediately looked away. Oh God, this was so embarrassing . . . and hot. Looking back, I smirked and told him, "Yeah, you'll probably be completely drained." I couldn't believe I said it with a straight face. Kellan either. He looked away, his lips twitching.

Just as he composed himself, we arrived at the rear entrance to the theater where the guys were playing tonight. Before Kellan opened his door, he told me, "I hope I have the stamina to plow through it."

Following after him as he exited the car, I tossed out, "I'm sure you'll reach your cli**x."

All of the guys were staring when I got of the car. Matt and Evan looked surprised by what I'd just said; Griffin looked a little turned on. Kellan was barely containing his amusement. Feeling red-hot, I locked eyes with Kellan. "That wasn't subtle enough, was it?"

He shook his head, then fell apart as he started laughing hysterically. I covered my eyes with my hands. God. Guess I'm still an idiot. When I heard Matt and Evan start chuckling, I peeked through my fingers. They were giving me such affectionate smiles that I couldn't help but start laughing too.

Everyone walked into the theater in a really good mood. Especially Griffin, who was a few steps behind us, simulating thrusting while he was walking. When he started getting left behind the group, he moaned out, "Wait for me, I'm coming." I bit my cheek and made a mental note to leave the provocative talk for times when Kellan and I were alone, or at least, nowhere near Griffin.