“I’ve gotta go, Jenna. Tell Jack I called.” I hung up without waiting for a response.
Jenna knew exactly what she was doing, planting a seed that would slowly fester and grow. And it worked. I tossed and turned for almost three hours before falling asleep that night. Visions of Jack confiding in Jenna, or worse, seeking physical comfort with her, stirred in my head like a cyclone.
***
Two nights later we wrapped up the last show in Spain and I begrudgingly agreed to join Sienna and the bands at a post-show celebration. I felt badly that I had become such a downer on the tour bus with Sienna, although she constantly told me that she understood I was going through a tough time, leaving Jack after everything that had happened.
So even though I wasn’t in a party mood, I headed to the local bar that the tour manager had scoped out for our post show party. I did my best to put on my game face. Sienna deserved to celebrate and not have me bring her head down. And so did the guys in the band.
I spent half an hour talking to Kyle and the guys, doing my best to feign excitement for the last few weeks of the tour. The truth was the tour was going great, Double Strife was incredibly popular in Europe, and the single that Sienna and I had cut back in Italy was getting a lot of play time on the radio. I should have been ecstatic. But all of that just didn’t seem so important anymore.
Justin hadn’t been around the first hour in the bar, and I was actually relieved since he seemed to take such pleasure in giving me a hard time lately. The room was more lighthearted when he wasn’t around, and I sort of felt like I wasn’t the only one that noticed it.
But Justin eventually stumbled in, as was his usual m.o. of late, a girl tucked under each arm. The bar went crazy at his appearance and I sat in the background with Kyle, watching Justin, the perfect bad-boy rock star signing autographs and making the girls swoon effortlessly.
“He being a dick to you still?” Kyle asked, as I observed Justin from a distance.
I shook my head and smiled at Kyle. Justin was being a dick, but blood is always thicker than water, so it was best that I kept my opinion to myself.
Kyle laughed. “You really are sweet, Syd. Justin’s been a complete douchebag to you since almost the beginning of the tour, and you still won’t say anything bad about him.”
“Justin and I used to get along so great. I’m not sure where we made a wrong turn.” My words were sincere.
“You didn’t do anything wrong, Syd. And don’t let him make you feel that way. He’s just brooding because he can’t have you.” Kyle paused and glanced over at his brother again before continuing. “My brother’s changed a lot in the last few years, and I can’t say it’s all been for the better.
“Why does he even want me? He can have any woman he wants!”
“I don’t think he ever got over you from when he had that crush on you years ago.” Kyle chugged the rest of his beer. “And you’re a catch and a half if I might say so myself, Syd.” Kyle winked and made me laugh. When Kyle said nice things to me, it felt like it was coming from my brother, a completely different feeling than what I felt when his brother spoke.
I leaned over and kissed Kyle’s cheek. “Thank you, Kyle. You’re a good friend.”
Kyle didn’t have time to respond before two women sandwiched him. They didn’t even seem to notice that I was sitting next to him and having a conversation. I smiled as Kyle shrugged and focused his attention on his new friends. When I looked back over at Justin, I found him staring at me. His eyes caught mine and startled me with the amount of anger in them.
***
I figured after two hours of partying with the band I had put in enough time and could sneak back to the busses to get some sleep. I knew from experience that the bar party had at least a few more hours of life in it, if not more. I made my way through the crowd to find my security and let him know that I was planning to head back to the bus after a quick trip to the ladies room.
The back of the bar was quiet, the bathroom down a long narrow hallway that seemed to drown out the loud music and party coming from the front. I heard someone enter the bathroom, but didn’t expect to find who I found when I exited the stall.
I gasped at the sight of a man leaning against the bathroom sink, his arms folded across his chest. “Justin, you scared me!”
“So what, Syd? The p**n king isn’t enough for you, you started f**king my brother too?” Justin was angry and drunk and his slurred words bit with venom.
“I’m not even going to respond to that, Justin.” I walked to the sink, intent on ignoring Justin’s raging angry accusations.
Justin took a step closer. “You’re a whore. I don’t even know why I wasted my time.”
My reaction was instinctive. My hand came up and slapped Justin’s face hard and fast. He didn’t even have time to react before it hit him. Justin’s face turned with the force of my slap, and then slowly turned back to face me. The evil smile on his face sent a shiver of nerves up my spine and I was quickly reminded of my surroundings. Alone. With a drunk angry man who stood a foot taller than me and no one within earshot.
My feet caught up to my brain and I attempted to sidestep around him, but Justin’s arm reached out and caught me. “Is that how you like it, Syd?” Justin pulled me close, his grip on my wrist too tight, even in his state of intoxication, as I struggled fruitlessly to pull away from him.
I lowered my voice and tried to act calm. “Justin, let go.”
“I’m done being nice. You want it rough, I’ll give you rough.”
Justin’s other arm came around my back and slammed my front into his chest. His mouth was on mine before I could even yell for help. I froze for a second, feeling his tongue push into my mouth with a force that matched his grip around me.
Justin easily lifted me off my feet and took two long strides, slamming my back into the wall, knocking the breath from my lungs as he continued his assault on my mouth, his body pinning me against the wall. I struggled hard to break free, but I was no match for his strength. Justin didn’t seem to even notice my resistance, or care if he did notice.
“Syd?” I didn’t hear the door open, but Sienna’s voice came through loud and clear to both of us.
At the sound of Sienna’s voice, Justin’s grip loosened, although he didn’t fully release me. I managed to wiggle my arms free but Justin reached to grasp my arm as I took my first step away from him, making my already unsteady balance falter, and I lost my footing mid-step. My head hit the side of the sink on the way down with a loud thump before I crashed into the bathroom floor face first.