He excused himself from the camera operator he was talking to and strode across the room in quick steps, making a beeline toward me. I began to feel nervous. Had I done something to upset him? Maybe he didn't like the fan art after all. People practically jumped out of his way, so intent was he on his destination. I looked around and behind me, trying to see if he was heading toward someone else, but no. There was no one else.

He stopped inches away from me, flicking his eyes back and forth between both of mine. I opened my mouth to ask him what was wrong, not sure what I'd done to upset him. I wanted to stay on his good side. He spoke before I could ask, voice filled with wonder and confusion.

"It's you."

"I'm sorry?"

He reached out and cupped my face in his hands. I jerked back in surprise, but he didn't let me go. Instead, he swooped down, lowering his head, and before I could register what was happening, his lips were on mine.

Chapter Ten.

I was shocked by the suddenness of the kiss and surprised by how passionate it was, though it remained chaste. I heard whispers and murmurs. I was at work in front of my coworkers. I pushed him away with a shove. He released me from his grip, and I frowned at him.

"What the hell was that?"

"I can't believe it's you," he said, eyes roving all over my face. "Guess I don't have to wait until summer is over."

Wait until summer was over? There was only one person I knew who had told me something like that.

"Cornelius, why did you-"

Then it hit me. Saying his name out loud triggered something. I repeated it inside my head, slowly sounding out every syllable. Cor-ne-li-us.

"...Neil?"

"Ailey." He broke out into a big grin. "I've wanted to meet you for months."

My heartbeat sped up and I couldn't help the reciprocal grin that erupted on my face. "Oh my god, Neil! It's you!"

He pulled me toward him, for a hug this time, not a kiss. I squeezed him tight like I was greeting a long lost friend. In a way, I was. He released me after a few moments, standing back to look me over.

"How did I not realize it was you?" he asked.

"Neither of us were particularly forthcoming about our real identities." I let out a small laugh. "Can you imagine if we had worked side by side all summer and then showed up for that drink in September?"

He laughed along with me. "Guess it's better we found out early." He gave me a sheepish grin and glanced around. All the other crew members had stopped what they were doing to stare. As soon as they realized we had noticed, they all hurried back to their jobs, pretending to ignore us. There were definitely a few whispered conversations.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have kissed you out of the blue in front of everyone like that."

"It probably wasn't the best timing." I ducked my head to hide the blush.

His phone pinged, and he grimaced. "Better get back to work. Do you think someday soon, when I'm not too busy, we could get together and I could buy you that drink?"

Butterflies fluttered in my stomach. "I'd like that."

Neil gave me a grin and a final hug. "Okay. Great. Can't wait."

"Me, too."

I watched him walk away, taking notice of the details I hadn't before, applying them to the Neil I knew online. The way his light brown hair stuck up in every direction, an artfully coiffed mess. The way he strode with a purpose, no-nonsense and straight toward his goal. I also couldn't help but notice that firm ass covered by his expertly tailored slacks.

I lowered my gaze before anyone caught me staring. I turned around and headed toward the stage.

My heart leaped into my throat.

Jayce.

He was standing right in front of me, at the far end of the hallway. I had no idea how long he'd been there. How much had he seen?

My face flushed with embarrassment. He must have seen Neil kiss me. He must have thought the worst of me. Did he think I was the kind of girl who went around sleeping with any guy who crossed her path? I opened my mouth to explain, but nothing came out. How could I explain it? I'd just kissed another man in front of him. I wanted to sink into the floor.

No.

That wasn't right.

I shouldn't feel ashamed for what just happened.

Jayce and I weren't together. We'd both agreed that it would never work between us. We'd had our fun, but it was over. It could never happen again. I was free to kiss and date and sleep with whomever I chose. Jayce must know that.

I straightened my back, standing upright. There was no reason things had to be awkward between us.

"Neil... that is, Cornelius Connor, is a friend of mine."

Jayce narrowed his eyes and wheeled around on his heel, storming away before I could say anything else.

The last fading hints of embarrassment turned to worry. Jayce looked honestly upset. He had said it himself. He'd followed me online forever. He'd always wanted to meet me. Even though we knew it would never work between us, he might still want us to be something more.

I had to admit to myself that, deep down, I had been starting to hope there could be something more between us as well. I'd gotten to know Jayce, the real Jayce, not the persona he put on for fans, and I'd discovered that I liked him. I liked being around him and talking with him. I especially loved kissing him.

My mind flashed back to Neil's kiss. I'd known Neil for a lot longer than I'd known Jayce, but I'd gotten to know Jayce in person, not just through online messages.

Would it be right to date Neil if I was attracted to Jayce?

I shook my head to clear the thoughts going around in circles. I'd go out for drinks with Neil and see how the night went, then I'd talk to Jayce and clear the air between us.

I nodded to myself, pleased with my plan.

There was a small part of me, though, that couldn't help but wonder.

If it came down to it, which of them would I choose?

I WAS NERVOUS around Jayce for days after he saw Neil kiss me. The tour bus had a faint tension running through it whenever silence fell between the five of us. Kell was good at keeping up the chatter. Ren was just as talkative, but a lot less narcissistic in subject matter, thankfully.

The last thing I wanted was to be stuck on a bus with Jayce, but even worse was that I still needed to interact with him to do my job. Asking him to pose sexily for my camera and respond to fan's declarations of love was torture. Both of us tried to act like nothing was wrong, and we mostly succeeded, but I still went to bed every night with an ache of worry in my chest.

To make matters worse, after a long day of concerts and interviews, the guys decided to unwind by heading out to a club. Going out drinking with Jayce. Great.

I didn't understand how going out dancing and drinking was going to help them unwind, but then again, I was never much of a club person. The only times I got out were to go see concerts.

Kell had taken one look at my pencil skirt and blouse and pointed a finger at the tour bus, telling me to march on over and change into something hot. I'd laughed and said I hadn't thought to pack anything he'd consider hot. I was here for work, after all. He told me to at least go find a skirt with a hemline above my knees.

I'd rummaged through my luggage, trying to remember if I'd packed my cute one piece red dress. It wasn't exactly short, but it was backless and had a plunging neckline. I was sure Kell would approve.

When I walked off the bus, Kell gave me a wolf whistle and clapped his hands. Jayce's eyes almost bugged out of his head, and he quickly turned on his heel, putting his back to me.

"Perfect," Kell said. "Who knew our prim and proper internet girl would turn out to be such a babe behind those boring and prudish skirts?"

"It's called being professional," I sniffed, pretending to be offended. "We can't all do our jobs in ripped jeans and T-shirts with cartoon characters on them."

"Hey, this is an original Spiderman shirt from 1977. It's vintage."

"It has holes. Moths have eaten half that shirt."

"That's part of its charm. C'mon, internet girl, we're all taking a taxi to the club. Morris got us a private booth at Rosette. It's some fancy new dance club. Just opened."

"I don't have to actually dance, do I?"

"Nah. We're mostly going to be sitting and drinking and possibly flirting with groupies."

It was a new experience for me to walk right through a red velvet rope without waiting in line. In fact, it was a new experience for me to walk into a dance club at all. I preferred listening to my music live, not through tinny speakers with DJs spinning terrible remixes that ruined the original songs.

Our private booth was on the second-floor balcony, so we could look over the dance floor and take in the sight of gyrating hips and wandering hands. Jayce made sure to sit on the opposite end of the booth, as far away from me as he could manage. We tried to avoid each other's eyes as best as we could.

"Here."

Ren put a glass of something neon pink in my hand. The condensation felt wet and cool against my already heated skin. For all the fancy trappings and high-tech decor, the club didn't have the best air conditioning.

"Thanks." I took a sip and was pleasantly surprised. The drink wasn't sickly sweet like its color made it seem. I might have looked like the kind of girl who only drank candy-flavored cocktails, but I had an appreciation for harder liquors as well. "What is it?"

Ren shrugged. "No idea. I just saw another girl drinking it. How is it?"

"Great. Keep 'em coming."

My phone pinged, and I snuck a quick glance at the screen. I was supposed to be relaxing, not working, but I couldn't help it. I guessed people were right when they called me internet-addicted.

must be nice, getting to follow the band around like a stray dog do you blow them all backstage after concerts?

Another jealous fan? Or the same one? This was getting old. Just because I ran the social media accounts for a rock band, didn't mean I was sleeping with all of them.

I fought back a blush as I thought about Jayce and dismissed the message.

I was happy to continue drinking my neon cocktails. The rest of the band mostly drank plain beer, but Morris stuck to a glass of something lightly amber colored, whiskey perhaps. I thought he'd get more wasted than the rest of the band, but, surprisingly, he was the soberest. Kell, on the other hand, was gone after only a handful of beers. He got louder and more obnoxious as the night went on, but the rest of us were pleasantly buzzed enough to find him hilarious and not annoying.

"Okay, okay, guys, seriously now, we've got to play a drinking game."

Morris groaned into his glass. "Kell, man, remember the last time that happened?"

"No."

"Exactly."

"Our little Ailey here has been working so hard lately, let's all let loose and have a little fun."

"I'm in," Ren said, raising his beer in a cheer.

"Sure, fine," Jayce chimed in. He stared down the neck of his beer as if contemplating the mysteries it held.

"What kind of drinking game?" I asked, feeling a bit nervous.

"Never have I ever!" Kell crowed.

"What's that?"

"We go around in a circle, and each person says something they've never done," Ren explained. "If you have, you take a drink."

"Or a shot," Kell chimed in.

"Let's not get too crazy tonight," Ren said. "We have another show tomorrow."

"You're no fun," Kell grumbled, but quickly cheered up. "All right, Ailey, you go first."

I was put on the spot, so I blurted out the first thing that came into my head. "I've never gone skydiving."

"Boring," Kell declared. "You can do better than that. And preface it with 'never have I ever,' okay?"

"Give me a few seconds." I thought hard. Was there a trick to this game? I supposed you'd want to get everyone else to take a drink. So maybe I could say something I knew the others have done. "Never have I ever... taken my shirt off on stage."

Kell and Ren groaned, then took a drink. Jayce drank as well, but did so silently.

"It's not fair," Kell said. "You probably know way more about us than we know about you."

I shrugged. "You chose the game."

"I'm next," Ren said. He was sitting to my left, so I assumed we went clockwise. "Never have I ever... masturbated in public."

I nearly choked. Was that the kind of question we were supposed to ask?

"What counts as public?" Kell asked.