Caught Like A Fly

I was literally drowning in guilt the moment I woke up in a dazed stupor next to a shirtless Jacky. I just cheated on my boyfriend. Bad. All of my clothes were on, but I didn't like to sleep naked, after sex or not. We lost track of time so I wasn't sure how long we slept. My eyes felt grainy, so it couldn't have been long. We had nowhere to be until we reached the next venue, and there was no way we were going to be there too long before our show started.

Despite the giant guilt monster rearing its ugly head, I pecked Jacky on the lips before leaving him in bed with a smile on his face. I stretched and yawned as I headed to where I thought the coffee might be and almost hit Ronnie in the nose.

"Whoa! Watch it!" he said, holding up his arms defensively. "Yikes."

"Yikes what?" I asked, lifting up my shirt to scratch my stomach. "Is there any coffee on this thing?"

"No, but you have a giant hickey," he said with a chuckle, poking a spot on my neck that I didn't even know was sore. "Busted."

"What?! No!" I shrieked, stumbling to the nearest mirror. To my horror, there was a big, purpled circle just above my collar. "I need a scarf. I know you have one."

"I'm not letting you wear my scarf," Ronnie said firmly, and I fell to my knees at his feet. "You had sex with my guitarist and now you want my fucking scarf?"

"Please! I'm begging!" I latched onto one of his legs. "If it's Jacky's scarf, Connor will know something is wrong!" Ronnie contemplated this and pulled his leg away from me and went to his suitcase. A white piece of fabric flew over his shoulder and landed on my face.

"There, you little whore," he teased. "I expect that back. I wore it in "The Drug in Me Is You" video. Feel special. Not even Viv has gotten to wear that."

"Thank you so much," I said, quickly wrapping it around my neck and Ronnie's scent filling my nose. At least Ronnie smelled nice. "I owe you one."

"Actually, now would be a good time to talk," he said seriously, and the bus slowed to a stop. "And before your boyfriend asks, you were watching "Your Highness" with all of us and we're such good friends now that I let you use my favorite scarf. Got it?"

"You really want this to happen, don't you?" I asked, and I didn't have to mention Jacky for him to know what I was talking about.

"He deserves to be happy, and if you're the key to that, then I'm going to help you," he said, and smiled at me before we hopped off the bus and towards the mini mart. I could see why Vivian fell for him. I got a coffee and he picked up water and vitamins.

"What's with that?" I asked, pointing to his purchase.

"I stopped drinking and smoking, and I just want to be healthy now," he said, popping all of the vitamins into his mouth and washed it down with his water. "Didn't notice, did you?"

"No," I said honestly. "Congratulations."

"Thanks," he said with a grin. "Now, about you and Jacky. What's going on?"

"I'm breaking up with Connor after tour," I said, glancing around and making sure that no one was eavesdropping. We weren't the only bus stopped. "I told Jacky that we had to keep it quiet until then, but I'm not going to make him wait any longer than he already has."

"Good," he said, leading the way back onto the bus. "So everything is like a normal relationship only it has to be a secret for now? That's easy."

"Ugh, current boyfriend alert," I muttered quietly as my van parked in the lot next to the gas station. The girl with the rainbow hair, Ally, spotted me immediately and headed straight over with Connor. "That's our new merch girl."

"You hired Rainbow Bright?"

"Apparently," I said, stepping as close to Ronnie as I could without making him feel uncomfortable. The man was in prison for three years, so I wasn't sure if I could make him uncomfortable.

"Wow, both of my heroes hanging out together," she said, and my ego purred at that one. "I'm Ally." She stuck her hand out to Ronnie and he shook it. He was good with fans, and I wasn't. "I would ask for the red lips, but you probably don't have your lipstick."

"Hold on," I said, feeling my butt pockets. "Nope. Sorry. You'll be around for a while though, right?"

"Yeah, Connor said that your other merch guy is getting married and won't be able to go on tour very often," she said, and I found it hard to not like her now that I was in a good mood. "So here I am."

"Nice scarf," Connor said, and my throat suddenly had a horrible itch that had to be coughed away. "Isn't that yours, Ronnie?"

"That it is," he said matter-of-factly. "We watched a couple movies last night and she knows my fiancée, so we're good friends now."

"It's awesome," I said after recovering from my coughing fit. "I'm never taking it off."

"I wouldn't either," Ally said, and I was now very grateful that she was around. "I know this is weird since we'll be hanging out for the rest of the tour, but can I get a picture with you guys to send to my friends back home? They totally won't believe me." She handed Connor her phone and stood between Ronnie and I as we all smiled big for the camera.

"I got a couple," Connor told her when he handed her back the phone. "See you at the next city, Andy." They walked back to the van together as Dakota and Vinny literally dove into the seats with armfuls of snacks. Wait, what? I shook my head and Ronnie had an eyebrow lifted as he watched me.

"Did he just ditch me with you?" I asked incredulously, looking from Ronnie to my band's van and back. "Seriously?"

"Welcome to the world of being a normal person," Ronnie said, his arms held open.

"I don't like it."

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you just got dumped," he said, shrugged. "But then you'd think you could get some more of these." He poked where my hickey was and I yelped. I chased him back onto the bus, carefully balancing my coffee as I ran so it didn't spill everywhere. I abandoned my chase and went to find Jacky sitting in his bed, rubbing his bare shoulder.

"Nice scarf," he said, smiling at me as I sat on his lap. "Did you steal it from Ronnie's suitcase?"

"Nope, he lent it to me," I said, and his eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Really? Why?"

"You left a mark on me," I said, feeling a little violated when I said it out loud.

"Oh yeah," he said, grinning and pulling the scarf off to see his handiwork. "Not bad. I think you need more." His lips went straight to the clear side of my throat and the blood underneath felt hot instantly and spread through the rest of my body in seconds. He did wonderfully horrible things to me. Our clothes were on the floor again.

* * *

Travelling with Connor and his band was the most amazing thing that could have happened to me. His girlfriend was gone and I was clear to do all of the flirting I wanted. She took him for granted, and you could see in his eyes that he wasn't happy. It wasn't fair.

"You're just going to let her travel with them?" I asked, and he sighed, shrugging lamely.

"Jacky is her new best friend. She told me that I stopped being her friend when we started dating and things have never been worse," he told me, hanging his head. "Something else is going on, but I don't know what. She stares at him all the time and it's always Jacky this, Jacky that. She's not a cheater."

"I wouldn't put it past her," I said, my mouth twisted up in a sneer. How could someone do something so cruel to Connor? "I read about how she got the red lips as her little trademark, and you said she's kissed him before. Don't torture yourself, Connor."

"She wouldn't. We weren't together then, but we are now. She would never cheat on me," he said, his voice becoming more confident with each word he spoke. "You're a really sweet girl, Ally. Thank you for listening."

"You're welcome," I said, rubbing his upper back. "I'm here if you need me." He doesn't know it, but he's put me in the perfect position. He wasn't going to be hurting over that wicked guitarist ever again.