“About the neighbors? And the second payment?” I’d decided to go ahead with the “bribe.” I’d delivered the first payment to Matt’s neighbors earlier this week, and as long as none of them called the cops and busted the party tonight, Jenny had agreed to make the second payment for me tomorrow. God, tomorrow…I didn’t want to think about that. Maybe water could wait after all. I had some aches I wanted to keep on the back burner.

Her face not changing, she nodded again. “Yep.”

“About our equipment? About bringing it back for us?” I nodded my head at the stage. We couldn’t just leave our setup for six months, not with Poetic Bliss taking our place; they’d have their own instruments to set up. That meant we needed someone to pack it all up and get it back to Evan’s place for us. Fuck. I shouldn’t be talking about all of this…it was dampening my burgeoning buzz.

Jenny pursed her lips, before smiling again. “That was Evan who asked me to do that, but yes, I remember.”

My smile fell as I thought about my most important request. “And…about Kiera?” I flashed a glance at the entrance to the back hallway…she still wasn’t back yet, and I suddenly had the need to see her. Like I needed to reassure myself that she was still here.

Jenny studied my expression then nodded. “Don’t let her be sad, make her have fun. Check and check.” Raising her eyebrows, she put a comforting hand on my arm. “Relax, Kellan, Rachel and I have everything under control, and we’ll drag Kiera along when we run your errands…make sure she’s too busy cleaning up after you to miss you.” With a laugh, she shook her head. “She’ll probably be too annoyed by all the menial stuff you boys have left behind to be sad.”

That made me grin. “I’m okay with her being annoyed. She’s sexy when she’s mad.” Or happy. Or nervous. Or bored. Or…anything.

Jenny let out a hearty laugh as she rolled her eyes. I wanted to go over the list again, but a shot suddenly appeared at my side. “Hey, Kellan. Here, congratulations, man!”

I twisted to face Rob, another regular, and Jenny slipped away to get ready for work. As I took Rob’s drink, I tossed out, “Thank you, Jenny!” She stuck her thumb up, and I had to laugh at her.

I was swarmed after that, barely making it to my table so I could set down my stuff. The attention was still a little mystifying, but also…really amazing. And really intoxicating since a lot of them wished me well with booze. I was feeling pretty damn good when I spotted someone else I needed to talk to tonight: Kate.