Too tired and hungover to really care, I got back into bed. Griffin, of course, called me on my bluff and slung his leg over my hip and his arm over my chest, making himself right at home against my back. “Get. Off. Me,” I bit out. Evan started laughing.

“Relax, Kell,” Griffin murmured. “I’m too tired to have sex with you.”

Evan laughed harder. His amusement made a soft chuckle escape me, but I rolled over and shoved Griffin away on principle. Eyes closed, he stayed on his back, giggling to himself. “Never have I ever slept with Kellan Kyle,” he mumbled.

I brought a hand to my stomach again as his words rekindled memories of our game. A couple guys had joined us by the end, but it had mainly been Griffin and me who had polished off that entire fucking bottle. “Stop it,” I said with a pained laugh.

Griffin snorted again, then laughed himself to sleep.

I had a nightmare that night, and surprisingly, it wasn’t about Griffin sleeping a foot away from me. No, it was about Kiera. I’d walked into my bedroom to find her screwing some dark-haired man who looked disturbingly like Denny. And then my dad was there, smiling at me with smug satisfaction on his face as my entire world fell apart.

When I jerked awake, I felt nauseous, but it wasn’t from the alcohol this time. Careful to not disturb Griffin, I hopped out of bed and rushed to the bathroom. Closing the door behind me, I leaned over the sink and prayed I didn’t lose it.

It was just a dream. A really fucked up dream. I made myself stare at the ring on my finger, made myself remember how much Kiera loved me, made myself calm down and relax. It took…a long time.

In fact, I didn’t feel completely normal until I was backstage, waiting for our part of the show to start. Seeing the people, the familiar hustle and bustle of activity…it calmed me. Grounded me.

I spotted Matt by himself, staring off into space, a small smile on his lips. I took that as a promising sign that his night had gone well, but, since he was my pupil, I thought I better make sure. If the sex had gone badly, or if he’d completely chickened out, maybe I could think of another way to help him through it. Although, I had no idea what that might entail. It wasn’t like I could do it for him.

Matt looked up at me when he felt my presence. Smile on my face, I lifted an eyebrow. “So…how did it go?” I asked.

His cheeks filled with color, and his gaze immediately fell to the floor…but his grin was huge. “Good. It was…good.” He peeked up at me. “Thank you…again.”