I felt heat in my cheeks. Fuck, was I blushing? I didn’t blush. Well…rarely. It took a lot to embarrass me. And what I felt wasn’t really embarrassment, it was more like…longing. Kiera as my wife… God, I almost couldn’t even picture it.

“We’re so not there yet, but thanks…it’s nice to know you’ve got my back. And I won’t be stuck with Griffin.” As we headed to the van for more stuff, I asked Evan, “What about you and Jenny? Have you guys talked about…future stuff?”

Evan’s answering smile was enormous. “Oh yeah, we’re totally getting hitched one day. Then we’ll get a place, start spitting out kids. It’s gonna be awesome.”

The way he said it was so casual, like he’d just told me he was getting groceries after the show or something. A part of me was envious over their laidback relationship. Kiera and I, well, we weren’t volatile, but we certainly had our moments. “Any idea when?” I asked.

Evan shrugged. “Whenever.” I laughed at his answer. Typical go-with-the-flow response.

Twenty minutes later, all our stuff—and Griffin—was in place on stage, and we were ready to go. The bar we were in was just about the same size as Pete’s. Truly, it was more of a nightclub, and the crowd in front of us danced their hearts out to every song. Because we played this place often, and we knew what to expect, we only played our fast, upbeat songs, since that was what the crowd here preferred. It was fun, but it didn’t allow for any breaks, and we were all exhausted by the end of the night. Griffin especially. He didn’t even try to help put stuff away, just shuffled to the van and fell asleep in the passenger’s seat. I almost felt bad for him…but then I remembered walking in on him and Anna. With you in a minute. Asshole.

Matt drove Griffin’s van back to Evan’s place, then the three of us unloaded the equipment while Griffin snored. Once we were done, I said goodnight to Matt and Evan and climbed back into my Chevelle. To crawl into bed with my girl. It made me insanely happy to know that I wasn’t going to be crawling into a cold, empty bed tonight. Even if Kiera remained unconscious, she’d be with me, and that was all that mattered.