We volley back and forth between the side stage and the room to watch the other performers of the night. When Jason Derulo starts his performance Declan wraps his arms around my waist from behind and sings in my ear along to “Marry Me.” We sway to the song until someone comes up and says something in Declan’s ear. He lets go of me and walks back to the room.
“Hey Blake, keep a watch on Raven for a sec. I need to talk to someone.” Blake nods and smirks at him.
I lean against the wall and grab a beer wondering who in the hell Declan needed to talk to. Jay follows him, and Kelly comes over to me.
“You must think pretty highly of yourself. All these guys fawning over you. Give it a few weeks, and you’ll see a complete change. As soon as we get back to Nashville, their lives are going to be different. The demands will increase, and your little place in their group will quickly diminish. I suggest you enjoy the weekend on your high horse.” She walks to the other side of the room with a satisfied look on her face.
She just pissed off the wrong person. I channel my inner Charlie and Harper and call out, “Kelly,” the whole room gets quiet and looks between us. Blake and Nate come to my side, and Mike moves to the middle of the room. The temperature drops with the obvious ice in my tone.
“Have you ever asked Mike what happened to the labels employee that was fired? No, well let me tell you. It was for shit like you just pulled. It is very dangerous for you to fuck with me. I’m not sure you know everything, and I’m not sure you deserve to, but in the interest of saving time, I’ll give you the abbreviated version. Declan and I had a rocky start, but we worked through it and fell in love. We got engaged, and I was kidnapped and held in a basement for almost four days by a stalker.” I pause for effect. There’s not a single person not looking between us.
“After I recovered, and things were getting better, Sayge started to succeed. They were given some very bad advice from Jessica – who went behind Mike’s back. Declan and I had some trouble, but we worked through it. That is absolutely none of your business. But now we are very solid and very strong. We’re getting married in less than a year. So your little threat is pointless. Declan is very protective of me and, therefore, so are the rest of the guys. I highly doubt ‘my little place’ in their group is going to change. So stop fucking being a bitch and do your job.”
No one moves. Kelly looks visibly sick; the color has drained out of her face.
“Are you shitting me? Kelly we need to talk outside now!” Mike barks at her.
She runs out, and Mike follows her. Cooper yells from across the room and then everyone joins in.
“Damn girl, I thought my girlfriend was here for a minute.” Blake says loudly.
Before I can respond, a backstage technician wearing headgear motions for me to follow him. Everyone in the room including Knight’s Dream comes too. I’m led to a small area on the side stage where I can see Jason finishing his song. He takes a small break and tells the crowd he has a surprise as the intro music starts. I scream from the side because Declan walks on the stage. Together they sing the opening lyrics to “It Girl.” Jumping around each other in a choreographed dance that looks like they’ve been doing this forever, the crowd goes crazy. Declan keeps pointing at me, and I smile back. All the guys around me are cheering to him.
I dance in my own little space soaking up every minute of the song.
“All right people, give it up for Declan Collins from Sayge!” Jason yells into his microphone. They do a fist pump and Declan runs right to me. I’m still screaming by the time he gets to me. He picks me up and throws me over his shoulder spinning us around. Upside down, I see Cooper punch him in the arm. Nate slaps my ass and Declan threatens to kill him.
When he puts me back on the ground, I kiss him until we have to pull away for oxygen.
“Dec, you got something to tell us? You trying to take Sayge the boy-band route?” Nate jokes with him.
“You’re lucky I’m not turning you into a boy after touching Raven’s ass.”
“I’d like to kiss her ass after her little performance earlier.” Nate and Blake retell my little confrontation with Kelly and Declan becomes furious.
We spend the rest of the night drinking and watching the rest of the concert. Declan tells me he met Katy Perry while practicing with Jason Derulo. When they rehearsed today, Jason complimented Sayge and Declan came up with the song idea.
It’s very late when we finally get back to our room. I join Declan in the shower and make sure to show him exactly how impressed I was with his performances tonight.
*****
I sleep the entire flight home. We took advantage of every hour we had in Vegas. My list of things to do included the Tigers at MGM, the fountains and the Conservatory at the Bellagio, drinks in the Chandelier at Cosmopolitan, and dinner at Caesars Palace. We walked the strip for hours yesterday going in and out of different places so I could see the lobbies. We got a lot of curious looks from the staff when we arrived at Mesa for dinner, but our hostess recognized Sayge and gave us a great table.
Declan and I went back to the second night of the concert, but the rest of the guys stayed at the hotel. We made plans to meet with them after Justin Timberlake performed. He was a good sport, but I could tell Declan was frustrated because they gave him a hard time.
After an hour of being jostled and stepped on, I agreed to leave. JT or not, I was spoiled by backstage access. And Declan was recognized by at least ten girls who tried to get his attention.
We found our friends at the casino in Caesars. Ryan’s manager was trying to get us into Pure Nightclub. I hit the slots while Declan played poker. I lost my money in less than half an hour and found Declan’s poker table surrounded by women. Security had been called, and there was a red rope placed as a perimeter. Ryan and his drummer were there also. The security guard let me pass when Ryan tipped his head that I was okay. I watched in fascination as they played game after game going back in forth with winning and losing.
We got word that there was a table waiting for us in the nightclub, so the three of them cashed out. Pure was like no place I’d ever seen. Most of our drinks were on the house since the owner found out Knight’s Dream was here. I danced and drank until I couldn’t stand anymore. Declan never left my side. Even when I went to the bathroom, he hung onto me. He begged me to leave with him and get married in the hotel chapel, promising we wouldn’t tell anyone. After repeatedly turning him down, I threatened no sex for a week if he didn’t stop. That shut him up. Once we closed the bar down and had breakfast, we only had a few hours until our flight. I was so hungover when we got to the airport that I passed out on Declan’s lap waiting to board. I only woke up to get on the plane.
Once we get to Nashville, I feel slightly better. We have nothing in the house to eat, so Declan gets takeout while I unpack us. When he gets back, he’s on the phone with someone talking about Friday night. He smiles at me as I fix our plates.
“Looks like Friday night was a success.” he tells me hanging up.
“How so?”
“That was Mike and he said the local stations started air time with “Surviving.” Since our performance went on YouTube, the song was the sixth most requested today.”