"Where the fuck have you guys been?" She asked and then laughed. "It's crazy nuts down there!" She said, eyes as big as saucers. "I thought the crowd was going to rape Marcus before we ever got into the building. I swear I wanted to punch one bitch in the nose! I would have, too but, I didn't want to get blood on my new outfit." She stood and did a little turn in her very tight, very short, little, black dress. She would look good in a potato sack. She flipped her auburn hair over her shoulder and grabbed my hand. "Go to the ladies room with me. Yeah?" I turned to tell Levi where I was going, but he was in deep conversation with Chance and Honor." He wouldn't miss me if I was only gone a few minutes.

"Okay. Lead the way." I said, as I let her lead me down a hall and into the ladies room. As soon as the wooden door closed, Jules locked it and turned to face me. Sometimes, she could be so over dramatic. I laughed.

"What are you doing? People have to get in here," I said, reaching around her to unlock the door but she swatted my hand away.

"That hurt! Dammit!" I rubbed my fingers. "What'd you do that for?"

"Teake-is-here!" She said it so fast that I couldn't understand her.

"Just how much have you had to drink?" I dug my fists into my hips and glared at my nutty friend. She placed her hands on my shoulders and looked me in the eyes. Her green eyes looked at me with concern.

"I said, Teake is here, Peyton, and that's not all. He told Marcus that his band has been asked to play at that fundraising benefit that you're organizing. Please tell me you didn't ask him to play!" Her small hand cupped my arm and squeezed gently. If there was one thing that Jules knew, it was how I grieved over our split. I jerked my arm away and looked into her glassy, green ones.

"I can't believe you even asked me that! Recruiting the bands is not part of my job. It's the label that's been working on that. I'm in charge of the venue and placement of the stages among other things.” Suddenly, I didn't want to be here. I wanted to be anywhere than the Bad Habit tonight. "I need a drink, preferably a stiff one." I unlocked the door and she followed me out.

I emerged from the hall and could see Levi from behind, talking with someone. I could tell from his stance that the chat he was having was not a friendly one, as I got closer, my heart dropped into the pit of my stomach and I prayed the floor would open up and swallow me. Levi was talking to Teake and Marcus was trying to separate the two.

When Teake's gaze caught mine, I knew instantly that he was taking something. His dark, brown hair had grown down past his shoulders and looked as if it hadn't been washed in weeks. His brown eyes were blood-shot and glassy, with pupils so large that you could barely see the brown. He was living the lifestyle, all right. I knew he was using before we split up, but it was obvious now that things had gotten way out of hand. He looked past Levi and smiled a wicked smile. The smile he always gave me when he was trying to get out of the lie I'd just caught him in.

"Peyton, baby, I've missed you." He slurred with a thick tongue. Levi whirled around and looked at me with confusion in his ocean blue eyes.

"You know this junkie?" I swallowed hard and gave a quick nod. I was going to lose my job. I just knew it.

"Something like that, I thought I knew him," I said and took a step back, as Teake stumbled and reached out for me. Levi's fist landed on his right jaw and knocked Teake to the floor. Flickers of light flashed around us as people took out their phones and captured the whole, horrible scene.

"We're leaving now!” He grabbed my arm and pulled me toward one of the burly guys in the black staff t-shirts. Levi whispered something in his ear and he immediately sprang into action. The big guy spoke into his headset, a line of security guards appeared, and the people of the floor parted like the sea to make way for us. By the time we reached the sidewalk, our SUV was waiting and Levi ushered me inside as the photographers snapped pictures of us until the doors closed and they could no longer see through the dark, tinted glass.

Levi looked up at me through his thick lashes for a moment too long, making me squirm in my seat and a painful knot twisted in my stomach. "Please tell me you're not involved with him," he demanded. I stared down where I twisted my fingers in my lap and tried to run through my mind what to tell him. Would I be guilty by association? Would I be fired because I used to be involved with Teake? "Well! I'm waiting for your answer." His voice came out harsh and demanding, causing me to jerk in surprise.

"Do you remember when I told you that I don't date rock stars?" He gave a quick nod and waited for me to continue. I decided to just tell him everything and if I lost him or were fired in the process, I'd die of shame and a broken heart. "Teake and I began dating when we started college. It wasn't long before he started his band and dropped out of school. I didn't live in the best of the neighborhoods, and when I say that, I mean that I lived in an old, rusted out trailer in a trailer park off of North forty. He asked me to move into the two-bedroom house, that he and four other guys from the band shared. The only thing I could think of then, was the fact that I wanted out of that trailer and away from my mother, so I left with him one night."

"You just up and left your mom and moved in with his band?" Levi asked. I knew that he was close to his mom so I was sure it wasn’t easy for him to comprehend how I could just pack a bag and walk away.

"My mom smoked crack and she had guys in and out of our place nightly, sometimes several times a day. I couldn't stand the way those dirty, old men looked at me. When I would tell my mom that one of them tried to touch me or got a little too close, she'd always find a way to blame me. It was either I wore too much makeup, or the clothes I wore were too revealing.

“She even accused me once, of trying to sell myself to one of them for my own money. That was the last straw, because what she saw and what she thought she saw, were two, completely, different things. I had gone into the kitchen to get myself a glass of tap water. Then, I was going right back to my bedroom and lock the door, just like I did every night.

“Only, this particular night, Slimy Sid, followed me into the kitchen and put his nasty hands on me. He said he'd give me twenty bucks to suck his disease, infested dick. The next thing I knew, my mom had me by the hair, pulling me away from Sid. She said, if I was gonna be a whore, I wasn't living under her roof." I choked back a sob.

"That's when I called Teake and told him about what had happened. He told me to pack a bag and I was gone in thirty minutes. I really thought I loved him, Teake, you know. That all changed one day, when I decided to stop by and check on my mom. It'd been months since I'd spoken to her. I remember pulling open that rusty screen door and stepping into the sweltering heat of that rusty tin box. There sat Teake, on the ratty old couch with his pants around his knees, smoking crack, while my mom sucked him off."

By now, the tears were streaming down my cheeks at the memories I’d tried to keep buried deep, inside. "That's when . . ." Levi cupped my cheek with the warm palm of his hand.

"Shush. I'm so sorry, baby. I'm sorry for everything that you've been through. I've only known Teake for a short period, but it's been long enough to know, that he's bad news. We've suspected for a while now that Chance has some type of drug problem, but when I saw him talking to Teake, that pretty much confirmed my suspicions. I couldn't get either one of them to admit to it, but, I'm almost certain, that Chance is buying from Teake.