Kyle tried to focus on the music since it was Jessie's new attempt at writing something heartfelt, but the arguing voices wouldn't let him.

With a sigh, he took the headphones off and concentrated on Macy and Jessie who were practically screaming at each other in the other room.

"Come on, Macy, please," Jessie said, her voice drowning in tears.

"Absolutely not!" Macy's tone was final. "Look, I don't know what's gotten into you and what the deal is, but we're already below my estimations and I know this will work."

"It's not a matter of it working," Jessie said. "We got by without them for a whole week. Can't we just do it for another?"

With a frown, he got off the bed and joined them in the other room. Macy was by the door, looking more than ready to exit their hotel suite. Jessie looked desperate, her hands held up in prayer.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Finally," Macy said with an eyeroll. "Maybe you have some sense and can convince her to drop this act."

Kyle raised his eyebrows, turning to Jessie.

"The banners and posters are here," she whispered.

"That's right," Macy interjected. "The ones with both of you on them. With the real name of the tour and the right publicity."

A sinking feeling grabbed hold of him and he only then realized how much lighter he'd felt after the damn things got lost in transit. He was much happier not being on any of the banners and not seeing the word engagement plastered on the walls. It made it easier to ignore the lie they were living.

"If Jessie doesn't want to put them out, you don't have to," he said.

Macy rolled her eyes again. "The two of you don't see the difference in sales proper marketing makes. No. The right banners are going up for once. We've already started putting up the posters. You two just focus on each other and singing. I'll do the rest." And she let herself out without another word.

"Is it that bad?" Kyle asked once they were alone. "I mean I don't like them either, but we're already pretending that we're--"

"I never mentioned this to Jimmy," she whispered.

He frowned. "You think he doesn't know? He's been with the tour for a week."

"I... I don't know. I mean we never talked about it and he was never at the concerts themselves and..." She raised desperate eyes to him. "What if he doesn't know and sees the banners?"

He would surely see the banners since there was no avoiding them, but Kyle wasn't sure where the problem was. He was torn between doing damage control and asking Jessie just how serious this thing with Jimmy was that she dreaded him finding out about their fake engagement.

"So you never mentioned me at all?"

She shook her head.

"Why don't you go talk to him? Explain what's really going on and... I guess trust him not to blow our cover." Because there was no way Kyle would let anyone jeopardize the tour and his chance to find Kay.

"I can't. I gave him the day off so he could see his brother. He's supposed to come back before the show and the banners will already be up by then."

That sucked. "Maybe you could still talk to him afterwards."

"Maybe," she said, sounding miserable. "Though that's already me lying."

"You don't really owe it to him to explain this, you know. Whatever this thing between you is, it was in its incipient stages and what we're doing--"

Jessie's bitter laugh cut off his next words. "Yes, that's exactly what I told myself. But being supposedly engaged to someone else was something I should've brought up before actually kissing him, before..."

He raised his eyebrows. He'd never pried because it was none of his business, but now he suddenly wondered if they'd gone much further than kissing. But that wasn't the problem. Kyle realized that it didn't matter if Jessie owed Jimmy anything as long as she felt like she did. Which was a lot more important than anything.

"Look, if you want, we can see him together after the show and I can confirm that it's nothing but play pretend."

She didn't look any less miserable at his suggestion. "The thing is, you could be right. Macy could be right. He's not going to join us on tour. I'm not sure if I'll ever see him again after this week, so telling him our secret... I can't think objectively enough to figure out if it's worth it. The thing is... I really hoped I could have him for this final week as well."

"Jessie..."

She turned away and wiped her eyes. "I'm just being silly. I should've never gotten into this in the first place. It just complicates our plan."

"Our plan includes you being happy, Jess."

"We should make sure we lose those banners by the time we get to Texas," she said instead. "We wouldn't want those to be the first thing Kay sees."

Kyle sucked air through his teeth. Yeah, he'd thought about that, though the whole point was to have him on a banner as well so Kay would find him. Though maybe if she thought he was engaged to Jessie, she would come nowhere near him. It was such a  double edged sword and he really wasn't sure how to handle it especially because there was no way in hell he wanted to hurt Kay or give her the impression that he'd forgotten her.

She was it. His forever. He'd promised her that and he was not going back on his word.

"I should talk to Joey and ask him to make some banners for Uncaged. We can make it a reunion tour in Texas with you as a special guest," he said. "We were pretty big there and would maybe draw am even bigger crowd. Macy will love that."

"That's a great idea!" Jessie seemed to perk up a little at the suggestion. "And that way, we won't be all lovey dovey on the promotional materials and you can find Kay and talk to her and let her in on our plan and..." She trailed off for a moment. "Do you think she'd mind that we're pretending to be engaged?"

"No. If we tell her the truth straight up front, I'm sure she'll want to help. She's amazing like that." But the words brought a knot to his stomach because he also knew that if they didn't get to explain first, all hell would break lose. Kay would not be taking his betrayal lightly.

If only I could call you, talk to you. Explain. Tell you how much I love you and how unbearably boring life is without you.

But if he could, they wouldn't be here in the first place. They'd be together and Jessie might have had to fake-marry Jerry or something.

Jessie nodded. "Okay. Then please talk to Joey and let's make it work."

"What are you going to do about Jimmy?"

She sighed. "I don't know. I guess... Well, I guess I'll try to talk to him after the concert."

"Okay, then. Let me know if I can help."

Jessie nodded and that was that. They'd salvage what they could.

🌗

"Kay..." Jimmy pulled away from her, clasping her shoulders. "You're hurting. You don't really want to do this."

He was damn right. She really was hurting. So much that she felt her soul was on fire. It only enraged her, made her want to make more painful mistakes. So she didn't listen to reason and kissed him again.

"You need to flush that asshole out of your system."

Oh, she so did. Only that the asshole had changed.

"I agree, but how am I supposed to do that?"

"I don't know. Go to a few parties, make some bad choices, take up yoga... You know what works for you."

"Are you suggesting I have sex with a random stranger?" she asked.

Kyle shrugged. "Whatever floats your boat."

It was his idea. And she was going to take his advice and use it against him. After all, Jimmy was much better than a random stranger. And he probably knew what to do very well seeing as he'd previously dated a psychotic sex addict. It might end up pleasurable.

"Kay." Jimmy pushed her away again.

"Don't you want to get revenge on her, too?"

Her words had him freezing and his eyes blazed. For a second, Kay was convinced that he'd kiss her so hard, her knees would give out.

"I... That's not what we're doing here."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean revenge would be us kissing in front of them. Not here where no one can see us and we don't really want it."

"I don't know, you're not bad at all."

"I didn't even kiss you back."

"Which makes you even more impressive."

This drew a smile out of him. "Look, I know what you're saying, and where you're coming from." He threw another glance at the banner. Kay couldn't, it made her sick. "This sucks. But there are two ways in which we can do this."

"Oh?" That sounded interesting.

"Either hurt them back by doing this in front of them. Or have our revenge by really trying to move on."

Kay gritted her teeth. Jimmy was right, but she was in no way in the right mind to properly move on. It was true that Kyle's betrayal created the premise for her to let him go, but after her previous experience with Donnie, she knew she couldn't hurry. If she really wanted to move on, she needed time. Time she didn't have.

"They're only here for a week. We don't have time to move on. We need to crush them."

Jimmy nodded, though he had a pensive air. "Just keep in mind that... Well, for one, this is dramatic as fuck. Not to mention chaotic and with a chance that we'll be the ones getting screwed in the end. And then, if he got over you, it might not hurt him. Hell, there's a chance she never gave two shits about me in the first place. I'm still not sure why I do."

The thought that maybe Kyle wouldnt care tightened the barbed wire around her heart. But she knew him. If he'd really moved on from her, then he'd be happy to see her supposedly happy as well. That was the kind of person he was. Or at least the one she'd thought he was. Because the Kyle she'd fallen in love with wouldn't just get over her in five months and get engaged to another girl. How long had they been dating? How did they get engaged so fast? Kyle must've forgotten all about her the moment he disappeared for this to even be plausible.

"I'll take my chances," she mumbled. "And if she's a liar, then maybe she should see she's not the queen of the world either."

"Then come to the concert tonight. I'll bring you inside through the staff entrance and you can stay with me in the tech room. After it's done, we can do it."

That sounded like a great plan, so she nodded. Jimmy squeezed her hands, a sad smile on his face. It was horrible to see him so disillusioned and it made Kay want to stomp on this Jessie's face even more. Getting Kyle was one thing, but hurting Jimmy as well... At that moment, something clicked inside her head.

"She cheated on him with you." Oh, sweet irony. Did he know?

"Can't say I regret that," he mumbled. "The asshole deserves it."

"Did you sleep with her?"

"No. We just kissed. But..." The memory seemed to cause him pain, so Kay decided to drop it.

The best part was, one way or another, Kyle was going down.

And then she could break down, too. And after that was done, she would wait for her sunrise.

🌗🌗🌗

Poor Kyle and Jessie,they did nothing to deserve this and now Kay and Jimmy are plotting against them.

Plotting is one thing. But would they be able to carry it out? Also, it seems like y'all are getting the Kale reunion you were waiting for. But in the most dramatic fashion imaginable.

Here's for more drama! Don't forget to vote and comment for support.