Road Trip Pt. 02

Crystal adjusted her under garment, skirt, checked herself in a full-length mirror, and led me back to the green room. Terry gave us both an 'I-know-what-you-were-doing' glance. We all sat in near silence listening to an increasingly raucous band and crowd. I started to feel some of the crowd's energy. The band was good, and Cindy Wonder had a sound sort of like a country Stevie Nicks ofFleetwood Mac.

After what seemed like a long time, Ellen came into the ready room and gave us a five-minute warning. She handed Crystal and me earpieces so we could hear ourselves sing over the sound of the band and the noise of the crowd. The band members stood up and did some brief limbering exercises. Crystal closed her eyes; I could tell she'd entered a short meditation. That seemed like a good idea, and so I started to meditate as well – gradually, sliding away from the tension and stress I'd been feeling, and clearing my mind of everything but the hum of one of the air conditioning units.

Next we knew, Ellen opened the door again and said in a loud voice, "NOW!" She led all of us to the side stage as the opening band finished their last number. Amid a round of applause for the first band, the lights dimmed and went dark. The ten band members walked onto the stage to their opening positions, some carrying their musical instruments. The pallets with the other band's drums and electronics were rolled off the other side of the stage from where we stood, as some of our electronics and instruments from our band rolled in from the back of the stage. The whole transition of bands took about two minutes.

Crystal stood where I could hold her hand, and waited for some invisible cue to tell her when to go onstage. She gave my hand a squeeze and said, "See you in a few minutes, handsome." She kissed me, and I kissed back.

Ellen handed her a wireless mic, and Crystal strode onto the stage as the lights came up and the band loudly launched into the opening bars of 'Flirty, Flirty Cowgirl.' The audience jumped to their feet and went wild in delight that she opened with her big hit.

Ellen stood beside me as we watched the performance from the side of the stage. I detected a pride in her in being on Crystal's team that seemed special in some way. As the seventh song started, one that was supposed to take five minutes, she leaned over to me and said in a straight voice, "Crystal said to check whether you needed another blow job before you went on stage. I'm ready when you are."

My mouth dropped open, and I looked at her in shock. Ellen doubled over with laughter, and said, "I'm kidding. I'm kidding." The moment of comic relief did relax me, and even forced me to smile. She said, "Keep smiling when you're out there; you look more handsome when you do." She handed me a wireless mic and told me to keep it within six inches of my mouth when singing. She showed me the off/on switch too. I probably nodded; numbness had started to set in. She whispered some other encouraging words to me as Crystal went into her eighth song of the night. I certainly felt that everyone was on my side, now all I had to do was not screw up.

At that point, Ellen stood on her toes and gave me a lovely kiss on my cheek. She whispered words of encouragement one more time. Wow! Where had that kiss come from? It seemed special in so many ways. She gave me a really loving look too.

The song ended, and Crystal started to introduce the first song that we were going to sing together: 'I Will Always Love You.' She told the audience she needed a hunky male to help her sing this romantic song, and she knew just the guy – Jim Mellon. She laid on a few more accolades, mentioned that I was a proven hero in many ways, alluded to thePeoplemagazine article, and gestured to where I stood; Ellen gave me a push.

I walked out into the spotlight and waved deferentially to the politely applauding crowd as the band started playing the lead in, and the lights dimmed. I had an opening solo for the song, and ... I nailed it. Much to my surprise, my voice didn't crack or creak; it had just the tone, timbre, and color that I'd had in rehearsal only I could hear the reverberation around the huge hall on some notes. I actually sounded good.

Crystal and I looked endearingly at one another, also as we'd rehearsed. She flashed me a smile to tell me she knew I was 'on.' I caught her wink reminding me of our recent time on the bus. As we got into the song, the audience started to also sing more loudly and started to do the slow wave in the darkness with their cell phones and lighters. Crystal and I faced each other more, looking deep into each other's eyes. We were beautifully in sync. At one point, I became aware that several TV cameras were being used to project our image on a huge screen over our heads – everyone could see every little detail. Momentarily, I thought, "Oh shit!" When I looked again, I realized how in love we looked, particularly singing this song.

When we finished the first duet the crowd roared in delight, the lights came up on the stage, and the band immediately segued into a lively version of 'See the Embers, Feel the Flame' – a song the group Alabama had made a hit thirty years earlier. Crystal and I launched into that upbeat song with zeal. At this point, I actually snuck a look at the audience – 18,000 people. I felt my knees knock a couple of times, and I went inside my head and said to myself, "Oh, no, you don't."

We hit a spot in the song where the band would do a couple of instrumental solos – lead guitar and bass. I turned to Crystal and said, "Dance?" She gave me a big smile, and we started a two-step around our part of the stage. Many people in the audience applauded although my dancing wasn't very good. We did a couple of more short songs, and with Crystal's lead I started to get more animated and move around the stage more, even moving over and singing part of a solo I had with the backup singers.

We sang another long song, and I realized how important the teleprompter was. I forgot the words to the second verse at one point and there, twenty feet away, they sat in space – clearly illuminated so those of us onstage could see them, but invisible to the audience except for a box on a post. I didn't embarrass myself. Thank you, Ellen.

We took a planned ten-minute intermission that really took twenty minutes. Crystal jumped into my arms as we came off stage. She jumped up and shouted; "You did it. You did it. You were great!" Terry and some of the band members verified her remarks with his slaps on my back, as did Ellen – with another kiss. I congratulated them too on the great job they were doing.

After the initial congratulations, I caucused with Crystal, Terry, Ellen, Billy, and Hank – the violinist. I made a suggestion about the encore at the end. Crystal had told me she had been using a reprise of 'Flirty Cowgirl' for an encore, and I suggested that she do that, but that we also add another song – something the audience could participate in. Ellen nodded excitedly at my suggestion, and said, "I can do that; I can put all the words on the teleprompter."

We opened the second half with our version of 'Gone Country.' I got bold with my lines and started to get the audience to sing along – something they clearly liked to do to the songs they knew. At one point, I made my way to the front of the stage and walked along as I sang shaking the hands of the mostly female crowd clustered there. I got a few imitation 'swoons' and cheers along the way. Was I really a heartthrob to this crowd – to these women I'd never seen before?

The longer I was on stage the more relaxed I got; Crystal could see it too. She encouraged me too with an aside between songs. I felt as though there were two of me: one carefully and slowly observing the other, making corrections ahead of time and planning things the audience and Crystal would like, for instance, in one of our love songs I put my arms around her – it made the song more romantic and looked great on the large screens above us.

I faded to the side for a couple of numbers Crystal did alone, and then we did some more duets. Between some of the songs we did a little conversational banter; Crystal started it with me tentatively, not sure how I'd react, and then we got deeper into it. She even had me talking about my motorcycle and my cross-country trip at one point. The last song before we let the audience coax us back on stage was 'Texas Dawn.' Crystal introduced it, and I even chimed in on how much I liked the beautiful the poem that made up this love song. We made the song ten minutes long, clearly our crescendo.

The lights went dark, and we made as though we'd left the stage for good. The audience cheered and shouted, "More! More!" The band members mulled around on stage acting as if they were packing up. After two minutes of acclamation, the lights rose, the band members took their positions again, and Crystal and I walked back on stage, took another bow, and then conversed about what to sing. She turned to Billy, and the band started 'Flirty, Flirty Cowgirl.' The crowd cheered. I faded to the side of the stage.

At the end of the song, another huge round of applause and cheering exploded from the audience – and with 18,000 people, that's a lot of noise.

Crystal gestured me forward. She yelled to me over the din, "You introduce this one. It's your idea." She gave me an encouraging smile and nod.

As the applause died down, I spoke into my wireless microphone, "Ladies and gentlemen, I love your state. Kentucky truly is one of the most beautiful parts of this great country." Lots of applause rippled through the audience. I went on, my voice reverberating around the auditorium, "So, I hope you'll all stand and join us in a tribute to Kentucky that Stephen Foster wrote over a hundred and fifty years ago; I'm sure you all know the words."

There was a rustling din as 18,000 people rose to their feet. The band started playing, and I gave the opening lines to 'My Old Kentucky Home'as Crystal joined in, her distinctive voice resonating across the huge arena along with mine. We held hands up on the stage and started swaying – so did the whole audience. Only a few words in, the rest of the audience sang as well. Cellphones, flashlights, and lighters were immediately raised on high as the audience swayed to and fro. The background singers joined us too, and then Cindy Wonder and several members of the opening band that had been enjoying the concert backstage came out to sing too. The moment brought tears to many eyes; there's something about so many people singing a tribute to their homeland. However, I confess, I had to sneak a look at the teleprompter a couple of times.

At the end of the song, we bowed to thunderous applause, and ran off stage and back to the green room. The acclaim continued long after we'd disappeared, and the sound carried all the way outside the arena to the soundproof rehearsal rooms behind the building. Terry raced up just after Crystal and I had finished hugging and kissing off the edge of the stage. He shouted over the noise, "Whoa! Hey, you guys were magnificent ... stupendous ... I mean ... let me tell you, I went to a Garth Brooks concert a couple of years back, and I thought that'd be hard to top. You guys did it. You really did it – both of you were magnificent." He started to dance around in his glee. Others filtered into the green room. Ellen came in and gave Crystal and me hugs and a kiss. A few of the band members came too; we all had happy but tired expressions on our faces. For the first time in my life I appreciated the tension and stress that concert performers and bands go through.

Someone produced some champagne, and we all toasted each other – Crystal, the great band, and even me – the newbie. We were all tired, and contrary to what many people believe we did not stay up all night drinking and smoking dope. The band worked another hour or so, helping the roadies pack up their gear and getting it on the truck that would drive to Indianapolis overnight so it could be set up and ready by ten o'clock the next morning. After that, they went to their motel and went to bed. Some of the guys had their wives with them.

Terry and our publicist went off to talk about publicity and how to capitalize on the evening's success. So, Crystal and I bid everyone goodnight, and slipped out to the secure area and into the tour bus to play and sleep.

Crystal's tour bus had four major areas inside it. Up front was the 'cockpit' where the driver sat, and where a couple of others could be nearby. A 'pop out' living room comprised the next area; each side of the bus could pop out about three feet making a larger room. The third area comprised a kitchen, plus a bathroom that could be closed off from the rest of the bus so it became an en suite addition to the fourth area, a windowless master bedroom with a king-size bed.

Crystal and I initially flopped down in the living room. I got us both some wine; I remained cranked up to 'full volume' mentally – I wondered if I'd ever come down from the high of participating in the concert with Crystal Lee. The wine helped me slowly unwind. I told her about my wishes for a new career and to embrace music again in my life in some way. We both laughed at how modest those goals had been when compared with what actually happened over the past couple of weeks. All this happened so fast; I still felt like some great power had tossed me into a wonderful maelstrom of country music.

I held Crystal, and we started to neck. She suggested we move to part of the bus where we couldn't be seen if someone put his head right up to the glass. We turned out the lights up front and went back to the master bedroom.

Crystal's body was a joy to see as I slowly unwrapped it from her concert outfit, her shirt, and short skirt falling in a pile beside the bed. Her bra and the black panties joined them too. As far as I could see her body was flawless. I leaned over her and inhaled the nipple area of one breast into my mouth and sucked hard. Crystal's head went back, and she pulled me to her body with a deliberate move that told me this was what she wanted. As I sucked, her hips started gyrated slowly into my groin. She pushed her pussy against my leg and started to hump in pace with my moves.

As I toyed with her pussy with my right hand, fingering her lips and clitoris, Crystal worked at undressing me. She told me, "No fair that I'm the only one naked here; get out of this stuff." She seemed impatient, yet soon I was as nude as she was.

I penetrated her with a couple of fingers. I found a sensitive place because she moaned, so I put some focus there as I sucked on her other breast. As I did I reminded her that she'd had me finger her before the concert; "Crystal, at least once every song we did out there, I had to smell my finger – your aroma is an aphrodisiac to me."

"Come over me," Crystal whispered. "Do me. Make love to me again."

I repositioned between her legs, holding my very erect penis in my hand as I lowered my body into hers. I rubbed some of her juices from her folds onto my cock and then let her reach down and take over. She positioned me at her opening and thrust up into me as I pushed down into her.

I sank deep into her on the first stroke; she was sopping wet. She gasped. "Oh, wow. Oh wow. Ohhhhhhh. God, I have wanted to fuck you since I had you finger me. I almost jumped you onstage a couple of times."

We stroked in unison, and I went deeper yet. On the third stroke our pubic bones pressed against one another; I think the end of my cock was up against her cervix near her A-spot. We were both in ecstasy.

We were responsive lovers to one another. Her ups complemented my downs as we banged into each other slowly at first and then with an increased urgency to complete. Other than our moans, hums of encouragement, and gasps of pleasure, we went many minutes without saying a word; the only sound was the unmistakable sound of our bodies pulsing into one another.

My lover Kim in North Carolina had taught me the basics of Tantric sex, including the indefinite extension of lovemaking, and coming to an orgasm without ejaculating. I'd done well on the first lesson, and still needed to work on the second. For me, sex had always been a great relaxer; as keyed up as I was, I knew this would allow me a peaceful sleep when we were through. At that instant; however, I did not want to do anything other than prolong the experience and bring infinite pleasure to the two of us.

We played at sex for a long time – the longest Crystal and I had taken since we met. I had one dry orgasm, and brought her to many, some lasting several minutes as she crested and didn't come down. We toyed with many different positions, some making generous use of the many pillows that had been on the bed before we stripped it back to the fitted sheet. Eventually, I warned her of my intent to have a wet climax; I said, "In thirty seconds something really great will happen for me. Where are you?"

"I'm about where you are," Crystal gasped.

I ratcheted up our speed, thrusting deep into her body. She wrapped her legs further and more tightly around my back and yanked me into her depths with more force. A wave of pleasure washed over me as my climax arrived. My back arched as I made the last several thrusts into Crystal's heavenly body. She arched off the bed too – shoulders and buttocks in solid contact with the bed, and her chest thrust up into me.

Crystal moaned, "Oh God, Oh fuck, Oh shit, Oh wow, Oh, Oh, Ohhhh," gasping for air and then repeating the chant as orgasm after orgasm rifled through her body.

I ejected my love present for her just as she let loose a surprise jet of her own ejaculate along with a long moan of ecstasy. We clung to one another and collapsed, rolling to our sides so we could lavish more kisses on each other through our panting as well as smooth each other's bodies. We were both slightly sweaty from our exertions, and I felt as though I'd migrated to some planet where exquisite pleasure was the norm.

Although our bodies returned to some semblance of normal breathing, we remained joined, my cock locked in Crystal's warmth by our desire to remain together and be as close together forever as we could get.

I kissed her eyelids and ran my tongue around her neck. She was equally oral, French kissing me as often as our lips came near each other and sensually tonguing my ears and neck. Slowly, we parachuted down from the sexual high we had just given each other. Our ardor temporarily cooled. We shut our eyes and drifted into a transcendental state between consciousness and sleep.

In my metaphysical state of sexual bliss, I became aware of another person crawling onto the bed. I felt no threat so I checked my response. A warm and naked female body molded to mine, full breasts and erect nipples touching my shoulder blades, and wiry pubic hair in contact with my butt. A trim leg wrapped over mine in a sexy gesture.

Crystal reached past me and stroked an arm of our new lover as she embraced me, clearly welcoming her to our love nest. Crystal kissed me, and then nudged me to roll slightly so I could embrace and kiss The Other.

The Other was Ellen. I registered surprise, but I suspect the only parts of me that displayed the emotion were my wide eyes. Ellen leaned in and kissed me very passionately, her taut breasts rubbing against my muscular arm. We ran our tongues together while Crystal stroked my back in a sensuous manner. I got one arm around Ellen and started to toy with a nipple.

Ellen said softly, "I've been here a while – watching."