If Tessa was excited about getting front row tickets & backstage passes to the BSB concert the night before – not to mention a lot of personal attention from Nick – she was thrilled to be going to the House of Blues to see her ‘Uncle’ Sully & GodSmack.
Brian & Leighanne had gone back home after breakfast that morning, but the others had decided to stay & go to the House of Blues to celebrate Tessa’s 20th birthday.
Sully & Alexis were playing pool upstairs when BSB & the girls joined them. Sully looked up after taking his shot & saw them as Tessa ran over to him. “Tessa! Happy birthday, Hon!”
“Uncle Sully!” Tessa exclaimed, hugging him tightly.
Sully hugged her, then let go & hugged Morgan & Kris; then turned to the petite brunette with ice-blue eyes, introducing her to his friends. “Alexis, I want to introduce you to some of my good friends. This is Morgan & her goddaughter Tessa, and their friends Kris, Howie, Kevin, Nick & AJ.”
“Hi, it’s nice to finally meet all of you; Sully talks a lot about all of you,” Alexis said, shaking their hands. To Morgan she asked, “You are Wiccan also?”
“Yes, I am; so is Tessa. She is doing very well in her studies, by the way,” Morgan told Sully.
“So, you are serious about your studies again, Tessa? I’m pleased to know that. We were worried that you would stop altogether,” Sully said with a small frown.
“I took a little time to really think about what you & Morgan said & I knew I couldn’t give it up just because of a personal tragedy. You told me it should only make me stronger and you were right; it has. Thank you!” Tessa said, hugging Sully again tears in her eyes.
“I’m glad I was able to help,” Sully said, returning the hug.
A few minutes later, Tommy, Robbie & Tony joined them, then they all sat down for the next hour and a half to catch up with their lives. Close to nine o’clock, the members of GodSmack took their leave of the balcony & and made their way to the stage.
“The first time I saw Sully play live, I was standing right here with my friend Lynn. That night, some stupid idiot got past security and made a running dash towards Sully; Sully dodged the punch, but the other guy wasn’t so lucky! Sully didn’t think that he had broken the guy’s nose, but he found out the next morning that he had. Sully was pissed, but after giving a statement to the cops, the charges was dropped!” Alexis explained.
“He failed to tell me about that! Looks like I’m going to have to have a little talk with him about that!” Morgan laughed.
“You mean Uncle Sully was arrested?” Tessa asked.
“Yes, but it was no big deal. No formal charges were ever brought against him. The guy just wanted the publicity – and money! But he lost on both counts. Sully brought charges of assault and harassment against him,” Alexis told Tessa.
“So, what happened after that?” Morgan asked.
“Nothing ever really came of it; Lynn & I headed off to Florida a couple days later & Sully followed me. We’ve been together ever since,” Alexis said, smiling.
“Well, that’s great. Sully is a good friend to me & my friends; I’m just glad he found someone that makes him just as happy,” Morgan said.
AJ & Kevin were playing pool while the girls talked by the railing. As Kevin leaned down to take his shot, AJ told him, “Don’t hurt her, Kev.”
Kevin stood up without taking the shot and looked at AJ. “What are you talking about?”
“Don’t hurt Morgan; she’s been through too much shit in her life. She’s a good friend and I just don’t want her to get hurt anymore. Just be careful with her, ok?”
“AJ, man, I wouldn’t even dream of hurting Morgan,” Kevin said as he leaned down, took his shot & won the game. “If you should worry about anyone, worry about Nick hurting Tessa.”
“I already talked to him about that,” AJ said.
“Now who’s being the big brother, huh?” Kevin laughed. “Come on, let’s go watch the real show, ok?”
A few minutes later, just before the lights went down, Nick came up behind Tessa and put his arms around her waist. He leaned down & whispered in her ear. Morgan saw her turn & smile up at him, then turned away as they kissed.
Just at that time, she felt strong arms wrap around her own waist & shivered as Kevin placed a small kiss on the edge of her ear. She turned and standing on tiptoe, whispered in his ear, “Don’t make promises you won’t keep.”
“I keep my promises, Baby,” Kevin said, just as the lights went down & GodSmack took the stage.
