She played for nearly five minutes before wrapping up the solo with a fast paced crescendo that was intensively technical. When she finished the final note, she took the horn from her lips and held it high in the air with her right hand while the applause—which was every bit as loud and appreciative as that Jake had enjoyed a little earlier—washed over her.
“All right, go!” Toadie told the rest of the band.
They went, running back out on the stage. Squiggle put his arm around Laura and gave her a big hug, while Sally handed her an opened plastic bottle of Gatorade, which she put to her lips and began to swill down greedily.
“Let’s hear it for Teach!” Z yelled into his microphone. “Can she blow that horn, or what?”
The applause continued for some time before slowly dying down. Laura tossed the now empty bottle back toward the rear of the stage and put her horn back to her lips. She then began to play the melody for the next song.
In all, the concert went on for ninety-three minutes. Jake came back out for the first encore—to the wild cheers of the audience—and sang I’ll Call You Tomorrow, Z’s gentle yet cynical tune about one-night stands. Once again, the tune was slightly rough in execution, but that was expected. His rendition was well received by the audience and resulted in another lengthy period of cheering applause and adoration when he was done.
He trotted back off stage and watched while the rest of the band carried off the last two encores. When they finished the final song, they put their instruments down and linked arms together for a group bow. Jake trotted back out to join them, waving at the audience once again and then linking arms with Squiggle, who was on the end of the chain. They bowed once and then twice and then headed back to the stage left area for the final time as the house lights came up behind them.
“Good show, everyone!” Z told them. “We brought the fuckin’ house down!”
“Damn right!” Laura said, wiping the sweat from her brow. “It was great playing with you, sweetie!”
“This is the most fun I’ve had in quite some time,” Jake admitted.
“And we get to do it all again tomorrow,” Squiggle said.
“But first, there’s tonight,” Z said. “Let’s go get cooled off and get some chow, huh?”
“Now you’re talking,” Jake said.
The catered food was not quite up to the standards Jake and the rest of Intemperance had enjoyed after their performances back in the day, but it wasn’t that bad either. And the beer was cold and plentiful. Jake had two of them in his belly before he even finished his ribs and potato salad. He was surprised to see Laura swilling down the beer at the same rate. He was even more surprised when, after Z produced a couple of fat joints and started passing them around, Laura sucked down multiple hits of each like a professional. She had been a very casual pot smoker before coming out on tour, generally only smoking a hit or two once a month or so, almost always when they were out in the hot tub.
“It looks like you’re well into the spirit of touring,” Jake observed as she sucked the last joint down until it was a mere roach.
“When in Rome,” she squeaked, handing the smoldering remains over to him.
“When in Rome,” he repeated, taking it and sucking another hit down.
When they finished eating, Z explained that they always let Teach shower first, since she was the only girl among them.
“I think tonight,” Laura said, “I’ll need someone to help me wash my back.” She looked at Jake. “Any volunteers?”
“All right,” Squiggle said with a sigh, as if pondering an unpleasant task, “I’ll do it.”
Laura gave him a look that was not the least bit unfriendly. “Nice try,” she said with a laugh. “What do you say, Jakey-poo? You want to help me get clean?”
“How can I say no to an offer like that?” he asked, standing up.
“Don’t take too long in there,” Z said. “The rest of us still need to clean up as well.”
“We’ll see what we can do,” Laura said.
They went into the enclosed shower area and quickly stripped off their clothes. After spending the better part of ten minutes washing and caressing each other’s naked bodies under the warm spray, Jake dropped down to his knees before her and tongued her out until she became weak and wobbly and came all over his face.
“Oh my God,” she panted when he was done. “That was awesome. Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve had my pussy eaten out?”
“Hopefully not since the last time I did it,” he said.
“That was the last time,” she said, reaching out to stroke his hardness. “Why don’t I return the favor?”
“Mmm, maybe later,” Jake said, squirming reluctantly away from her. “The others are probably waiting for the shower and ... well ... we have a hotel room all to ourselves tonight, don’t we?”
“It’s a motel room,” she corrected, “but yes. I’ll have you all to myself for the whole night.”
“Let’s save it for there,” he said.
“If you insist,” she sighed, giving one last stroke of his member. “But I do want you to come in my mouth at least once tonight. I’ve kind of missed that.”
He nodded. “I think we’ll be able to arrange that.”
They toweled off and got dressed in their street clothes, leaving their stage clothes in the laundry hamper just inside the door. They emerged back out into the locker room to find that the groupies had been brought in. Jake was actually kind of surprised to see them. He had not realized there was even such a thing as smooth jazz groupies.
“About time,” Z said with a knowing smile. He had two fine looking male specimens sitting beside him. “Did you leave any hot water for the rest of us?”
“We were just making sure everything was clean,” Laura said sweetly. She grabbed another beer and then held out her hand to Z. “Got any more pot?”
“Of course,” he said, pulling a fresh joint from his pack of cigarettes.
She took it from him and put it in her mouth. “You got a light, sweetie?” she asked.
The motel they stayed in was just west of the airport in Amarillo. It was indeed squalid, but it was private. Laura and Jake retired to her room as soon as the bus pulled in. Z retired to his own room with his two male groupies in tow. Squiggle and Sally had brought no groupies with them on this night, but they went to Squiggle’s room with a bottle of Jack Daniels and a couple of two-liter bottles of Coke. Homer and Groove had each picked up a single groupie. They too retired to their rooms to enjoy the spoils of their status.
Jake and Laura fully reacquainted themselves with each other’s bodies behind the closed door of Room 114. They quickly undressed and then licked and sucked, probed and touched, caressed and stroked every little part they could find for the better part of an hour, until both of them were raging with desire and wanting. Laura then collected her prize, sucking Jake off until he shot a huge load into her gulping mouth. She swallowed every drop and then he returned the favor, starting at her toes and then licking his way up to her dripping chasm. After pulling three orgasms from her with his tongue, his little buddy was back in the game and ready for more action. He provided that action, sliding into tightness and fucking her in a variety of positions for the better part of another hour.
Finally, at long last, they collapsed onto the bed, both of them sweaty, panting, sated.
“Going without that is, by far, the hardest part of being out here on the road,” Laura said, as she sprawled her naked leg across his thigh.
Jake had never actually had to go without sex while out on the road—there had always been either groupies or Helen to keep him satisfied—but he knew where she was coming from. After all, he had been living on the other side of the equation for months. “I know what you’re saying,” he told her. “We’ve got a lot to make up for.”