**Hey you guys! Love, love, love your reviews! Awesome! A small disclaimer- if anyone love the rapper Big Sean, I am sorry for how I am portraying him in the story. I am sure he is a nice guy in real life, but in this story I have to make him an a-. Sorry... Anyway, love you much. Please keep reviewing and tootles!

Chapter 6

Sam made good on his promise and was knocking on Mercedes' door bright and early at 5am. To his surprise, she was up and ready to go running! Mercedes complained the first 10 minutes, cursing the heat, the hills and the trauma on her hair. But by the time they jogged back to the hotel, she actually thanked Sam for a great workout. They jogged for 2 miles and she felt wonderful. She liked it so much that she asked Sam if she could join him on his morning run the next day. Sam and Mercedes continued their jogging routine as the concert tour progressed to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and then Dallas, Texas. During those 3 ½ weeks, Sam told Mercedes more about his family and his love for music during their morning runs. Sam learned that Mercedes wrote music too, although she had not gotten up the nerve to let anyone read it. Still, the runs didn't stop the two of them from having their occasional knock-down drag-out fights. But at least the fights became less and less frequent. For example, they had been in Dallas for a week, and only had four fights - a record for them. This was their last day in Dallas before heading to their next stop, Nashville, Tennessee.

Sam was knocking on Mercedes' hotel door at 5am as usual. Mercedes came out after one knock, dressed in purple running tights that came to her knees and a white hoodie running jacket. Her hair was tied up into a ponytail. The outfit hugged her perfectly, which Sam took obvious notice of during their run. He tried to keep his eyes off her backside when she was running, but it was very hard for him to look anywhere else. How does her ass jiggle like that? He wondered to himself. They jogged at the nearby park, which was desolate and empty. While they jogged, Mercedes turned her head toward Sam.

"It looks like it is just us today?" She asked as they rounded a curve. Sam chuckled.

"I know right? Maybe the rest of Dallas is asleep?" Sam joked. Mercedes jiggled.

"Since we had the course to ourselves, want to extend it a bit?" She asked, her head remaining forward. Sam looked at her in surprise.

"Sure! How about we add 2 miles?"

"Let's do it." She answered with a smile. They stopped after 45 minutes to catch their breath and drink water.

"Do you miss writing?" Mercedes asked as she stretched. Sam shook his head and laughed.

"I write all the time. I can't help it. Even if I don't intend to let anyone see it, I have to write. It's inside of me." He turned his back to her and stretched. Mercedes took that opportunity to notice his strong legs and thighs. Sam was wearing shorts that came mid-thigh, so his rippling muscles were available to ogle. Thanks to his sweat, they clung to his body in practically every area. Mercedes slowly blew out a breath as she gawked at the ripples on his back and arms too. When Sam turned to her, Mercedes quickly looked at her feet.

"Yeah, I feel like that way about singing. When I have to sing, I just have to sing. Whether it is in front of a crowd, or alone in my bedroom."

"Who do you sing to in your bedroom?" Sam asked, not realizing how personal the question was. Mercedes gave him a sideway look, smirking. Sam realized what he said and his face turned bright red.

"Sorry…it's none of my business...I don't know why I said…Just forget it…I, I…" She held up her hands, laughing.
"Calm down, Chapstick! It's ok. Actually I sing to myself in the mirror. I watch my technique, facial expressions and sometimes just close my eyes let the music take over." Sam watched Mercedes closely, debating whether to say what he was thinking. He decided to give it a chance.

"You should sing one of your songs one day." Mercedes shook her head violently.

"No way. I am not ready for that yet. When I am, you'll be first to know." Mercedes looked at her cellphone strapped to her armband.

"Wow, it's late. I have to meet with makeup and hair at 10am and I haven't even packed yet." Mercedes began running toward the hotel. "Race you?" Sam easily reached Mercedes and the two sprinted back to the hotel. By the time they reached it, they were both covered in sweat.

"You did better than I thought, Diva? I'm impressed." Sam panted as he took a breath by the lobby doors.

"Thank you Urban Cowboy. I got a little skillz." She panted as she slumped on the floor next to the elevator. They both started laughing as the elevator doors opened and they limped inside.

"So," Mercedes began as she looked at Sam, "I have a smoothie maker in my suite with loads of fruit. Want to come get a smoothie?" Sam grinned, surprised by the invitation.

"Sounds good. Give me 15 minutes to shower and change?"

"Great." The elevator doors opened to Mercedes' floor and she shuffled out.

XXX

Sam ran his hair under the shower head and let the water wash the sweat off his body. His mind kept going back over the last couple of weeks with Mercedes. He couldn't' believe it, but he actually enjoyed himself with her. Once she let the façade of her stardom down, she was funny and sweet. He liked seeing her vulnerability and softer side, without all the head rolling and attitude. More than anything, he respected her toughness. She didn't let anyone run over her, whether it was her manager, the crew or Sam. She knew what she like and what she didn't like. Her confidence was very attractive and incredibly sexy.

Sam's mind was racing as he put on his clothes and combed his hair. After tonight's performance, the tour was heading to Nashville, Tennessee. He was having mixed reactions about their stops in Nashville. Although he was looking forward to seeing his old friends and possibly reconnecting with his music contacts, he was embarrassed about going back as Mercedes' P.A./bodyguard. That's a hell of a drop in status! Last time Sam was in Nashville, he was in the top of his field and the not looking forward to that at all. His Since the tour began, he had never been alone with Mercedes in her hotel room. For some reason now that he was going to, he felt incredible nervous. He gave himself an outfit check in the mirror and walked out of his room. The hotel was still pretty quiet when he knocked on Mercedes' suite.

The door swung open revealing a bare-chested black male with a bath towel tied around his waist. The man answered the door with a smile.

"Hey partner, what's up? What can I do for you?" Sam frowned and took a step back looking at the hotel room number.

"I'm sorry man. I must have the wrong room."

"No problem. Who you looking for?"
"Mercedes Jones?"

"Then you got the right place. This is her room. She's still in the shower though." The guy pointed to the door behind him, and then rubbed his chest, smirking.

"Oh…okay. You know what… never mind."

"You sure? Any message, partner?"

"No," Sam answered curtly, "Clearly she's busy. I'll just see her later." Sam turned and walked away from the room as quickly as he could. Once he was in the elevator, he tried to wrap his mind around what just happened. More importantly, why was he so pissed off about what just happened.

XXXX

"Sean, was that my door?" Mercedes called from the bathroom. A few minutes later she walked into the bedroom of her suite wearing a thick white bathrobe.

"Yeah, baby, but it's cool. We're alone now." The towel-clad gentleman sauntered up to Mercedes and wrapped his arms around his waist. He leaned in to kiss her neck, when Mercedes pushed his forcefully off of her. The force of the push surprised the man, who proceeded to fall on the floor next to the bed.

"Hold up, Sean Michael Anderson! First of all, I'm not your baby. We went out a couple of times, and true, we had fun. But don't get it twisted. It is not going down like that with us. So back up!" Mercedes looked at Sean like he grew four heads. The most intimate they had been was kissing on the couch.

"Can you please call me Big Sean? When you say Sean Michael Anderson, you sound like my mama."

"No, I won't. I'm not your groupie, or your chicken head. I'm gonna call you what your momma calls you- Sean." Big Sean shook his head, as Mercedes turned and walked to her closet.

"And put some clothes on! It's bad enough that you got the key to my room from front desk and used my shower without my permission! You're lucky you didn't use up all of my fucking hot water!"

"Mercedes, I was trying to surprise you." he explained, surprised by her attitude. Mercedes rolled her eyes.

"Try roses next time." She answered flatly as she continued to look through her closet.

"You know, some women would kill to have me in their hotel rooms with only a towel on." He murmured loudly. Mercedes turned to him, with her hand on her hip.

"Sean, your problem is that you are use to women kissing your ass 'cuz you're on the radio. Ok, you're cute and you can rap, but don't get it twisted. I am not going to jump up and down just because you decided to surprise me. You're going to have to do a hell of a lot more to woo me." Mercedes turned back to her closet and pulled out a linen pants suit. She laid it on her bed and stared at Big Sean, who was still on the floor.

"Duh, why are you still here?" She yelled.

XXXX

Sam walked around the backstage, shoving people to the side, so he could double check the set up for the concert that night. The concert was in an hour, so Sam had a ton of things to check, but his mind kept going back to Mercedes and the guy who was in her room. He learned the guy was actually Hip hop artist Big Sean. The entire crew was buzzing over his presence, circulating rumors that he and Mercedes were a hot item and serious lovers. Sam's stomach turned when he heard a group of dancers talking about the possibility of Big Sean joining the tour in order to closer to Mercedes. Sam walked out of the concert center and pulled out his phone. Before he knew it, he found himself calling Tina.

"Hey Sam! You must have been reading my mind. I was just thinking of you guys. How are you doing?

"Good, Tina." He lied with a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"Uh, huh. Yeah, you sound like you're full of crap. What's wrong? What did Mercedes do?"

"Nothing. Really."

"Ok, then how is she?"

"She's good, I guess."

"What do you mean you guess?"

"She's a little preoccupied with a visitor today. Big Sean." Sam heard Tina start to hoot loudly on the other end of the line.

"I can't believe he tracked her down. Again!"

"What do you mean tracked her down?"

"He and his agent have been working Sebastian like crazy to set up concert gigs with Big Sean to promote his new CD. He has also been pushing to have a publicity ploy that he and Mercedes was an item. Sebastian was considering it, but wanted to make sure they actually had chemistry."

"Well do they?" Sam asked anxiously.

"No. They're voice are ok together, but not great. Mercedes thought he was cute, but definitely not her type romance wise."

"So they never hooked up?" Sam asked bluntly.

"Oh hell to the no! Mercedes is very cautious about who she sleeps with and let's inside. Why do you think that?" Sam explained to Tina his run in with Big Sean that morning in Mercedes' room.

"Ha! That's nuts! There is an explanation for that, but it's not them being together. She would have definitely told me that." Tina laughed. Sam let out a deep breath and a smile covered his face.

"You seem relieved?" Tina observed quietly.

"What? No. Why would I care?" He asked quickly.

"Yeah, why indeed," she answered slyly. "Are you guys still running in the morning?"

"Yep. She hit five miles today."

"What! You're kidding!"

"No, she did! She was amazing!"

"Yeah," Tina replied with a pregnant pause.

"Well thanks Tina. Got to go. Call you later when we hit Tennessee. Kiss the baby for me." Tina giggled.

"Ok. Bye."

XXXX

The concert was well under way and Mercedes was on stage for her first encore performance. During the concert, any non-essential crew members or concert team members could relax, eat or drink in the green control room. Reporters and photographers were allowed to wait in the room to get candid shots or fit in short interviews. Sam was in the control room, listening to the concert via headphone while watching it from the short circuit big screen in the room. Behind him, Big Sean was sitting in the control room drinking champagne and talking to three reporters on the large leather sectional.

"So Big Sean, what do you say to the rumors about you and Mercedes being an item?" The brunette male reporter asked, pushing a tape recorder near Big Sean. Sam heard the reporter and turned his body so he could hear Big Sean's answer and see his face from the corner of his eye. Big Sean was smirking as he continued to sip the champagne.

"We're just good friends, y'all."

"Really?" the red-headed female reporter questioned. "Friends or friends with benefits?" Sam turned to look at Big Sean's face directly. Big Sean was waved his hands in the air.

"Oh man! Well you all know how I do. I can't resist a gorgeous ass and big brown eyes." Sam clenched his jaw and flexed his fist.

"So you are friends with benefits?" The blond male reporter pushed.

"Let's just say we provide benefits for each other in all the right ways. She's my girl and I truly, truly enjoy her."

"Does she enjoy you too?" The brunette reporter inquired.

"Every single chance she get. Why do you think I am even up here? My girl needed me to come and give her that special TLC." The male reporter slapped each other's hands.

"You got her climbing the wall, Big Sean?" the blond reporter added.

"Like I said, you know how I do, son. I complete satisfy." The reporters and Big Sean were laughing together on the sectional, while Sam tried to calm himself down. He needed to beat Big Sean's face. Desperately. He couldn't believe he lied like that to the reporter and was making Mercedes out to be some love struck teenage.

Before Sam could react, he got a distress message from the head of his security staff, Bobby, from inside the arena. Sam pulled out his short wave radio.

"Hey, Bobby. What's up?"

"Sam, we got a 10-16, and a 10-56." The security staff used radio ham shorthand to talk over problems that occurred at the concert locations. These particular codes indicated an intoxicated guy was involved in a domestic dispute with someone in the crowd. Usually that didn't matter to Sam, but if they radioed him, it probably meant that the guy was somewhere near Mercedes.

Sam ran out of the control room toward the right corner of the stage, behind the curtain. He scanned the audience and didn't see anyone moving.

"Bobby, where exactly is he? I don't see anyone yet."

"He's moving now, Sam. He's moving toward the right side of the stage. He's near the front." Sam quickly eyed the crowd and spotted a medium height white male dressed in baggy pants and jacket, sifting through the audience. The guy seemed to want to be directly in front of Mercedes, waving his hand to get her attention.