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“Watch and learn.” He rolls back his shoulders, and swaggers toward the bar.
“I’m sorry about him.” Leah grabs my arm the second he’s gone. “He’s Brock’s little brother. He’s a good kid, but he doesn’t know how to take a hint.”
“I was beginning to wonder if you thought I was a cougar.”
Leah tosses her head back with a laugh. She’s three drinks in but not tipsy at all.
I’m zero drinks in and already struggling to stay upright. Balance is not my friend. Sober or not.
“Come on, let’s get on the singing queue,” Leah says. We head up to the stage and spend the next five minutes looking through the songbook. We finally decide on a Dua Lipa song and wait for our turn offstage.
“Are you a good singer?” Leah asks as the couple before us finishes out their song.
“Not at all. Isn’t that the point?”
Leah looks a little concerned by my response. And when she starts singing, I can see why. She’s flawless. Oh well. I come in on my cue, completely startling her into silence with my atrocious vocals. But she recovers and joins in with a grin.
That’s the spirit. Or the alcohol.
I take her hand and we belt out the chorus.
The crowd is no doubt clapping for her, but I eat it up anyway. This feels good. Justin never wanted to do this with me. He hated it when I tried to sing. But me being in front of people singing like a wild banshee? He would have had a stroke.
I sing even louder to spite him.
A guy in the front row holds out his hands and several people line up. I’ve seen this wild crowd surf no less than seven singers tonight.
“They want you to crowd surf,” I yell to Leah.
She shakes her head. “No way. You do it.”
“I thought you wanted to do something wild.”
“Wild, not stupid,” she chuckles.
“See you on the other side then.” I salute her.
I’m about to step off the stage when I spot him. Tall, dark, and as mysterious as the night he kissed me. His green eyes meet mine across the sea of faces and the world stops moving for a moment. Until he recognizes me. I read the curse on his lips right before he slips a pair of sunglasses over his eyes and disappears into the crowd.
Not this time.
I look down to ensure there are enough people to hold me and launch myself into the waiting hands.
Chapter 6
Caleb
She saw me.
How is that woman everywhere?
I glance back to make sure the crowd caught her and that she didn’t faceplant onto the sticky bar floor.
But one glance was one too many, because her gaze seems to have a direct connection to mine. It helps that she’s being hoisted over people’s heads and is two feet higher than her normal tiny height.
I duck around a group of University students dressed in bright red gear and lift my hand to my ear, for no other reason than habit. And movies. But it doesn’t help the frequency at all.
“I’ve been made.” I dodge around a waiter and slip behind a private booth.