Page 20 of Malice and Surrender
“Back here,” I managed to call out. “I’m going to need that back.” I pointed up to the box Jace had set up high, and his lips curled up like he found me amusing.
He grabbed the box, and I gave him the best fuck you look I could muster. “You can bring that, since you’ve put me behind schedule.”
I left him standing in the aisle like he was no more than an employee and spotted Avro picking up the box at the bottom of the stairs. I grabbed a couple of whiskey bottles on the way past to give my hands something to do and didn’t even care that I didn’t write it down.
Avro looked up as he picked up the box, and his mouth dropped open, but nothing came out.
“Nothing was going on,” I answered before he could ask the question. “Jace here had a question about his setup and was nice enough to offer to carry the box.” I glared over my shoulder at the guy who I would be happy if I never saw again. “Isn’t that right, Jace?”
“Oh, I definitely had a question about the setup, all right,” he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. It felt like he meant something else, and I narrowed my eyes, but he was no longer looking at me and was staring at Avro instead.
I couldn’t deal with this or them right now. I needed to get back to work. Maybe I was excreting extra pheromones or something. First Avro all day, then Dennis, and now Jace. It made me worry. What the hell did the rest of the evening have in store for me?
I did not just put that out to the universe. I did not put that out to the universe.
I looked up at the ceiling as I stepped out of the cellar. “I take it back. I never thought that or said anything,” I whispered under my breath, but already, it felt like I’d just sealed my fate with something a whole lot worse.
Kaivan
Roach marched right up to the bouncer, past the long line of people, and whispered in his ear. I saw him hand over a large roll of cash. There was a couple of grand in that, easy.
Either he was in love with Lane, or Hollywood gave the best blow jobs that I knew nothing about because that was a shit ton of money to get into a club. Roach was many things but loose with his money was not one of them. He made my lack of spending look frivolous.
The bouncer nodded and pushed open the door. The loud music from the band on stage assaulted my ears as we stepped inside. The place smelled like fucking sweet candy and flowery perfume. Then again, a sea of mostly screaming women would do that to a place.
Roach pointed to a group that had gotten close to the stage. “Lane is up there with that group.”
“Great,” I said with no enthusiasm.
I followed in Roach’s wake and felt like I had somehow ended up in teeny-bopper hell. Had I not spent enough time being tortured by going to jail? Now I needed to be surrounded by a mass of screaming girls as they swooned over the dude singing on stage, ignoring me like I didn’t exist. Maybe I really had died, and this was my hell.
The lead singer knelt near the front as he drew out a long note, and it was clear that someone fainted as he reached out and touched their hand. Really? I needed a drink, but the main bar was on the other side of the club, and that meant wading through the throngs of hysterical females to get there. That felt a little like I was taking my life in my hands. I nudged Roach’s shoulder.
“I’ll keep an eye on your girl, but you’re going to get me a drink for being dragged into this,” I yelled into his ear.
“She’s not my girl.” He glared at me.
“Don’t give a fuck. I want a drink.” He nodded, and I watched as he was swallowed up by the sea of people.
Leaning against the wall out of the way, I kept one eye on Lane and the other on the stage. I could admit that the music wasn’t terrible. It wasn’t what I usually listened to, but it didn’t make my ears bleed. The guy looked around my age, maybe a little younger, but it was his attitude that grated me the wrong way. He reminded me too much of the guy I was before I went to prison. Full of cockiness, potential, and dreams. This guy was the walking epitome of what I could’ve been.
Lane and the other sorority girls she came with jumped up and down, clapping as the singer made his way to their end of the stage. I snorted as he grabbed Lane’s hand and kissed her knuckles. If Roach saw that, this guy was going to lose his cock later.
The song wrapped up with a bang, and the lead singer bowed and blew kisses to the crowd. “Next up, we have the Eclipse challenge,” he said, and the crowd went bananas.
I covered my ears as a swarm of screaming people turned toward the bar. What the hell was wrong with this place?
“Time is on the clock,” the singer said and pointed to the massive clock, showing three minutes, on a countdown clock at the opposite end of the room. Beside it was a massive projector screen as big as any movie theatre. I was drawn in like the rest of the crowd, waiting to see what would happen.
“The contestants are ready!”
The camera panned to the bar and showed a guy looking like he’d just stepped out of a gothic vampire porno. My eyebrow raised at not only the outfit but the man himself. Some dudes had it all, and it seriously wasn’t fair. He looked like he could either be on the cover of goth weekly as the next hot thing or strip it off and go full Magic Mike. You shouldn’t be allowed to have both types of hot. What was left for the rest of us?
“In our first corner, we have Avro, who is tall, dark, and sexyyy.” If this guy decided he didn’t want to sing anymore, he could make it as an emcee, cause he had the flare down. “Avro is coming in at six foot three and has a fetish for making you melt with his moves on the bar,” the singer said, and his voice dipped suggestively, which caused another round of cheers. Of course, this guy would confirm that the bartender Avro could dance on the bar. If not, why not? Come on, seven circles of hell.
“In our other corner, we have Raine, who comes in at five-four and is the spicy underdog. Raine takes no shit, and boys, don’t let that hot little body fool you. She has moooves,” he said and bit his lip.
My eyes snapped away from the stage to the screen, and my world narrowed on the face that was smiling and waving to the crowd. Those big blue eyes were the same, the thick full lips hadn’t changed, and that smile could still stop a car in its tracks. Her cheeks were pink with the same look of embarrassment she always got when called out. It made her look ripe for eating.
