Songbird (Songbird, #1) (14 page)

“Oh, he’s the owner of this place. He’s really nice,” I replied sincerely. “We usually end up drinking all night for free whenever we come here. He’s even driven me home a couple of times.”

“I bet he has,” Riley said, looking at Cooper with a strained expression.

I laughed. “There’s nothing going on, and there’s no chance of anything happening with me. He’s a
good friend
of Jason’s.”

Riley exhaled and visibly relaxed.

“Don’t worry, he’s just scoping out the competition,” Cooper joked, and he gave Riley a slap on the back.

I shook my head, but was internally giving myself a high five. Was Riley really feeling threatened by Marcus? How ridiculous was that?

Jason and I had been into
Songbirds
a lot since I’d become Jason’s neighbour, but it was always because Jason wanted to see Marcus and needed a ‘wingman’, not because I had any romantic interest. Let’s face it; I was definitely not his type.

It was time for karaoke to start, and as always, people were crowding Marcus to select their songs.

“Okay, I’m going to trial something tonight, because everyone wants to sing and not everyone will get the chance to,” Marcus announced.

“Not everyone wants to,” Kelli whispered.

I grinned at Kelli as Marcus continued. “So we’re trying what I like to call Karaoke Bingo. You all have numbers on your tables so if I call yours out, someone from your table will get to come up and sing.”

There was a murmur through the crowd as people located their table numbers, then waited for the first to be drawn.

Table eight was called out. A group of girls near us screamed excitedly, and one jumped up and made her way to the stage where she belted out ‘I Will Survive’ to a thunderous round of applause.

As the night went on various people got up to sing. Some relished the attention, others were a little timid, but Marcus rewarded each singer with a drink voucher.

“Okay, the next table is lucky seven,” Marcus announced.

Kelli and I looked at each other in dumb silence.

Cooper jumped up. “Cool, I’ll sing!”

But Kelli pulled him back down quickly. “There is no way you are getting up there.”

I laughed at Kelli’s reaction.

“Why not, babe?” Cooper asked a little dejected.

“Because every time you sing at a karaoke bar, you sing ‘You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling’.” She leaned over to me. “I swear he thinks he’s Tom Cruise in
Top Gun
.”

“Well someone has to sing,” I said, looking around the room. “Everyone’s waiting.”

Kelli had the most defiant look on her face I had ever seen. “You know how I feel about singing. I would rather chew glass.” She crossed her arms over her chest and sat back in her chair. There was no way she would volunteer. I knew she wasn’t entirely joking about preferring to chew glass.

I was starting to think that I may have to get up.

“I’ll do it.” We all looked up at Riley as he stood and started to turn towards the stage, then he leaned in to Kelli and winked. “This is payback for introducing me to Tara.”

He was clearly nervous and looked over to me for support, as he inhaled and then slowly exhaled. I smiled and nodded encouragingly to him and he smiled his crooked smile back. He placed his hands on the microphone which was still in the stand in front of him and leaned in, making the muscles in his arms tense, the edge of his T-shirt now pulled tight around his biceps. A group of girls wolf whistled and called out something that sounded like ‘get it off!’ and his eyes flicked over in their direction for a split second before settling back onto me.

The music started and I instantly recognised the song. He had chosen ‘Just the Way You Are’ by Bruno Mars. Watching Riley sing was surreal; it was like being in a movie. Everything around me faded to black, until it felt like we were the only two people in the room. As he stood there, still leaning in with both hands resting on the microphone, his body started to rock back and forth in time with the music. The girls in the audience went ballistic, but his gaze never left my face—he sang every word to me, and in return, I couldn’t take my eyes off him.

At the end of the song he stepped back and exhaled, puffing out his cheeks, then smiled a full beaming smile. The crowd—mainly the girls—cheered loudly and wolf whistled once more, trying to gain his attention, but he didn’t seem to hear them as he made his way back to the table.

Kelli tapped me on the arm. “You can wipe that lustful grin off your face now.”

“Huh? Oh yeah, sorry.” I blushed.

Riley sat back down, looking happy that it was over. “Remind me never to do that again. I’d rather jump out of a plane any day of the week.”

He leaned back in his chair and casually slung his arm along the back of my chair, effectively putting his arm around me.

Leaning over, I gave him a little kiss on the cheek. “You were awesome,” I told him.

I knew it was bold of me to kiss him, but it was restrained, compared to what I really wanted to do at that moment. My body felt like it was on fire.

“It was worth the embarrassment just to get a kiss,” he replied shyly, lightly stroking my bare shoulder with his thumb.

“My boy’s got moves,” Cooper observed with a grin as he took another swig of his beer.

Riley laughed, but from the way Cooper flinched, I was sure he’d kicked Cooper under the table.

I looked at Kelli out the corner of my eye and grinned. She just rolled her eyes at me and laughed, watching Riley’s thumb continue to stroke my shoulder. I exhaled, and, biting my bottom lip, took a sneaky look at Riley. He was watching me, that smile in his eyes ever present. I gave him a smile and leaned into his side, and I felt him physically relax as he leaned over and gave me a lingering kiss on the head.

About half an hour later, to our dread, Marcus called out table seven again. We all looked at each other, waiting for someone to volunteer.

“I’ve already taken one for the team,” Riley declared, sitting back and settling in with his beer.

Kelli leaned over to me. “Please don’t let Coop sing. You have to do it.”

Taking a deep breath, I finished the rest of my Bud, and then stood.

Okay, you can do this,
I told myself, but what to sing? Kelli and I had been listening to Beyoncé in the car again, so that was the music that was freshest in my mind.

“‘Love On Top’ please, Mr Music,” I said to Marcus.

Marcus raised an eyebrow. “Okay. It’s your call.”

I walked over to the microphone, closed my eyes and took a deep breath to calm my nerves. I could do this; I used to sing all the time and enjoyed it. This was step one in getting my old mojo back again.

My heart was racing as I looked at the crowd of expectant faces, and I quickly closed my eyes again. Better not to look.

The music started, I opened my eyes, and began to sing.

By the chorus I had found my groove and was enjoying myself. By the second key change, the crowd were really cheering and some people were up and dancing. I felt at home up on the stage, and I wondered to myself how I could ever let anyone take this feeling away from me. I wouldn’t allow it to happen again.

At the end of the song, I went over to Marcus. He was beaming at me. “You were great!” He leaned over and gave me a hug and kiss on the cheek. “Unbelievable!”

Making my way back to the table, I felt exhilarated after having sung in front of a crowd for the first time in ages.

“You were fucking awesome. I knew you were a sly one,” Cooper declared as he jumped up and gave me a huge hug.

Kelli gave me a nudge. “You were okay I guess …” She trailed off, laughing.

I sat back down. Riley was beaming at me with pride, then leaned in and kissed me tenderly on the cheek, the heat from his lips searing through my body. “You were amazing. You looked like you were born for the stage.”

We had another drink—was it my fourth or fifth?—and celebrated and toasted each other loudly for whatever excuse we could think of, before I excused myself for a moment and made my way to the bathroom.

I was just heading back to the table, enjoying the song that a guy wearing a cowboy hat was singing, and wondering to myself why anyone would be wearing a cowboy hat in the middle of Melbourne, when someone grabbed my wrist and yanked me backwards. Before I knew what was happening, I was plonked unceremoniously onto a guy’s lap, his hands groping as they clumsily slid under the hem of my dress and up my thigh, rank beer breath in my face.

“I’ll give you love on top,” he slurred as he leaned forward and I felt his slimy tongue lick my face.

Ugh! It was gross,
he
was gross, and I struggled to push him away, while at the same time trying to keep his hands from reaching any further up my dress. Blind panic was making my feeble attempt futile and my throat closed up so I couldn’t call for help. I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t think what to do, I just wanted to get away from him, but everything I tried was useless. He was too big and too strong.

Then as suddenly as it had started, I was lifted off him and gently placed on my feet.

“Are you okay?” Riley asked, searching my face for an answer.

I nodded, shell shocked, before he nodded and turned his furious eyes on the drunk.

“That’s my girlfriend you’re manhandling,” he blazed.

“Well, I think she needs a real man to show her a good time,” he slurred, standing to his enormous full height.

Within about five seconds Riley had the drunken guy face-down on the table with his arm twisted up his back.

He leaned over the man, who was now yelping in pain, and hissed, “Don’t
ever
touch a lady without permission, especially if she’s
my
lady. Do you understand?”

The drunk mumbled something that sounded like agreement and I thought the incident was over, but while Riley had been dealing with one guy, his mates were getting up to join in. Cooper saw one of them making a move on Riley and wrestled him to the ground, and then out of nowhere Marcus was there as well.

The three guys threw the drunks out to cheers and hollers from the crowd, while I just stood there, glued to the spot, shaking from the shock of what had just happened.

Marcus came back in first and raced over to me.

“Are you okay, Tara?” he asked, holding me at arm’s length so he could examine my face, then he pulled me into a hug. “I’m so sorry I didn’t get over here sooner.”

I was still shaking, and tears stung my eyes. I tried to speak, to reassure Marcus that I was fine, but all that came out was a sob as my breath hitched in my throat.

Then Riley was beside me and I was somehow transferred from Marcus’s arms to his. He didn’t say anything he just held me, his arms wrapped all the way around me, and I relaxed into his embrace, finally feeling safe. The adrenalin left me and the tears started to flow. Riley stroked my hair and we stood there for what seemed like an eternity until I managed to compose myself again.

“You called me your girlfriend,” I said as I lifted my head from his shoulder to look into his concerned eyes.

“You heard that, did you?” His eyes softened as he gave me a half grin. “It just came out in the heat of the moment, I’m sorry …”

“Don’t apologise. I liked the sound of it.” And I leaned back in for another hug.

We started the walk back to my apartment soon after. Kelli and Cooper were walking in front of us with their arms around each other, and every few steps Cooper would kiss her head or squeeze her closer to him. I was watching them and how they responded to each other when Riley laced his fingers with mine. I looked up into his sapphire-blue eyes as we walked, then rested my head on his shoulder, my free hand holding his arm while my thumb stroked his bicep.

“Thank you for coming to my rescue. I was really scared; that guy was strong,” I said, remembering the incident and how panicked I had felt. “You handled him really well, though.”

“It’s part of the training, and I wasn’t going to let him put his hands any further up your dress.” He squeezed my hand and smiled down at me, but I could see his jaw tense with the memory of what had so recently happened.