Chapter 11 #2
However, nothing compared to that until a woman got up to imitate Marilyn Monroe.
She was even wearing the famous white dress that Marilyn wore, but when she started singing “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend,” everyone at our table covered their ears.
Yes, it was that bad. At one point, the DJ cut the mic.
But she was good to look at. At least her boobs were.
Roxie had finally figured out that somebody had paid off our waitress, and she waved a twenty at her so that she came back to our table and delivered four more tequila shots.
I watched Joy sway to some songs when people did a decent job singing.
She was really getting into it. I was closely monitoring her window.
I looked around at the other men and saw that they were observing their women as well.
“We’re up,” Roxie yelled.
I looked over at her as she and Ava stood up.
What the hell?
I hadn’t even realized they’d put their names in. Jesus, this was going to be either good or a train wreck. I sat back in my chair. Whichever way it went, I was going to be entertained.
Joy cuddled closer as we got ready to watch. This was the first time I had a chance to really get a look at Roxie’s outfit. She was dressed pretty much like Ava. They were both knockouts, and they were dressed to impress. As soon as they got up on stage, the wolf whistles and catcalls started.
The opening notes of “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” by Cyndi Lauper blared through the speakers, and from the first off-key note, it was a disaster.
They were laughing too hard to even keep up with the lyrics as they hung onto one another, bumped hips, and danced with their hands in the air.
It didn’t matter how badly they sang, everybody was clapping and stomping their feet.
By the time they stumbled back to our table, everyone was demanding an encore, but Brent and Hart switched their seats, so they were now seated next to them, and kept them firmly by their sides.
“Stunning performance,” Hart said dryly.
“You brought down the house!” Lisa enthused.
“You should go next, Joy. You have a fantastic voice,” Ava yelled across the table.
Joy jolted. Roxie called out for another round of shots, and the waitress delivered again, so I knew our time was limited. Maybe Joy would get out of singing.
I watched as Ava pulled Roxie up to the DJ, and a lot of talking was done, and money exchanged hands. Oh God, this would not be pretty.
Another person was waiting, and they sang a song by Madonna, which left the audience flat. Then the DJ told everybody to quiet down. Joy didn’t have a clue that she was being set up.
“Joy, you don’t have to do—”
“Ladies and gentlemen, we have a small-town girl from Jasper Creek. I would like to introduce to you Joy Magill, who I have been told has the voice of an angel.”
Joy turned her head, hiding her face in my chest.
“Come on, Joy,” Ava shouted. “You’ve got this!”
“You’ll have fun,” Roxie assured her.
“It’s only five minutes of your life,” Lisa said as she pushed over another tequila shot.
Joy looked up from my shirt, picked up the shot, drank it down, wiped her mouth, and took just a small sip of water.
“No more cookies for the two of you,” she pointed at Ava and Roxie.
I leaned in until my lips were against her ear. “You don’t have to do this,” I whispered again.
She squeezed my shoulder and smiled. “I’ve got this.”
Hell, every time I turned around, there was more and more to like about this woman.
I watched as she made her way up to the stage.
She and the DJ conferred for a moment, then she turned around, pointed two fingers toward her eyes, and then pointed them back at Ava and Roxie, who were laughing so hard I thought they might fall out of their chairs.
Now what?
Joy took the mic and went to the middle of the stage. When I had picked her up from Miss Laverne’s, my eyes had popped out when I saw her body-hugging pink dress, but now, seeing her under the stage lights, my tongue was about to fall out of my mouth.
The stage lights cast a golden glow over her, making her hair shimmer. The music started. It took a moment for me to recognize it, and when I did, I looked at Ava and Roxie and glared. It was “I Kissed a Girl” by Katy Perry. Then Joy started singing.
Holy. Fucking. Hell.
She started off soft. Her voice was husky, maybe a little shy, but she hit every word and note smoothly and effortlessly. The room went quiet. We were all waiting for her to start the chorus. And when she did, she did not disappoint.
“I kissed a girl, and I liked it.”
She sang loud and passionately, her delivery fun and flirty, yet you still felt like she meant every word. I looked around, and every single person I saw was grinning. The entire crowd was drawn in, even the women. It was like she owned the stage.
When she got to the line, It felt so wrong/It felt so right, I got so hard, my cock could pound nails.
She kept singing. Once again, she dropped down to that soft, husky tone, her body swaying just a little. But then it came time for the chorus once more, and she belted it out. She swayed as she sang, and as she moved to the music, and all I could think of was sex.
Hot, sweaty sex.
The song lasted a second or forever, I wasn’t sure. But when the last note faded away, people jumped to their feet and stomped the floor. Then my Joy blushed. She wobbled back to the DJ to return the mic.
“What do you say, ladies and gentlemen? Should we have Joy sing another song?” the DJ asked the crowd.
I saw Joy’s embarrassment, and I made it up to the stage in a nanosecond. People were calling for her to sing another song, but looking at her discomfort, I knew I needed to get her out of there.
When I got to her, I leaned in close, my lips just brushing her ear. “We’re leaving. Now.”
Her breath hitched, and she gave me a grateful smile.
As I led her through the crowd, her fingers tightened around mine, her breath still uneven from her singing. I leaned down, murmuring in her ear, “You have no idea what you just did to me.”
Her soft gasp told me she had some idea. I looked into her eyes and saw stark need staring back at me. Well, fuck me. Maybe slow was no longer necessary.