Chapter 26 #2
Krys smiled and raised his glass.
“You don’t know what you’re missing,” she continued, slurring her words. “I make more money than you could dream, and I’m good at giving head.”
I choked with laughter and quickly changed to a coughing fit so I wouldn’t get slapped.
She flattened her hands on the table. “You two carry on with your little lovefest out here. That’s probably why you’re all alone anyhow.”
After she stalked off, I lowered my gaze to the candle between us.
“Hey, ignore them.” Krys startled me when he put his hand over mine. “You look good tonight.”
I tugged at my silk shirt. “This old thing?”
“I don’t know if I’ve seen you in leathers before.”
“My wardrobe has a little of everything.” Leather pants weren’t my style, but I had a tantalizing pair of low-cut ones I wore on occasion.
Krys holding my hand left me nonplussed. Not only because he wasn’t one to initiate physical affection but because he was doing it publicly.
I stood and moved my chair next to his. “You smell delicious.”
He put his arm over the back of my chair. “I’m not wearing cologne.”
“Then I like your scent.”
Krys dipped his nose into my neck. When I heard the rush of air fill his lungs before he exhaled, my arms erupted in goose bumps.
“I like yours too,” he said.
“What do I smell like?”
Krys held his grin and teased me with silence.
“What? Tell me.” I sniffed underneath my arms. “Onions with a side of sausage? Or do I smell like sandalwood.”
When the karaoke stopped, he sat back. “Jesus. I never thought that song would end.”
Distracted by his remark, I pulled my hair in front of my face and sniffed, but nothing seemed off. Was it a good smell? Bad smell? No one had ever mentioned my smell before. Not since the time a skunk sprayed me. I didn’t have on cologne or aftershave.
Krys nudged me. “Sing something.”
“I can’t.” After finishing my beer, I set the bottle away from me. “Too many specters in our midst.”
“Fuck them. When you’re up there, don’t look at them. Look at me. Come on. I want to watch you sing. Do it for me.” His hand slid over my thigh, and my heart did a quickstep.
I hadn’t taken the stage and enthralled a crowd for years. Despite my fears, I wanted Krys to see me in my element—to witness the spell I could cast. But most of all, I wanted to impress the one person who mattered.
He kept his eyes fastened on me expectantly.
After I scooted my chair back, a rush of excitement washed over me. I rose to my feet and hitched up my leathers. “These humans aren’t prepared for the one and only Virgil Nightingale.”
From the bar, Krys stared across the clamorous room, worried that everyone would talk over Virgil’s performance. They’d barely paid attention to the previous singers. Shrieks of earsplitting laughter pealed out, and people shouted their orders at the bartender.
Krys found it strange that few noticed him. You couldn’t walk into a Breed bar without everyone assessing you as friend, foe, or fuck.
From his seat on the barstool, elbows resting behind him, he fixed his gaze on the small stage.
Red and yellow spotlights shone on the mic stand, and maroon curtains served as the backdrop.
When Virgil finished talking to the guy running the music, he strutted across the stage and tapped on the microphone.
He looked nervous for only a split second before he ran his fingers through his tousled hair and smiled down at the humans. “We’re gonna do this one without the music.”
The lights on the dance floor dimmed, and Krys suddenly felt nervous.
Virgil cupped the microphone. In a quiet, raspy voice, he began singing “House of the Rising Sun.”
He immediately arrested the crowd’s attention, beguiling them with each line, building to a crescendo. When he belted out the line about it being the ruin of many a poor boy, the crowd flocked to him.
Not to dance but to watch.
Krys suddenly found himself thinking about the broken relationship with his father. It ruined him more than the cage fighting ever did. The way Virgil delivered each word cracked him wide open. His textured voice was layered with emotion, but the intensity and control were incredible.
Virgil removed the mic from the stand and arched his back, swinging his arm as he belted out the chorus. A throng of women pushed their way to the stage, one of them clutching his ankle as if it were the Holy Grail.
Virgil Nightingale didn’t just sing to the crowd—he bewitched them. He seduced them with song, romanced them with movement.
When he finished, a quiet second passed before deafening cheers and applause followed.
Virgil put the mic on the stand and nodded at the guy running the karaoke machine.
“Anyone remember INXS? Me neither.” He laughed and suggestively stroked the microphone stand.
“I’m gonna do my own version.” A familiar beat started up.
Virgil ripped open his shirt, buttons flying everywhere, and flung it into the crowd.
He slid his hand down his bare chest to his leathers before slowly raising his arm and pointing directly at Krys. “This one’s for you, lover boy.”
Lyrics appeared on the corner TV, but Krys already knew what he’d chosen. It was “Need You Tonight.” The song that played in the background of their first kiss all those years ago.
Women danced with beers in hand when Virgil began making love to the microphone with his voice.
And now he was singing his and Krys’s song… to him.
Virgil walked the stage like he owned it. He was pure sex, the way he undulated his body, thrust his hips, and mesmerized the audience with his rapturous gaze. Krys finally appreciated that it wasn’t only Virgil’s voice that was an instrument but his whole being.
Every line made him fall deeper.
It made his wolf sing.
After Virgil performed two songs, the crowd chanted for more. Someone bought him drinks for a song, and he selected “Werewolves of London.” He was incredibly versatile, and the crowd wanted him to sing all night, but he didn’t. When he finished, they retired the karaoke machine for the night.
Hours had passed. A group of pool players invited Krys to join them while Virgil schmoozed with his fans.
When he got bored, he decided to hunt down Virgil and see if he was ready to leave.
He searched the bathrooms and billiard room.
On his way through the main room, he scanned the tables and bar area.