Sin's Haven (4 page)

With that
acceptance, the pressure was now squarely on her shoulders to deliver.

She had to nail
each song request because although she wasn’t a fan, Jaxon James was willing to
leave without some cash tonight for their cause. It was her goal to be sure he
did. And, no way could she muster up the guts to pull off another night like
this. Not with Jay’s image haunting her at every old scuff on the black stage
floor. How many of those had been left by Jay’s rubber soled biker boots? She
didn’t belong up here. Her place was at the door or behind the counter. Not
here.

Her palms sealed
around the mic stuck in her grip.

“Well, all right
then, ten bucks a pop it is and thanks.” Mark covered his heart with his hands
and bowed in the direction of the rock star’s table.

Mark turned to Hazel
again and quietly asked, “You ready,
hun
? You’ve got
this.”

Hazel just
nodded and gave him a smile. She owed Mark her sanity.

He gave Julie a
quick kiss and then returned to the nearby bar.

It was dark. But
as Hazel stepped closer to the mic to take her first request, she stumbled. She
looked up as if on cue, feeling some need to apologize for her clumsiness. And
also that Mr. Eyes and his friends weren’t even getting an actual artist for
their money tonight.
Nope, just her, glorified coffee bar
slash bagel mistress by day, tired cocktail waitress by night.
Nerves
could have caused her trip up, but she knew it was because of what was going on
back by the curtain.

Mr. Eyes had
left his table to go stand there. Now Hazel wondered not what, but who he was
waiting for.

At the bar, she
could see Mark’s eyes widening, probably cueing her to get started. He split a
huge, worried smile and she remembered where she was and what she was supposed
to be doing. But before she could get a word in, another of the women from The
Table stood and walked up to her.

“Hi, may I make
a very special request before you get started?” the woman asked.

Hazel swallowed
while trying to watch Mr. Eyes. Sidetracked, she said without thinking, “Sure,
what can I sing for you?”

The earthy but
stylish woman leaned in closer, reminding her of a kindred spirit, a blonde
version of her old bohemian self. Hazel took the cue to move the mic out of the
way so no one would overhear. “Did you see the giant sweetheart who was sitting
at my table?”

Hazel glanced
that way.
“The blond man?”
He was no giant but his
legs clearly didn’t fit under the table and his shoulders looked broad. If she
had to guess, Hazel would say he was country bred whereas the rest of them had
migrated.
Probably from California.

The woman
smiled, obviously in love. “No, that’s my hubby. I mean the one wearing the tie
with the long brown hair.”

Oh, her Mr. Eyes,
Hazel thought. “Okay, yes I see him. He’s by the curtain now.” She felt a flush
of embarrassment that she knew exactly where he’d gone.

But the woman only
smiled warmly. “It’s his birthday and I was wondering if at some point tonight,
you could ask the room to sing him Happy Birthday.”

“Sure, I can do
that.
But not now?”
Happy Birthday was something Hazel
and most every human being on the planet could sing in their sleep. She’d love
to start things off on a positive note. And she liked this woman who obviously
cared about Mr. Eyes.

“No,
not yet.
We’re still waiting for one more
person
to show up.”

Hazel could have
sworn the woman’s mouth had twisted for a split second.

“Okay, I’ll wait
a bit and maybe you can just give me a sign when your friend shows up.”

“Oh, she’s not
my friend,” said the woman tersely.

“O-
kaay
.”

“Sorry, that’s a
good idea. I’ll wave when it’s time.”

She made to
leave but Hazel couldn’t help her curiosity. “Um, can I just ask you real
quick, so that I, uh, know who I’m singing this to, what’s
his
name? The one whose birthday it is.”

The bohemian
dressed woman smiled again and Hazel could tell it was genuine. Still keeping
her head close to Hazel’s, she turned so that they both looked toward the back
curtain where he stood, fidgeting with the heavy drape. “That’s Benny. He’s
thirty-one tonight. Oh, and I’m Trista, by the way.”

“Benny,” she
said, testing out Mr. Eye’s actual name. It was nearly impossible not to smile
when she said it but a couple seconds and she realized the woman had just
introduced herself as well.
The woman, Trista, who was now
grinning.
“I mean, Trista, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Hazel.”

“Hazel, I love
that name. Well sweetie, thanks so much. Oh, while we’re waiting, maybe you
could sing his favorite song. Are you familiar with the Cotton Cannibals?”

Wow, that was so
random but yes, she’d heard of the female indie group. They sported wigs that
looked like cotton candy but wore blood red, ripped up and shredded dresses.
The one song Hazel knew was one that had made it onto the soundtrack for a
zombie movie she’d gone to see with Jay.
One of their first
dates.
They’d walked holding hands back to his car afterwards, humming
the words. “I know one song. Um, ‘Cling’?”

So Benny’s
favorite song was about knowing when to let go.

“Holy shit,
that’s the one,” said Trista.

Trista smoothed
her hands over the sides of her dress as if she didn’t have the words for what
she really wanted to say and then slid them down into the front pockets. Her
smile lit up her peachy skin. She had just started to make her way to the table
and her
studly
blond husband only a few feet from the
stage when the dividing curtain keeping the club and café separate opened as a
pixie-like woman topped with a shock of punk rock yellow, red and orange hair
stepped in.

Was Hazel seeing
things? Had her nerves about this night sent her this far over the edge? Was
Erby
Wells now joining them too? She sucked in a breath and
remembered one of the last concerts she and Jay had attended together. It had
been
Lonerby
opening for Sin Pointe. The air didn’t
even bother to leave her mouth this time when she exhaled. No way could it have
through teeth clenched this tightly. She prayed her budding tears would suffer
the same fate. What was the universe trying to do to her?
Enough
with the distractions already.
It was too much.

****

She.
Looked.
Amazing.

Amazingly
uncomfortable.
Her midnight red tapping fingertips on
her hips made him frown for a second as they stood there together. Benny eyed a
few flyers stuck on the nearby wall and re-read the one specific for tonight
just to have something to do other than fixate on
Erby’s
skin. The printer this club had used was going way too heavy on the shading and
the singer pictured for tonight’s charity event looked like a big, colorless,
gray and black blob. Which was a shame because if she looked anything like the
woman in the apron he’d seen earlier, this crappy print job was doing her no
justice.

And then there
was
Erby
who brought color to life but whose toes hadn’t
stopped tapping. Benny swallowed.

But wasn’t it
understandable though, because didn’t he feel the exact same way inside about
finally taking the leap into the dating realm? Benny wouldn’t fool himself into
thinking
Erby
had said no to every single guy who had
come onto her the past six years the way he would have if a girl had shown
interest in him. Her anxiety probably wasn’t spilling out due to pent up needs
like his, but it was pretty thick at the moment. He hoped
Erby
knew he wanted so much more than just to hook up, if that was what had her
fingers smoothing her dress.

These damn tight
pants. Was he sending a message the way girls did with their low cut blouses
and colorful lips? There had been that one cute waitress at the window earlier
who’d
waved at him. He didn’t want
Erby
to know how good that attention had felt.
Or how he’d gotten
a slight chub.
He shouldn’t even be thinking about that right now. Benny
cleared the image of the hostess’s pretty blue eyes and focused on his date.

On the ride
over, he’d staked everything on her showing up tonight.
Even
his reputation with the guys.
Who didn’t know how long he’d been pining
over
Erby
? They all did. And they were rock stars who
thought he was crazy to wait so long on a chick. That was okay because it meant
they didn’t see her the way he did.

The orange and
yellow shocking hair didn’t shock him anymore, but its tips dipped in red still
sped up his heartbeat. On cue, just like that, he was a lost cause to her
porcelain skin and pink polka dot dress. Underneath it all, she’d be so soft
while he held her close to him.

 
Benny wished they were here on a real date. It
would be perfect. He’d check them in and let
Erby
enter first to follow the host to their table. Something in a corner, set for
two with the small candle already lit.

“Can I get you
two something
to drink or an appetizer?” The bartender’s
question startled Benny but yeah, something to drink would be awesome. “The
house nachos are pretty good if you like spicy but there’s catfish bisque on special
tonight too. I can bring you drinks now, if you’re ready,” said the man whose
shirt had “Mark” embroidered on the left and “Owner” beneath that. This was the
guy who needed to know about his crappy printer. Benny would have said
something about it if it hadn’t been for who he heard next.

“Corona for me,
sweetie” said
Erby
, finally letting out that crystal
clear voice that drove him thunderbolts crazy whether she was singing or
speaking. She topped it off with a wink for the guy. God, she was amazing.
Benny stepped closer to her again to fill the space between them but when he
did, she scooted back, re-opening the cool gap.

Mark turned to
Benny and apparently felt he’d waited too long. He probably had but Benny
couldn’t take his eyes off his
date
. The
guy prompted him again. “Sorry, I’ll take a Coke,” said Benny.

“And
rum?
Maybe some Jack?”

“No,
just the Coke.
Thanks, man.”

The owner turned
to fill their order.

“You look really
beautiful tonight,
Erby
. Your dress is really, really
pretty.” He sounded okay, he was almost sure. Jaxon’s pep talk before he’d left
the house reminded him to be cool but confident. She just nodded at him and
half-crooked her mouth into an adorable, skillful smile. So what if it was the
same one she’d just shown the guy while ordering her beer.

Before he had a
chance to scoot any closer to her, the owner walked up to the mic on the small
stage. “Tonight we have the lovely and talented…”

The guy hadn’t
stopped talking but Benny’s ears ditched the rest of whatever he was saying. Not
on purpose, he was sure the local girl was great and all, kind of like the cute
waitress who’d waved at him earlier, but it was probably time for him to say
something else to his hot lava date.

“I’m really
happy you came tonight. I can walk you over to our table and then come back and
get whatever you’d like to eat. Whenever you know what you want.” He was
bumbling; he could hear it. Trista and
Lucky’s
little
Eddie would have come out sounding smoother and he was still teething.

“I’ll take the
nachos, please, sweetie.” Funny she was talking to him but looking around and
behind her, and he kind of wished she’d see him as something other than
sweetie. Stefan called him that. It wasn’t his favorite pet name. Anyhow, Benny
should let her know that Jaxon had rented the place out for some much needed
privacy tonight so she didn’t have to keep darting her eyes toward the
entrance, worrying about being bothered.

“Okay.
Me too.
Cool.” He sounded way too much like his gangly old
self who
Erby
hadn’t been interested in for what felt
like eons. “If you want to go sit down, I’ll bring our food when it’s ready,”
he said buckling down on his low, man voice. Dude, he sounded so weird.
Erby
hadn’t responded, just kept scoping out the club. Well
at least he wasn’t the only one nervous about tonight. He took that as a good
sign. Whatever they started tonight, they’d be on equal footing.
Friends.
Partners.
Tent mates.
Benny turned around to get the attention of the
other dude working behind the bar and order food for his date. He smiled.

****

Erby
Wells, lead singer of local band gone big time,
Lonerby
,
stood there against the heavy plum curtain like a neon beam of light in the
dark club. Hazel’s instincts were to leave the stage and welcome her like a
good hostess but Benny had beaten her to it. A thousand questions about the man
she’d become fascinated with made her feel like a crazy person. She wanted to
sing his favorite song but he was taking forever to come back and sit down. Now
she knew why.