Sin's Haven (5 page)

Jaxon James shouted
out for a Roy Orbison classic while Trista’s husband wanted her to cover the
baritone Josh Turner. Unfortunately, she had to go with Jaxon on this one and
whispered to Julie that they could try “Pretty Woman.” Good thing she knew the
words by heart because her mind was elsewhere.

How did Benny
know
Erby
Wells? Was she the reason he looked so
manic? Wow, he was really tall next to her. How tall was he?
Six-five
maybe?
Why hadn’t anyone else at Benny’s table turned to at least greet
Erby
? They guys had cared more about outdoing each other’s
requests. Surely they knew each other well enough, the rich and famous. Wait.
Hazel felt a tinge of nervous speculation that this might be
the
someone
special Trista had asked her to wait for.

Watching perhaps
a little too closely, Hazel couldn’t tear her gambling eyes away from Benny as
he waited with
Erby
. For a second he looked like he
had leaned down to give her a hug but she twisted away to look at something
else and then he had a hand at his ear like he had a sudden itch to scratch. He
was trying to play off
Erby’s
dismissal. Hazel had seen
him order something from Dusty, and now he just stood there by the female
rocker’s side, facing Hazel and the stage, waiting.

And there it
was.

A smile that
made Hazel
want
to smile back. Apparently Hazel had
avoided connecting with people for so long now that she’d lost that special
touch she used to have of reading them. She’d been dead wrong about his aura.
What surprised
her the
most was how empty she now
felt. She wouldn’t be getting that chance to figure him out. He didn’t need her
help. He had someone.
Someone special.
Her heart sank
and on the inside, where she’d allowed her hopes to rise, her smile faded.

“Good for you,
Benny,” she said quietly after finishing the last line of Jaxon’s request, and
then hoped no one had heard that heartfelt slip of tongue over the mic.

Unsure if she
should call for a new request, start in on “Cling”, or dive right into Happy
Birthday, she stalled and continued to watch and wait until Benny and
Erby
came back to the table. It looked like they were on
their way when he offered
Erby
the crook of his elbow…just
as she turned away from him and fell immediately into the arms of some other
guy who popped through the dividing curtain’s opening behind her.

Hazel’s first
instinct was to jump off the stage and make her way to her tall stranger whose
hands were full with his and presumably
Erby’s
drinks.
He had the kind of sinking stare you just didn’t look away from. If it wasn’t
for the manic way he kept blinking and blowing upwards at his bangs, she’d
never have seen them. The saddest, most defeated eyes focused on, well, on
Hazel. Not because he couldn’t tear his eyes away from her, but because he
looked like he’d rather die than see what was going on with
Erby
.

“Um, hi
everyone,” she said into the mic, keeping her eyes locked with his. His glaring
embarrassment had her stuttering. “If you missed it before, I’m Hazel and um,
this next one is called ‘Cling’. It’s about letting go.” It had been a mistake
to tack that on, even though she’d only meant it to be comforting.
As much to Benny as to herself.

His long fingers
squeezed around the crystal clear glasses in his grasp.

It looked like
she wasn’t alone anymore. Apparently neither she nor Benny were
gonna
be able to get through this night very easily. This
time she was sure of it.

Unable to ignore
him because what she really wanted to do was go give him a hug, she felt her
fingers unfurl themselves from the mic and before she knew it, she waved. This
time he didn’t wave back. Just abandoned his drinks and slunk so far down into
his seat that he lost all that marvelous height she’d found so intriguing.

Wanting
desperately to add some positivity back into his birthday night, Hazel searched
out Trista in hopes of making eye contact and getting the sign to sing his
special request.
But Trista looked completely pissed
off. In any event, they locked eyes and Hazel did her best to read the
situation. She widened her eyes in hopes of reminding Trista about the sign
they’d agreed upon.

Trista’s fingers
were poking into her bun that sat on top of her head. After a few seconds, she
waved.

Hazel took that
as her cue to go.

She tapped the
mic and leaned down to whisper into Julie’s ear that they were about to sing
the birthday song.

“It looks like
our next request is a very special one.” She looked toward Benny who appeared
as if he could care less about being festive. Not even a breath of air looked
like it could smuggle its way between those two lips. Jaxon James’ blonde woman
moved to go sit beside him and the smile Benny attempted for her probably hurt.
Trista also scooted into the seat next to him and then nodded for Hazel to go
on. “Alright everyone, on the count of three let’s all sing Happy—”

But before she
could go any further, Trista made her way to the stage again. Hazel had no idea
what was going on but she backed away from the mic. Trista lifted her eyebrows
and mouthed the words, “May I?”

Hazel nodded.

“
Erby
, it’s so great that you made it tonight.
And just in time to sing for your good friend.”

Erby
just
stared up at Trista who was one million percent set in her stance.

“Come on up,
Erby
. Not knocking Hazel here, but you’ve got such a
beautiful voice. Why don’t you lead us in the birthday song? It would mean a
lot to your
friend
, Benny.” Trista
kept using that term. It sounded like she was making a point.

Erby
chewed the inside of her lip, drawing her cheek in deeply. Hazel worried that
if
Lonerby’s
lead singer didn’t get up there that
Trista might yank her up by her neon roots. “Come on, you don’t want to miss
this chance. Special night like this might not come around again.”

Whoa, she was
really laying it on thick.

A quick glance
at Benny showed him looking completely horrified. Hazel didn’t want to tear her
eyes away from his that popped wide but with Trista’s clipped
tone,
she was worried a cat fight was on the rise.

For a second,
Hazel thought she might let out the breath she’d been holding because
Erby
stood like she was finally going to accept Trista’s
invitation, if you could call it that. What was the big deal anyway? Get your
butt up there and sing the dang song, she thought.
But nope.
Instead
Erby
tugged on the arm of the guy she’d met
up with and without a word, not even to Benny, made her way out of the club.

What in the
world? Uncomfortable silence held the club prisoner for a minute. Hazel used
the time to assess Benny, who by all means, warranted the mask of disbelief
smudging his handsome face. How could those people, his friends, not have seen
this coming? Even Trista, who Hazel admired, had to have known that her tactics
had been borderline bully-like and not likely to work on a punk rock chick. Why
did she, a stranger, understand the bottomless pit Benny obviously was sinking
into? She had to do something for this guy.

Shakily, Hazel
found her voice and gave Julie a nod to start strumming. “Hello. Um, it would
be my honor to sing this for you. So here it goes.
One, two,
three…Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Benny,
happy birthday to you.”

Their eyes met,
hers feeling the familiar effect of tearing up and his having gone dark and
then blank.

It was
unbelievably defeating knowing she hadn’t helped.

He reached
behind his back and pulled something out. She realized it was a beanie-style hat.
The way he just pulled it on and then tugged it even lower over his forehead reminded
her of someone who wanted to crawl away and hide and never come back out. And
that was something she just couldn’t let happen.
Ever again.

Chapter Three

“What are you
planning on doing with that young man?” asked Mark.

That was a great
question. Right now Benny was nothing more than a heap of dark teal leopard
print shirt bunched up at the shoulders and a head full of waves at the back of
his head that she hadn’t realized he’d had during her earlier staring sessions.
All zonked on the bar.

Hazel and Mark
made eyes at each other while she kept her thoughts to herself.

His
hair has such a nice shine. I bet it feels amazing too, like silk but thicker.
He must take really good care of it.
When she had a
flash of him in a hot steamy shower, his hands directing the water away from
his face and back through his slick hair, she knew she’d lost it.

“He did drop a
few hundred bucks into the coffee can tonight.”

“Really?
Well
as drunk as he looks, you may want to ask him if he’d like some of it back,”
she said, surprised he’d been able to get through the night let alone be
charitable. After her unsuccessful attempts to cheer him with “Cling” and then
the dreaded bee-day song, he’d sat like a glob of gray clay at his table, until
now.

That had been
two whole hours.

“Geez, what did
you serve him all night?”

“Not me, I just
got him started. Dusty took care of him the rest of the night,” Mark said and
put a glass away.

She leaned down
and sniffed the breaths coming from his mouth, expecting heavy liquor and
getting
that plus peanuts
, which smelled oddly good. She
took in the caramel and sugary oak aroma of the Tennessee whiskey branded on
him like only Jack Daniels could do. He had a flake of peanut skin stuck to his
full bottom lip. Not thinking, she gently scraped it away. He pouted and then
relaxed again but that was his only reaction. Her reactions, on the other hand,
were many and reached far and wide.

Why was she
wishing he’d have licked along that fleshy bottom lip she’d just touched? The
thought of kissing him sent real streams of heat to places she’d pretended to
forget about the past year. The warmth felt nice drawing her knees together but
not where it gathered beads of sweat between her boobs. They’d been pushed up
and pressed in all day and night. As soon as she got home, she was out of this
annoying tight bra. She’d have thought that was one nice thing about being
alone now—being able to go braless around her apartment—but Jay had loved and
encouraged her free spirit. And parading around naked now just made her feel
lonely, not sexy. Would Benny appreciate her body? Was she crazy for even
thinking it? They were strangers. Something in her screamed
“So what! You’re a woman, he’s a man and
you’re attracted to him. Just admit it.”

“Oh yeah, he was
pretty generous, especially after his buddy Mr. James came up and told him it
was time to go. This guy,” Mark pointed at Benny, drawing her attention back, “threw
five twenties into the can at that point and said he’d rather support a good
cause than go home a loser.”

“And the drink
part? Please tell me Dusty mixed something in with the liquor.”

“Don’t know.
Last time I talked to this one, he said he wished his Coke was stronger. I’m
guessing he was getting birthday Coke and Jack’s for the past couple hours.”

“Well, you might
want to talk to Dusty about the fine art of cutting folks off before they turn
to bar mush.” That was a lot of alcohol, even for a big guy like Benny. Were
they trying to put him out of his misery for real?

“I will. Back to
my question, what are your plans for him?
Cab?”

She’d have liked
to have had a word with Jaxon James.

That would have
been bullet point number one on her plan.

Whatever
happened to taking care of your own? She didn’t know what the relationship was
between the two guys but it had to be pretty significant for Jaxon to have
rented their club out for Benny’s birthday. Plus, as tall and lanky as Benny
was, Jaxon James had him in the muscle mass department. Benny was nicely broad
shouldered, but Jaxon’s upper body reminded her of Jay’s. Like they’d been born
of backwoods Tennessee, manly men blessed with rippling muscle. Linebackers or
lumberjacks, take your pick. Jaxon could have hauled Benny from the bar easily
when he left. And he hadn’t.

No surprise
there really. In her experience, the rockers liked to look good, not
be
good. If that was the case here,
maybe it was a good thing Benny had insisted on staying alone. Maybe he needed
a new friend.
Someone who genuinely cared.

“I really think
we should give him some of his money back. I mean, it’s his birthday for crying
out loud,” she couldn’t help but say.