Rocking Kin (Lucy & Harris, #3) - Terri Anne Browning Page 0,23
entire way. Lucy found us a table and ordered her usual ginger ale while I glanced around. We weren’t up in VIP today because the open mike was on the ground floor, but I kind of liked the regular-Joe room better. I didn’t feel like I was being watched by the ‘beautiful’ people.
I waited until our drinks arrived before figuring I’d better get this thing done or I would chicken out. It was only now that we were inside First Bass and I saw that the place had a big crowd that my nerves were giving me butterflies in my stomach.
What the hell was I doing? I had no business being here. I couldn’t dare be as good as I thought I was. This was for people with real talent, not my second-rate ass. Shit. Shit. Shit. Okay. We can just go. I hadn’t committed to anything yet. My name wasn’t on a list for it to be called later and embarrass myself further when I didn’t jump on that small stage to sing…
Lucy’s hand covered mine, pulling me out of my anxiety-filled moment of sheer panic. “Kin, you’re going to kick ass up there. Don’t worry about getting the chords right, or if your voice gets off key. You aren’t here to become a rock star. You’re here to get your songs recognized, maybe even sell one. You are a gifted writer and you’re going to bring the house down with that song of yours, babe.”
My lips started trembling without my permission. That was exactly what I needed to hear. It was what Angie or Caleb or even my mother would have said. Pressing my lips together, I gave a firm nod and smiled. “You’re right. Now, where do I sign up for the chance to get up there and kick some ass?”
“Aunt Emmie said you tell the bartender and he adds you to the rotation.” She glanced at the bar and I followed her gaze. “Best bet is over there, babe.”
I stood and crossed the room to the bar. The bartender was already busy mixing drinks for the crowd at the bar and I waited for him to hand a few beers over to the twenty-something guys beside me before asking about the open mike rotation.
The guy’s gaze skimmed over me twice before he pointed to the end of the bar without so much as a word to me. I looked at the end of the bar for the first time and everything inside of me went equal parts hot and cold at the sight of the man sitting on the stool next to Harris Cutter.
Jace St. Charles was the most perfect guy I had ever met in the looks department, with his messy, dirty blond hair and those killer blue eyes that seemed to look straight through all the bullshit to the person beneath it all. He worked out frequently and his body showed the hard work, but not in an over-the-top kind of way like Caleb was. His features were purely masculine, there was nothing necessarily pretty-boy about him, but it was his voice that had pulled me in that first night I’d seen him.
I’d become addicted to the sound of his voice and not just when he was singing, either. There was something almost hypnotic in the way he spoke that had drawn me to him and had sucked me in from that first ‘hello’.
As I watched him lift his beer and take a deep swallow, I hated him for how much he was still able to twist me inside. I wanted to slap his handsome face and kiss him all in the same moment. Then…
Then I wanted to kick him in the balls.
Grinning, I pushed away from the bar and walked toward the two guys at the end of the bar. I was almost to them when Jace lifted his head as if he could sense me, and our gazes collided. My steps faltered and I reached for the back of the stool closest to me to steady myself. Stop it, I wanted to scream at him as his eyes skimmed over my face almost worshipfully.
I sucked in a deep breath, then grinned again. One way or another I was going to have fun tonight. I walked past Jace’s seat and leaned between the two guys, my gaze only on Harris. I hadn’t really given him more than a quick glance on Saturday, but now I was taking my time.