Kellan (6 page)

“Let’s go show off our hard work,” I said. Brax gave me a knuckle knock and we all headed out to the main bar.
 

We’d installed a platform way in the back for the membership. We sat a little above the fray in two large round booths that faced the stage. I had Sonny dim the lights back there so we could watch everything happening on stage and in the bar without drawing any attention to ourselves.
 

I sat on Colt’s right, Brax sat on the other side of him. Jeannette sent two waitresses up with bottle service. But I was too amped up to even bother with it.
 

We had a good crowd for this early. Things didn’t start getting rowdy until after nine. Tonight though, the place was packed. I had a feeling someone had gotten the word out we’d have live entertainment.
 

My heart thundered behind my rib cage as the lights went up on the stage and Jeanette stepped out. She looked cute and pert with her
Wolf Den
tank top and sequined logo across her chest. She shielded her eyes from the spotlight and looked in the direction of our booths. I knew she was searching for Brax. I felt him stiffen beside me.
 

If it were any other night, I would have ribbed him hard for what was happening between them. I couldn’t though. Not now.
 

I don’t know what Jeanette said. Something witty. She had the crowd laughing and eating out of her hand. She worked that place like she was born to emcee. But I couldn’t focus on her words. I was too keyed up thinking about the show we were all about to see.
 

“So, here’s a little something special for you guys,” she said. “Let’s give a warm
Wolf Den
howl for Mallory and the Malcontents.”
 

There were some whistles and applause, then the lights on the stage came up and Mallory stepped into it. If I thought I could just forget about what almost happened between us, I was about to find out how wrong I was.
 

Chapter Five

We were in a crowd full of people, but they all fell away. Mallory stepped to the edge of the stage and held her mic low. With the raw power of her voice, she didn’t need the thing. They opened with a Stones cover. A smart choice for the mix in this crowd. We had twenty-somethings looking to hook up. We had gen exers looking to wash their week away of work or kids or whatever the fuck with some booze and good food. We even had a few baby boomers who remembered what this town used to be and liked the fact we were trying to bring it back.
 

Mallory worked magic on all of them. She stalked the stage, letting her voice drop to a low, almost sexual growl. Then she’d attack a note in a way that sent a chill straight down my spine. Me and everybody else in that bar.
 

Everything she did, every note she sang, every look she gave to the crowd was polished, timed to perfection. She knew exactly how to rev her audience up and keep them there. She had them singing along with her. She had them speechless when she threw her head back and let loose on some riff that left me quaking.
 

She worked magic with that mic. My eyes stayed glued to her perfect, red lips. I wanted to
be
that microphone. I wanted her to hold me like that and run her fingers along my skin in just that way. She’d be good. Rough and gentle all at the same time. I wanted to run my thumb along her luscious, bottom lip and have her part them for me as she kept her eyes locked solely on mine.
 

For a fraction of a second, I looked away from her, afraid if I stared any longer I wouldn’t be able to hide my growing need for her. She picked that moment to pop down from the stage. She held her wireless mic gently between three fingers as she weaved through the tables. Every eye stayed trained on her. Goddammit. It was like a strip tease she was doing. Except she did it all with her voice and her eyes. Everyone wanted a piece of her.
 

Fuck. She was really doing it to me. She was doing it to all of them. There wasn’t a guy in the place who wasn’t thinking the same thing I was. What would it feel like if she wrapped her legs around me? What would she taste like? Except I already knew. She tasted sweet like honey and strawberries with a hint of her own lust. If we’d had just a few minutes more, I would have made her mine right there behind the boat house under the light of a full moon.
 

Colt stirred beside me. “Holy fuck,” he whispered. “Where did you find this chick?”
 

I changed my mind and reached for the bottle of Jim Beam one of the girls had set down. I did a straight shot. Then another. “That place on the lake you heard about.”
 

I kept my eyes toward Mallory and from my periphery, I saw Colt’s posture change.  He leaned in and grabbed me by the shoulder, turning me so I had to look at him instead of her. His pirate eyes glinted in the dim light. “Kel? You got something going with this girl?”
 

I shook my head. “Not gonna lie and say I wouldn’t like to, but no.”
 

He nodded. “Then you’ve got a hell of a lot more restraint than I would have had before my life took a turn.” He thrust his ring finger in the air; the gold wedding band shone.
 

I smiled. I had expected him to warn me to steer clear of her. We both knew we saw something special. This girl. This band was everything we needed to take this place to the next level.
 

“Oh, my brother,” Colt slapped me on the back. “There but for the grace of God. Just keep your dick wrapped.”
 

I faked a punch toward his jaw. Colt squeezed my shoulder and we settled back into the booth and turned our attention back to Mallory and the band. She’d just launched into their Radiohead cover again. She had the crowd mesmerized like she held each and every heart in the place in the palm of her hand. When she let loose and practically screamed through the chorus, it felt like she could squeeze every one of those hearts and make them love her. Fuck. They already loved her.
 

She came down from the stage again and walked toward the back of the bar. Sonny worked the lights like a pro and kept the spotlight on her. Swaying her hips, she came to the edge of the platform. The light touched us and Mallory looked up.  There was just a brief instant when her sultry mask fell. It was the moment when her eyes met mine and she recognized me.
 

My heart stopped beating as her eyes widened. She drew a deep breath to hit her next note and her mask fell back into place. She kept her eyes on me. Sang the song directly to me. If I thought she had power over the whole crowd, when she had me in her eyes, it felt like a fuse lit somewhere deep inside me.  Everything else faded to nothing. There was just Mallory and me and the sway of her hips. Her tongue darted out as she licked her bottom lip.
 

Fuck. Just, fuck. I needed her. Bad.
 

She took three more steps, putting herself at the edge of our table. I thought she might slide right in. Her guitar player let loose a wailing riff that drew the crowd’s attention away from Mallory. Whoever he was, he had the women in the audience drooling over him the way Mallory had the men.
 

As the reverb filled the room, the guitar strains seemed to pull Mallory back to him. She turned and charged back to the stage. They finished the song together, her belting out the last note back to back with the guy. I had the same jealous twinge I had the other night. They were intimate with each other in a way that made my fists clench at my sides. They fed off each other’s rhythm and energy and I kind of fucking hated it. Hated that every guy in this place was eyeballing her right in front of me. I needed some fucking air.
 

Just when I was about to lose it, the song ended. The lights went dark then Sonny brought them up again. The crowd went to its feet. The applause and whistles drowned out everything else. This night, she owned the place. Owned this crowd. If she could do this every weekend, we’d have them lined up down the block just to catch a glimpse of her. It gave me mixed feelings I hadn’t expected. It was everything I wanted for this joint and our club. And yet, I knew I wanted that girl all to myself.
 

“You thinking what I’m thinking?” Brax said, leaning in so we could hear over the crowd. Clapping and his eyes still on the stage, Colt nodded. Then they both turned to me.
 

“Get them signed. Like yesterday,” Colt said. “Do they have formal management?”
 

I shrugged. “That seemed to be up in the air. I’ll lock it down though.”
 

“Do it,” Colt said. “Tonight if you can. We’d all be idiots if we couldn’t see the future of the bar tonight. They’re perfect. She’s perfect. That kid she’s with has probably melted every pair of panties in the place tonight too. That’s lightning in a bottle, Kel. Great find.”
 

He slapped me on the back and hopped down from the platform as the lights went up. Mallory raised a hand and blew a kiss to the crowd. Her guitar player took a bow. When he straightened, he caught my eye. Up until now, the spotlight had kept us hidden from him. Now though, he saw me and no doubt recognized me. His face went white and his eyes stone cold. He tore the guitar strap from his shoulder. He leaned in and whispered something in Mallory’s ear that made her lips go tight and she flicked her eyes in my direction. Then just as quickly, she
fixed her smile back in place and waved to the crowd. Her guitar player narrowed his eyes and stormed off the stage.
 

“Well, shit,” Brax said. “There’s some drama there already. He looks like he just walked in on someone fucking his girlfriend. You know what that’s about?”
 

I clenched my jaw. “No idea,” I lied.
 

“Well.” Brax slapped me on the back. “You manage the talent, Kellan. That’s why they pay you the big bucks. I’ll manage the wait staff. He needs to learn how to work the ladies in here the way that girl has got the men all twisted.” He raised and lowered his brow as he found Jeanette through the crowd. Then he disappeared off after her.
 

Dammit to hell. She had me twisted. Spinning. Now I just had to figure out how to hide it and remember why I asked them here in the first place.
 

Chapter Six

We didn’t have a formal green room or dressing room. We had a break room and right now, three of the waitresses stood between me and the door to it. Mallory and her band were on the other side. The waitresses saw the look on my face though and moved off without me having to say a word.
 

Taking a deep breath, I knocked on the door. Fuck. She had me nervous. This was my goddamn bar and I was the one with the money and the offer. Shit, should be the other way around.
 

It wasn’t Mallory who swung the door open though. It was the guitar player. The kid was maybe twenty-five, I’m guessing.  A shock of blond hair that hung too long and covered his right eye. I guess he was good looking. The chicks in the audience sure seemed to think so. He looked too much like Kurt Cobain to me, right down to the angst.  But when he narrowed his surfer-boy blue eyes at me, I had the overwhelming urge to knock his damn head off. I didn’t suppose that’s what Brax and Colt meant by me handling the talent, though, so I kept myself in check.
 

The kid held the door open wider. Mallory and the rest of the band were sitting around the break table. The guys were kicking back beers—not Mallory, though. She had a water bottle in front of her. She looked up when I walked in and it floored me when I saw she had the same murderous look on her face as Guitar Boy.
 

“Everybody, can you give us a minute?” she said. She picked at the plastic wrapper on her water bottle but wouldn’t meet my eyes. The rest of the band cleared out in a hurry except for Guitar Boy.
 

“You too, Justin,” she said, still not looking at me. He clenched his jaw and it took effort for me to hold my face still and not smirk at the kid. God, I was going to fuck this up. No way I wasn’t going to fuck this up. I was into this girl too deep, too fast, and we hadn’t done more than a grope and a kiss. Already though, I wanted to wrap my arm around her and pull her to my side. She might pretend to not want to be there, but I could feel the heat coming off her just like it was for me. It would piss Guitar Boy off even more and that was half the reason I wanted to do it.
 

To his credit, the kid didn’t say anything. If he didn’t know me by name, he understood the cut I wore. This was my place. This was business. Didn’t stop him
from throwing serious shade my way as he brushed past me and went out the door. “I’ll be right outside,” he muttered toward her.
 

The minute the door closed, Mallory sat back hard in her chair and tossed the water bottle against the wall. It was almost empty but it sprayed the wall anyway.
 

“You were great tonight,” I said, refusing to break my focus from her. She’d have to throw something a hell of a lot heavier and straight at me to get the reaction I think she wanted. I threaded my thumbs through my belt loops and leaned against the closed door. “But you already knew that.”
 

She got up and walked toward me. The anger flashed in her eyes but then she changed her face. She became the girl everyone else saw on stage. Right down to the sway of her hips as she came toward me. I didn’t move a muscle.
 

Mallory moved like a cat. I swear I thought I heard her even purr. I knew then I wanted to make her do more of it. I kept my breath steady though. This wasn’t the time. She put one hand flat against the wall above my head and leaned in close. Her chest heaved with the hot breaths that fell across my face and sparked some other flame deep inside of me.
 

She moved quick as a cat too. She ran her hand straight up my thigh. A dare. Her fingers skittered over my fly. My dick started to throb. Other than that, I stayed stock still. You have no idea the level of self-control that took. Her breath came hot against my cheek. I could see her pert nipples straining against her thin black tank top. She was testing me. This was all part of her act. But her eyes flashed something else. Hurt? Fear? The real Mallory was in there somewhere; this girl was all for show.