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“Can I just take a breather?” I asked, stripping the gloves from my hands.
“It’s your fight.” He pulled his gloves off and stared me down with a serious look on his face. “But I think Draven planned for you to make it the whole week.”
I knew what he meant. If I didn’t win every fight, some other station muscle wannabe would spend his week making both Black Star, and me, look like shit.
Through the walls, the drum beat from the band kicked an offbeat and the microphone screeched. My thoughts jumped to the woman next door. I found myself flustered yet pulled to be closer to her sound.
I threw a towel over my head and stepped out across the hall to her practice session with the house band. The doors were open, as they had been all week while she and the band set to work building their sound. Draven didn’t waste any time with her and had her performing every night.
I stepped into a nearly crowded room. It was hard to think of it as a practice session with so many faces filling the space. And there at the head of the room was a brown-haired woman who held them all in rapt attention.
A seat at the back called to me, and I found myself sitting down with Sakkar, watching her.
“Okay, let’s get an A chord on that bar, and we’ll restart from there. Sound good?” I heard her ask her band leader. She’d been given a ten-piece band on the first night, but in two days, that number doubled.
It was clear that Draven had big plans for her, for me, for the casino. Which was why despite her sultry voice calling out over the microphone, I knew I had to resist. Her siren call was strong, but she wasn’t my focus. She couldn’t be.
I could only listen. I could forget her face for a moment. I could will it away, but that voice.
I couldn’t escape it.
“Till you were gone, my clouded vision held me. I couldn’t see you. The rosy glasses wouldn’t let me.”
The crowd bobbed and swayed with the music, and I found myself settling in, too, relaxed. My muscles were sore from training, but her voice seemed to soothe everything away. The fights didn’t matter, nor the casino’s reputation and mine. It was all quiet in my mind.
Her voice called me back to the first time I heard her. She was timid then, but it didn’t show when she opened her mouth to sing. This was no different, save for the look of confidence on her face.
After the set, fans rushed to the stage to meet with her. I found myself hanging back, eyeing them, unsure if I should be jealous that there were so many.
“You ready to get back in there?” Sakkar tried to pull me back to my entertainment. “We can still get in a few more rounds before the fight tonight.”
“No, that’s okay.” If he said anything after, I didn’t hear it.
Sakkar stood up and left, barely catching my attention with his exit. Instead, my mind focused on the faces of Serena’s fans.
She’d barely been there a week and was already the station starlet. Something told me that if I couldn’t focus on the next fight, I should focus on the other aspects of my job. Any one of the dolts lined up at her feet could switch from fanboy to crazed fan at any moment.
The next night, I found myself scanning faces at her show. Did it bother me that so many men were lining up to hear her sing? If it did, I wouldn’t express it. I was head of the guards. I had every reason to be there, checking up on things.
Still, it bothered me. I couldn’t deny this. Serena was beautiful with her silky brown hair bobbing around her creamy shoulders. Her green eyes sparkled under the stage lights, drawing me in any time I happened to glance her way. When she danced, it was downright mesmerizing. All of that was packaged with a voice that melted all forms of tension from my body the moment she opened those red lips.
How could I possibly resist this? Draven ought to have considered himself lucky that I was so damn loyal.
“So, what do you think of my gem, Jalik?” Draven said to me, his eyes lighting up with delight at so many faces filling the lounge seats. Gem was right. She was bringing in more people by the day.
“She’s doing well.” I eyed him sideways. “Maybe too well.”
The crowd should’ve departed. The set was over, yet many hung around hoping for another look at Serena. I was right there with them.
It wasn’t just her voice, it was everything. Everything about her seemed to draw me to her. Her soft brown hair was lit up by stage lights. The dazzle of her dresses shone from behind the microphone. I was as captivated with her as they were.
“Aw, you’re not jealous, are you?” Draven slapped me on the back. “I promise, she’s not affecting the numbers at your matches. If anything, she’s drawing a bigger crowd. She’s got the feel for this line of work, don’t you think?”
“She’s a natural,” I admitted.
“Well, you better get prepped for tonight,” he said, standing and heading to the stage to grab his starlet.
As he swept her through the room, her followers crowded behind.
