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It was hard to breathe as he continued to stare at her, the atmosphere between them thick and electric. She could vaguely hear a woman in the crowd scream out Presley’s name, but it just made her smile.
Because right now he felt like he belonged to her.
Her heart started hammering against her chest as he made it to the bridge. She had to pull her microphone toward her, take a breath to steady her heartbeat. And then she sang like her life depended on it.
“You told me that you loved me,
Your lips knew it was a lie,
You said you’d never leave me,
Then every touch was a goodbye.”
His brows knitted as he sung. Like he was trying to work her out. Work himself out, maybe. She’d noticed before that he wasn’t great with words when they weren’t lyrics. He was a man who didn’t talk when it wasn’t needed. He guarded his emotions like they were bars of gold.
But right now it felt like he was cutting himself open. Revealing himself to her. She wanted to do the same for him.
She wanted to do everything for him. That was the problem. This man was addictive in the worst kind of way.
The way that broke up bands and shattered hearts. He made you want to dig deep to find out all his secrets.
Only to find out they could cut you like a knife.
It was her verse now. She sang of hurt, of being rejected. Of never trusting love again. And he watched her, his eyes hooded, his fingers slowly strumming his chords.
She was so hot her cheeks were flaming. She shook her hair to get rid of the perspiration, and he gave her another one of those half smiles.
The ones that she liked to fantasize were only for her.
When they got to the chorus this time, he walked toward her, still playing the guitar, leaning into her microphone like he did the first time they sang this song.
But he was closer. Hotter. She felt his arm brush hers every time he strummed the guitar. And as they reached the crescendo she didn’t know if they were working together or fighting each other.
He sounded almost angry. Lost. So rough against the sweet notes she was hitting. It was magical and heartbreaking.
She never wanted it to end.
But then they were on the last note and he leaned in so close she could feel the roughness of his jaw touching hers. His lips were a turn of the head away, his cheek warm against hers.
Her muscles tightened at his nearness. Like it wanted more.
Wanted everything.
He sang the final word, his voice fading into nothing and the crowd exploded with applause. Marley was grinning, Alex was staring out into the audience, lapping it up.
“I’m so turned on right now,” Pres whispered in her ear, his voice so low she had to concentrate to make it out. “It’s taking everything I’ve got not to carry you off this stage.”
She looked at him, breathless and shocked.
“Thank you, everybody,” Marley shouted into his own mic, clearly bored of waiting for Presley to move things on. “Now let’s get this bar rocking. Our next song is ‘Rising From The Flames’.”
“What are you doing?” Cassie asked Alex later, when the four of them were sitting at a table, along with Presley’s cousins. Pres was busy talking to Grace about something, the two of them looking serious. And Marley was messaging somebody, she assumed either a woman or one of his friends from the fire station.
“I got somebody to record us playing ‘Beautiful Liar’,” Alex said. “I’m uploading it to our TikTok.”
“We have a TikTok?” she asked, surprised.
Alex blew out a mouthful of air. “Kind of. Pres and Marley are shit at social media. I always took the lead. First on Facebook, then Insta. We even had a Snap for a while. But then TikTok came along so I made an account last year and added some old stuff, but this is the first new video I’ve posted.” He held his phone up. “Look how good you look.”
