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“Wow. Thank you. Are you serious? You didn’t have to do that,” he replied in awe.
“You did a good job putting this party together for Chuck,” Linc said, eyeing the now-asleep bachelor slumped in the back seat. “Besides, it’s the least I can do since you’ll be the one making sure Chuck gets home to his fiancée safely.”
“Thanks, man. You’re a lifesaver,” the best man said.
“Don’t mention it. Tell Lindsey I said hello and congratulations on the engagement,” Linc remarked as he shut the cab door, and the car pulled away.
Seth finished pouring the other guys into a taxi and strode up next to Linc.
“What a night, huh?” Seth said.
“Yeah,” Linc agreed softly.
He was about to suggest it was time to head out when something interrupted him. It was a faint, melodious sound coming from inside the club. In fact, Miami Blues seemed to almost vibrate with the resonance of this voice. Without saying a word, Linc turned on his heel and walked back into the grand foyer, his brows knitted together as he listened closely to the sound.
It was a woman’s voice, a soprano soaring sweetly over a bluesy piano ballad. Linc was no stranger to live music, and this wasn’t the first time he’d felt moved by its magic. But this… this was different. That voice struck a chord deep inside of him. It touched a place so hidden, so buried, it was almost gone forever. He felt an undeniable, unmistakable pull toward the blues lounge, where the heavenly voice was coming from.
Seth was right behind him as Linc made his way toward the double doors that led into the lounge. Clearly, Linc wasn’t the only one affected by the siren call of that singer’s voice.
“What is that?” Seth asked reverently.
“Whois that?” Linc murmured back as he pushed the doors open.
The lounge inside was a stunning work of architecture with a vintage country flair. At the far end of the great space was the stage, drenched in spotlights. It was there, standing in the center of the stage in a simple blue dress, that Linc saw the source of that angelic voice.
He felt a warmth roll over his body from head to toe. His lips fell open in a soft gasp. His brows lifted and his dark eyes widened to take in the sight of the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. It was difficult to make out her distinct features from this distance, with the stage lights distorting his line of sight. But her glossy brown hair, slender curves, and swishing blue dress perfectly suited the powerful, magical voice coming from her chest. She held the mic stand daintily, but she tilted her head, closed her eyes, and leaned in toward the microphone as though the music was physically moving her body. She and the melody danced together. Everything about this woman stood out to Linc. Everything in him demanded that he stay here and listen to her sing. There was no force on Earth strong enough to drag him away.
And so Linc quickly found the only unclaimed table, in the back of the room, and sat down. Seth joined him, and the two of them gazed in absolute rapture at the brunette angel on the stage, listening as her mystical voice transported them far away.
4
Gentry
Gentry felt like she was floating six inches off the ground. The thrill of performing live in front of an enchanted audience pulsed through her veins. She could feel all the eyes in the room fixated on her lithe form, swaying ever so slightly to the beat. Both hands were wrapped around the mic stand, her fingers curled and interlaced, occasionally sliding slowly up and down an inch or so with the movement of her shoulders. She closed her eyes and let her head tip back as she belted out a long, tremulous, bell-like note. Her brown locks tumbled wildly over her shoulders. Her cheeks were flushed a warm pink, her lips forming exquisite shapes as the melody wrapped around her like a cloak.
She was enraptured by the song, too, an old favorite of hers that fused rock, country, and blues. It was an old Lucinda Williams tune her mother used to play on the record player in the living room when Gentry was just a little girl. She remembered dancing around the coffee table with her sisters, Gemma and Ginger, belting out the tune into a hairbrush in place of a microphone. She would stand on the sofa, like it was a stage, and perform for her family, who were all enthusiastically supportive of her burgeoning talent. Gentry learned from a very young age that performing gave her a high unlike anything she’d known before. From the very first time she sang into a hairbrush, she had known this was going to be her path. She was born for the stage, and now that she was there, flooded with bright lights and singing her heart out, there was nowhere else in the world she wanted to be. This was her element.
A smile crossed her face as she opened her eyes and gazed out across the fuzzy whiteness of the lounge. The front few rows of tables that were visible to her were occupied by wide-eyed, pleasant folks who were clearly moved by her performance. Everyone was so still, so focused on her. The soft conversations had cut to silence. The wandering looks had found their center on Gentry. People were really loving her. She could hardly wait to see how pleased Ricky would be after the show. Maybe it had been a good idea to travel to Miami from Tennessee, after all.
But just as Gentry was celebrating in her mind, she noticed a flurry of activity near the front row closest to the stage. She tore her eyes away from the white lights and looked down. Her heart skipped and she did a double take when she saw that the two men seated there were getting rowdier by the second. There were stacks of empty glasses and an empty bottle of whiskey on the table, and she could easily see the bleary look in their eyes. They were drunk—really drunk. They were getting restless in their chairs. Gentry’s singing had kept them lulled for a while, but now they were getting up out of their seats.
Gentry tried to look away and pretend nothing was happening. After all, she still had the whole rest of the audience to entertain, not just those two guys. But before long, they made it clear they weren’t going to respect the typical blues lounge etiquette. In fact, one of them started slurring something up at Gentry. She squinted at him, still effortlessly hitting every note as she watched the guys get up to no good. The taller, lanky one made a lunging grab for the edge of the stage, stumbling and knocking over his chair in the process. It clattered loudly on the floor, and a collective gasp went through the room. Gentry’s brown eyes were wide with worry by now, but she was a professional, and she kept singing.
Even when the lanky guy managed to hoist one gangly leg up onto the stage.
Titters of concern began to break through the song.
“Oh no!”
“What’s going on?”
“Who is that?”
“Is this part of the show?”
“Someone stop him!”
The guy lurched up onto his belly while his compatriot decided to follow suit. The second guy was much stronger than the first, and essentially leaped up onto the stage. Frightened by the sudden appearance of two strange men just a few feet away, Gentry let out a little squeal of fear and stumbled backward. She let go of the mic stand and it wobbled violently, causing a high-pitched electronic feedback screech. The pianist stopped playing and Gentry cupped her hands over her mouth as the two men began to drunkenly, sloppily clamber toward her. In that moment, time seemed to slow down.
