My Favorite Souvenir(21)

“I’m sorry, Mads. I appreciate that you wanted to come here for me. But I just can’t.” Skiing was one thing, but getting up on that stage without Zoe was another thing all together. It’s where she belonged.

“Okay. But I hope you don’t mind that I’m going to.”

“I didn’t realize you could sing.”

She grinned. “I can’t.”

I drank a beer, and Maddie had a glass of wine, which I noticed she downed pretty damn fast. When she was done, she stood. “I’m going to go sign up. Any special requests?”

I lifted my arms to the top of the booth and spread them out. “Surprise me.”

She said she couldn’t sing, but I assumed she was exaggerating. Who signs up for karaoke unless they can at least carry a tune? At least while sober. Although when she returned to the booth and ordered a wine and a shot, I realized her goal might be to get drunk before they called her name.

“Do you do karaoke often?” I asked.

She sucked back the shot and made a face like she’d sniffed a dead fish before slamming the glass down on the table. “I’ve never done it before.”

My brows shot up. “Seriously?”

“Seriously. I’ve never sung in public before. Well, unless you count my first apartment. I lived in a studio that had thin walls. Apparently my shower wall was next to the neighbor’s bedroom. I used to sing in the shower at night. Sometimes I’d even rock the shampoo bottle microphone when I got really into it. Then one day my sweet, elderly neighbor knocked on my door. Mrs. Eckel handed me a pie and smiled politely before she told me her dog cried every time he heard me singing. She asked if I could refrain from crooning in the bathroom from then on.”

I chuckled. “You’re full of shit. That didn’t really happen.”

Her finger traced a cross over her chest. “Swear to God.” She motioned for the waitress and ordered another shot.

“Umm... You’re sucking back vodka like it’s water. How often do you do shots?”

“As often as I sing karaoke.”

Shit.

Luckily the guy running the karaoke called her name before the third shot arrived at the table. “Next up is Madeline Ophelia Hooker. She’ll be singing a song by CeeLo Green—the original, not the PG-version they play on the radio.”

Maddie stood and smoothed down her dress. “Oh my God. I can’t believe I’m doing this. How do I look?”

“Honestly, hot as fuck. No one is even going to notice if you can’t sing for shit. Though, there’s still time to back out, if you don’t want to go through with it. I appreciate what you were trying to do whether you get up there or not.”

Maddie leaned down and kissed my cheek. But instead of pulling away after, her mouth moved to my ear. “You know how you got undressed in front of me earlier?” Her hot breath tickled my ear.

“Yeah.”

“If you join me, I’ll return the favor at some point before we part ways.”

I blew out a deep, ragged breath. God, this woman was as unpredictable as she was gorgeous. But not even that could get me up in front of that microphone.

“Break a leg, beautiful.”

I watched as Maddie strutted to the stage. That dress really looked phenomenal on her ass. I was pretty sure my head rocked back and forth in unison with the sway of her hips as she walked. The waitress brought the shot Maddie had ordered to our table just as she got up on stage. I took it from her hand before she had a chance to set it down and immediately sucked it back. “I’m gonna need another one of these, please.”

The karaoke host came over the sound system. “This was an interesting song choice, Madeline. Is there anyone you want to dedicate this song to?”

Maddie cleared her throat and tilted the microphone to her mouth. “Yes. To my ex-fiancé, and all the other asshole men of the world.”

The host chuckled. “Alright then. Here we go.”

The music started to play, and I immediately recognized which CeeLo song she’d picked. “Fuck You,” though most radio stations called it “Forget You” and bleeped out half the lyrics.

Maddie started to sing, and Jesus, she really hadn’t been lying. Some people had a bad tone, some people couldn’t hold a tune, and others just had no rhythm when they sang. Poor Mads was afflicted with all three.

It was bad.

So, so freaking bad.

At first the bar was quiet. I think most people were probably stunned at how such a horrible sound could come out of such a gorgeous woman. But eventually, the bar snapped out of it and people started to grumble. A few assholes even booed and heckled her. Maddie looked like she wanted to crawl into a hole somewhere.

Fuck.

I raked a hand through my hair.

Fuck me.

The booing from the crowd grew louder, but Maddie kept going, trying to push through it.

I couldn’t let her stand there and make a fool of herself.

I growled fuck and slid out of the booth, marching toward the stage. She’d been there with me every step of the way, and I couldn’t let her do this alone.

I stopped at the karaoke host’s station and asked the guy to do me a favor and put on a different song. There were two microphones on the stage. I followed the cord of one and yanked the plug out of the wall. Just as the host turned off CeeLo, I told Maddie to slide over to the mic that was no longer on.