Heat rose to overtake her face, but she couldn’t find a reply, so she forced a bite of lasagna between her lips and pretended her mother hadn’t said a thing.
Through it all, Brent was quiet, his attention fixed on the food in front of him. But Kristen had observed the jokes with a smile. “Well, I know one thing Alice isn’t the best at. And luckily for those of us who aren’t such fantastic cooks, that’s what we’re doing tonight. Have to keep things even.”
Alice searched her mind for what Kristen was talking about, and dread filled her. She shook her head. “No.”
“Yes,” Kristen said, a big smile on her face.
“No—no. Let’s do something else. Anything else,” Alice begged. She turned to Cindy. “Aren’t you and Robert staying in the bungalow tonight?”
“Oh, no. We just wanted to use it for dinner. We’ll head back to the ship tonight,” Cindy said.
“That seems wasteful,” Alice muttered, but she couldn’t really argue. That Cindy and Robert didn’t want to stay the night here wasn’t really odd. And her mother surely wouldn’t want to stay, especially not with her date.
“What’s going on?” Noah asked.
“We’re all doing karaoke tonight,” Kristen announced.
Alice glanced at Noah, expecting him to tease her about it as well. But the vampire’s face was serious, and his skin pale.
“Better make it a double,” Noah told the bartender. The man nodded and turned to make their drinks. Noah looked back at Alice, and hoped he didn’t appear as sick as he felt.
The flashy karaoke bar glowed with brightly colored lights that did little to actually reveal the space. Instead, the room was both dark and glaring, and full of small groups of people who crowded around bar-height tables strewn around the room, or who clung to the bar itself, which lined one of the walls. And central to it all was a stage set only a couple of feet higher than the main floor.
The hum of the revelers was low enough for the karaoke singers to be heard clearly when they sang—unfortunately. He’d have had a much easier time getting on stage if no one would actually hear him when he got there.
“Are you all right?” she asked. So much for not looking sick.
“I’m fine,” he said curtly. “I’m just not big on…singing.” He crinkled his nose against the smell of bodies and alcohol.
“You don’t like to sing?”
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. What could he say to that? Who really hated singing? Sure, a lot of people didn’t like to sing in public, but Alice was so free, so confident. With her bright attitude at life, he was surprised she didn’t constantly sing a happy tune to herself. The woman did nothing halfway, and she lived life to the fullest extent. How did you explain a fear of singing in public to someone like that?
And he’d be damned if he admitted being scared of anything. He was turning two hundred years old, for fuck’s sake. He wasn’t afraid to get up in front of her whole family—not to mention her ex—and sing so awfully and horribly that she’d probably never talk to him again for fear of associating herself with such an embarrassment.
She watched his expression, her eyes wide with fascination.
“I’m not much of a singer,” he finally said.
She grimaced. “Me either.”
He stared at her, shocked. But she watched her prettily manicured toes. The bartender interrupted with their drinks, and Noah downed his scotch and waved for another.
“Get me another, too,” Alice called after the bartender. Then, she drank the appletini in two long drinks.
Noah blinked at her. “Are you all right?”
“I fucking hate singing in public. And they’re totally going to make us do it.” She waved her empty martini glass toward her family. Edna and Jake had accompanied them, sitting across from Cindy and Robert. Brent and Kristen took up the end of the table opposite of the chairs they’d saved for Noah and Alice. “Wow.” She shook her head. “Strong drink.”
“Maybe you should slow down.”
“I will. After I’m a little more certain I won’t remember this tomorrow.”
Noah watched her sip at the second appletini, her desire to avoid getting sick apparently slightly stronger than her need to forget their night of karaoke.
“I’m surprised,” he said, finally.
“About what?” she asked, glaring at her sister. Cindy was making some sort of motions barely within his peripheral vision, but he didn’t turn around to see what she was doing.
“I would have thought you’d like singing. You’re so…I don’t know. Bright. Happy. Singing seems like it would be something you’d enjoy.”
Her gaze shifted to him. “I love to sing. Just not where people can hear me.”He laughed. “I understand. I totally understand.”
She gave him a suspicious glance, but then straightened her spine. “You ready to go face them?”
“Maybe after a few more of these.” He waved his scotch at her.
“Well, we can go sit with them. Mom and Cindy will be all over this for a while, anyway. Brent and Kristen, too. It’ll be a good hour or so before they force us onto the stage.”
“We could just leave, you know. Go lock ourselves in the room.”
Hope lit up her face for a few seconds before she shook her head. “Leaving would be rude. I’m sorry Noah, but some things are unavoidable.” She threw her free hand over her heart dramatically. “’Tis our fate.”
He laughed at her dramatics, but his stomach flip-flopped when her words hit him. Nothing was unavoidable. Nothing. And he’d be damned if he just rolled over for that bonding. He needed a plan.
Everything about Alice demanded that he make sure that they at least get a shot. And he was in no danger of offing himself or retreating into a dark depression. His father’s insistence he be bonded was ridiculous.
“Ready to face the table?” she asked, a third appletini in hand. Her cheeks were flushed a bit from the drinks.
He reached out and stroked her cheek softly with his thumb. “Ready when you are.”
They made their way to the table, and by the sounds of it, everyone seemed to be enjoying the bar’s offerings. The noise level grew when Cindy got up to sing.
Her rendition of Don’t Stop Believing by Journey was actually quite good. Could Alice really be that terrible if her sister was so good? Maybe she just feared getting up in front of everyone. He glanced at her while she cheered her sister on. No. That didn’t fit either. Alice didn’t fear being the center of attention, even if she didn’t seek it.
As the night progressed, Noah fell into the cheerful mood that surrounded him, and Alice seemed to as well. Edna got up and sang a country song he didn’t recognize, but did it with such gusto that he couldn’t help enjoying it. Robert and Jake’s take on an AC/DC song was laughable, but they were so far gone by the time they walked onto the stage, they didn’t seem to care.
Brent downed the rest of his drink and then grabbed Kristen.
“We’ll go next,” Brent said. “Show you all how it’s done.” Kristen nodded, obviously excited.
When they launched into Summer Nights from Grease, Noah was struck by how good they were, almost theatrical in their performance. Great. Of course Brent would be a good singer. He shook himself mentally. Alice wasn’t going to go running back to Brent for his voice.
But she was obviously uncomfortable. She crossed her arms and seemed to sink into her chair, a fake smile plastered on her face as she watched the couple on the stage.
“Okay Alice, Noah. You guys are up,” Cindy insisted after everyone else at the table had taken their shot. Noah’s stomach swirled at the thought, and Alice’s eyes widened.
“I don’t think—” Alice began.
“I do!” Cindy insisted. “Go up together, that way you’ll both get it out of the way. You might even have fun.”
Fat chance of that. Alice shrugged at him, and he pushed up from the table. He’d fought battles before anyone in this room was even born. He’d taken out vampires who attacked him with swords, seeking his head. He’d faced down groups that should have killed him and his brothers, going by the numbers. He could do this. He could sing in front of these people.
Alice seemed to be warring a battle in her own mind as they approached the stage.
“You ready?” he asked. She nodded, and picked up the mics. Handing him one, she turned to face the audience. Cindy was down with the man who controlled the music, saying something in his ear, loudly, to be heard over the ever-increasing crowd. Noah made out the words, and almost ran off the stage.
“What is it?” Alice asked.
He shook his head. And then the music started.
When the first notes for Leather and Lace hit, he knew he was screwed.
But when Alice started singing, he smiled. He might be screwed, but at least they’d go down together. He and Alice limped through the song, and by the end, they were laughing and leaning against each other. And they sang the final notes with enthusiasm. Much to the chagrin of the listeners.
They left the stage still laughing, and most of their table cheered them on. All but Brent, whose expression had gone from hard to angry at some point during their duet.
“You suck!” Alice told Cindy. Her sister giggled and dodged Alice’s half-hearted punches.
Later, Cindy and Alice sang a song together. Noah had a tough time making out the lyrics, but he was pretty sure girl power was the theme.
After a couple more drinks, he and Alice got up for another duet. And to his amazement, he realized that he was actually having fun.
After her second song with Noah, she started having a hard time reading the monitor. Her last couple of appletinis pushed everything from a happy haze to a difficult-to-make-out fuzz.
Noah helped her back to their room, and she clung to his arm. He’d drunk as much as she had, and she almost asked him if his vampire metabolism was better than a human’s. But she caught herself, just barely.