Page 79 of Defiant
My class was on the last song we had—I was fumbling through the songs like no other, and I hoped my voice didn’t stick out too badly, since I did sound like a dying cat—when I noticed the side doors to the auditorium open quietly.
Through the blindingly bright spotlights, I could see someone walk in and sit in the far back—the rows that were free of parents, the rows reserved for the choir students to sit and watch the rest of the performance once their part was done. Right now, the other classes sat near where the late person had chosen to be. I thought I caught a quick glimpse of leather, but I could be wrong.
After all, no one around here wore leather beside Dante, and there was no way Dante would ever show up to a freaking choir concert.
No way.
Our last song finished a few minutes later, and since it was our class’s final song, Ms. Haber stepped to the side, made a ridiculously dramatic bow, and gestured to us, causing the audience to clap, as if we’d done something spectacular and not just sang the words to a song we’d been learning for weeks.
Row by row, we exited the stage off the side, and the entire class pretty much erupted into chitchat the moment we were in the hall. The next choir group had already lined up, ready to enter the moment the final kid from my class exited.
Bobbi was beside me in an instant, nudging me as we headed to the other auditorium doors to take our seats in the back audience. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”
“I guess not,” I admitted, though I did it begrudgingly. Still would be better at this shit if I had a good voice, but I supposed, maybe, when you blended everyone’s voices together, it all sounded decent enough.
“After this one, the last one should be easy,” she told me. “You’ll have more time to learn the songs.”
Hah. Yeah, only one more concert this year to go. That was not something I wanted to think about, not yet. Not until I was home, in bed, with this entire thing behind me.
Bobbi and I followed the rest of the class into the auditorium, taking the seats recently vacated by the other students in the back. Once we were seated, once the next class was on the risers and ready, Ms. Haber introduced them—along with some more corny jokes that, I was aghast, some of the audience actually laughed at.
Bobbi was whispering something to me, something about the choir class that was currently on stage—an all-girls group—but I was too busy tossing a look over my shoulder, trying to see if I could recognize the person sitting above us, in the top corner of the entire auditorium.
Though he sat in darkness, not a light nearby, I was able to discern his square jaw, not to mention the tattoo lining the sides of his skull.
Goddamn it. What the hell was Dante doing here?
When the choir group on stage began to sing, I whispered to Bobbi, “I’ll be right back.”
She nodded, moving her legs to let me pass her, probably thinking I had to go to the restroom or something. The other kids in the row didn’t even look at me as I inched before them. Once I got to the aisleway, I headed up, to the empty back rows, to the lone guy sitting by himself in the very corner.
He didn’t look at me when I walked up to him, didn’t even spare a glance as I plopped myself down in the seat beside him. He did, however, grin to himself, as if it was a struggle not to look at me.
“What are you doing here?” I asked. My voice came out sounding like a whisper, even though it wasn’t. That had more to do with the group on stage and the loud-ass song they were singing than anything else.
My mom and Ollie sat a good ways down, in the front half of the auditorium. Bobbi was about ten rows up, near the rest of the choir class, the third and final class in between us. Dante and I weren’t technically alone, but not a single pair of eyes were on us.
Finally, Dante turned his head toward me, laying that cute, somewhat psychotic smirk on me. “I came to see you, babe.”
“Don’t call me babe,” I told him, glaring. He and Vaughn had officially become my dates for the dance next week, but that didn’t give him the right to call me babe. I was not a babe. I was anything but. “I never thought choir concerts were your thing.”
Dante leaned back in his seat, his knees spread apart and his back hunched. “I was thinking about you,” he said. “Couldn’t stop myself from coming. I had to see if I could get you to myself, at least for a little bit.”
I was not impressed. “We are as alone as we’re going to get.” Yes, surrounded by an auditorium full of people was as alone as I wanted to be with him…mostly because I was nervous as to what would happen if I was actually alone with him.
Lately I’d been finding myself really liking the crazy glint in his icy blue eyes.
His stare raked over me, his head leaning back on the cushioned seat. “You look good in all black, Jaz.”
“Why are you here, really?” I chose to ignore his statement, not wanting to linger on it. If I did, my mind might go someplace it shouldn’t.
He shrugged as best as he could while reclining back. “I’m lonely in that motel room all by myself.” He flashed me his teeth in the darkness, grinning wickedly. “Why don’t you come back with me tonight? We can get to know each other a whole lot better.”
I stared at him, hoping I looked unimpressed and uninterested…even though I did feel my cheeks flush with heat. The thought was a tempting one, and if I could go, no strings attached, I probably would.
Alas, my mom was here and she would literally kill me—it was for the best.
Dante scooted himself up before leaning over the armrest between our seats. He was suddenly so very close to me as he whispered, “Come on. I know you want to. I can see the look in your eyes. You were more than willing to get frisky with me that first day. Why not now?”
