Page 125 of For the Boys
“Good, good! That’s what I like to hear! So in honor of Ladies’ Night, we’re going to do karaoke! The sign-up sheet is right over there,” he said, pointing to a stool near the stage. “And we’ll start in about a half hour!”
Mitch turned to Brent. “This is either going to be hilarious or painful to watch,” he said. “Do you want to go?”
Brent shook his head. “Nah, let’s stay.”
And so they did, sitting through several terrible performances of Britney, Christina, and Beyoncé. Some weren’t so bad, and a group rendition of a famous Shania Twain song was actually pretty good.
Brent turned back to the bar for another beer, and a high, clear voice rang out from the stage. The room instantly quieted.
Brent turned back to the stage and found himself staring at a group of four girls, two tall brunettes, one curvy blonde, and one petite blonde, who was leading her friends in singing Queen’s “Somebody to Love.”
Brent stood, mesmerized, as the little blonde’s voice filled the room. Soon, flashlights on phones were turned on and lifted into the air, the crowd swaying as the group serenaded them. Even when one of the brunettes took over at lead vocals, Brent’s eyes remained glued to the blonde as she and her friends harmonized backup vocals.
When they finished, Brent stood still, watching as they made their way off the stage amidst loud cheers from the crowd. Even from across the room, Brent could see a blush rise in the little blonde’s cheeks.
Mitch shook his hand in front of his face. “Bro, are you good?”
“That girl, Mitch,” he said, nodding at the blonde and her friends. “Any chance you know who she is?”
“No idea,” Mitch said. “Go find out for yourself.”
Brent finished his beer and ordered two more. “I think I will,” he said to Mitch, whose attention was already on the girl next to him. The bartender returned and slid two beers across to Brent, who grabbed them and turned back toward the room. He paused, searching for the girl. His eyes swiveled back and forth around the room, but neither she nor her friends were anywhere in the crowd.
She was gone.
“So I went home alone that night,” Brent finished. “Seeing you up there shook me, and I hadn’t quite figured out why until now.”
He wouldn’t say it out loud, not yet, but that night, the moment he’d laid eyes on her, he’d felt a connection. He had felt like he was looking at his other half, his soulmate, for the first time.
Berkley climbed on top of him, straddling his hips. “You were in the crowd that night?” Brent nodded. “I had no idea.”
Brent shrugged. “You’re a great singer, by the way.”
She smiled. “Thank you.” She leaned down to kiss him, the softness of her bare breasts and the ends of her hair brushing his chest, causing heat to pool low in his belly, blood instantly flowing to his dick.
“I can’t believe that’s when you first saw me,” Berkley said. “I don’t understand why it took you literal months to work up the nerve to actually talk to me.”
“To be fair, you could’ve talked to me too, if you were interested. Which I know you were,” he added with a smirk, gesturing to their current position.
She smacked his chest, and he grabbed her hand and held it there. “You’re Brent Jean. You have women throwing themselves at you constantly. I didn’t want to be another one you shot down.”
“You know that never would’ve happened.”
“Yeah, now! Still doesn’t explain what took you so long.”
“Well,” Brent said, “it was a few weeks before I saw you again. And by then, I had thought about you so often, and imagined meeting you so many times, that I kind of psyched myself out. I was too afraid to talk to you and risk it not being what I hoped.”
Berkley giggled and kissed the tip of his nose, her breasts now firmly pressed against his chest. “That’s actually the cutest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“It is not. It’s embarrassing as hell.”
“I beg to differ. You’re the cutest thing I’ve ever laid eyes on.”
In one smooth movement, aided by years of training, Brent rose up and tossed Berkley onto her back. “I’ll show you cute.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Berkley
