“Okay, folks. We have our resident star. Taking the mic is Avery who is going to be tearing it up with her rendition of the Donna Summer and Barbra Streisand hit, ‘Enough is Enough.’ Let’s give her a hand.” The DJ started the applause going and the modest crowd in the restaurant joined him.
As soon as Avery got up to the microphone on its stand and stood under a slightly brighter overhead light, some of the clapping became more enthusiastic. Apparently, Avery must have had some fans there who knew her talent.
The original song started off softly, but Avery wouldn’t go that route. She had something to say, something to get off her chest. She belted the tune and kept it high octane throughout the song until the very end.
She didn’t mind grabbing her audience by the throat and holding them hostage throughout her performance. At the high note at the end, she held it out as long as she could. Avery felt the muscles in her neck tightening each second of her closing note until she finally closed her mouth.
She felt purged. She certainly had had enough of everything. Drama, judgments, expectations, loneliness. Like the song said, no more tears.
The rousing applause from the diners lifted Avery’s spirit. She did a slight bow as she smiled and went back to her table.
“You killed, lady.” Graciela hugged Avery before she sat down. Then she pointed to the microphone. “That’s where you really belong. Definitely not in school, and for sure not slinging hash at Uncle Pig’s.”
Avery chuckled. “As soon as DJ Khaled or some other record executive walks through that door and offers me a contract, you’re going to continue seeing me hauling books and slinging hash.”
When she pointed to the door, she froze when she saw a man come through who she hadn’t seen at Songbirds before. In his suit, he looked out of place. Peanut and sunflower seed shells littered the hardwood floor, and the dim lighting, meant to make shy singers feel more comfortable, also managed to hide a multitude of sins in the audience.
He had his dirty blond hair parted to the side, which made him look ultra straightlaced. From where she sat and the darkness of the place, she couldn’t tell his eye color. In her mind, she imagined him being a typical blond-haired, blue-eyed stunner. With fine guys like that, Avery needed to keep her distance. That didn’t mean she couldn’t fantasize.
She glanced down at her watch and cursed. “I’m going to be late for work.”
“It’s your dad.” Graciela shrugged. “He’ll forgive you.”
“Doubtful.” She finished off her water and stood. “I’ll settle the bill. You get the car.”
“Fine. See you out front.” Graciela sauntered through the restaurant.
Avery couldn’t help but notice her friend’s double take when she walked by the man she had been staring at as soon as he walked into the restaurant. She also noticed that the guy didn’t look at Graciela, a striking beauty herself.
Gay or married or both.
Or maybe he didn’t get down with folks outside of his race. Graciela embraced her Latina look and heritage, which made her stunning. Avery kept her look low key and simple. So why, when he connected his gaze to hers, did he stop and stare for longer than normal?
Avery returned the stare, and felt her insides becoming hot. She chalked the feeling up to the spicy nachos she had eaten earlier and not the fact that this stranger, with his full lips and disarming good looks, just rendered her motionless.
If she had any hope of keeping her job, she would have to stop fantasizing and get going. After paying their bill, she cut her way through the crowd.
“Great song,” one diner said to her as she passed a table.
Avery smiled and nodded, but kept it moving.
“Great voice.” An older man patted Avery’s hand.
“Thank you.” She nodded to him.
“When will you be back?” a diner asked.
Avery glanced at the handsome man, who now made his way to the bar area. “I don’t know. Hopefully soon.”
“I would pay to hear you sing. You’re incredible.”
Nice to hear, but it wouldn’t pay Avery’s bills. Getting to work and finishing her degree would get her the life she wanted.
“Buddy, you just missed the best singer here.”
Avery overheard their waiter making the comment as soon as she hit the front door. She turned in time to see that her waiter had spoken to Mr. Hotness.
As soon as he started to bring his attention to her, she bolted from the door. She had gotten enough admiration from people in the audience who she had seen there before. Questions from a stranger held no interest to her, and it would delay her from getting to work on time.
It did feel good to be complimented and admired like that. If she could bottle that feeling, she would take it with her everywhere. For now, she had coveralls to wear and toilets to clean.
Chapter 4
Laz started to chalk this trip up as a bust. He had been in Virginia for a solid week, torturing himself every day by listening to Destiny Starr’s demo. Who was this woman and where could she have gone?
No. The real question had to be why the hell had it taken Laz this long to find her? In this age of digital media and the era of YouTube stars, Laz found it rare to still get audio recordings on CDs. In the intern area of Universe, Laz had seen a discarded box filled with discs with all kinds of covers. Some had groups on them. Some had risqué photos of men and women. Others had kept it simple with a landscape scene or something artistic.
As soon as he had spotted the disc in the clear jewel case, he decided to give it a listen. If nothing else, it would either give him a good laugh or a way to pass the time.
He still remembered the feeling he got when he heard her belting out that first note. His body went stock still as though preparing it for goose bumps to shoot all over him. Then from the top of his head down to his toes, he went from warm to molten hot. The singer had a way with controlling her voice and manipulating notes like an artist making a simple but artistically stunning stroke of paint over a canvas.
As soon as he finished listening to the demo, he should have reached out to her. Bad timing. He had been put on assignment to deal with the Shauna Stellar situation, as Zinner put it. Then the massive cleanup afterward took the rest of his time. He wouldn’t have been focused on Destiny. He hoped beyond hope that someone else hadn’t made time for her since he had missed out on his opportunity.
Each open mic and coffee shop and dive bar he went to offered him no inspiration. Singers came off as cutesy girls suited for Instagram, not an arena. Then again, his mind wrapped around the idea of finding this perfect singer who had invaded his life like a ghost.
At his lowest point, he decided to try a karaoke bar. He didn’t like going to those places because people tended to copy what the original artist did when they recorded their songs. He wanted to hear originality and new voices. He had no interest in hearing someone copying Michael Jackson or Beyoncé.
It did make him curious about the act he had missed last night that the waiter told him about when he had arrived to a place called Songbirds. The other patrons in the place concurred with the waiter’s assessment. When a snippet of this singer’s karaoke song played back through the place, Laz had to sit down.
She sounded incredible and very close to Destiny Starr. Soulful yet gritty. Commanding, but still approachable. Just like everything else in his life, when he asked to meet her, the waiter said she had just paid her bill and left. Too little, too late.
Damn.
Laz also wanted to kick himself for not approaching that beauty he had seen across the room when he had gotten