No Longer Alone

Chapter Five

    I did my best to hide my reaction and looked over my shoulder to see the two guys from before, and felt a moment of panic, before the pain kicked in.  None of this showed on my face though, I'd had too many years with having to hide everything from friends, let alone strangers, instead I smirked and shrugged my shoulder.

        "Well looks like I already have some waiting on me." I turn back as I see the bartender heading to me, with another drink for me.

    "Your tall friend is gonna have to wait a bit on the coffee, just started a fresh pot for him" I smile and thank her giving her a decent tip, and turn to head back to the pool table, but am stopped as the two are still there waiting.  

    Now, I can see blondie has hazel eyes, and a quick glance at his friend allows me to see his green eyes.  Mentally I start kicking myself, I'd always had a thing for dark hair and green eyes.  Time to focus on blondie again, less trouble, and he looks like he has something to say.

    "I did see your....partners..." he says this with a questioning tone, like he is wondering what we are to each other.  I have to laugh a bit at this, Adam adopted me as a little sister, and Jen is my best friend. "We were just wondering if we could play too or if you guys would be done with the table soon."

    "Well, I am tired of my brother handing me my rear, so I could use a break.  You'd have to talk to him and his wife if they want to play teams."  At the mention of the word brother, blondie gets an excited twinkle in his eye, and I feel the other one watching me for a moment as well.

    "Oh, such a shame then, I'd much rather have a pretty partner like you that this anti-social guy here..." blondie tries to step closer to me and I see his arm go up like he is going to put it around me, I side step and avoid the flirt and shake my head laughing at him.

    "I can imagine how many girls you've used that line on pretty boy, but given I don't even know your name, keep those grabby hands to yourself.  Anyways, if you want to play, let's go talk to Adam."  I turned and walked back to the pool table hoping that they wouldn't follow, they were good looking, but I couldn't waste anymore time or tears on dreaming.

    "You wound me, beautiful, I speak nothing but the truth.  My name is Alex, and my silent shadow here is Damian.  Now you know our names, and yours?"  I see Alex, aka pretty boy, to my left out of the corner of my eye.

    "Nicole, but you still need to keep your grabby hands to yourself."  I hear a snort like someone is trying to stop a laugh from behind, and see that Alex has a slightly shocked look on his face.  Guess pretty boy isn't used to a female not wanting his touch.

    As we reach the table Adam sees us and gives me the look I  know so well, the one eyebrow lifted quizzical that askes how I managed to collect strays and bring them back with me.  I explain that they were interested in playing and perform introductions.  As they started talking a bit, I noticed the karaoke dj was in and gave her a wave, Jen and I walking over to start getting our songs in.  I always started with "Old time rock n' roll" by Bob Segar, I have a naturally low and smoky voice for a female, and I love to get people up dancing.  Jen was in the mood to do Black velvet, which made me think of Damian's hair, and if it was as smooth as velvet.  I glanced towards the pool table and saw Adam and Alex playing a game, talking rather animatedly, but no sign of Damian.

    "So how does it work here for singing, Nicole?" the voice was deep and silky, the perfect pitch that plays havoc with my hormones.  I am beginning to think this man was created to wreck havoc with my system. Forcing a smile on my face I turn and faced Damien who was standing behind me.

    "Same as it would anywhere else I suppose, give Lacey here your name and the song you want to sing, she's got a pretty good variety but she also is set up to download the song if she doesn't have it." 

    He glances over to Lacey who is still talking with Jen and l take the moment to escape back over near Adam and let him know that I am stepping outside for a moment, I saw who the first singer was and what they were doing and it was something I wasn't drunk enough to be able to listen to.  I really had no idea that someone could try and sing "Grenade" by Bruno Mars as an off key wanna be opera with no sense of rhythm.  He nodded and started talking with Alex about his buggy again.  I grinned knowing that Alex was caught, Adam loved his buggy almost as much as he loved his wife.  Slipping on my coat I stepped outside the bar and enjoyed the cooler air around me.

    I pulled out a smoke, and lit it, relaxing for a moment as I heard the door opening again and sensing someone behind me, I assumed it was Jen, since she avoids listening to that singer as much as I do.

    "Had to escape that one as well?  Did you see how many singers were up before us?"  I asked without turning around.  There was a deep chuckle and I realized I had assumed wrong.

    "If I had wanted to hear a cat in heat, there are other places I could go, and your friend Jen is up before me, and you are up before her.  I think there were two others before you."  

Crap.