Someone tapped my shoulder. I straightened, spinning on my stool expecting Yukio, but instead it was a beautiful man with curly blond hair, dimples, and big blue eyes. He looked a little older than everyone else in the room, but still young enough to fit in. The tiny lines around his eyes as he smiled gave away his higher age, though.
“Hey, I’m Gus.” He held out his hand, and even though I wasn’t a fan of strangers touching me, I shook it because I had manners.
“Micah.”
“Wanna dance, Micah?” He fluttered those long blond lashes, and guilt had me wincing. Another reason I hated going out. When menwereinterested in me, they weren’t my type, and I had to say no. I hated hurting their feelings.
“I don’t dance,” I said rather bluntly. Could I have softened the blow somehow?
“How about a drink?” His tongue poked out from the corner of his mouth, and I frowned. He was adorable, but something about him shoutedbottom. Yet, so did Yukio, and I’d come here after he’d invited me.
“I’m waiting for someone.” I offered him a kind smile, but it might’ve come across as awkward because he frowned and nodded before he left quickly. I sighed and turned back around as the bartender brought back my pop. She placed the glass in front of me and grinned.
Leaning on the bar with her elbows, she tilted her head. “You don’t look comfortable here, sweetheart.”
“I’m not,” I admitted with a nervous laugh. Rubbing the back of my neck, I shrugged because I wasn’t sure what else to say.
She popped her lips as her eyebrows shot upward before grunting and walking away again. I groaned. Sometimes I wondered how I’d survived in this world so far. People were confusing. They wanted conversations, and I could handle that... if we talked about history or current events. Working at a college was great because that’s all students wanted to discuss with me. They didn’t care where I spent my evenings or what I liked to eat or drink. They only wanted to know what to do for the next test or written paper. Occasionally they asked for book recommendations.
The band on the stage had finished, but I didn’t know when because I hadn’t been paying attention. I focused on the stage where another band was setting up, and my gaze landed on Yukio, who was lowering the microphone to his height. The sleeveless shirt he wore showed off tattoos and the straining bicep muscles in his upper arms, which weren’t as small as I’d expected from someone his height. The jeans he wore were ripped around his knees and his shoes were black, like the rest of his clothes.Yukio Nightscurved across the front of his shirt in big, bold purple letters.
When he had the mic situated, he studied the room. His gaze paused on me, and he arched his hands over his eyes to stop the light from shining directly into them, and then he grinned, waving. Confused and thrown by his actions, I gave him a weak wave in return.
I spun back around on my stool and cupped my glass of Coke closer to my chest, my cheeks heating.
The bartender was back and she smirked at me. “Ah. Yukio, huh?”
“No.” I took the straw between my lips and gulped a large amount of the pop before I gathered myself enough to speak again. “I’m just here to watch the band play.”
“Mm-hmm.” She stuck her tongue in her cheek and something glittered there, and I realized after a moment that she had a ball piercing in her dimple.
I cringed as I imagined the pain to get my cheek pierced. I opened my mouth to ask her about it, but someone caught her attention at the end of the bar, and she was off again. She reminded me of the Energizer Bunny, never stopping to catch her breath. This fast-paced world scared me. Living with that kind of speed was asking to make mistakes, and I didn’t handle errors very well. I preferred to take my time and get everything right.
The sound of a loud guitar strum jerked me out of my mind, and I focused on the band again.
Yukio had his mouth pressed close to the mic, and he held up his hand in a frozen wave. The purple in his black hair seemed brighter under the spotlight, and the silver piercings in his face glittered like diamonds. I couldn’t tear my stare away from him.
“Hey, everyone, we’re Yukio Nights, and we’re going to play a few songs for you,” he said.
Even though I’d just taken a drink, my mouth went dry as he glanced my way again and winked. My stomach clenched and I rubbed it.Too young.Would he take control?I sighed. He was beautiful, there was no doubt about it, but chances were, he wanted me to be someone I wasn’t. Most younger men who had approached me the time I’d gone out to a bar downtown called Black Out had wanted a Daddy. I’d spent my entire life pretending to be someone else, and I was tired of masking myself from the world.
The music began, with a fast, thumping bassline from the electric guitars before the drums joined in. Yukio and another man with shoulder-length blond hair strummed together. The rhythm fired up the crowd, and some who were sitting down at tall, circular tables rose to join the people already dancing.
Yukio had a bright purple guitar, which he was thumping his hand on in time with his bandmates. His smirk was downright wicked, gaze scanning around the room like a man in charge of the universe—which didn’t fit the boy who had approached me looking so polished in the library.
He leaned toward the microphone. The singing voice that came from him was deeper than I’d expected, and the echo dug its way inside me and buried itself there. The vibration was an addictive thrill that left me breathless.
“You are my poison of choice, craving I’ve been saving.” He turned his attention in my direction again and the tone of his voice rose in a near shout. “But I want more of you. I don’t care if you leave me sore. Break my heart, maybe. Toxic kisses, baby. I don’t care what you do to me, just give me your venom.Break my heart, maybe. Toxic kisses, baby.”
The crowd on the dance floor joined in the chorus, screaming out the words “break my heart, maybe. Toxic kisses, baby,” as though they would save the world by doing it.
The song went on with more lyrics about love being venomous and deadly, and after the band was done, they went on to another rock song, then another. Yukio ended up playing five songs, and during each chorus he sang, he stared in my direction like he was singing aboutme, which was stupid. We didn’t know each other.
I couldn’t look away, though.
By the time he was done and the crowd cheered and Yukio thanked them for being here, I turned to notice the ice in the glass had watered down the Coke, making it undrinkable. I pulled out some cash and threw it on the bar before standing. This wasn’t my kind of place, and I’d come to listen to Yukio’s band like he’d asked, so now it was time to leave.
I didn’t get far, though. I’d only made it halfway to the door when Yukio called my name. I couldn’t remember giving it to him, but that didn’t mean I hadn’t. Sometimes I got lost in my mind, like Alex said.
