“Yeah.” Mae swallowed, caught between wanting to make a joke about what he had just witnessed—it was, objectively, pretty funny that she had broken down, publicly, while singing “A Thousand Miles”—and wanting to step even closer to him. To do something in this dark hallway that wouldn’t involve laughing at all.
“Just needed a little moment of catharsis,” she eventually said. He wouldn’t stop looking at her. It had been cold outside, a second ago, but her skin felt at once overly warm under his attention.
Dell, she almost opened her mouth to say.What the hell are we doing?
But he pushed off the wall before she could.
“We can leave early if you need to,” he said.
“No.” She shook her head. “I’m all right.”
But she had liked the way he said it.We.
With a grave nod, he turned. She followed him back to the table, still avoiding the eyes of her friends.
But before Dell could retake his seat, Kiki read out his name.
Mae jerked her head in his direction, mouth parting in surprise.
Dell tilted his head, scratched behind his ear, as if he was going to explain. But then he simply left, walking toward Kiki.
“Hell yeah,” Vik said, voice low. “I am ready forthis.”
“Do you know what he’s singing?” Ben asked.
“No. I?—”
And then she was truly struck speechless as an easy, gentle acoustic guitar swept through the room.
Mae never would have expected Dell McCleary to actually sing at karaoke. And she certainly never would have predicted he’d singthis.
In general, Mae held high standards for anyone who dared to sing Tracy Chapman. But the moment Dell opened his mouth to begin “Baby Can I Hold You,” it became clear to everyone in the room that of the small percentage of people in the world who could do her justice, Dell McCleary was one of them.
By the time he got to the first chorus, Theo swooned into Ozzy’s lap, hand over his heart.
Alexei, who had started putting on his coat, froze.
Mae dared Dell to look at her, at the same time that she was terrified of what would happen to her already alarming internal temperature if he did. But he only stared straight ahead at the screen, even if it was clear he didn’t need the prompted lyrics. As whenever he wasn’t looking at the screen, he had his eyes closed.
Which hehadto know was the sexiest move he possibly could’ve pulled.
With each passing second, the sensation that had been haunting her for the past two days grew heavier, deeper, a weighted blanket sinking over her chest. Because dammit, everything about this triphadfelt couple-ish, and not just because of his skill at holding his body behind hers at the bar, although that was part of it. It was Dell asking teasing questions about her belongings inside her storage unit; it was wanting to share her favorite memories with him. It was Dell waiting for her to click in her seatbelt before he started the ignition; it was Dell sharing his radio. It was Dell, sitting with her friends last night over pizza, sitting at the table with her friends here at Moonie’s: simultaneously in-line and on the outside of their group, connected to this world only through her.
Even if it wasn’t rational, even if she shouldn’t have thought it, every time her eyes snagged on him at those tables, she thought:Mine.
When he finished, the screams of applause were so loud as to almost be painful, a ringing in Mae’s ears. She still couldn’t look directly at anyone else at the table. She couldn’t move. She focused on her breathing very, very carefully, her hands trapped between her thighs under the table.
Dell had barely returned to his seat when a hand slid down his shoulder. Mae broke her statue-esque meditation to look at the man currently caressing Dell’s flannel.
“Hi there, honey,” he cooed. “My entire table was just wondering if you’re single.”
Distantly, Mae heard the rest of the table barely conceal their laughter. But she could only focus on Dell’s face. He glanced at her for a fraction of a second.
“I’m not looking, at the moment,” he said to the man, not unkindly, though his face remained passive. The man retracted his hand with a small pout.
“Well, you can’t blame a girl for trying,” he said before returning to his friends.
Mae watched Dell take another sip of beer.
