Chapter 3

The bass from the previous set still vibrated in my chest, a dull, rhythmic thumping that matched the erratic beating of my own heart. The karaoke room was mine again, or at least, it would be soon, but for this suspended moment, it was just us. The air conditioning had kicked into overdrive, blowing cool air against my flushed skin, but the heat radiating from him was far more potent, far more invasive. We had been laughing, or I had been laughing, while he watched me with that dark, heavy-lidded gaze that made my knees weak. I had sung a pop ballad, something cheesy and high-pitched, and he hadn’t stopped staring. Not once. Now, the song had ended. The machine whirred as it transitioned into the silence between tracks, the red digital numbers counting down the seconds until the next song could be queued. The disco lights above us had slowed, shifting from a frenetic strobe to a lazy, pulsating amber glow that painted the room in shadows. He stood up first, moving with that predatory grace that always seemed to surprise me. He was tall, broader than the other men at the gala, his suit jacket draped over one