Page 68 of Power Games

The Troubadour was packed, and the crowd was loving Kaia's performance. Of course they did. Definitely not reassuring for Vanessa.

Her friend finished her fourth, and last, song for the evening and left the stage under thunderous applause, as Vanessa knew she would. Hopefully, no one had brought rotten tomatoes to throw at her.

Kaia reachedout and squeezed Vanessa’s hand as she passed her by.

"Go get ’em, tiger. You're fire. Remember that."

Fire. Right. Of course. She totally was.

Vanessa stepped out of the shadows, waving to the hysterical crowd.

The nightclub was dark and at full capacity; four hundred souls crammed into a relatively small space. She didn't know how her eyes went straight to him. She didn't know how she could distinguish him so quickly in the darkness.

Charles had a presence, a unique aura around him that would make anyone notice, but in this light, the way she'd immediately zeroed in on him was uncanny.

She managed to breathe, then gave the crowd her best smile.

"Wow. I mean, Kaia and I may have our differences, but wow. That was something. Right, guys?"

They yelled back their agreement as she strode around the stage, watching the crowd.

"Now let's see if I can manage a decent follow-up to that, shall we?"

The cries grew louder.

Vanessa and Kaia were different in practically every way; the other singer had come to the stage in black leather, with a ripped loose T-shirt and a red bra underneath, Vanessa wore a silver sparkly jumpsuit and pink everywhere, on her shoes, her nails, her lips and eyes. It didn't end there. Vanessa had never picked up an instrument on stage before; she had a pianist and a bass player behind her most of the time, but her music was all about voice and lyrics.

There were gasps when she grabbed a guitar.

"We'll start with my latest song. I wasn't sure I'd play it tonight. You haven't heard it yet, I haven't recorded it. But Kaia set fire to this stage, so I'm all for letting it burn. Here's ‘Magnetic.’"

“Magnetic” was sex with a guitar, fucking the mic and teasing the crowd with a slow, seductive beat paired with long chords that drew the tension out. Her words were worst. Touch, breath, scent, caresses, promises for more. Contrary to what she let Marina believe, she hadn't written that song recently. She'd pulled it from a seven-year-old diary. The words and the rhythm had been set long ago, the night she'd met the man who was watching her practically fuck the crowd with her hands and her mouth.

They all exploded when she was done, demanding more, yelling at the tops of their voices. The rest of the concert was a breeze; she played her older songs without letting go of the guitar, giving an edge and a new meaning to all of her lyrics by letting her voice caress each word.

They demanded she stay on the stage when she was done, screaming, "Nessie!" and then, “‘Magnetic!'"

Vanessa smirked before replaying her best hit to date.

Kaia was waiting in the wings when she came out, shaking her head. "What did I say? You're fire."

She'd heard the song already, but Vanessa didn't think she'd ever managed to perform it quite that way before.

The next performer was a guy bigger than either of them. Kaia winked at him, saying, "Good luck following that up, honey."

The man would manage just fine, no doubt. Vanessa usually stayed until the end of the concerts to support the other artists, but she practically ran out to find her phone this time.

Knowing there was little chance of Charles hearing a call, she texted.

"Oh my God, you're here! Why didn't you tell me you were coming? I would have given you backstage passes!"

She hadn't even had a chance to send it when someone knocked on her dressing room’s door.

“Come on in!” she yelled, finishing the text.

She lifted her head to find Charles leaning on the door. He was so fucking beautiful in his gray suit tonight.GQmodel worthy.

"Hi, Sunshine."

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