Page 110 of Cherish

Sing Work Makes

the Dream Work

Jaxon snickers. “Hudson Vega: Hate on Tour. It’s got a nice ring to it.”

“Excuse me?” I ask, completely offended on his behalf. “Hudson isn’t a hater.”

But Jaxon is on a roll. “Hudson Vega: No Wonder Tour. Hudson Vega: Who Needs Eras When You’ve Got Centuries? Hudson Vega: I Have No Faith in the Future Tour.”

Even Hudson is looking affronted now, but I’ve finally caught on to what Jaxon is doing. “You can make fun of him all you want, butyouare the big, bad, dark-and-broody vampire who knows the names of all the huge pop tours going around at the moment.”

“So that’s what that was?” Eden snickers.

“Shawn Mendes, Taylor Swift, Louis Tomlinson,Harry Styles.” I tick them off on my fingers, glaring at him extra hard when I say the last two names. Making fun of my mate and Harry all in the same sentence? He’s lucky I’m on my best behavior right now. “I mean, it’s no Of Course You Don’t Remember Darren Hayes for Savage Garden tour, but whatever.”

“Wait. He’s touring?” Jaxon asks, whipping out his phone before he realizes it doesn’t work here. “Slick, Grace. Very slick.”

Everyone has a good laugh, even Nyaz.

“Anyway…” I turn back to Hudson. “It’s a good idea.”

“It’s a great idea,” Macy seconds. “You’ll sell out the place, and she can’t help but notice.”

“Especially if we make the publicity a condition of the concert,” Flint adds, looking thoughtful. “You know, like those contract riders stars attach to their appearances. Hudson will only perform if they can publicize the concert all over Noromar.”

“And only if it’s outside of Adarie—excuse me, Vegaville—so that Nyaz and the people of Adarie feel safe,” I add.

“I can get behind that,” Nyaz says, nodding. “My underground network can get the word out, too. Make it even harder for her to miss.”

“That’s brilliant,” I tell him. “When we talk to the concert promoter, we can see if that will work for him, too.”

“It will have to work for him,” Flint says, sounding every inch the dragon prince. “Especially if he wants this as badly as he says he does.”

“So, we’ve got a plan, then?” Heather says, ticking tasks off on her fingers like I did with pop stars, as if it’s all just that easy. “Grace will contact the concert promoter with Hudson’s demands. Nyaz will use his network to help get the word out. The rest of us will organize the concert venue. And, Hudson—”

“Yes, please, enlighten me,” comes my mate’s dry-as-burned-toast voice. “What is it exactly that Hudson will be doing while all this is going on?”

To her credit, Heather doesn’t wilt. In fact, she doesn’t so much as blink. She just looks him straight in the eye and says with a smile, “Putting together a kick-ass set list, obviously. The talent has to pull his weight, you know.”

When Hudson smiles back at her, there’s a little more fang showing than I would normally be comfortable with. Then again, we are asking an awful lot of him.

I say as much in an effort to placate him, and he turns that too-fangy smile on me. “Oh, is that what you’re doing? Asking something of me? Here I was under the impression that I was being told what to do.”

And apparently the vampire prince/gargoyle king/alpha male that is my mate is not particularly fond of being told what to do. Who would have guessed?

“It’s the best idea we’ve got to get her to come to us. Mekhi can’t wait much longer. You know that, right?”

He frowns, then begrudgingly admits, “I know.”

“And you’re going to be great. You know that, too, right?”

He shrugs. “Maybe.”

“So what’s the problem?” Jaxon intervenes. “Just take one for the team, bro.”

Hudson’s eyes narrow to slits. “You keep calling this a team, but I’m the one who has to keep taking the hits for it. You want to explain that to me?”

“Dude, there was a pigeon on my head. You didn’t hear me whining this much.”

---