She tried starting her car again. This time it made a sad clicking noise before it eventually stopped making any sounds.
“Damn it!” Avery pounded her fists on the steering wheel. “The last thing I needed.” She peered up at the back of the restaurant. “I can’t leave this here. Pig will tow it or burn it. Or burn it and tow it. I can’t afford to get it repaired. If I call my parents, they’ll give me the I-told-you-so speech and will want me to come back home.” She shook her head before resting it on the steering wheel. “I don’t need this. I really don’t.”
“I’ll make you a deal.” Laz took out his phone. “I’ll pay for the tow if you give me five minutes of your time.”
She shook her head. “I don’t want to owe you anything.”
Laz held up both hands. “I promise you. No strings attached on the tow. You have my word.”
“I don’t know you to trust your word. I don’t know you to trust that you are who you say you are. You’re just some guy that literally fell from the sky into my world to, apparently, wreak havoc. My life was going fine until you stepped into it. Now I can’t think straight.” She took out her phone. “I’ll just call my parents. No use escaping the inevitable.”
“Okay. I’m sure they’ll help you, especially when you tell them that you lost your job.” Laz didn’t want to hit her below the belt, but he didn’t have a lot of time to be sensitive.
Avery hovered her thumb over the Send button. “Damn.” She peered at Laz. “Did it ever occur to you that I might not be the one you’re looking for?”
Laz cocked a smile at the corner of his mouth. “Did you ever think that I might be the one you need?”
Avery sat still for a moment like she had to process his words. “Five minutes.”
Laz made an X symbol over his thudding heart. “Promise. We can go wherever you want to talk.”
“There’s a park near where I live.”
Laz nodded. “I’ll get a tow truck here in no time.”
Then he would be that much closer to getting his dream.
Chapter 6
Avery must have lost her mind. In a blink of an eye, she managed to lose a job and, somehow, gain a potential music manager.
She sat on a bench in a park across the street from her apartment building. Avery kept her stare on her dead vehicle that the tow truck driver had left in front of her door. She wanted to go inside and sleep for a while. With her guest beside her, she couldn’t leave. Not just yet. Not until she found out his end game.
“So, Avery…” Laz waved his hand in the air to encourage her to say more, give more.
“Is Laz your real name?” Avery wouldn’t be putting herself out there first.
While keeping his steely gaze on her, he stood and removed a black leather billfold from his back pocket. After opening it, he removed a card and handed it to her.
Avery waited a beat before accepting it. She stared at his New York state driver’s license. In her mind, she took mental pictures of everything on the card. The card stated he stood six-feet-two inches. That got her licking her lips. She didn’t need to review the license to know he had blond hair and blue eyes.
She tried memorizing his address. She reviewed his full name last, the first thing she should have been observing.
“Lazarus Maurice Kyson.” She peered up at him. “Yeah, I would have gone with Laz, too.” She handed the card back to him.
When their fingers brushed against each other, she shook. Avery never expected to feel sparks like that from a stranger.
“Yeah, well, it’s a great conversation starter.” He returned the license to his wallet and put it back in his jeans before taking a seat. “Couldn’t have been an accountant with a name like that.”
“Music is all you ever wanted to do?” She never met someone who seemed to be into the industry like her.
He nodded and held his hand up about three feet off the ground. “Since I was about one. My parents tell me that I used to bang pots and pans before I could talk. Then when I did say something, I wouldn’t just say it. I would sing it.”
Avery laughed. “No, you didn’t.”
Laz surprised her by singing, “Mom, may I have some cereal?”
What he sang didn’t surprise her. The beautiful tone caught her attention first. This man could sing. The idea of that had her sitting up straighter. She briefly wondered if she smelled like fried food or industrial cleaner instead of something pleasant. Damn, she needed to shower, change, and start this conversation all over again.
She also needed her bed, but not in that way. Avery glanced at her apartment again. She imagined her nice, comfortable mattress with her fluffy pillows, and suddenly, she started blinking a little slower than before.
“So, Avery…?” Again, he waved his hand in the air to her.
“Shields.” Her voice lowered to a whisper.
“Like Brooke.”
“Like guarded.” She shook her head. “I don’t let a whole lot of people in.”
“Speaking of which, are we really going to conduct business out here?” He glanced at her apartment building. “You don’t want to go in and—”
“No.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “You said five minutes.” To illustrate her point, she glanced down at her watch. “You have three left.”
“Okay. Where did Destiny Starr come from?”
Avery hadn’t prepared herself for that question. “I don’t know if I want to talk about that yet.” She scooted back as far as she could on the bench they shared.
“Why not? Looks like you have her buried. No social media, a post office box for an address, a disconnected phone number, and no singing gigs. You were literally a needle in a haystack.” Laz beamed. “But I got poked by the needle, and I didn’t mind it. So tell me about it.”
Laz sounded sincere this time, more than he did in the restaurant earlier when he tried running that tired line on her. That didn’t mean she wanted to bare her soul to him.
“I get it.” He held his hand up. “Baby steps. Where did the name come from? My guess is you liked the group Destiny’s Child.”
Avery shook her head. “One of my aunts. She was my favorite. Her name was Destiny. She passed away a few years ago. Stroke.” She stared down at the lush green grass under her feet to keep herself from bursting into tears.
Her Aunt Destiny had been the only one who wanted Avery to spread her wings and fly.
“Oh, wow. Sorry for the loss.”
Avery didn’t look up, but that didn’t stop Laz from placing his hand on top of hers to show her a bit of comfort. With Uncle Pig, she hated being in his air space, let alone his touch. Avery didn’t want Laz to break this connection. The warmth of his hand both relaxed her and revved up her heart…and libido. Her pulse raced. She didn’t want to move her hand in fear he would pull his away.
Then he did. He slid his hand off hers when he pulled back from her. “And the Starr part? Was that a wish fulfillment thing?”
Avery smiled and shook her head. “No. Not really. It was from Brenda K. Starr.” She glanced up at Laz when he didn’t speak. “She was a singer popular back in the eighties.”
He nodded. “I know.”
Then he shocked Avery by singing a few lines from Brenda’s hit song “I Still Believe.”
Avery had to cross her legs this time when her clitoris throbbed. She never imagined a man singing that song, and she didn’t expect a man to sing it that well.
To keep on track with their conversation, Avery continued. “I liked knowing that she helped both Mariah Carey and Jennifer Lopez early on in their careers. Plus I loved her voice and that song.”
“It is a great song, but you have way more talent than to reduce yourself to a cheesy name like Destiny Starr. I don’t see anything wrong with Avery Shields, or just Avery.”
Suddenly, Avery felt a w
ave of cold hit her, like someone doused her with ice water. Cheesy name?
“Easy for you. You don’t have push back from your family. You can go out there with your real name and full identity.” She crossed her arms.
Laz nodded. “Now I get it. Your parents aren’t on board with you singing. You came up with the name to hide your identity, right?”
She relaxed her arms. “I thought that if I created this new identity and put myself out there on YouTube and stuff, I would get noticed by the right people and unrecognizable to others. Then some kid of someone who goes to the same church as my family saw one of my videos and told my parents. Before they could even find it, I took all the videos down and deleted all accounts.” As she thought about that day, she realized something else. “That was the moment I gave up on the idea of becoming a singer. If I couldn’t be honest with my family, what made me think I could sing in front of a group of people I didn’t know?”
“At some point, your parents are going to have to let you live your life and realize your dream. You can’t keep—”
“Your turn. Tell me about you.” Avery had no interest in hearing the same argument she had been telling herself for years.
Laz sat up taller. “Okay. I’ve been in the music industry for about ten years.”
“How old are you now? You look close to my age.” Avery stared at him as he answered.
“Twenty-seven.”
His admission made Avery blink. Then again, everything made her close her eyes a bit more and more. Her sleepy nature had nothing to do with the distracting man in front of her.
Laz continued giving her his résumé. “I graduated high school early. I went to college in New York on a math scholarship, but I put my full concentration on music. I did several internships, starting my sophomore year, at a few labels. I was offered a job before I graduated. With diploma in hand, I hit the ground running.”
“And your running got you all the way down here to Virginia?” She rubbed her eyes and hoped that would be enough to wake her up.
“Your voice got me down here.” He pointed to her. “Besides, I like discovering talent in out of the way places.” He chuckled. “When you hit it big, what a great story to tell that I heard you in a men’s bathroom.”
Avery didn’t share in his humor. She stood, too exhausted to fake interest anymore. “Thank you for the tow. I appreciate it.” She started walking toward her building. “And thank you for telling me all about yourself and your goals.”
“You didn’t tell me your goals.” Laz stood and glanced at his watch before addressing her. “And I believe I have at least another minute with you.”
Avery shook her head. “It won’t help you. You come at me like the greatest thing since sliced bread, but the fact of the matter is, I’m a poor woman who is struggling to make it, but I do have a goal.”
“Isn’t it better to have a dream?” Laz moved in closer to her.
“No. Goals are obtainable. If I finish college, which I’ll do in a few weeks, I can go for better jobs. Dreams derail you from goals and can get you in trouble.”
Laz crossed his arms over his chest. “That sounds like something a parent would say.”
“Sometimes parents are right. I’m twenty-two. If I was going to hit out there in the music world, I would have done it by now.” She held up her hand and started ticking off points. “I don’t do open mics.”
“Karaoke.” Laz cocked his head at her.
“That’s not original music. I’m not sitting at a piano or on a barstool trying to live out a dream.” She continued back toward her apartment. “I don’t have a YouTube channel anymore.”
“Those are overrated in my opinion. I know a lot of mainstream artists have been discovered that way.” He shrugged. “Doesn’t mean it’s right. I prefer the old-school route to get you discovered. You send in a demo and you snag someone’s attention.” He held his hands up. “I’m here.”
Avery put her hand to her forehead. “I’m not looking to get out there. All I wanted was to do my job, do well in school, and go home. I’m not even on any kind of social media. Let’s face it. You have the wrong girl.” She walked toward her apartment while her insides crumbled.
Even before Laz had said it, she heard her father’s words the more she talked about abandoning her dream. If she followed Laz, she knew her parents would be disappointed in her again. It killed Avery to experience her mother’s glare the last time she had let the family down. She couldn’t destroy their trust in her now that she finally had gotten them to start believing in her again.
“One night.”
Avery stopped in her tracks and spun around fast enough that her head felt like she had it on a spin cycle. “Excuse me?” She stomped back to him. “Because I won’t sing for you, you think it’s okay to hit on me? You think I’m going to have sex with you instead like some disgusting barter? I’m not that girl.” She almost said “anymore” but caught herself in time.
She had half expected Laz to be either cocky or embarrassed to be called out on his sloppy pickup line. She didn’t know Laz from any other stranger on the street, despite studying his license, but she didn’t picture him as the love-em-and-leave-em type. From his clenched jaw and steadily narrowing eyes, she gathered that she assessed his character incorrectly.
Laz took a few steps back and put his hand to his chest. “I wasn’t asking to take you to bed. I’m a professional. I’ve come at you like a professional. If anything I’ve said or done made you think otherwise, please call me on it.”
Avery studied him for a moment before she spoke. “What did you mean by ‘one night’ then?”
Laz exhaled, evident by the way his shoulders relaxed. “Let me take you to an open mic. I want to see how you are performing in front of an audience, since I missed you at Songbirds.”
“And I would like to see a contract. I don’t believe a word you say until I can see something in writing.” Avery waved her hand in the air as she backed away. “You know what? Contract or not, I’ve entertained this conversation way too long. You’re putting thoughts in my head that I could be someone other than a student who works as a cleaning lady and a waitress. Or rather, used to work as a waitress.”
“No. The important question is who put the thought in your head that you couldn’t be more than a cleaning lady or waitress?”
Avery blinked at the question. Her parents only wanted the best for her. Steering her clear of fool’s gold for a guaranteed future seemed like the right thing to do, the right path to put her on to a brighter future.
“Again, thank you for the tow. But I’ll pass on all of it. I can’t go chasing a fantasy.” She put her hand out to shake his.
Even if she wouldn’t be helping him with building a stable of singers, she could at least be cordial. Laz accepted her hand and shook it, but seemed like he didn’t want to let her go. He kept his gaze down and appeared pensive, like he plotted his next steps in his head.
“It’s the weekend.” He gazed up slowly until he made eye contact with her. “No classes.”
Avery tugged her hand gently at first. He still held on to her.
“Nope.” She smiled, but inside her heart started beating hard.
“I’m assuming you have to work tonight, cleaning and stuff.” He stared at her like some sort of truth-detecting machine, gauging her response.
“Dad contracts office buildings that usually don’t open on the weekends, so no weekend work.”
Laz’s eyes widened. “So that guy in the bathroom with us was your dad? No wonder. Explains a lot.”
Avery managed to get out of Laz’s grasp. She wrapped her arms around her body. “I have to—”
“And you don’t work at the diner anymore.” Laz rubbed his hands together.
“Thanks to you.”
He held his hand up to her as though trying to defuse a potential
ly volatile exchange. “I’m sorry you lost your job. I’m not sorry for standing up for you. I’d do it again, for you or any other woman.”
Avery should have been pissed at his response. So why did her stomach quiver? She hadn’t felt that way in a very long time.
Laz peered over Avery’s shoulder before reconnecting his gaze to hers. “And your car is out of commission.”
“Are you gunning for the role of Captain Obvious, or do you like spreading sadness and disgust wherever you go?” She snickered. “I know my life sucks right now. I don’t need you doing a play-by-play of it.”
“I was assessing the recent events affecting you, because it looks like you could use a friend right now.” He stood next to her but kept his stare ahead.
Avery redirected her attention to what had caught his interest.
“You go inside and get some sleep.” He held his hand up. “Give me the keys to your car, and I’ll see if I can fix it.”
* * * *
It had been a few years since Laz tinkered in the engine of a car, but he had no other cards to play when it came to convincing this woman that she had an enormous talent that she wasted on singing in bathrooms.
“Are you serious?”
Avery’s light voice reminded Laz why he bothered to bend over backward for her. “You are going to need transportation by Monday, I’m guessing.”
Avery didn’t confirm, but the way she shifted uncomfortably in her spot answered for her.
Laz continued. “I’ll see if I can get your car up and running by Monday if you consider singing at one open mic.”
“How much would I have to pay you?” She clutched her purse.
“Sing for me, and that’ll be my payment. What do you say?” He put out his hand. When she slowed to accept it, he continued his sales pitch. “I asked you for five minutes of your time if I towed your vehicle home, and I did it. I’ll work on your car, if you agree to sing.” He held up one finger. “One place. One song. What do you say? If it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out. What do you have to lose?”
Love Like Crazy Page 8