13

"AJ, he's gonna kill me!" Kayla yelled from inside her bedroom.

"Who is?" AJ asked, looking in a mirror to make sure he looked okay. Making sure he looked different from the stage persona he'd built for himself. He wanted to look just like everyone else did.

"Nick." AJ looked towards the open bedroom door with confusion. "Why is Nick gonna kill you?"

"Because he sent me something so he wouldn't lose it, and well-"

"You lost it?"

"Exactly." She stated, poking her head out of the room. "He got home yesterday, and he hasn't asked about it yet, but I don't know what the hell I'm gonna say when he does. I'll probably get fired over it." Kayla sighed, emerging from her room, dressed to the hilt for their saturday night venture to the club. "I just can't for the life of me remember what I did with that stupid disk."

Shit, AJ thought at the mention of it. He hadn't even clued in that it was what she was talking about. He also hadn't even thought about how taking the disk would affect Kayla or her job.

"Don't worry, it'll turn up. If he asks about it, just lie." AJ shrugged, making a mental note to retrieve the disk from his garbage can and slip it somewhere she could find it the next time he was here.

"Yeah, I'm sure it will. It's just annoying not being able to remember what I did with it."

"You ready to go?" He quickly asked, wanting to change to subject.

"I just have to call Jesse, he pulled the DD card this time, I want to make sure he'll be there."

"Here just use my cell." He said tossing her his phone. "You can call him on the way." Kayla pulled on her coat and looped her arm through AJ's.

"I'm so excited that you're coming tonight. It's been way too long since you've been out with everyone." She said as they left her apartment, walking downstairs to wait for the cab. "and well I've been craving a night out with you. You've been way too serious lately."

"You just want to get me drunk and take advantage of me." He smiled as the cab pulled up next to them.

"No, I want to get you drunk, hear you sing, bring you back here, THEN take advantage of you." She smirked with a wink of her eye. AJ opened the cab door for her, sliding in after her. "Sam won't mind all the noise we're gonna make?"

"She's working all night. The neighbors might mind though."

"Screw the neighbors."

"If you want to!" She laughed to the amusement of the cab driver.

AJ sat quietly at the table, surrounded by the faces of people he pretended to call his friends, but who were really Kayla's friends. He enjoyed their company regardless, a fun bunch who amused him to no end, especially on nights when karaoke was the business at hand. The only rule of the evening; everyone had to sing.

He chuckled to himself as he took a swig of his Corona, watching Kayla slaughter her way through a Britney Spears song along with two of the other girls. They roared with drunken laughter as they stepped down from the stage, the men in the audience whistling and cheering a bit louder than the women, but drunk and pretty girls always appealed to the men.

"So, what's it gonna be tonight?" Kayla asked as she sat down, her words already slightly slurred after the four double Malibu and coke's that she'd drank. "Please don't say Mariah, because as damn funny as it is when you do them, I just can't stand her songs."

"I know what I'm singing. and no it's not Mariah. You'll have to wait and see."

"Oh, yippy!" She gushed with a clapping of her hands. "I love it when you're in the mood to impress."

"What makes you think I'm in the mood to impress?"

"Because, that's the only time you refuse to tell me what you're singing." AJ rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to the stage where a man gyrated to an Elvis song, everyone in the audience singing along. He couldn't pay attention to anyone who was singing, his thoughts were consumed with Kayla, Jenna, Nick and that disk he hoped was still at his house. Jenna's calls to him were becoming more and more infrequent, as far as he knew she wasn't talking to Nick, but he still worried that her distance meant something was wrong. Then there was Kayla. She seemed okay, as much as she complained about Nick, he was sure she enjoyed her job. The only thing that had him remotely concerned was if Nick found out about the spy game he had her playing.

"AJ!" He heard four people yell simultaneously. He shot his head up from the label he had been picking off his beer, everyone at the table stared at him.

"What?" He asked, his eyes wide.

"You're up." Kayla said, nudging him in the side.

It was time.

AJ got up on the stage and looked out into the small, yet very drunk crowd, and smiled at the table of people he had come with. Kayla smiled widely at him, always amused by the reaction he got when he did a karaoke number. Especially the reactions of those who ended up recognizing him by the songs end. The crew he was with shouted and cheered for him as he sat down on the stool, waiting for his song to cue up. The perfect song, he thought, making himself comfortable. A familiar warmth from the lights fell on his face, as the man running the event told him it would just be a moment. His head hung low so he wouldn't have to look at the crowd, but he took one last look at Kayla and the others as he heard the song begin. He licked his lips and cleared his throat, closing his eyes as he took ahold of the microphone and began.

"No one knows what it's like to be the bad man. To be the sad man, behind blue eyes. No one knows what it's like, to be hated. To be fated, to telling only lies.

But my dreams, they aren't as empty, as my conscience seems to be. I have hours, only lonely. My love is vengeance, that's never free. . . "

He sang with power, hearing only silence in the crowd, except for one voice to his left, who sang along with him.

" No one knows what it's like to feel these feelings. Like I do, and I blame you. No one bites back as hard on their anger. None of my pain and woe, can show through.

But my dreams they aren't as empty, as my conscience seems to be. I have hours, only lonely. My love is vengeance, that's never free. . . "

He looked up, catching Kayla's eye for just a moment before closing them again, afraid the words he sang would betray him. That the truth of a song written before he was even born would reflect out of his eyes and tell her that every word he was singing was true to him.

"When my fist clenches, crack it open, before I use it and lose my cool. When I smile, tell me some bad news, before I laugh and act like a fool.

And if I swallow anything evil, put your finger down my throat. And if I shiver, please give me a blanket, keep me warm, let me wear your coat.

No one knows what it's like to be the bad man, to be the sad man, behind blue eyes."

The crowd reacted like he hoped they would. They were impressed, especially the man who's voice he heard singing along, but he honestly didn't care what they thought. He sang for himself for once, and maybe for the one real friend in the world he had. As he left the stage, still hearing the roarus sound of the clapping crowd, he hunted for Kayla's approval. For her reaction.

He looked at Kayla as he sat down, a look washed on her face that he'd never seen before, but she didn't say anything. The others at the table telling him how great he sounded, asking what song he had sung, seemingly more impressed than usual. After he'd accepted their praise, and the next person was on-stage to amuse them, AJ turned back to Kayla, desperately seeking her reaction. A frown captured her face as she looked down into the ice of her empty drink, not looking at the stage as the other were now all doing.

"Do you want another one?" He asked, trying to catch her eyes.

"No, not yet." She replied, swirling the ice around in the glass.

"So . . . What'd you think?" He asked, leaning close so no one else could hear what they were saying.

"I really thought that was amazing." She said, finally looking up at him. "But, I think you're not telling me something." She shrugged.

"Why because of that song?" He covered. Wanting to tell her more than anything else in the world, knowing he couldn't. She was too involved for him to pull her out of it now.

"Yeah, because of that song. You've never even sung the songs you've written yourself with that much emotion Alex. That was kind of scary."

"I was just into it Kayla." He shrugged, the fact that she had called him 'Alex' not lost on him. She only did that when she was angry or scared.

"Why that song then?" She asked with worry in her voice.

"Because it's an amazing song. I just felt like blowing the crowd away tonight, that's all." He said with a chug of his drink. "Besides, you didn't get all freaked out when I sang 'you make me feel like a natural woman' last time! I think the message in that one might have been something a little scarier to read into."

"So I'm just over reacting then? Reading into something that isn't there?"

"As usual." He replied, quickly turning towards the stage so she couldn't see the pain he hid in his eyes. Equally wanting and pushing away the help he had cried for just a few minutes ago. "C'mon let's go get another drink." He said, pulling her from her seat.

Chapter Fourteen

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