Chapter 70 Evan Strikes!

Chapter 70 Evan Strikes!


LAURA'S POV:

"They want you to sing a song for them." Gwen said.

Almost immediately, the chanting of “Vix-en. Vix-en. Vix-en” rang through the room.

I looked around at the many familiar, unfamiliar faces and swallowed hard.

“Come on, Laura.” Gwen tugged at my hands, her eyes pleadingly looking into mine.

I swallowed again and nodded. “Alright, l'll do just one song.”

Her face broke into a smile, “That's the spirit girl!”

I pulled myself together and began moving slowly towards the centre of the room, Hermes rushed in front of me to make a part out of the throng of hot bodies pressed together, faces from magazine covers all turned my way as I walked through.

Someone from the crowd even grabbed my hand as I passed. Another woman shouted, "We love you, Vixen!" right into my ear, making me wince.

I finally got to the centre of the room after several minutes, The DJ passed me the mic, and asked politely. "What do you want?"

I looked at the crowd, my eyes caught Gwen's, she was standing at the front, with both fists in the air.

"Give me something with a beat," I said to the DJ, gripping the mic solidly. "Something people can sing to."

He nodded and hit a button.

Four chords sprung to life immediately, as a piano beat filled the room.

A guy near the bar yelled, "Oh shit, let's go!"

Making me smile softly and raise the mic higher, I was going to do the song I wrote for Ria and everyone knew it

I knew this because I could already see hands swaying in the air and bodies already moving, snaking a dance.

I closed my eyes, opened my mouth and released the first note

"Woke up on the wrong side of the bed, head full of noise—"

The crowd cheered.

"—shook it off, got dressed, found my voice."

"THAT'S RIGHT!" A woman's scream reached me.

"Been down before, I know the floor—" I pointed at the ground, then slowly raised my hand, pulling the crowd with me, "—but I don't stay there anymore."

They roared.

"We up now, we up now!" I sang the chorus aloud, it was a simple line, easier to grab "Used to be the underdog, we up now!"

They sang it back with a full-throated roar. "WE UP NOW! WE UP NOW!"

"Turn the pain into power, shine in my darkest hour—" I made a finger point at a girl in the front row and walked to her slowly, "—we up now, we up now!"

The girl screamed the words back at me with her cracked voice.

I smiled and walked back to the edge of the open floor stage, close enough to touch the front row.

"They said sit down, be quiet, know your place—" I shook my head, flashing a hard grin on my face, "—but I'm standing here, heart on my sleeve, sun on my face."

"Lost some friends, lost some fights, lost my way on lonely nights—" I pointed at Gwen. She pointed back, tears already falling, "—but I found the ones who hold me tight. They the reason I'm alright."

Gwen mouthed, I love you. I sang it back to her.

And then we were back on the chorus. The crowd took it much more louder this time,The whole room sang like one big wave and I was the rider of this wave.

The fucking rider!

Not Jaxon!

Not anyone else but me.

"We up now, we up now—" I raised my free hand and waved it side to side. The crowd followed, Everyone in the crowd regardless of status."—used to be the underdog, we up now!"

"WE UP NOW! WE UP NOW!"

I paused at the bridge and just let the instrumental play, while they cheered. Two minutes later the music dropped to a lower beat.

I lifted the mic to my mouth again, and began in a softer voice. "It's not about the fall, but about how you get-back-up."

I climbed higher to a stronger note "It's not about the hurt, it's about the don't-give-up."

I threw my head back as I prepared to rip through the final line, the beat crashed back in faster. I threw two legs apart, making my signature pose, head whipped backwards and blasted a very high note

" WE UP NOW! Used to be the underdog, WE UP NOW!"

I held the note until my lungs gave out.

Then silence gripped the entire room, I lowered the mic, stiffled a cough and smiled at the astonished faces staring back at me.

That did it!

It was as though a magical spell had been broken, the entire room erupted into loud incomprehensible noise and chanting. Applauses rang out like a storm through out the room

Someone threw roses on the stage. Someone else threw a scarf.
I walked back into the crowd, smiling shaking and squeezing as many hands as I could reach.

Gwen crashed into me, laughing and crying, her mascara wrecked. "You beautiful beast. Drink. Right now." She shoved a champagne flute into my hand.

I was still laughing, as I held the drink up. Still floating in the temporary high you get after a superb performance, as I lifted the glass to my lips.

Something rammed into me from behind, making me tumble forward. Cold champagne leaped out from the flute and soaked through my dress.

I gasped and turned around to know what had rammed into me—

Evan.

Jaxon's ex girlfriend was smiling brightly at me, like she had seen a favorite item.

“Why did you do that?” Gwen snapped, not knowing who she was. Hell I didn't care!

"Oops," she said, still wearing an uncanny smile. “I didn't know you were standing in the way.”

“What the hell do you mean by that?” I asked coldly meeting her eyes.

She threw her hair back. “It's nothing serious I didn't know you were in the way.”

Gwen stepped in front of me, "Now you do, so fucking apologize."

Evan's smile sharpened. "The little guard dog, I have heard so much about you. Does Laura here pay you enough for all the barking you do, or you do it for charity?"

“Evan!” I snapped.

Gwen looked between us, unbothered by her insult. “Do you know her Laura?”

I nodded. “This is Jaxon's girlfriend. Ex-girlfriend rather.”

“I am his girlfriend you bitch.” Evan snapped angrily.

Now we'd finally gotten the attention of the crowd, all eyes had snapped to us and watching interestingly. A few were even holding up their phone cameras.

"You stinky little boyfriend thief, I don't know what made you believe you could still Jaxon from me." Evan continued, clearly enjoying the attention we were getting. Her gaze crawled down my wet dress then went up again, slowly.

"Jaxon is my fiancee, so if you know what's good for you, you should stay off."

I rolled my eyes. “Even if there were a thousand Jaxon's in the world, I'd joyfully opt for none. You can have him all to yourself, Evan.”

Evan's expression darkened, that wasn't what she was expecting. Good for her!

“Good thing you're here” Gwen said, drawing herself to her full height which was several times much taller than Evan. “I want you to send a message to your stupid fiancee or boyfriend or whatever you call him. Laura Jacobs is offbounds. If I see him a feet near my best friend, Imma caught off his dk.”

"Say that to your bitchy friend.” Evan cried in a high pitched tone. “Everyone needs to know what she is!"

She grabbed another champagne glass from a passing server and hauled it towards us, It shattered at our feet. Gwen stumbled backwards dodging the throw.

Hermes wrestled his way between us, and held Gwen who was about jumping after Evan. His other hand on reached for me and he pulled us protectively towards the exit, away from all the noise.

"Don't you walk away!" Evan's cried "You're a coward, Laura! A thief! Everyone knows it!"

We kept moving.

"It's not over!" she screamed. "Do you hear me? IT'S NOT OVER!"

"I'll kill her. I mean it.” Gwen whispered fiercely, but Hermes hands held her tightly in place to stop her from doing so.

“It's not over!” Evan called again, as we pushed out through the door.