Face-Off at the Altar
Page 42

“Either way, I shouldn’t have done that when we have a business meeting,” she said with a forgive-me smile, to which Mekena waved her off.
“Don’t even think about it.”
“Business meeting?” Avery asked, and Mekena looked over at her as Elli beamed.
“I cornered Mekena.”
“Cornered? Hardly,” Mekena laughed. “She asked for a meeting for potential work with the Assassins.”
Avery lit up. “Oh, my goodness! That would be awesome for you. She loves Nashville, and I know she misses it.”
“I do,” she agreed, and being home in the fall made her realize that more than ever. She didn’t want to go back. She wasn’t sure how she was going to tell Libby that, but she would have to if she got this job.
“Oh! Well, good for me, then,” Elli exclaimed just as someone started hitting the mic, stealing her attention.
Mekena looked up to see Markus standing on the little stage, a mic in his hand. “Testing, testing? Can everyone hear me?”
“Yeah, loser, we can hear you,” someone called from the back, which everyone laughed at.
“Cool, so I figured I’d emcee this little shindig since I’m the one with the most musical talent in this room,” he said, and people laughed, especially Avery. “We don’t have any songwriters or former Broadway stars or guys who play guitar and think they’re awesome or anything. Nope, just me, and I’m amazing.”
Elli laughed and leaned into Mekena. “That Markus Reeves, have you met him?”
Mekena just smiled timidly. “Yeah, I know him.”
“He is so funny, such a great hockey player too.”
“Yeah, he is,” she agreed as Markus waved his hands in the air.
“Okay, enough, enough. Let’s get this going. So here is what you’re going to do. There is paper in the middle of every table, sign up to sing what you want to, and bring it up to my main man, RayJay the DeeJay, and he’ll get you set up. But first, let’s get the bride and groom up here!”
A round of applause filled the room as people pushed Benji to the front while he laughed and joked around. “I don’t sing!”
“Come on, babe, let’s get this over with,” Lucy called to him. He met her halfway, taking her in his arms before dipping her back and kissing her hard on the mouth. Everyone cheered, raising their glasses as they smooched, and Mekena couldn’t hide her grin. They were so adorable.
“Come on, you lovebirds!” Markus called to them, and finally, they made it up to the stage. Wrapping his arm around Benji, Markus grinned up at him. “You two will start us off with a classic, true love song.”
People aww’d, and Lucy laughed as Benji shook his head. “I can’t sing.”
“It doesn’t matter, because, bro, come here,” Markus said, bringing him in closer as everyone laughed and catcalled at them. The room was full of people Mekena didn’t know personally but recognized from the Assassins. “Chicks dig when dudes make a fool of themselves.”
Wasn’t that the damn truth? The ladies in the room cheered while Benji rolled his eyes. Mekena, though, she was taken back to all the times Markus had done just that, made an utter fool out of himself and never cared. All he did was smile. Which is why she fell so hard and fast for him.
“Fine, whatever. Give me the mic,” he said, taking it as Lucy took the other one from RayJay. When the music to “You’re the One That I Want” from Grease started, everyone cheered as Lucy did a little wiggle and Benji’s head fell back. “You’ve gotta be kidding me.”
Laughing, Mekena rested her elbows against the table as they sang together—terribly—but no one cared because the two lovebirds were having a blast. Soon, the whole room was singing along with them as Avery leaned toward Mekena. “I’m so happy for them.”
She was, Mekena could tell, and it was for good reason. Lucy was Lucy, and to find someone like Benji, someone who was basically a dream… Yeah, that was something to be happy for. When they finished, Benji picked Lucy up, kissing her, and Mekena clapped loudly as she laughed. Markus came on stage, taking the mic. “Okay, okay, let’s give it up for the bride and groom!”
The room erupted as they laughed, going off the stage. Markus said something, but it wasn’t on the mic. And then he was talking to the DJ as Benji slapped hands with his teammates.
“I don’t know if everyone knows this, but those two will be getting married Saturday morning—unless someone steals the bride away,” Markus teased, and Benji glared.
“I’ve got your number, Reeves,” he called out, and everyone laughed.
“Me? Never. Promise,” he said with a laugh, and then he looked over to Mekena. His eyes met hers.
What in the world?
“I should do one.”
Mekena looked to Elli and smiled. “You sing?”
“She’s the Broadway star, Kennie,” Avery said.
Mekena grinned excitedly. “I didn’t know that!”
“Yup, and back in my day, I used to do some killer karaoke,” Elli said, taking a long sip of her wine as she reached for the pencil and paper. “Shea, baby!”
Shea, who Mekena hadn’t even seen standing at the table beside them, turned to her. “Yeah?”
“Should I sing?”
“Duh.”
She laughed. “‘Before He Cheats’?”
Shea closed his eyes, shaking his head as Elli almost fell out of her chair with giggles.
“I feel there’s a story that goes along with this,” Avery mused, and Shea laughed, coming to their table.
“Oh, there is,” he said as his wife continued to laugh. “I came home from a game or something, I don’t remember, and she was out at the bar. I went to pick her up since she was drinking. I walk in, and she’s on the stage giving Carrie Underwood a run for her money, singing, swinging her arms, and acting like she was the star of that music video.”
“Mrs. Adler!” Avery gushed.
“You have to,” Mekena cheered.
“Yes, do it. But let’s not throw up the whole way home, okay?” Shea asked, and Mekena grimaced.
“Ack.”
“Yeah, it was horrible, but I’m gonna do it!”
As she filled out her sheet, Markus’s voice pulled Mekena back up to the stage. “All right, now let’s get some real dueting up here, huh?”