CHAPTER ELEVEN

I drove around a long time looking for him. After all, he'd hardly have returned to the Starlight when he'd gone to such lengths to get away from it and he wouldn't have been able to get into the penthouse even if he had. I couldn't begin to imagine the conversation I was going to have with the Sap when he found out I'd lost his precious star the first night I had charge of him and I was in pretty much of a cold sweat by the time I ended up back on Liberty Avenue, scouring the crowds wandering past Woody's on their way to the clubs and double-checking every blond head I saw.

That's when I spotted the poster:

KARAOKE NIGHT TONIGHT! COME AND SHOW US WHAT YOU'VE GOT!

Bingo.

I parked the Jeep and hurried into the bar, taking the steps two at a time. I used my height to scan the crowd and it wasn't more than a few seconds before I spotted my quarry, seated at a table near the stage with Mikey, Ben, Emmett and Ted, all laughing and smiling and generally having a really good time.

I strode over to them and stood right behind the little shit. "Brian!" Mikey greeted me happily. "I thought you weren't coming!"

"Neither did I," I replied grimly.

Sirius craned his head to look up at me. "Whoops," he said. "The Warden's arrived."

Again there was that sharp, painful sting. I glared at him. "Okay, Princess, let's get your ass out of here."

"Excuse me?" He raised his eyebrows. "Adult, remember? Allowed to be here?"

"Not adult enough to be drinking," I reminded him, nodding at the bottle of Budd he was holding.

"It's Em's," he said defiantly. "I was just taking a sip." He put the bottle down in front of Emmett, who looked suitably guilty. Mind, if I'd have been wearing a pink Angora beret to match my pink Angora sweater I'd have looked pretty guilty too.

"Lessons in sobriety from Brian Kinney?" Ted smirked. "Who'd believe it?"

"Yeah, loosen up, Bri," Mikey said, throwing an arm around Ben's shoulders. "The kid's not doing any harm. We've been keeping an eye on him."

Yeah, like I'd trust my friends to keep an eye on a fucking gold fish. "What happened to your sore throat?" I demanded.

"It got better."

"So you thought you'd just take off for a little fresh air … via the fucking window."

"No, I thought I'd go and spend a couple of hours relaxing in a bar to which I'd been invited. I left by the fucking window because you wouldn't have let me leave by the front door!"

Christ. How come every time I opened my mouth around this kid I was the one who ended up looking like an asshole? I gave up and headed for the bar to order myself a stiff drink.

There was an overweight guy on the stage delivering an excruciating rendition of I Will Survive, I was on my second Beam and a hot red-head down the bar was giving me the eye when Emmett arrived.

"Sorry, Brian. He just turned up … what could I do?" he asked plaintively. "Besides, I felt sorry for him – he says he hasn't got any friends and he never does anything except sing and practice. Why shouldn't he have a little fun if he wants to?"

Why indeed, except that having fun didn't seem to be on the kid's agenda as far as the Sap was concerned. And talking of fun … the red-head was licking his lips seductively and I hadn't had a fuck in over 24 hours. I fixed Emmett with an icy stare.

"Okay, Honeycutt, I'm trusting you to watch him for five minutes. Do not let him out of your sight for a second … and that includes going to the john. If he disappears before I get back, I'm going to tie your balls in a knot. Get it?"

"Um, yes. I get it," he agreed nervously.

"Good. Now go and stand somewhere else … you're embarrassing me."

I headed for the washroom, giving the red-head a slight nod as I passed. I didn't bother to check that he was following but waited inside the washroom door until he came in, then grabbed him by the belt and towed him into the nearest stall. Normally I only got blowjobs at Woody's because there wasn't much room in the stalls for fucking, but tonight I was frustrated and angry so I had the guy pressed up against the door with his pants round his ankles before he had time to say a word. Not that he was complaining any, if the muffled cries of Oh God, yeah! and Harder! Harder! were anything to go by. I got us both off in record time and pulled out of him, then zipped up and went to wash my hands, feeling much more relaxed and ready to take up my little blond burden again. That feeling lasted only as long as it took me to open the washroom door and register a familiar voice blaring through the speakers: a voice far too tuneful and professional to have come from any of the regulars.

"…cause she's hoping to score

So I can't see her letting him go,

Walk out of her heart,

Walk out of her mind…"

Sirius was up on the stage, singing into the mike with a gusto I could never have imagined from the previous performances I'd witnessed. He'd ditched his hoodie and was now clad in the skimpy red crop-top he'd evidently been wearing beneath it, exposing a lot of smooth, creamy belly. His faded jeans rode low on his slender hips and Emmett's fluffy pink beret was perched jauntily on his head.

"She's so swishy in her satin and tat,

In her frock-coat and bibberty-bobberty hat…"

He saw me standing at the bar and made a pouty little face at me.

"Oh God, I could do better than that…"

The whole bar was bopping along with him. There was laughter and a few ironic cheers aimed in my direction.

"She's an old-time ambassador

Of sweet-talking, night-walking games

And she's known in the darkest clubs

For pushing ahead of the dames,

If she says she can do it, then she can do it,

She don't make false claims.

But she's a Queen, and such are queens

That your laughter is sucked in their brains.

Now she's leading him on and she'll lay him right down,

But it could have been me, yes it could have been me,

Why didn't I say? Why didn't I say

No, no, no…"

A moustachioed Leather Daddy turned to me and grinned. "Bitch Queen, huh, Kinney? The kid's sure got you pegged." I gave him a death-glare before striding over to the table where I'd left Sirius and collaring Emmett, who was on his feet and bouncing up and down in a paroxysm of ecstasy. "What the fuck, Honeycutt?" I yelled above the din. "I told you to keep an eye on him!"

"I'm keeping both eyes on him, just like everyone else!" Emmett retorted. Sirius was performing a little swirly dance, shimmying his hips and making his pert little ass jiggle appealingly. "You go, girl!" Emmett shrieked, while Ted whistled his appreciation and the rest of the bar howled.

"So I lay down a while and I gaze at my hotel wall

Oh, the cot is so cold it don't feel like no bed at all

Yeah, I lay down a while and I look at my hotel wall

But he's down in the street so I throw both his bags down the hall

And I'm phoning a cab 'cos my stomach feels small

There's a taste in my mouth and it's no taste at all.

It could have been me, oh yeah it could have been me,

Why didn't I say? Why didn't I say

No, no, no …

She's so swishy in her satin and tat,

In her frock-coat and bibberty-bobberty hat,

Oh God, I could do better than that…"

Sirius finished the song and the bar erupted with raucous cheers and whistles. He swept off Emmett's beret in a low bow and jumped off the stage, landing a little unsteadily, and made his way through the crowd towards us with a huge grin on his face, accepting compliments and congratulations as he came. He was also accepting lots of folded slips of paper which were being pressed into his hands or tucked into his jeans' pockets.

"See!" Theodore was on his feet, applauding wildly. "I told you he was great, didn't I? Bravo! Bravo!"

"Here's your hat back, Em," Sirius said, presenting it.

"Oh Baby, I'll never wash it again," Emmett said, clutching the hideous item to his heart. "Some day it'll be worth thousands!"

"Bowie himself couldn't have sung that better," Ben smiled. "And I don't say that lightly, because I'm a huge admirer."

"Sorry to bust up your little fanfest," I said coldly, reaching to grab the paper slips out of Sirius' hands and pockets, "but I'll take these."

"They're mine!" the kid protested, trying to hang on to them. He looked up at me a little hazily. "What are they?"

"The numbers of guys who want to fuck that sweet little ass of yours," I snapped, dropping them in the ash tray and setting fire to them with my lighter.

"Really?" His face lit up until he saw what I was doing. "Hey…"

"Hey, nothing." I glared at Emmett. "How much has he had to drink?"

"Only a couple of beers, Brian, I swear."

Well, probably that was all it took if you were a twink midget.

I grabbed his elbow. "Come on, Princess. Time to go home, so say goodnight."

He lifted his chin defiantly. "Don't want to."

I leaned down so that I was right in his face. "Then I'll fucking carry you, you spoilt little brat," I hissed. "But I'll spank you first, in front of all these people. You haven't got Deb to protect you now, this is my patch. And you'll be the one looking stupid."

He apparently wasn't drunk enough not to realise that I wasn't kidding. He snatched up his hoodie and pulled it on, exposing yet more skin as he wriggled into it: Ted's eyes were glued to the trail of golden hairs beneath his belly button and I could see him practically drooling. I was getting angrier by the second, so as soon as Sirius was dressed I grabbed him by the scruff and steered him towards the exit, followed by a chorus of hisses and boos. The fact that just about everybody in the bar assumed the little twat was some trick I was fucking didn't make me any happier. He managed to wriggle out of my grip while I was struggling to open the bar door and backed out onto the steps that led to the sidewalk, where he stood at bay.

"So you don't approve of what I sing, either!"

"Oh, I liked the song fine," I replied. "I just didn't like your reason for singing it." I took a step forward and he backed away, looking ready to bolt. "Don't you fucking dare run away from me," I warned, taking another pace towards him.

"Or what? You planning to use your belt on me?" he demanded, warily keeping his distance.

"It'd be no more than you deserve, you little shit!" I made a grab for him and I saw a flash of genuine fear in his eyes as he skittered backwards out of reach. Unfortunately he wasn't watching where he was putting his feet so he backed straight off the top step, losing his balance and coming down hard on his right knee.

"Sirius!" I reached him in a stride and gripped his arms, pulling him up. His face was white as paper.

"Fuck …" he whispered. "Oh, fuck…"

I looked down and saw a rip in his jeans below his knee, already darkening with blood. I tightened my hold. "Can you put any weight on that?" I asked urgently.

He tried to take a step but then shook his head quickly, biting his lips. I found I really didn't like the idea of his being hurt, especially when it had been kind of my fault, and I liked it even less when I saw the bright track of tears on his cheeks.

"Hey, it's okay." I slipped my right arm around him. "Lean on me, Sunshine. The Jeep's just here."

He hopped and hobbled down the steps beside me, gasping with pain every time his knee jarred. We made it to the Jeep and I half-lifted him into the passenger seat and buckled him in, while he sat with his right leg rigidly extended, gripping his thigh tightly. I could see that the knee was already swelling, stretching the material of his jeans. I thought of the long drive back to the Starlight and didn't even consider it. I started up the Jeep, made a U turn and headed straight for the Loft.

TBC