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standing in the back, was Dom. She didn't falter. In fact, she served it right up to him, singing the chorus, looking him in the eye. Which actually meant she had no pride at all. Ah hell. She finished the song and faced upstage for the applause, trying to get a grip.
    He wore the same sad expression on his face that he'd had when she left him upstairs, and just looked back at her, rubbing his chest.
    Fox took charge, calling out the next play—an upbeat song that was one of their originals—and when she turned around, she was back in the zone.
    And Dom was gone.
     
     

Chapter Three
     
     
    She was avoiding him like the plague. It was Friday night, which meant she was in his club to sing with the Morphs, but she hadn't come up to the bar for a drink or looked at him all night. It was what he'd wanted, and yet he couldn't stand it. She hadn't come around the club all week.
    As an old vampire, his emotions were generally flat. He sensed others' emotions, but he rarely experienced any intensity in his own. But the night at Hotel Congress he'd felt such a pain in his heart at hurting her. It had nearly crippled him, he was so unused to experiencing any feelings of his own. He hadn't felt pain like that since he buried his family, back in the old country.
    “I smell pain.” Stella wrapped her arms around him from behind. He interlaced the fingers of one of his hands with hers, watching Kate up on the stage.
    “Mine or hers?”
    “Yours. Hers is obvious, too, but I can't smell it from here.”
    “I was trying to do the right thing.” He rubbed his sternum. “But she's really hurt. Do you think that's normal?”
    “I think she really dug you. I told you that. I don't see why you had to break it off.”
    “Yes you do,” he snapped, whirling around in her arms to look at her. The level of irritation he felt with Stella now was unusual for him, as well.
    She merely raised her eyebrows and took a step back, releasing him from the embrace. “I understand that you think it was necessary. I'm just saying maybe it wasn't.”
    “Well, it was. But I think I did it all wrong.”
    Stella shrugged. “You could try to explain. Let her know it's not about her.”
    I did that. But she was right, he had to try again, he needed to fix this. When the Morphs took their set break, he made his way through the crowd to Kate.
    Fox narrowed his eyes at him when he saw him coming, so he shrugged to communicate that he didn't know what he was doing, but it was with good intent. Fox closed his eyes and nodded, then disappeared into the crowd so that Kate was alone at the base of the stage.
    “Kate,” he called her name as he squeezed through the guys who were trying to talk to her. She looked momentarily relieved at the rescue, then panicked when she realized it was him. But she took his outstretched hand and he pulled her through the crowd to the base of the stairs, where he leaned his shoulder against the rail.
    He opened his mouth and suddenly realized he had no idea what to say. He closed it again. She looked at him expectantly. He could feel tension and pain radiating from her. Sometimes the only option is the dead honest truth.
    “Listen, Kate. I want to tell you something. I have sex with a lot of women around here.”
    Her face darkened considerably.
    “It means nothing to me and I don't give it much thought.”
    Her eyes were narrowed, but she was listening.
    “The thing is, with you it already means something.”
    Just then a drunk college kid slapped Kate's ass as he walked by and she jerked her head up and glared. Before Dom had time to think, he had already reached out and yanked the kid back, gripping him by the throat and squeezing until the kid understood that he was at Dom’s mercy. He let go. “Apologize to the lady,” he bit out.
    “Sorry! Jeez,” the kid said, rubbing his neck. James had caught sight of the skirmish from his station by the front door, and he was there in moments.
    “He's 86'ed,” he said, and