Fueled by the cheering crowd—and Andi groping Danny at the back of the room—Jazzy put everything she had into the performance, leaving nothing on the table. She was in this to win it.
In an enthusiastic homage to Freddie Mercury, she picked up the mike stand, flipped it upside down to belt out the lyrics, spun wildly around...
And whacked Charlie in the face with the base of the stand.
Chapter 4
Charlie sat on the edge of the stage with his shirt covered in blood and a package of frozen peas held against his nose.
Jazzy crouched at his eye level, her hands clutched to her chest, feeling wretched. “I am so, so sorry. I didn’t mean to hit you.”
“I tried to warn you,” Charlie said, but because of his staunched nose, it came out, “I twied to warn ew.”
Several people had gathered around them, including Danny. Nan, who’d supplied the frozen peas, watched from across the bar, head cocked, eyes assessing.
“Jazzy smacked me pretty good like that once,” Danny said. “We were at a Black Friday sale and she was lusting after the last Xbox for her half brother, Justice. The crowd trapped her and when I tried to pull her out, she thought I was someone trying to steal the Xbox from her. She jerked away hard, and her elbow clipped my eye. I sported a shiner for two weeks.”
Oops.Jazzy had forgotten all about that incident. “It was an accident.”
“Which time?” Danny and Charlie asked in unison.
“Both!”
“She’s accident-prone,” Danny told Charlie. “A little clumsy.”
Clumsy? Gee thanks, Danny.
“She’s competition-prone is what she is,” Charlie grumbled, and fingered his nose. “She’ll do anything to win.”
“Notanything.” Jazzy’s cheeks heated.
“She’ll never win against Andi,” Danny said. “Andi takes no prisoners. Jazzy’s just too nice.”
“Why are you over here?” Jazzy asked her ex.
“Andi sent me to see if you’re conceding the contest.”
“No, we are not—”
“Yes,” Charlie interrupted. “Yes, we are. I’m a bloody pulp. You and Andi win. Hip-hip-hooray.”
“Yay!” Danny said, raising his arms in the air like goalposts, and called across the bar. “We win, babe. They’re quitting.”
“Woot!” Andi ran toward Danny and he grabbed her in his arms and whirled her as she raised her hands overhead and sang at an earsplitting decibel, “We Are the Champions.”
“You’re throwing in the towel?” Jazzy asked Charlie, struggling not to sound disappointed.
“You threw it in for me.” Charlie lifted the peas so Jazzy could see how swollen his nose was. “I’m lucky my schnoz isn’t busted.”
Ouch.She winced. “I amsosorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. Just stop being so obsessed with beating Andi.”
“But look at her.” Jazzy indicated Andi, who’d mounted Danny’s shoulders. He was piggybacking her around the bar as Andi unfurled the karaoke banner and waved it behind her like a flag as her fiancé toted her from table to table.
“You’ve got a serious problem,” Charlie said. “Why can’t you accept all the wonderful things aboutyou? Why are you always comparing yourself to Andi? You do you, Lambchop. Folks love you just as you are.”
It killed her soul that she’d injured her best friend. “You’re right. I screwed up and I’m sorry. Please, forgive me?”