The Singer

CHAPTER SIX - DEJA VU

SAM

Scanning the room, my eyes finally fall on the reason I'm here tonight.

Iris Banks looks astonishing. Her purple dress hugs her everywhere. And I mean, everywhere. I can barely pull my eyes off her while I'm talking to a business owner who's friends with Richard. 

I decide to bite the bullet and go talk to her but I pause when I see a tiny, blonde guy get close to her. The two seem to be in a heated conversation and I'm nearly about to thank him for giving me an excuse not to have to talk to her right now when I see him grab her.

I don't even think before I am nearly speed-walking towards them. When I get close enough I hear Iris tell the man in front of her to let her go and I spring into the stupidest action I've ever taken in my life.

I grab Iris's waist and pull her to my side. Then, the most insane sentence I've muttered comes out of my mouth. "I believe my girlfriend told you to let her go."

The blond man's mouth is agape in front of me, and I can feel Iris frozen solid at my side.

"You're joking right?" He asks incredulously.

"What about this is a joke?" Fuck I am digging myself in deeper. "Don't touch her like that again."

"Iris, are you dating Sam Lee?" He asks, still obviously thinking it's a joke.

The tension in her body eases and she wraps a shaky arm around my back. This is way easier than I thought it was going to be. "We have to go now, Carter. Glad we had that talk."

Her arm digs into my back as she pulls me away from the scene. She's completely silent dragging me to the other side of the room, and when we're finally in a secluded corner she pulls away. "What the fuck was that?"

"I thought I was helping," I shrug, leaning my back up against the wall.

She looks at me like she is appalled at what just came out of my mouth. If I'm honest, so was I. "What was there to help? I can handle it myself."

"I'm sure you can."

"Then why?"

I look down at her. She isn't much shorter than I am. She definitely could've whooped that guy's ass. "I feel guilty," I mumble, averting her eyes.

"I can't hear you."

"I feel guilty for how I treated you when we first met," I say. She folds her arms and cocks a brow up at me.

"So you only did that to feel good about yourself, got it."

Rolling my eyes, I laugh. "No, Iris. I just wanted to help. And I'm sorry."

"What's funny?"

"Valerie would also say I only did it for myself."

"Oh." She mumbles, turning her head away from me. Over her head, my eyes meet with her manager Carmen who's smiling.

"Hey, I have a question to ask you," I say, trying to rip the band-aid off.

Just as she turns back to me, a man clears his throat into the microphone. "Hello, everyone. Thank you all for coming out tonight." The crowd claps and he waves his hands to settle the noise.