Ms. Kelli's was packed for a Wednesday night. Two different girls in platform wedges spilled their drinks on Kurt's favorite imogene + willie jeans as he made his way from the door to the bar. Kurt had a love/hate relationship with Ms. Kelli's. The clientele was mostly half-naked college students and middle-aged women in bedazzled jeans. The dark paneled walls were covered in mysterious stains and the sticky, uneven floor had probably never seen a mop. But, Ms. Kelli's was off the beaten path of Broadway and therefore (mostly) tourist-free, which made it the best karaoke bar in Nashville. 

Kurt made it to the back and caught the attention of Cherry, his favorite bartender. She winked and held up two fingers. Kurt nodded and felt a tug on his elbow, turning to see Libby rolling her eyes.

“Are the Vandy kids back in town already? I can't even get to the bar to get a drink.”

“Taken care of, Your Highness,” Kurt said, reaching through two frat boys in backwards baseball caps to retrieve his drinks. “Thanks Cherry!” He raised the glasses in salut.

“Here you go, my dear. One dry martini for you and one Sidecar for me.”

“You're a doll,” Libby said, pulling Kurt through the crowd and over to a high-top table near the back. “Shannon and Brit should be here any minute. I've already put our name in. Bruce said he'd move us up to the top of the list.”

At that moment Shannon and Brit arrived, already tipsy and ready to dance. “It's crowded tonight! The Vandy kids must be back from summer in the Hamptons,” Shannon shouted over the noise of the crowded bar, reaching over to kiss Kurt's cheek and then Libby's.

“Fine with me! Those rich snobs always love us,” Brit laughed.

“Of course they do,” Kurt smirked, “look at us.” The girls assessed each others' outfits while Kurt raised his glass to his lips and assessed the room. There were some regulars and some new faces. He waved to Martha at a table near the front. Martha came to Ms. Kelli's every night to sing “I Will Always Love You” and drink wine. She never came with anyone and never sang any other songs. She and Kurt had never spoken, but always exchanged waves.

That's what Kurt loved about Nashville. It didn't have the uptightness of New York or the see-and-be-seen vibe of L.A. In Nashville, you could be the crazy woman at the karaoke bar who sings the same song every night and no one cared. Even the record business was different here. In Nashville, everyone rooted for each other, cheered for each other's successes and cursed the losses together over a pitcher of margaritas and bad reality TV. Kurt loved Nashville.

“We're next,” Libby said, looking at the marquee on the DJ stand.

Kurt drained his glass and followed the girls to the front, bumping into a guy leaning against the wall, drinking a beer.

“Sorry,” Kurt said, turning to apologize. 

Kurt paused for a half-second, his breath catching in his throat. This guy didn't look like any of the other guys at Ms. Kelli's. The man raised his beer to his mouth and swallowed, watching Kurt. Libby tugged on Kurt's arm as the two men continued to look at each other, Kurt walking backwards through the crowd.

Kurt and the girls stepped up on stage as the opening notes of “Single Ladies” came over the loud speakers. Bruce's DJ mic boomed out over the crowd, “It's time for Kurt and his Single Ladies!” The entire bar erupted. Girls in short skirts squealed and pushed their way to the front to scream the lyrics at each other. Kurt looked for the man he had bumped into but couldn't find him through the blinding spotlights. It had been a while since Kurt had met anyone that turned his head. Maybe he'd only imagined the stunning man in the tight, white t-shirt. Maybe Brit was right and he needed to get laid, and soon.

Instead of worrying about handsome hallucinations, Kurt poured his energy into the song. He'd done this routine a hundred times, but tonight he turned it up a notch. He danced a little sexier and shook his hips a little faster and snarled his lips a little sassier. To the audience of drunk co-eds it was provocative and fun.

To the dark-haired man leaning against the wall near the back of the room, who was very real and very fixated on Kurt's every move, it was pure sex.

Once the song ended, Kurt and the girls slowly made their way back to their table, getting high fives and pats on the back, a few girls grabbing Kurt's hips and giggling. “That never gets old,” Shannon laughed, squeezing Kurt's hand. 

“I hope it never does,” he replied, walking over to the bar for another round of drinks.

He felt a hand on his back and turned around and to see the man from before, only this time he wasn't obscured in darkness. Kurt could see his dark, curly hair and ridiculously long eyelashes framing his honey golden eyes. His pink, pouty lips were wet with beer. He was stunning.

“Hi,” the man said, a mischievous smile crossing his closed lips.

A line of girls making their way to bar pushed Kurt into the man. “Sorry,” Kurt said, trying to give him space, “hi.”

The man leaned in and spoke into Kurt's ear. “Your performance was incredible,” he said, his breath hot against Kurt's cheek. He leaned back and looked Kurt in the eye, quirking an eyebrow. It was a challenge. He leaned back in, his hand on Kurt's arm, “You wanna get outta here?”

From anyone else it would be such a line, but Kurt felt himself nodding yes.

The man kept his hand on Kurt's arm as they made their way through the crowd to the front door.

Once outside Kurt took a deep breath and shook his head, “Wow, I didn't realize how hot it was in there.” He turned to the man and offered his hand. “I'm Kurt.”

The man took his hand and pulled him into a dark alcove next to the bar. “Hi, Kurt,” he said, pressing his lips against Kurt's lips. Kurt couldn't think, could only react. He wasn't the type to kiss strange men in dark alcoves at karaoke bars but this man was gorgeous, other-worldly. He was shorter than Kurt, his face angled up to meet Kurt's in kiss after kiss. Kurt reached out to grab his chin the man's stubble scratching at Kurt's cheeks and lips. His hands were on Kurt's hips, running up his back, grabbing his hair. His tongue was in Kurt's mouth, strong and insistent, his lips everywhere. 

Kurt was overwhelmed, all of his senses working at once. Kurt had been with other men, sure, but he'd never been kissed like this. These kisses, these touches, were fueled by raw need. It was sex without the sex. Kurt forgot he was in a public alley and completely gave himself over to it, riding the sensation as far as this man would allow.

“What's your name,” Kurt asked, hands gripping the man's waist so he wouldn't melt directly into the sidewalk.

“That song,” he growled into Kurt's neck, “the way you move.”

“Tha…thank y….mmmm…..” Kurt couldn't speak in full words, let alone sentences.

The man reached down and grabbed Kurt's ass, hard, pulling their hips together. Kurt could feel the other man's hard cock pressing into him. He reached down between them and ran his palm over it, causing both of them to gasp.

“What else can you do with these magic fucking hips,” the man said, sucking Kurt's earlobe into his mouth, making Kurt groan.

“I could show you,” Kurt breathed out, pushing the other man against the bricks and pressing their bodies together. “I live really close by. You could come home with me and…I could show you.”

The other man stilled, pulling his head back to look at Kurt, his eyes searching. Kurt thought he looked surprised, which didn't make sense. Seconds before he'd practically been undressing Kurt in the alley.

“Kurt?” It was Libby, standing in the alley calling his name.

Kurt moved out of the shadow and called to her. “I'm over here.”

“What are you doing out here? You disappeared after our song and the girls want to sing again. You in?”

“I…” Kurt turned back to look for the man, but he was gone. Kurt walked up and down the alley but there was no sign of him.

“There was a guy out here with me.”

“A guy? I didn't see anyone. Who was it?”

Kurt looked around once more, but the dark-haired man was gone. “No one. It was no one.”

“Kurt, you okay?”

“Yeah, of course, I'll be there in a minute.”

Kurt stood in the alley, his hands on his lips. He could still feel the other's man lips, could still taste his tongue. Had he said the wrong thing? He'd never actually asked someone to come home with him, actually advised his friends to never do something so impulsive, but this man…he had undone Kurt's tightly held sensibilities in a few short moments. He had kissed Kurt like a wild animal, like he would devour him completely. And Kurt was ready to be devoured.

But where had he gone?