Oxygen (A Rockstar Romance #2)
1. Girls’ Night
1
Girls’ Night
Six months later
“Guys, guys, this isn’t necessary. Really, I’m fine!”
“Oh yeah? Exactly how many dates have you been on in the last six months, Jane?” my friend Bella asked.
“I mean…technically?” I shrugged.
The margarita was settling in, and I was beginning to feel a lot more relaxed. Nikki had insisted on a girls’ night, so here we were in downtown Denver, at a hip new bar that is all the rage. My two best friends, Nikki and Bella, are the best. They just want me to be happy and start moving on. Giving in to their encouragement, I finally obliged them and agreed to a girls’ night.
It had been over six months since I had my last drink—and since the accident. One margarita had me feeling pretty good. But the thing about alcohol was that it reminded me of that night. We weren’t drinking that night…but they were. I swayed as I stood at the bar. Too many people. I felt hot. Too crowded. Flashbacks exploded in my mind.
Mike had invited me to Aspen for the weekend to check out the amazing listing he’d just landed. We spent the night in the huge cabin he was about to list for a whopping $15 million dollars. It was a celebration trip. The sale of the Aspen house would be his biggest commission ever, blowing both of our real estate goals out of the water for the year.
Mike and I met at a real estate conference and had been dating for two years. It was practically love at first sight, pushing each other to be our best at work, in life, and in love. Mike was the finest, most driven real estate agent I knew. His hustle was one of the things I fell in love with. It had been an incredible weekend of skiing, eating at fancy restaurants, mingling with the rich and famous, making love, and living our best life.
Then Interstate 70 and all the flashing red and blue lights. Waking up in the hospital scared—bandaged up but alive—and realizing what had happened.
I wobbled more. Luckily, Bella and Nikki noticed right before I fell over—not from being drunk, but from the emotional pain of the memories. Mike was gone forever. How could I go on? It’s like trying to live without food, without air.
“Are you okay?” Nikki asked, her usual smile turning into a concerned frown.
“I think so, but can we go home?” I asked them.
“Sure. But once we get home, we are having a few more margaritas,” Nikki added with a wink. “I’ve got all the ingredients in my cupboard.”
They both had their arms around me as we walked into the cool night air of Colorado. The white twinkle lights hung across the street diagonally, brightening downtown Denver around me. But it all became a blur again as I remembered losing Mike the way I did.
Bella messed with her phone, probably getting an Uber for us. I gripped their hands tighter and felt the familiar squeeze back from both, assuring me they were there for me.
Nikki and Bella lived in a cute little house just south of downtown Denver. “Looks like I’m spending the night at your house tonight,” I thought out loud as the Uber driver dropped us off and we walked in.
“Fine by me,” Bella added. We had all been friends since high school. They went off to college, and I got my real estate license. They had just finished at the university and were currently looking for careers and paying off student loans. Meanwhile, I was making decent money with no loan debt.
As we walked into their hip little townhome, Bella was obviously not done with the girls’ party. She immediately walked over and turned on her smart TV to her YouTube favorites playlist. A familiar rock song from the radio played. It was one of my new favorite songs. My body swayed gently to the carnal music.
Nikki started on the margaritas. I moseyed over to the oversized couch to get comfortable. I laid there and just vegged on the soft cushions, trying not to be depressed. An impossible task. Nikki came in and handed me a drink. “Come on,” she said. “Cheer up.”
Bella pulled me up off the couch almost causing me to spill my cocktail. “How can anyone be depressed when Theo Beckham is onstage singing shirtless?” My eyes turned to the television to decide for myself. Bella turned up the volume on the television then grabbed my hand and forced me to dance with her.
Nikki and I glanced at the concert playing on TV. “Who’s Theo Beckham? I asked Bella .
Both Bella and Nikki looked shocked and replied at the same time. “Who’s Theo Beckham?”
“Only the hottest rock star on the face of the planet!” Nikki screamed at me over the music.
Bella weighed in, “He’s the lead singer of Oxygen! Come on, I know you’ve heard of them, silly.” She laughed as she danced, stopping long enough to kiss the TV screen where the hot rock star was singing the familiar and very popular song.
“Oh yeah. I’ve heard this song.” It was speaking to me. I always turned it up when it came on the radio. There was something about it that reached my soul, and my body reacted every time. I automatically started moving to the rhythm. The suggestive lyrics caught my attention, along with Theo’s sensual voice. It somehow sounded like sex in a song, the arousing vibe hanging in the air. As Nikki would say, “I was feeling it.”
The second margarita started to set in as I danced to the beat and checked out the half-naked guy on TV. “ He. Is. Cute. ” My body tingled in all the right places as the tequila gave me all the feels. I watched the rock star dance on stage, wearing only a pair of black shorts and Vans. His body was to die for. Sweat poured down his perfectly formed chest and onto the sexiest six-pack I ever witnessed. And Mike had a nice body. Sigh.
Again, the space between my thighs chimed in, reminding me it had been a while. Tequila always did that to me…or was it this dang fine rock star, Theo? His dishwater blond hair was effortlessly wild and unruly. It was a bit long and cut in the trendiest hairstyle. My eyes reluctantly moved from his perfectly sculpted body to his soft pink lips. The lyrics that were coming out of his beautiful mouth were hot enough to turn on even the most overworked, underpaid woman on the planet. Subconsciously, my tongue went to my lips .
Pretty soon, it was three drunk girls and Theo Beckham dancing the night away, and no one would have known that Theo wasn’t actually there in person—only video—by the way all of us women were acting.
Nikki yelled, “Oxygen is playing at Red Rocks next month. Let’s get tickets and see Theo in real life.”
“I bet he’s even hotter in person,” Bella screamed as we headbanged around the living room.
“I’d hit that,” I added before biting my lip.
“Yes!” Nikki shouted. “There’s our Jane! We have to go to the concert now, because it’s been way too long since you hit that.”
“We’d all hit that if we had a chance,” Bella yelled, still sober enough to make sense. That is correct . I agreed with a head bang as the sensation from the drink hit me again and butterflies flew straight to my stomach.
Last thing I remember before passing out on the couch was seeing Bella with a huge white poster board that said, “Marry me, Theo!” and Nikki licking the television with the rock star’s flawless shirtless body plastered on the screen.