Chapter 29
Chapter twenty-nine
Hendrix · Now
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun – Shark Bait
“Christ on cracker!”
I startle, spinning towards the high-pitched voice.
Theo whistles, low and slow as she takes me in. Nerves swirl heavy through my body.
She drags her eyes over me, taking in my straight-legged leather pants, black slinky crop, and five-inch stilettos, before landing on my full glammed face and sleek hair.
Did I overdo it for a few drinks on a Thursday night?
Maybe.
But I need all the confidence I can get.
I wonder if she feels the same.
She’s dressed to the nines in white lacy corset, high-waisted, wide legged blue jeans, and white heels the same height as mine. Her light, almost-white, blonde hair falls over one shoulder in loose waves, her face painted to perfection.
Theo was always effortlessly beautiful in our teen years.
Theo at thirty-one, with curves for days?
Fuck me.
“Saint’s a lucky man,” I tell her. “You grew up good.”
She kicks a foot behind her ankle, dipping slightly in a bow.
“Why, thank you. You don’t look so bad yourself.” Her lips curve. “It’s giving emo barbie with the tats and metal. I like it.”
I chuckle. “Yeah, emo barbie’s about right.”
A horn honks from across the road.
Theo twists, her fingers wiggling in a wave.
I squint.
Saint hangs out the window, a lit cigarette dangling between his fingers as he smirks. “Behave yourselves.”
“We shall not,” Theo quips. She blows him a kiss, which he pretends to catch and press to his heart. “Now, be gone. Girls night. Love you!”
“Love you,” he shouts back, before flicking his gaze to me, his expression unreadable.
I tip my head and brush my hands over my thighs.
A beat passes.
Then he honks once more, before wheels screech and he’s gone.
“That man.” A laugh tinkles from her, and she links arm through mine, her head coming up to my shoulders. “Now, let’s go and down our body weight in cocktails. I’m positively parched.”
I let her drag me down the street and into a dimly lit bar.
She finds a small booth in the back.
A candle flickers in the centre of the table, casting an orange glow over us, as soft, supple jazz music soundtracks the venue.
I snatch a menu up with trembling hands.
Theo taps her pink nails against the ebony tabletop.
“So.” I pop my lips. “How have you been over the last decade?”
“Really?” Theo grimaces. “You’re gonna do the small talk thing?”
I wince. “I’m scraping the barrel here.”
“I see that.” She snorts, pushing her hair behind one ear. “But okay. I’ve been good. Still married. Love of my life and all that jazz. I teach kids ballet now. My best friends are four men, who annoy the shit out of me on a daily basis. And my family still fucking suck all these years later.”
She tilts her head my way. “Your turn.”
“I’ve been okay.” I tug my tongue stud between my teeth until it aches. “Not married. Not dating. My best friends are two women, who I adore. And honestly, I think you’d really like them. Maybe we can set something up where you can meet them. If you want.”
She nods emphatically. “I want. I crave female friendship.”
“I can imagine.” I chuckle.
The guys were my best friends during my formative years, but it wasn’t until Theo came along that I realised what I was missing. Having someone to gossip with, a friend who cared about shopping, and make-up. I needed that.
Don’t get me wrong, Cole, Saint, and Axel tried. They just didn’t really get it.
And Carter, bless his heart, didn’t want to. He much preferred the gym and his drumkit.
A server passes, and Theo orders for us both, before slamming her menu closed and dropping it to the table.
“So, tell me everything, Hendrix.” She rests an elbow on the table, dropping her head into her hand. “What have you been doing all these years? Where have you been?”
I exhale a slow breath. “I stayed in Liverpool for a while after uni. I wasn’t ready to go back to Chesterton I guess. Suppose you could say I was running away from everything there.”
“I get that.”
“Then, I moved to Sheffield, bought my first flat, got a job interning as a mixing engineer. That’s where I met my friend, Talia. We opened a recording studio about a year later, I moved back home, bought a house, and the rest is history.”
Theo nods. “Dating? Any men I should know about?”
“No.” I shake my head, laughing. “No men. I like a hook-up every now and then, but one night and I’m done.”
“A modern woman,” she says. “We love to see it. So, no relationship at all since Cole?”
Air hisses through my teeth. “No.”
She hums thoughtfully as the server drops two espresso martinis at our table.
I thank him and twist the stem between my fingers. Theo’s gaze drops to my wrist and my stomach sinks.
I didn’t even think to wear long sleeves around her like I’ve been doing when I’m with Cole.
She nods then—as if answering a question she hasn’t yet voiced.
I sip my drink. “What about you? What have you been doing? You and Saint seem very happy still.”
“Yeah.” Her nose wrinkles slightly as she spins the sparkling, oval diamond around her ring finger.
“We are. Mostly. It’s not always easy. Being a rock star’s wife and all that.
He struggles a lot on the road, with drugs and booze.
Same old. But we’re making it work. I can’t do the whole life thing without him. ”
“That’s good.” My chest hurts as I inhale. “Not the struggles, obviously. But that you’re making it work. I’m glad he has you, Theo.”
“Hm.” Her chocolate brown eyes glitter under the candlelight as she scans the contours of my face.
“And you?” She asks. “Are you happy? Like really, honest-to-God, happy with your life and how everything turned out for you?”
I sink my teeth into my lip. “That’s a really loaded question.”
“Is it?” She tips her head, finger dancing around the rim of her glass. “I don’t think it should be. The answer should be simple.”
I open my mouth, but words fail me.
I’m not sure she’s entirely wrong.
I’m thirty years old. I have a thriving career, great friends, I’m financially comfortable, and sexually satisfied.
I should be happy.
But—
I drain my drink and order another as the server passes our table. “I can’t change anything. I can’t go back in time and make different choices. This is the life I have, and I am happy with it. It’s a good life, Theo. I made something of myself and that’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
“Okay.” Her voice is soft, almost melodic as she nods. “Now, what do you say we finish these next drinks, and go somewhere a bit more lively…”
I shake my head, a smile tugging at my lips. “I have to be in the studio bright and early.”
“So, you don’t want to go get rat-arsed in a dingy nightclub with me?”
Rat-arsed might be an understatement for my current state.
Pretty sure I’m in totally fucking trolleyed territory at this point.
I blink against the flickering strobe lights, the club floor spinning beneath me. An empty bottle dangles from my hand as I push through the bobbing bodies on the dancefloor on my hunt for Theo.
She said she was going to get more drinks, but that was at least ten minutes ago. I think. Time seems to have lost all meaning at this point.
I stumble to the bar, tripping over a tree of a man.
“Sorry,” I mumble as large hands curl around my shoulder and steady me.
“You okay?” A droll voice asks.
I nod, tipping my head back. “Yes, thank you. I’m searching for a friend.”
“Do you need any help?” he asks.
I squint up at the man and my nose wrinkles. “No, thank you. I’m out.”
He releases me, and I shuffle past him.
I spy Theo at the end of the bar, one ankle kicked up between her as she bounces to get the bartender's attention, though her eyes linger on me.
“Oh my god!” I shout over the din of pop music and loud chatter. “I thought I’d lost you.”
She laughs, then looks at me with wide eyes, then laughs again. “I mean you did, ten years ago.”
“That hurt.” I snicker. “But yeah, that was bad of me, wasn’t it?”
“Terrible,” she says, threading her arm through mine as the server finally clocks her. “A bottle of your finest champagne, sir.”
He looks between us, amusement pulling at his lips. “You sure? You’re looking at nine-hundred quid.”
Theo’s nose crinkles and she blinks before looking at me. “God, can you remember when we could barely afford a pint on pound a pint night?” She turns back to the server and grins cheekily. “Make it two bottles.”
“Alright, coming right up.” He hands over a card reader. Theo roots around in her clutch. I nudge her with my hip, tug my bank card out of my pocket, and tap it.
I’m snagging the receipt just as she yells, “Aha, got it.” She turns to me with a scowl. “Saint was paying.”
I wave her off. “He can get it next time.”
“Next time?”
She snatches up the bottles in one hand, throws an arm around my waist and steers us on unsteady feet up the stairs to the VIP area that she paid an extortionate amount of money to private rent for the night.
That should have been my first clue she already planned to drag our cocktails into vodka and dancing.
“This mean you wanna hang out with me again, Rix?” She asks. “You gonna stick around this time?”
I drop my head on hers, as a truth spills from my lips without thought, “I never planned to leave the first time. I just… I was so broken back then, Theo. I couldn’t break him too.”
“And now?” she asks quietly. “Are we gonna have to watch you walk away again?”
“I don’t think I can.”