Page 4 of Legendary Rock Star
A spark rose from his touch. I couldn’t believe it. I had always thought it was just silly, the way people talk about a chemical reaction.
But if I was to have a reaction to anyone, it would be Phoenix—my first crush, even though he never knew I was alive, since he was thousands of miles away and couldn’t see through computer screens. I hid my excitement and quirked my eyebrow. “Even though we’re competing?”
“That’s only on TV,” he said in a conspiratorial whisper.
True. And if I had a chance to find out a little more about Phoenix, it might satisfy my curiosity. I wasn’t a schoolgirl anymore, and I knew anything more than friendship between us was impossible.
“Well, let’s have a drink and find out,” I said.
“You’re on,” he said, and frowned a little as the waitress came over to take our order.
He sat straighter and let me go first. I ordered a chicken sandwich and a glass of white Zinfandel house wine.
His face almost turned green for a moment, but then he ordered himself a cheeseburger and he whispered his drink.
I wasn’t sure I’d heard right. Had he said virgin? But then the waitress called to the bartender, “A white wine and a virgin Collins with elderflower.”
Definitely heard right. I met his brown-eyed gaze and decided to go for it and ask. I had nothing to lose. As we settled into the bench seats, alone, I asked in a low voice, “Elderflower?”
His cheeks blushed. Or maybe it was my imagination. He leaned closer and said, “It’s better for me than the sugar syrup.”
A moment later the waitress returned with two drinks on her tray and placed them in front of us. She gave Phoenix a look and I understood immediately. She must have recognized him, but not seen the broadcast tonight to know who I was.
I didn’t pick up the glass, but held my tongue until I was sure no one was listening to us. Then I said, “I wouldn’t have ordered the wine if I’d known …”
He reached out and patted my hand like I was a little girl that needed approval. “Don’t worry about it. I invited you out for dinner and a drink.”
The last thing I needed was to be treated like a child. I was an adult and about to win a singing contract. Not that I could ever, ever say that out loud. Women, as my parents had said many times, weren’t supposed to be confident. It was nonsense, but it still made me hold my tongue, for now.
I sipped my drink, mostly to appear relaxed, and then finally said, “I’m … I’ll admit, I’m curious about you. Indigo 6—now 5—was my favorite band when I was sixteen.”
And I’d been knee-deep in love with the saxophone-playing, backup-singing god. He seemed more human, now, sitting across from me. Though I wasn’t stupid. He’d only have to lift his eyebrow at the waitress for her to strip right here for him, and this wasn’t that kind of place. But Phoenix still had that sex god vibe to him, even now. And especially when he gave me that smirk and said, “So, five years ago?”
I took another sip of my wine to cool down and for a few minutes we were quiet. Maybe too much so. I put my glass down and ran my hands through my hair like I was still a teenager in school dreaming about him.
Finally, I broke the silence. “That sounds so long, but you’re only twenty-three. And you were only eighteen when you failed like that.”
“Drinking was a crutch of mine,” he said, like that explained everything. He’d blown his chance to be in the number one band of the past decade, but he’d not ruin my shot now. Not even when he gave me that bad boy gaze that made my knees weak, and said, “You like rubbing salt in the wound?”
“Regrets are like acid,” I said, as I’d heard my parents tell me tons of times. I refused to have any regrets. I pushed my glass to the side and met his gaze when I asked, “Just curious. I know what the all the news stories said online, but what really happened?”
He sipped his virgin drink and glanced into the glass instead of at me as he said, “Sex, drugs, and rock and roll … It all went to my head.”
At least I had a head on my shoulders, and I wasn’t fresh out of school. Plus, my parents actually listened to me. I was lucky. But not all of my friends were, and I never judged.
“That’s awful,” I said. “Is that why you’re here for your second chance?”
If the answer was yes, I would be competing against his second-chance story. I had to prove I was worthy of winning this whole thing, on my own. I probably shouldn’t have asked and shouldn’t know. I needed to be smart and stay objective where Phoenix Steel was concerned.
But those sexy brown eyes of his made me pause.
I wasn’t that closed off.
Music poured out of my pores because I felt everything so intensely.
And then the sexiest man alive said, “I was a clean-cut TV actor and singer. But we were heavily supervised on our weekly show. I went out of control when I didn’t have handlers anymore.
“But the only thing I ever actually loved in life was singing for people. I’d like to do that for a living again, instead of being considered the washout.”
