Dancing Hearts
Copyright © 2014 Heather Dahlgren
Cover Design: MGbookcovers
Editor: Kelly Hartigan (XterraWeb)
Editing.xterraweb.com
Formatting: Stacey Blake, Champagne Formats
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information and retrieval system without express written permission from the Author/Publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Other Books by Heather Dahlgren
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Epilogue
Playlist
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Changed
Chapter One
Other Books by Heather Dahlgren
Changed, Change Series Book 1
Commitment, Change Series Book 2
Conflicted, Change Series Book 3 Coming Soon
“HOLY SHIT, I AM SO excited! I can’t believe we are finally going to see Luke Bryan! I feel like we have been waiting forever.” Rowan, my best friend since kindergarten, says as I am finishing up with her hair. That’s what I do for a living after all, hair. I’m a hair dresser in a small salon that I’ve been working in for the last couple of years. All my friends think I should move on to a salon where I can make big money, but I’m happy where I’m at. The owner of the salon, Terry, has been so good to me that I could never leave her. Plus, I have the steadiest clientele of all the girls there. My clients like how I cut, style and dye. I’ve come to love them just as much as they say they love me. I am one of the youngest girls there being only twenty-two. I even have quite a few male clients, although most of them are pervy men trying to get a look down my shirt. Most of them leave me their number, hell I’ve got a jar full of them in the back room at work. The other girls usually take bets on how many I will get in a day. I have no interest in these men though. I know what I’m looking for and it’s not an older man who is divorced. I’ve had my fair share of bad relationships, the last one being the worst. I started going out with Ben two years ago; he seemed like just what I wanted. He was smart, funny, sexy as hell, and had a good job. Unfortunately, he also had a wandering eye and a dick that followed.
I am snapped out of my thoughts by the screaming excitement of Lane and Lacey. We’ve been friends with them for about two years. They may be twins, but they look nothing alike. Lane is short with red hair and Lacey is tall with blonde hair. These two are hilarious and I love when we all get to hang out.
“Bitches, are you ready to shake those asses tonight?” Lacey asks plopping down on my bed.
“She’s been saying that shit for the last hour; please, someone help me.” Lane says fixing her makeup in the mirror. I laugh as I put the last curl in Rowan’s hair. I put the curling iron down and shake my ass in her face.
“I’m ready to shake my ass for Luke.” She smacks my ass and we all laugh. “I just need to get dressed and we can head out soon. I want to get some pre-gaming in before we get in there.” I take in what they are all wearing before making my way to my small closet. Lane and Lacey are in jeans with cut-off shirts. Rowan has on a pair of shorts with a strapless green shirt on. I know in the hot Oklahoma summer I need shorts. I grab my favorite pair of cut-off jean shorts and my black shirt that hangs off one shoulder. I feel sexy in this outfit. I quickly throw it on and look at myself in the bathroom mirror. I’m short, only 5’2” with long brown hair and blue eyes. I’ve got pretty big breasts and a full ass that is great for shaking. Thankfully, I have a slim waist, and I should considering I work my ass off to have it. Rowan and I hit the gym a couple times a week, even though she does not need to. She is everything I’m not; she is tall, has blonde hair, and green eyes; although, she has very little tits and ass.
“Emma, are you almost done? We should really leave soon.” I check myself out one last time, glad that I straightened my hair instead of curling it. I smile and open the bathroom door.
“Well if some people were capable of doing their own hair, I wouldn’t always be the last one ready.” I wink at her as I grab my purse off my dresser. We all head into the kitchen to get our stuff packed up. I love this little apartment, and when I say little, I mean little. It has one bedroom and one bathroom, with a small living room and kitchen. But it’s mine and I love it. I have it decorated the way I want; my landlord even let me paint it. All the walls are pale yellow. I have sheer white, flowing curtains and a blue couch. Alright, the couch is ugly, but my mom gave it to me and I felt bad saying I hated it. It was her old couch, so it works for now. My bedroom is a pale green with an antique white bed and dresser I got at a garage sale. I love it all, especially having my independence.
“Em, where did you put the beer? I can’t find it.” Rowan pulls me back to the present.
“I put it in the big blue cooler by the door. I thought we could use the red one for food.” Lane opens the blue cooler adding more beer, and I smile at the thought of what a great night we are going to have. We really have been waiting forever for this concert. We bought the tickets months ago, and we’ve been planning since. We go to quite a few concerts a year, and we always have the best time-- especially when we end up running into people we haven’t seen in a while. That’s one thing I love about living in this town, it’s huge. Not city huge, but big for a town. We can go months, hell, years without running into someone we went to school with. Although when we do, it is so damn fun.
“Alright, I packed all the sandwiches that we picked up on the way here in the red cooler. When the fuck are we going to bring along some guys so we can have a BBQ?” Lacey asks lifting the cooler off the counter.
“When one of us finds a guy who has a bunch of hot friends,” I say laughing when she rolls her eyes at me. We are always bitching about the same shit, finding a guy. It’s not that we all haven’t had our fair share, just none that enjoy doing the same shit we do. We like to party, whether it’s at a concert, club, bar, or at home. Music is an important part of all our lives. Country music more specifically. When there is music involved, we are your girls.
“Alright fannies, let’s get the hell out of here. It’s an hour ride.” I am so thankful that Lane is driving this time; last time I did and I missed getting my buzz on. We decided about a year ago that it is only fair that we take turns as it is, after all, the responsible thing to do. Oh, as for fannies, that’s a nickname we have for our little girl crew. It’s a word we heard once and we’ve used ever since.
After getting everything packed in her dad’s black Chevy Silverado, we all climbed in ready to start our night. You can feel the excitement in the air. Rowan and I are in the back practically bouncing out of our seats every time a different Luke Bryan song comes on the country station. “Fannies, not only are we going to watch one of the hottest country-singing cowboys, but we are going to be sur
rounded by them. I can’t fucking wait for all that hotness.” Lane and Lacey do some high-pitched squeal, but I turn to Rowan and laugh.
“Are you kidding me? The last concert we were at, that really hot guy tried to put his arm around you and you almost punched him in the junk. Why are you suddenly so excited for more of that?” We laugh thinking back to the Zac Brown Band concert. This poor guy had his sights set on Rowan, and after finally building up the nerve to make a move, she nearly took away his chance for children. She told me it just took her off guard, but I don’t think that was it at all. I think she has a thing for a guy she works with, but she won’t admit it.
“Emma, fuck off. I told you he took me off guard. Tonight any cowboy is welcome.” I just let it go because maybe I’m wrong, who the hell knows. That’s not what tonight is about anyway, it’s about having a good time and I intend to do just that. We talk, sing and dance in our seats the rest of the way there.
Once we get there, we pull into the closest spot we can, which is still a damn far walk. Although, it will be great for our tailgating pre-party. We all hop out to stretch our legs and I look around at the massive amount of people that are here already. Some concerts have a good amount of people, making it much less crowded. Others, like this one I’m sure, are packed. Packed to the point where dancing in our lawn seats becomes a challenge. There are people everywhere already. They are BBQ-ing, playing corn hole, dancing, and drinking. People have tables set up with food or simply have chairs sitting around. I smile as I take it all in. I love this, the party atmosphere, the fun with friends, and the music I hear coming from everywhere.
“Can someone help me get this shit out of the truck? We need to eat something before we get our drink on.” I turn back to see Lacey trying to drag the chairs out of the back of the pickup. We all grab our chairs and set them up. Lane takes out the red cooler, while Lacey and I struggle to get the blue cooler out without dropping it. It is heavy as hell. We finally get everything set up and sit down to hang out until it’s time to make our way into the concert. We are eating our subs and laughing at all the ridiculous things going on around us. Some guys think they are such hot shit, walking around with their shirts open like we want to see those flabby chests. You also have the girls who look like they just stepped off the corner. Tits hanging out, shorts so short you can see their ass cheeks, and they think they are fucking Miss America. It amazes me that some guys find that skank look hot.
“Why the hell do these chicks want to come across looking like a ho? I’ll never understand it.” Rowan says and it makes me laugh because I feel like she can read my mind sometimes.
“Fuck ‘em. We are here for a good time, so let’s start having some fun. Lane, go turn that radio on and turn it up.” I reach into the cooler and pull out a Corona for each of us, except for Lane. I pass them out and we open them. I raise mine in the air with a smile on my face. “Here’s to a night of good friends, hot cowboys, and kick-ass music.” We all take a drink and the party has begun.
“Holy shit, I want to go lick on that guy’s arms. He is hot.” Lacey says, while we are drinking our third drink. I’m trying to pace myself; we will be heading into the concert in about an hour so I don’t want to be trashed. I’ve got a nice buzz going on and I’d like to keep it like that. I look over at the guy she is talking about, and damn, he is fine.
“Girl, I wouldn’t mind sitting on his face.” I wiggle my eyebrows before taking a sip of my beer. The girls all laugh at my comment, but shit, I wouldn’t mind. It’s been too long since I’ve had sex. I haven’t been with anyone since Ben and his wandering dick. Not that I’m avoiding men, I just don’t think I’m ready to have my heart ripped out of my chest again anytime soon. Although, the lack of sex is starting to get to me. There are only so many times I can use my own fingers or vibrator to get off. I need dick. I start to laugh at my own thinking and the girls all look at me. “I need dick, guys, real dick not a rubber vibrating one. I need to feel his big arms around me, his naked chest on mine, his mouth licking and nibbling … oh shit, sorry, I got carried away.” I laugh trying to cool myself down with another sip of my beer.
“Damn, you got me horny just listening to you.” I look over at Rowan and she is holding her beer on her forehead. We all start laughing, and thankfully, the conversation moves away from my non-existent sex life.
“Listen, I say we finish up these drinks and start heading in soon. I think we are going to be packed in there tonight. I, for one, would like to get a spot as close as we can.” Lane is right; if we don’t start getting our asses in gear, we will end up much further back and that will suck. I want to be able to watch Luke shake his ass.
“Good thinking, sis, let’s wrap this up girls.” We all finish off our drinks and start packing everything up.
“I hate that we can’t bring chairs in with us.” Rowan is pouting while we pack up. I laugh at her dumb ass.
“Ro, why would you want to lug these chairs all the way there? We won’t sit anyway; we dance, and shit, the entire time it’s pointless. Quit your whining.” She throws a handful of ice cubes at me and I squeal as one makes its way down my shirt.
“Bitch.” I let it fall out and we finish packing it all into the truck. Once we have that all done, we take inventory. We check to make sure we have cell phones, money, and ID. We never carry purses, so it’s whatever can fit in our pockets. Satisfied we have everything we need we start our long hike to the stadium.
“Holy shit, how much longer? I am fucking sweating.” Lacey is complaining next to me. I roll my eyes. I turn to face the three of them and start walking backward.
“Listen fannies, we are going to see Luke fucking Bryan. I don’t care if we have to walk a damn mile, while we sweat all of our makeup off. Don’t bitch about everything and start enjoying our night.” I don’t understand why they are always complaining. We are out for a good time, so what if we have to walk a bit. I turn back around and feel a hand grab mine. I look over at Rowan and she squeezes my hand. I smile at her and give her a wink. I turn my head back to see Lacey and Lane. “Girls, are you ready to shake these asses?” I yell getting a bunch of ‘hell yes,’ ‘woo-hoo,’ and whistles from the crowd around us. We all laugh and continue on our walk.
We finally make it to the stadium and the energy is absolutely electric. We are waiting in line to show our tickets. Thankfully, I remembered before we left the truck to grab them. That would have sucked. We show our tickets and start to make our way to the lawn. “Let’s try to get as close as we can,” Lane says pushing her way through people. She cracks me up with her ‘take no shit’ attitude. We get on the lawn and it is already starting to get crowded; I’m so glad we left when we did. Lane leads us up to the railing that separates the lawn from the stadium. I like it, and it is the perfect spot. I can see the stage and no one can stand in front of me blocking my view.
“This is perfect. Now we just have to wait about an hour for the show to start.” We start talking and taking in the amount of people flowing onto the lawn. I smile thinking this night is going to be fucking epic.
I AM WIPING DOWN THE bar waiting for everyone to get here. Usually, Friday nights are one of my busiest and I don’t normally take off, but we’ve had these concert tickets for months. I know that ‘James Bar’ is in good hands tonight. I’ve got my best bartender on, and I put extra waitresses on just in case it gets crazy. I love my bar. I spend most of my time here. Shit, I live above it for Christ’s sake. It was my dad’s bar, but when he suddenly passed away a few years ago I took it over. My mom sort of lost her mind when my dad died. She went into a deep depression, neglecting everything. It was a low point in both of our lives. Before I decided I needed to grow the fuck up, I spent my fair share of time in a drunken state. I partied and drank every day to forget about the hell we were going through. What pulled me out of it was when I stumbled in the front door one night and nearly tripped over my mom. She was on the floor, in the fetal position, sobbing and screaming for my dad. I fell
to my knees and wrapped my arms around her. We both cried for hours that night. That’s what made me realize I needed to grow up and not only take care of her, but of all the things she was neglecting.
I was only twenty-one when my dad passed away--that was four years ago. I haven’t touched alcohol since the night I found my mom on the floor. I took over the bar and have been taking care of my mom since. I got her to see a therapist two years ago. He prescribed her anti-depressants; she’s been doing better, not great, but better. I sometimes feel like I am a hell of a lot older then twenty-five, but this is the life that was handed to me. I am so damn thankful for the sanity or insanity my friends bring to my life. They are a bunch of assholes, always busting my balls, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I check my watch. “Shit.” I throw the rag in the sink and pull my bartender, Roy, over. “You sure you’ve got this? I can just give my ticket to them to sell.” I hate leaving my responsibility on someone else.
“Cooper, I’ve got this. You never go out and do anything. Go have a good time; get laid.” I narrow my eyes at him and he backs away from me. “Or don’t, your call, boss.” He grabs the rag I threw in the sink and continues to wipe down the bar. He has a point. I never go out. I can’t remember the last time I went to a concert. I do need some time off every once and a while to regroup. As for getting laid, well I don’t have a shortage of women, that’s for damn sure. I had a girlfriend last year, but it didn’t last all that long because she didn’t like all the attention my mom required. It wasn’t a hard decision to let her go--my mom and my bar come first. I have no room in my life for anyone who doesn’t understand that.
I run upstairs to get ready really quickly before everyone gets here. I take a quick shower and throw on a pair of jeans with a black T-shirt. I look in the mirror as I run my hands through my dark brown hair. My tattoos always catch my attention, and I love every one of them. Just then there is a knock at the door. I grab my wallet and shove it into my pocket on my way to answer it. I can hear them all already; I smile and shake my head. I open the door, and Levi, my best friend pulls me in for a hug. “You ready to get this night started, man?”
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