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Chapter One

Isabelle

“Five,” I whisper under my breath, my leg bouncing like crazy under the table as a flutter of something dances through my belly, making it twist. I can never quite figure out if it’s nerves, excitement, or a mixture of both, but there is a part of me that loves the feeling, craves it even. This is me, totally in my element, and on my days off, I miss this moment right here where I’m sitting on the edge of my seat, waiting for the red “on air” light to flash on. We’ve been doing this show together five nights a week for the past two and a half years and I still experience the same rush each and every time they begin the countdown. It’s like nothing else and I would even say it’s as good as sex… you know, if I’d lost my mind.

My gaze flicks to Casey, my board operator, as he stares back at me from the other side of the glass and counts down on his fingers to the moment we go live again. Licking my lips, I take a deep breath and close my eyes. A calm rushes over me, washing away any bit of nervousness that was thrumming through my body and leaving pure anticipation in its wake as I open my eyes again. I glance over to the corner of the room where a video camera is mounted on a tripod and pointed in my direction. Our camera operator, Lou, gives me a thumbs up and I offer him a smile as I settle back into my seat.

When I first started working here, this was strictly a radio show but six months ago, our boss, Aiden, in his infinite wisdom decided to record a few episodes and put them up on our website to lure in new listeners. And boy, did it. None of us expected it to blow up the way it did but the reaction was overwhelming and the station made the decision to live stream all of our shows. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t a fan at first. Then, I saw the way it added another element to our program - made them richer and more interactive as we answered questions from people in real time instead of making them call in to the show to speak to us and if the latest numbers are anything to go by, the people love it. Although, I don’t think I’ll ever get used to getting recognized in public. That shit is just trippy.

I glance back at Casey as he points to me, the signal that my microphone just went live as the on-air light flicks on in front of me. I smile as I lean into the mic and speak to the thousands of people listening in tonight from all over the country.

“And we’re back! If you’re just tuning in... where in the hell have you been?”

Stella, my co-host, laughs. “That’s right. You’ve missed one hell of a good time. I’m Stella and…”

“I’m Izzy,” I cut in, relaxing back into my chair as I pull my mic along with me. Stella does the same, flashing me a grin as we ease back into our groove. Stella and I have gotten along so well since the moment Aiden introduced us to each other despite being complete opposites but I believe that’s what makes it work. She and I can bounce off each other, serve up questions to the other if it’s better suited for them and finish each other’s damn sentences sometimes. I’m definitely the bolder, louder one but Stella’s got a little bit of wild child in her, too, and it makes my job so damn fun. “And you’re listening to The Big O - the raunchy late night radio show all about sex and dating. We’re talking bad dates tonight and we’ve got time for a few more callers, don’t you think, Stella?”

“Yeah, I think we can squeeze a couple more in,” she answers, nodding as she presses one of the buttons on the keypad in front of her that controls the phone. “Welcome to The Big O, what’s your name?”

“Hi, I’m Marie.”

“Hey there, Marie,” I say, scribbling her name on the paper in front of me so I don’t forget it. “What have you got for us tonight?”

She sighs. “Well, I’m calling with an awful first date story, obviously.”

“We already feel your pain, Marie,” Stella says and I bite my lip to keep from laughing at the pity etched across her face. Stella is a total romantic, unlike me, so when she goes out with a man, she’s looking for Mister Right and she feels so bad for any of our callers that have to go through these awful dating stories whereas I love them because it gives me a chance to let the insults and jokes fly. Not that I don’t feel bad for them, too, but I just show it differently, I guess. “Hit us with it.”

I nod. “And don’t sugar coat anything, Marie. Give us all the dirty details.”

“All right,” she answers with a laugh. “You asked for it.”

“Ooh, that sounds ominous. Now I’m all excited,” I reply as I rub my hands together and shoot Stella a smile but she just rolls her eyes at me. “First, let’s start off with his name.”

“Oh… I don’t think I want to use his name.”

I lean forward in my chair and lower my voice. “Marie, sweetie… did this boy give you an orgasm? You can tell me. It’s just us girls here.”

“Uh… no.” She laughs and my grin grows.

“Then don’t be afraid to publicly name and shame, girl. How else is he supposed to know that he’s not getting the job done?”

Stella laughs, shaking her head at me as she leans into her mic again. “It’s okay, Marie. You don’t have to use his name if you don’t want to.”

This is why Stella and I work so well together. She adds a sincerity to the show that I’m not sure I could provide. Besides, whenever someone calls in with a legitimate relationship question, she usually fields those since I tend to avoid intimacy at all costs.

“Okay, fine,” I groan, being dramatic as usual and rolling my eyes. “We’ll just call him… Troy.”

Stella flashes me a grin. Everyone here at the station as well as anyone who has listened to our show for more than a week knows all about Troy. My best friend, Ali, met Troy a few years back and he took her out on one date so bad that I had to fake an emergency to get her out of there. Of course, this was before she met her husband and started popping out babies but now, whenever someone calls into the show and doesn’t want to name the guy who did them wrong, we just call him Troy.

Marie laughs. “Troy it is then.”

I nod. “Take it away, Marie. Tell us what happened with Troy.”

“Right,” she sighs and I can’t help but feel a little excited because I can already tell that it’s going to be a good one. Not that I’d wish misery on poor Marie or anything. “So, I joined this new gym about six months ago and on my second trip there, I spotted Troy working out across from me. He was fucking sexy as hell and I always caught him checking me out when he thought I wasn’t looking but I could never work up the courage to just walk over and talk to him.”

“How hot was he? Give me some reference here.”

She laughs. “Uh, like movie star hot. He had these golden-brown eyes, beachy blond hair, and his body was incredible but not too many muscles, you know?”