Rock Star: The Deal (Book 3 of a Bad Boy Romance) (16 page)

L
uke and Chase
had arranged several more venues. I grumbled a little. As much as I was enjoying playing, I wanted to be home. Originally they had only planned for three. That soon turned into seven venues and three days turned into a week. Spike really couldn’t complain, he was making more money than he had ever had, and having a blast in the process. Spike and Sophie spoke every day on the phone.

In that week, Luke and I drew closer. Chase seemed more jealous. I never went out of my way to talk to Luke, but when we did, it just so happened that Chase would walk in, and then there would be this awkward moment.

Every night was a success. We played to lively crowds and stuck around after to sign autographs. Spike lapped it up, like he was part of the Rolling Stones. He wore sunglasses and smoked cigarettes on stage. I had told Sophie I would keep an eye on him. Thankfully he avoided the line of groupies that showed up.

I could see us doing this several times a year. It was laid-back and it felt different than the high stress performance of playing in a stadium.

As the week wound down and we were on the last leg of the tour, we settled in for the night completely unaware of what was about to take place.

I was jolted awake by the sudden force of impact. It was unlike anything I had experienced before. I was disoriented, fear gripped me by the throat and didn’t let go until the tour bus ground to a halt at the bottom of what I came to learn was small cliff.

It was a dangerous stretch of road that wound its way down like a snake around a mountain. Unknown to us, with all the snow that had been on the ground. A large patch of black ice was hidden beneath it. The driver had tried to keep the tour bus on the road but the brakes had locked up.

When I came to, none of the lights were working in the bus. I was upside down, or the tour bus was. I didn’t hear any screaming. Just the sound of wheels spinning, the crackle of what might have been fire and then I felt a cold blast of winter air. It felt as though I had broken my arm.

“Chase? Spike? Luke?” I called out, but there was no response. I could see the window was gone. I was lying on top of shattered glass.

The glass cut into my skin as I crawled out of the overturned tour bus. I tried to make sense of my surroundings. I gritted my teeth, and gasped for air. I moved slowly, crawling but at least moving. I didn’t know if the bus was on fire, or if Chase, Spike and Luke were dead. My entire world had been flipped upside down. I had blacked out almost instantly. Blood was trickling down the side of my face. My hair was matted. I was still in the same T-shirt and pajama bottoms I had gone to bed in. With pain coursing through my body the mere effort of trying to crawl on my hands and knees was the equivalent of trying to push a car. It took an inhuman amount of strength and determination. I had no idea if I had broken bones, it took everything within me to fight my way through the pain.

A cold west wind blasted through the smashed windows. Only one thought pushed through my mind. Get out. The thought of being burned alive was worse than any pain I was experiencing in that moment. From beyond the window, between the blood that was blurring my vision, I could see a body. It was so dark outside. It was just the silhouette form of someone lying still. Inside the tour bus the lights had gone out. There was no way to tell if anyone else had survived. My desire to live took over and a voice inside my head warned: This bus is going to blow any minute now.

My hand touched the cold, wet snow. It stung my cuts but the pain served as a reminder that I was still alive. Keep moving. Get clear of the bus. I had no idea where we were. I had fallen asleep hours ago. I knew we were heading to Oregon and had been playing earlier in upstate New York. We could have been anywhere in the Midwest. My right arm was in excruciating agony. I was pretty sure it was broken. Every movement felt like someone was stabbing me.

Finally I made it out of the tour bus. My entire body sank into the chilly snow. January wind nipped at my skin and began the process of lowering my body temperature. I might have made it out of the bus, but if I didn’t find something warm to wear, I would die from the below zero temperature.

I kept moving towards the unknown figure. Please be alive. Please don’t die on me. It didn’t matter who it was. Traveling that night, there were fifteen people on board. Crew members, Spike, Chase, Luke, Roger the driver and myself. It could have been any one of them.

I had no way of knowing this was going to happen. Nor could I have foreseen that the tour would end on such a tragic note, or that it would claim the life of someone I cared for dearly. Someone I loved.

As my hand reached them, I pulled, bringing myself up close to them, and that’s when I saw his face. It was Luke. His face was covered in blood. A metal object protruded out of his side and he wasn’t breathing.

“Luke.”

I couldn’t have started CPR even if I wanted to, my right arm was in agony. It had to have been broken. I leaned over and tried breathing air into his lungs. I tried going through the CPR procedure with only one arm, but it was useless. Then I heard coughing from a little distance further away.

“Hello?”

Pieces of the bus had been torn off, some were now on fire. Outside the bus smoke drifted, creating almost a mist above the ground. Staggering out of the darkness, I saw Spike, he was badly cut up but up and walking around.

“Spike,” I called out to him. He focused in on me and came over.

“Help me.”

I motioned for him to start pumping Luke’s chest while I breathed into his mouth. One round, two rounds, three. It was no use.

“Have you seen Chase?”

“No.”

Blood trickled down his face from a cut in his hair. Both of us were trying to catch our breath. It was freezing outside. The wind had picked up. I could now see the bus was on fire.

“It’s no use. He’s dead,” Spike said.

“Keep doing it. I’m going to look for Chase.”

I staggered to my feet and wandered around scanning the ground. I saw several of the road crew groaning in pain. One of them had lost his hand. One of the others was trying to help him by bandaging it up.

“Have you seen Chase?”

They shook their heads. Eventually I had no other choice. He had to have been inside the tour bus. Against my better judgment I crawled back into the tour bus and began my search. I couldn’t have been in there more than three minutes when I heard an explosion. It shook me to the core. I picked up the pace. I used my hands where I couldn’t see to feel out objects. When I finally found him, he was breathing but unconscious.

“Spike. Spike!”

A minute later Spike was beside me and helping me pull Chase out. I could see the flames licking up the sides of the bus. It was getting hotter inside. If we didn’t get out now, we could all die. Dragging a human through a bus when only one of my arms was operating was tough, even though Spike had his other one.

Once we got him to a safe distance, we checked to make sure there was no one else. The driver was dead and we couldn’t get at him. The whole front of the bus was caved in.

As the fire raged, and we heard sirens in the distance, I took a lone coat that I had seen lying on the ground and placed it over Luke. I wept over him.

The rest of the night seemed to happen in slow motion. Each of us was taken to a hospital. We later came to discover that four people died, Luke was one of them.

* * *

A
week
later we gathered in Kentucky for the funeral of Luke. His parents spoke about his love for music. His passion for life. His sense of humor. As I sat there holding a tissue to my eyes, I thought back to our time by the lake. The jokes he made and our time playing together. Chase sat beside me. His hand reached for mine and squeezed it gently. He had suffered a concussion. Had we not pulled him out, it was likely he would have also died in the accident. Death was a wake-up call. It didn’t matter how rich or poor you were. How popular or not. It was life’s way of throwing on the brakes and reminding us that life was fragile. You could be here one minute and gone the next. It was a reminder to grab onto all that you could in this life. But most importantly, to forgive and cling to those who loved you. Be with those who believed in you. Cherish those who saw the good in you.

I would like to say my life changed when I met Chase, but in reality, it changed the moment Luke died. That was the day we let go of what might have come between us, had this not happened.

Over the following months, I saw more of Chase. He had decided to buy out Rita’s Cottages and take over the management of the place. He said it was a good investment. I told him that he was a terrible liar. To which he winked.

As we stood outside cottage number seventeen, the place where it had all begun, the leaves were starting to show on the trees. It wouldn’t be long and color would cover the landscape and the sun would breathe life back into the lake.

I stood back beside Chase and looked at the sign, it read: Bryan and Sullivan Cottages.

“You think the red is a little too much?” he asked.

“I think it looks good.”

“So, I was thinking of turning this into a nudist colony.”

I slapped him on the arm. “Chase Bryan.”

“I’m kidding. Though I might skinny-dip from time to time.”

He smirked and I reached over and stuck my hand in his back pocket, giving his butt a quick squeeze.

“Just as long as you let me join you this time.”

“You might have some competition.”

“What?”

He gestured towards a bus of people who showed up. The doors hissed open and an army of young college females came streaming out.

I slapped him on the arm.

“What? It’s good business.”

“But—”

“You know, it’s always going to be you,” he cut me off.

“Yeah, but—”

Before I could say another word, he turned and pressed his lips against mine right in front of them all. Around us we could hear the sounds of women hooting and hollering.

A year ago, I met a country rock star. Ideal or not, the melody of our life together was just beginning to take shape, and I fully plan on being there to write it with him.

* * *

T
hank
you for reading Rockstar The Deal Book 3. If you enjoyed the book, I would really appreciate it if you would consider leaving a review. I can’t stress how helpful this is in helping other readers decide if they should give it a shot. Reviews from readers like you are the best recommendation a book can have. Without reviews, an author’s books are virtually invisible on the retail sites. It also let’s me know what you liked. You can leave a review by visiting the book’s page. I would greatly appreciate it. It only takes a couple of seconds.

T
hank
you for buying Rock Star: The Deal, published by Lakeside Publishing.

C
lick
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K
ate Ward is
the author of Rock Star the series. She lives on the East coast of North America with her husband, kids and dog.

Rock Star: The Song is the first stand-alone book in a series. Rock Star: The Contest is the second. Rockstar: The deal is the final book in the series.