Opposites Attract: The complete box set

by Higginson, Rachel

  But this wasn’t a celebration for me. This was one of the hardest things I would ever have to do.

  And the worst part… I couldn’t even tell Adam why.

  He didn’t need to know that I used to be a member of his favorite band. Or that I had grown up with the guys. Or that the lead singer, Malachi Porter, had been my first boyfriend. My first everything. My only everything until Adam. I had loved him with all that I had in me. I had thought we would get married. That our entire lives would be each other and our band.

  And that Malachi, or Kai as his adoring fans knew him, had hurt me in the worst way possible—that he had let our love burn into the brightest tragedy and left me ashes and dust and wisps of nothing.

  He’d left me barely breathing.

  He’d left me hurting more than I knew was humanly possible.

  With no other choice, I’d fled. I’d disappeared. I’d carved out my normal, safe, happy existence without him. And without the world-famous band I’d helped build.

  But now, my wonderfully normal boyfriend was asking me to go back to that dark place and I didn’t know how to tell him no without exposing all my shadowy secrets. Secrets he would never forgive me for.

  Secrets I could hardly explain fully or reconcile with the girl I was now.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, concern drawing his eyebrows together. His strong hands landed on my shoulders, rubbing soothingly. “Do you not want to go?”

  I tried to smile, but it wobbled. And then it died completely. “I’m sorry, I just don’t love their music like you do.” Panic seized hold of my heart, squeezing it in an iron fist.

  His face fell, crumbling with disappointment. The grip on my heart tightened. “Oh, but it could still be fun? We’re in the balcony. We’ll get drinks…”

  I couldn’t stomach the way he was looking at me. I couldn’t be responsible for ruining this for him. I knew I had to face this. I knew I had to go. It was the only way to save my past from totally screwing up my future.

  If I told Adam the whole truth, he would never look at me the same. He would never treat me the same. He would never… want me the same.

  I would become an idol. And my past would become a badge of honor. And his feelings for me would become plastic.

  But the band… if they saw me. If Malachi saw me…

  They wouldn’t, I decided. They won’t. They can’t. How many fans did I recognize at any of our concerts? Zero. The stage lights were too bright. The crush of the crowd was too big. The adrenaline of the performance was too intense.

  And besides, Malachi wouldn’t be in the right state of mind anyway. He wouldn’t even notice me.

  I ignored the despair that colored everything inside me black. Death seeped inside my new life, turning everything cold and corpse-like. My bones grew stiff and my muscles weakened. My heartbeat slowed to a crawl. My lungs shook with the effort to draw breath.

  “It’s fine,” I heard myself say, desperation to save this easy new life of mine setting in. I wanted to shake my limbs loose of the rigor mortis. “It will be fun.”

  He squinted at me, trying to make sense of the hollow sound of my voice. “I promise, you’re going to love it. Love them,” he said, overly enthusiastic. “You’ll see why I think they’re amazing. You’ll be a super fan by the end of the night.”

  I smiled, it was paper thin and fake, but it held. He was wrong. I had already been a super fan. I had been their biggest fan. I had wanted them to have the most success. To be the greatest thing that had ever graced the stage.

  Now I knew better. I had loved a broken thing because I wanted to fix it. Instead, it had broken me too.

  “Maybe,” I told Adam, knowing the truth would be the opposite.

  His answering smile restored some of my faith in life. I wasn’t the same girl I was five years ago. I wasn’t a part of Bright Tragedy. And I wasn’t in love with Malachi Porter.

  But I did like Adam. And I could support him this one night. I would slip inside the theater, be a good girlfriend and hang out on the balcony. And then we would leave at the end of the night and life would go on.

  Malachi and the guys would move on to the next city.

  And I would move on with my new normal.

  Easy.

  Read the rest of Clover Calloway’s story when Never Fall in Love with a Rockstar releases June 25th, 2019!!! Preorder HERE

  Other Romances by Rachel Higginson

  The Five Stages of Falling in Love - Buy Now

  Every Wrong Reason - Buy Now

  Bet on Us - Buy Now

  Bet on Me - Buy Now

  Constant - Buy Now

  Consequence - Buy Now

  Trailer Park Heart - Buy Now

  The Opposite of You (Your current book)

  The Difference Between Us - Buy Now

  The Problem with Him - Buy Now

  The Something about Her - Buy Now

  Acknowledgments

  In the busiest season of life thus far, we decided to buy a house, move, launch Pierce and Ivy’s spring line and release a book. These last few months have been nothing but madness. So first and foremost, I want to thank my God, who is a God of miracles, who always puts me in this posture of needing Him so that He can do miraculous things right in front of me. Thank you, Zach, for thriving on this chaos, for getting the details right when I forget them all and for cheerleading me through every day when I just want to panic. Thank you to my kiddos who are so understanding when I abandon life to shut myself away and write. Thank you to my mom and mother-in-law who have gone above and beyond with sleepovers and babysitting hours. To Amy Bartol, who is waiting on the next chapter of our super exciting project while I get my life together. To my friends and Bible study who have gotten the worst of me lately and still love me. To my editor, Amy Donnelly, who works so hard around my never-on-time deadlines and to Lenore, my beta reader, who puts up with all of my chaos. Especially when I got the flu in those last few hours and put all of us behind schedule! Thank you to my assistant, Holly, who has learned to just do what needs to be done and manages my mess. Thank you especially to the entire OPTS team at my bank, who fell in love with my stories while asking for every last financial document on the planet and made buying a house in the middle of releasing a book so very worth it. Seriously, you all are the very best. And thank you to my bloggers and readers, who continually and consistently show up for me. I could not do this without you. You give this job joy. And you somehow manage to top every single release. Thank you for your support and your time and for falling in love with these love stories as much as I have.