ROCK F*CK CLUB (Girls Ranking the Rock Stars Book 6)

by Michelle Mankin

  Copyright © 2020 Michelle Mankin

  All rights reserved

  Copyright © 2020 Michelle Mankin

  All rights reserved

  All rights reserved except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a data base or retrieval system without prior written permission from the owner/publisher of this book.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products 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.

  Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  Edited by Pam Berehulke

  Cover design by Michelle Preast at Indie Book Covers

  Formatting by Elaine York at Allusion Graphics

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  A Note from the Author

  About the Author

  Other Books by Michelle Mankin

  Michelle Mankin is the New York Times bestselling author of the Black Cat Records series of novels.

  Fall in love with a rock star.

  Text ROCK BOOK to 33777 for cover reveal and flash sale and release alerts (US only)

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  BOOKS BY MICHELLE MANKIN

  * * *

  BRUTAL STRENGTH series:

  Love Evolution

  Love Revolution

  Love Resolution

  Love Rock’ollection

  TEMPEST series (also available in audio):

  Irresistible Refrain

  Enticing Interlude

  Captivating Bridge

  Relentless Rhythm

  Tempest Raging

  Tempting Tempo

  Scandalous Beat

  The Complete Tempest Rock Star Series, Books 1-6

  The MAGIC series (also available in audio):

  Strange Magic

  Dream Magic

  Twisted Magic

  ROCK STARS, SURF AND SECOND CHANCES series (also available in audio):

  Outside

  Riptide

  Oceanside

  High Tide

  Island Side

  The Complete Rock Stars, Surf and Second Chances Series, Books 1-5

  FINDING ME series (also available in audio):

  Find Me

  Remember Me

  Keep Me

  Girls Ranking the Rock Stars series (also available in audio):

  ROCK F*CK CLUB (Girls Ranking the Rock Stars, Book 1)

  ROCK F*CK CLUB (Girls Ranking the Rock Stars, Book 2)

  ROCK F*CK CLUB (Girls Ranking the Rock Stars, Book 3)

  ROCK F*CK CLUB (Girls Ranking the Rock Stars, Book 4)

  ROCK F*CK CLUB (Girls Ranking the Rock Stars, Book 5)

  ROCK F*CK CLUB (Girls Ranking the Rock Stars, Book 6)

  ROCK F*CK CLUB, Books 1-5 Box Set

  ONCE UPON A ROCK STAR series

  The Right Man

  The Right Wish

  The Right Wrong

  The Music and Art of Black Cat Records

  Josephine Poet has completed filming for her season of the Rock F*ck Club. The rocker she has chosen has invited her to take a long ride with him . . . on his motorcycle. She wants nothing more than to spend every moment she can with the handsome lead singer of Anthem.

  But is the Rock F*ck Club really through for her? Are her troubles truly behind her . . . or are they lurking just around the next bend in the road?

  Josephine

  “GALE WANTS ME TO go away with him,” I told Dolly, my gaze locked on the handsome lead singer of Anthem. Center stage under the spotlight with his bass strapped to his wide shoulder and his chiseled lips to the mic, he held both me and the entire Rock the Vine crowd spellbound by the power of his presence and the silkiness of his voice.

  “When?” Dolly asked, her shoulder touching mine.

  “Tonight. After the concert.” In other words, soon. My heart hammering, I shifted my focus to my best friend. “Just us, on his motorcycle, for an extended length of time.”

  Her evergreen eyes widened, reflecting her surprise. “What’d you tell him?”

  “I said I’d go.” When had I ever successfully denied Gale Lafleur anything? “But I’m not sure I should.”

  “Because of Nicholas?” She tilted her head.

  “Yes.” I nodded but avoided her searching gaze.

  In need of a distraction, I found one with my other two bandmates. Just behind Dolly, Lark and Linnet were huddled together, their serious expressions and striking red hair aglow from whatever they were both looking at on Lin’s phone.

  Dolly gave me a knowing look. “Is that the only reason you’re reconsidering?”

  “Isn’t the death of the Enthusiasts’ guitarist reason enough?” Refocusing on her, I crossed my arms over my chest. As if that or anything else would keep my nearly all-knowing best friend from seeing straight through my bullshit right to my heart.

  Her eyes narrowed. “Going with Gale or staying here with us won’t bring Arrow back, Jo.”

  “I know that.” Under the Dolly microscope, I shifted my weight from one Doc Marten to the other. The leather of my bustier was cool against my skin, though the temperature at the outdoor Napa concert venue remained warm. “But Lark—”

  “Lost a man she was beginning to get serious about. His death is a terrible blow. She’s going to be processing that for a while. So will Lin, because of Lark and her relationship with Jag.”

  “Poor Jag.”

  The Heavy Metal Enthusiasts’ bassist had lost more than a bandmate. He’d lost his best friend.

  Tears stung my eyes, blurring the image of the woman who was that and more to me. I would be devastated if something happened to Dolly.

  “They’ll get through it. We all will.” Her expression softening, she placed her hand on my arm.

  I covered her fingers with mine, stroking her skin with my thumb, welcoming her comfort while giving some of my own. “I hope so.” I pressed my lips into a grim but determined line.

  “It’ll be rough for a long while.” Her gaze turned searching. “Is that what you’re worried about?”

  “Yes. Plus, Ty just got out of the hospital.” I nodded somberly. “And you and he—”

  “There is no Ty and me officially,” she said, sliding her fingers out from under mine.

  “Dolly, come on. Seriously?” I frowned at her. “I was there at the bus wreck. I saw how you were with him.”

  “Me. How I am with him.” Her hands curled into fists at her sides, and her eyes glowed with passionate
emotion. “But those feelings are on hold. For now, I have to focus on being there for him in a supportive role.” She shook her head, tossing a long tendril of her blond hair over her shoulder. “But we aren’t talking about the twins or me right now. We were talking about you. And you potentially going away with Gale.”

  “It’s all interrelated,” I muttered. “We’re family. Family sticks together.”

  “And isn’t Gale part of our family?” She arched a brow.

  “Fucking hell, doll.” My eyes rounded as she got in that zinger to make a point.

  “You’re afraid, Jo,” she said, and I froze solid, though my heart continued to beat rapidly. “My guess is that you led with your heart saying yes to him. But now that your brain’s gotten involved, you’re getting cold feet and running back to the safe and familiar, which is me and the twins. Am I wrong?” Propping her hands on her curvy hips, she lifted both brows and gave me an imperious look.

  “You’re right.” I sighed. “But it would be selfish of me to take off with Gale right now with everyone hurting.”

  “We process best with the people we love helping us,” she said softly.

  “Exactly.” That was exactly how it had been for me. Nodding my agreement, I reached out and carefully touched her sweet face, sweeping the pad of my thumb across the round of her cheek just beneath the arrow the Rock Fuck Club makeup artist had drawn on it to honor the fallen Heavy Metal Enthusiasts’ guitarist. “I didn’t begin to heal from my grief over Joey until you.”

  “I was a step in the process. But, honey, you know Gale is the next one.” She lifted her chin, eyeing me. “You two do need time together.”

  “But—”

  “No more buts.” She cut me off with a sharp look. “Remember what I told you about that wall around your heart.”

  “Yeah, you want me to tear it down before it falls down around me and crushes me.”

  “Right.” She nodded. “Or at least take an excursion outside of those walls. With a change of perspective, you might be able to see those protective measures of yours a different way. Maybe even discover that you don’t need them anymore with certain people.”

  “You might be right,” I said, giving that some consideration.

  “I am, but you have to make that determination for yourself. All the important decisions in life are up to each of us to make on our own.”

  I tilted my head. Were we still talking about me or her? Or someone else . . . Ty, maybe?

  “The twins and I can pick up a phone and call you if we need you,” she said. “So, no using us as an excuse. You won’t be gone forever. Anyway, I really need to devote my full attention right now to Ty. That’ll be easier for me to do with you gone.”

  “Thanks a lot,” I grumbled. “The momma bird is shoving me out of the nest.”

  “A friendly nudge.” She gave me an indulgent smile. “Don’t second-guess yourself. Go with your heart. Go with Gale. Take a little time for the two of you, away from all the madness. No one’s going to begrudge you that. What you’ve found with him is a gift. Celebrate it. Develop it. Make it stronger.” She sharpened her gaze. “You do know you need to make it stronger. Right?”

  “Yeah.” I knew, but I didn’t want to delve into the reasons for that need any further. Gale and I were together, and we loved each other. It hadn’t been easy getting us to this point. But on the other hand, being where we were didn’t guarantee our future happiness.

  “We’ll be here when you return,” she said softly. “And so will everything else I know you’re trying to avoid thinking about.”

  “When did you get so wise?” I shook my head in disbelief.

  “I’ve always been smart.” She pursed her lips. “Having a degree doesn’t make you smarter. Not if you don’t put the stuff you learn into practice.”

  “You’re not more experienced than me, doll.” I lifted a brow.

  “I’m better looking, smarter, and more experienced.” Grinning, she flipped another lock of her blond hair over her shoulder. “Go on. Get your things from the bus. Put all those pressing matters on pause for a little while. So that when you return, you’ll be in a better and stronger position to handle them.”

  She bumped her shoulder to mine as the song Anthem was playing hit a crescendo with a spine-tingling wailing guitar and crashing drums.

  I shifted to look. On his riser wearing a navy ball cap backward, Noah Pearl, the drummer for Anthem, gripped his sticks in one hand and used a towel to mop sweat from his forehead with the other. In front of him, Arthur Levine’s aquamarine eyes shone like a tropical sea as the guitarist tipped his sandy-blond head back and chugged from a bottle of water.

  And then there was the man out in front of his band, the sexiest of the three, in my opinion.

  I experienced my usual inner swoon just looking at Gale. No, not usual. Not with him shirtless under the lights with his thick brown hair completely saturated, and sweat running down his sculpted chest in rivulets.

  “Thank you, Napa,” Gale said into his mic, confidently acknowledging the audience’s thunderous approval. He lifted his chin, and I noted his low-slung black jeans sliding lower. My stomach fluttered. He was so totally hot, so completely in his element. A rock legend who, by some crazy miracle, was mine.

  Currently, anyway.

  I took a mental snapshot and imagined tucking it into the locket dangling from my neck for safekeeping.

  Gale turned his head to glance at me. His half-moon glasses sliding to the tip of his nose, he peered over the rim of them at me. Nearly the length of the huge stage separated us, but it was like we were the only two people in the world.

  The ground rocked beneath me when his gaze connected to mine. My knees wobbled, and his moonlight eyes danced. He knew the sway he held over me. Giving me his sexy lopsided grin tipped the scales to his advantage in our little moment, an advantage I didn’t mind him having. My heart, broken pieces and all, rising to my eyes, I beamed a return smile back to him. Opening his fingers and closing them as if to catch it, he brushed his lips to the back of his hand and returned his attention to the crowd.

  “Great to be here in Napa,” he said into the mic, pumping his fist into the air.

  The crowd cheered, agreeing with him.

  “Get a move on.” Dolly bumped my shoulder again to snap me out of my Gale-induced daze. “Go.” She pointed behind me to the cinder-block corridor that led to the bus parking lot.

  “Difficult to leave when there’s all that to look at,” I said breathlessly, staring at Gale.

  “He’s theirs right now.” She gestured to the sea of people. “But get ready so that when they’re through with him, he can be all yours.”

  Josephine

  “JO, HOLD UP,” LARK called, the sound of her rapid footfalls echoing off the cinder-block walls.

  “What is it?” I turned to face her. “Is everything okay?” My stomach twisted as I noted her normally bright copper-colored eyes were lifeless and dull, and her cheeks were wet.

  “The date’s been set for the remembrance ceremony.” Coming to a stop in front of me, she shoved her hands into the front pockets of her jeans.

  “When and where?” I asked gently, reaching up to tuck a loose crimson spiral behind her ear.

  “A week from today. At Ivan and Ty’s place in Dallas.” She curled her fingers into fists, making her denim pockets bulge, and my heart went out to her.

  “That’s soon, but expected, I guess.”

  Nodding, she pressed her lips into a thin line.

  “Who told you?” Taking her in, stooped shoulders and all, I decided the only part of her that wasn’t weighed down by sadness was her bouncy hair.

  “Jag texted Lin after Arrow’s parents texted him.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “They’ve selected a burial site in the town where they live.” A tear escaped and rolled down her cheek.

  “Come here,” I said, stretching out my arms.

  Sobbing, she fell into my embrace. “Oh, Jo. It’s so awful.�
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  “I’m sorry, Lark.” I tightened my arms around her. “So, so sorry.”

  “I can’t believe that he’s gone. We were . . . I hoped . . .” She sniffled, and a sad shudder shook her. “But that’s over.”

  “I know,” I said softly, rubbing her back. “I’m sorry.”

  “Arrow’s parents have taken control of everything.” Stiffening, she broke free from my embrace and pulled away. “They’re shutting out the band and all the rest of us.”

  “That’s terrible.” I shook my head. The darkness I saw in her gaze was familiar, and it worried me how she withdrew from comfort.

  “It is.” She shrugged and wrapped her arms around herself. “But what can we do? What can any of us do?”

  “It’s awful feeling so helpless.” My throat tightened. She looked so defeated and sad.

  “It doesn’t make any sense.” Her face crumpled and her voice broke. “It’s all so wrong. It shouldn’t be like this.”

  “I know, honey. It shouldn’t, you’re right.” Tears of my own threatened, and I curled my fingers into my palms. “But please know that I love you, that I’ll always love you and will be there for you. I want to help however I can. What can I do? Tell me, and I’ll do it.”

  She went still for a long moment, her gaze steady on mine. “Dolly said Gale asked you to go away with him.”

  “He did, but I can cancel. It doesn’t feel right to leave right now.”

  “You and Gale together is the only right thing in all of this.” She grasped one of my hands, squeezing my fingers tight. “Go, Jo. Please. I want you to.” Her lips trembled. “What if you don’t get another chance?”

  “Lark.” My voice caught as a huge lump of emotion lodged inside my throat.

  “Do it for me. For Arrow. For all we could have had and lost.” She gave me a tremulous smile. She was so beautiful, tragically so, with her coppery eyes drowning in fresh tears.

  “Okay,” I said grudgingly, not feeling right about this at all. “But only if you’re sure.”