Ruthless Rockstar

by Ava Grace

  “Will do. Love you.”

  “Love you too.”

  After I hung up the call, I switched off the television then got ready for bed. Now that I’d made the decision to call Colton, I wished it hadn’t been so damn late because my stomach was already churning in anticipation of what I was going to say—if he answered my call. If he didn’t, well then, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. Go to his house, maybe?

  I sighed. I didn’t want to do that. I didn’t want to seem desperate or stalkerish like his ex. I’d just have to leave him a voicemail. It was better than nothing.

  I rolled my eyes as I climbed into bed. I was overthinking the situation again. I hated dwelling on something that hadn’t happened yet, but I couldn’t believe how important Colton had become to me in such a short space of time. I didn’t want him to have a lasting bad impression of me. I’d acted like a harpy, and I wasn’t that person deep down. I’d never been the jealous, possessive type, and I didn’t want to start now.

  I switched off the light and tried to clear my mind so that I could get some sleep, but it evaded me for most of the night. I thought long and hard about my behavior at the gallery opening and realized I didn’t like the person I’d been then—the person I was becoming. When I eventually drifted off, I tossed and turned continuously until my alarm went off a few short hours later.

  I couldn’t go on like this.

  I had to make things right, or at the very least, try.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Colton

  My band mates arrived within minutes of each other, and after we’d grabbed a cup of coffee in the kitchen, we took them into the recording studio so we could get to work. Even though it was Christmas Eve, we’d promised to get a couple of hours of practice in because we had a gig right after the holidays and this would be our last chance to rehearse before we took a few days off to spend time with our families.

  “Man, I’m jealous as hell,” Adam grumbled. “I wish I had a studio in my house. This is awesome.”

  He shrugged off his jacket then threw it one of the hooks on the wall just inside the door.

  “It should be awesome for the small fortune it cost me to build,” I said, heading over to the small collection of instruments to grab my guitar.

  “Yeah, but worth every dime,” Liam said. “Must be nice to just roll out of bed and into work without having to even leave the house.”

  “Yeah, it’d be perfect for your lazy ass,” Alex joked.

  Liam frowned. “I’m not lazy, just laid back.”

  Alex, Adam and I snorted in unison.

  Seb clapped me on the shoulder. “You called her yet?”

  I heaved a sigh. “Why would I? If you ask me, I had a lucky escape.”

  Even as the words left my mouth, they didn’t quite ring true. Liv had only been in my life for a short time, but I missed her presence. In the past week, it felt as if there was a gaping hole in my life that only she could fill.

  The guys all shared a look, but no one said anything.

  I narrowed my eyes.

  “What?”

  Seb, Alex and Adam pretended they hadn’t heard me, but Liam met my gaze. “You don’t really believe that, do you?”

  “It’s pointless telling him,” Alex said. “Let him make his own mistakes.”

  I rounded on him. “You think not calling her is a mistake?”

  “Yeah,” they said as one.

  I glared at each of them in turn. “Oh, come on, you can’t be serious. You were there. You saw what happened. She practically accused me of screwing that girl in the damn hallway. If that’s not a carbon copy of Lori, then I don’t know what is.”

  Seb and Alex shared a look.

  I frowned. “What?”

  Seb sighed. “Look, no offence, but I saw you talking to that girl earlier in the night and you both looked pretty damn cozy to me.”

  My mouth fell open and I stared at him. “You’re shitting me, right?”

  “I thought the same thing,” Alex said. “I mean, it was obvious she was into you, and clearly flirting, and well, she was getting pretty damn close to you.”

  “Are you saying I was flirting with her?”

  “They’re not suggesting that,” Adam said. “It’s just that, sometimes, well, most of the time, you have no concept of how to make it clear to a woman that you’re not interested in them.”

  Seb nodded. “It’s one thing to be polite to people and to pose for a selfie or two, but when women start getting flirty, you need to give it to them straight. Tell them you’re unavailable.”

  I scrubbed a hand over my head as I gazed from one to the other. “So, you’re telling me it looked like I was into her.”

  “To anyone who didn’t know you as well as us, sure.”

  I heaved a sigh. “Well, shit.”

  My thoughts drifted back to the time Liv and I had been at the hospital together and the nurses asked if they could take a photo with me. I’d only spoken to the women for a few moments, but I could clearly recall the expression of distaste on Liv’s face. Had that been because of the nurses’ attention, or had she thought that I’d enjoyed their attention a little bit too much?

  When I came to think about it, I suppose I hadn’t made it clear I wasn’t interested or told them I was unavailable. Perhaps I should have introduced Liv as my girlfriend. And if what the guys had said was true about the way things had looked between me and the reporter at the gallery, then it stood to reason Liv would think I’d been encouraging the woman, and even possibly that I made a habit out of it.

  I slumped my shoulders in resignation. “Fuck. I’ve made a mistake, haven’t I?”

  “For what it’s worth,” Adam said. “I liked Liv, and I didn’t think she was like Lori in any way, shape or form.”

  “Yeah, that bitch was crazy from the get-go,” Seb said.

  They all nodded their agreement.

  “Has she tried calling you?” Liam asked.

  I shook my head. “No.”

  “Well, there you go. Lori would have called you about fifty times by now.”

  And then some.

  When I first broke it off with Lori, she called my cell phone twenty times on the first day, and that night, she’d shown up at my house, knocking on my front for a good fifteen minutes before giving up. Then, she’d hung around in the street for a couple of hours before finally going away. I was fairly confident Liv would never do something like that.

  The guys were right—Liv was nothing like my ex.

  Why hadn’t I realized that myself without needing the guys to spell it out to me? I’d always thought I was a good judge of character, but apparently not because I’d judged Liv too harshly based on a few incidences, which, seemingly I’d instigated by my own unthinking behavior.

  I had to try to make things right.

  “Can you rehearse without me for a couple of hours?”

  Mirroring smiles slid into place on their lips.

  “As long as the next words out of your mouth are ‘I’m going to see Liv,’” Adam joked.

  I clapped a hand on his shoulder then nodded. “I’m going to see Liv.”

  “Well, what are you waiting for?” Seb said. “Get out of here.”

  I turned to Adam. “You break my studio, I’ll break your face.”

  “Why are you telling me?” he balked.

  The guys chuckled.

  “Because you’re a klutz,” Alex said.

  “Yeah, you’re like a bull in a china shop,” Liam added.

  Adam glared at them.

  I put my guitar back on its stand then strode through the room with purpose. Now that I’d made the decision to see Liv and apologize for my behavior, I couldn’t get out the door quick enough. I called out a hurried goodbye, but the guys were still bickering amongst themselves, and barely noticed my departure.

  As I grabbed the keys to my truck off the kitchen counter, my stomach churned violently with a mixture of fear and nervous anticipation. I could o
nly hope Liv would hear me out, and that I could make things right between us. I shook my head as I stepped out onto the porch.

  I would make things right. I had to.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Despite telling Jen I was going to call Colton, I simply hadn’t had the time. I’d thought Christmas eve would be quiet, but a couple of people had walked in the moment I unlocked the door at 9 a.m. and I’d had a steady stream of customers in since. I’d thought an art gallery would be the last place people would have looked to buy a Christmas gift, but apparently, I was mistaken about that.

  I’d sold a painting, a couple of prints and the ceramic pieces I’d ordered in to help fill up the space were flying out the door. I’d even sold a few gift certificates for custom artwork, something I’d been advertising since I opened. Despite the busy day, Colton hadn’t been far from my mind, and the call that I’d failed to make to him was looming ominously over my head like a rain cloud. Regardless of its importance, the call would have to wait because I didn’t want to talk to him when the gallery was busy. It was going to be an uncomfortable conversation and I hardly wanted witnesses to my discomfiture.

  “Excuse me,” a woman said, drawing my attention. “Do you have another one of these? I’d like a matching pair.”

  I glanced at the ceramic vase she pointed to then came around the front of my counter and walked to her side.

  “Not in stock, I’m afraid. I could order one in, though it probably wouldn’t get here until the new year.”

  Her face fell. “Ah, no, I wanted them for a gift for my sister.” She sighed heavily. “My fault for leaving it so late.”

  “You could always give her one and tell her the other is on order,” I suggested.

  She pursed her lips. “Hmm, I’ll think about it. Thanks.”

  “No problem.”

  I was just about to head back behind the counter when the gallery door opened, and a man walked in carrying an enormous bouquet of flowers. The woman beside me gasped.

  “Wow, someone is a lucky lady,” she said. “She’d better hold on tight to whoever got her those.”

  Despite my smile of agreement, a pang of sorrow tugged at my insides. “You’re not wrong.”

  As I headed back behind the counter, I glanced around the room looking for the man’s wife, but as he lowered the flowers, his gaze came to rest on me, I realized he wasn’t the husband of any of the women in the gallery, but a delivery man from the flower shop down the street. My pulse accelerated as he walked my way.

  “Olivia Martin?” he enquired.

  I nodded. “I’m Olivia.”

  “These are for you.”

  He handed me the bouquet just as the door opened again and another man walked in carrying another huge bunch. Before he’d even made it to the counter, yet another walked in.

  The delivery men and indeed, the flowers they carried drew interest from the people who had been browsing around the gallery and they all made their way over to watch the deliveries of the biggest bouquets I’d ever set eyes on. Two of the bouquets fit on the counter, but I had to put the third on the floor, and just as I straightened, the first delivery man was back again with another bunch.

  A lump rose in my throat as I stared at them.

  I couldn’t see a card on any of the bouquets, but I couldn’t believe that anyone other than Colton would have done something like this. I didn’t want to get my hopes up, but it was unlikely that any of my exes would have made a gesture this grand, and I doubted I had an admirer I wasn’t aware of either.

  Pretty soon, half my gallery was filled with flowers of every color and description. I wasn’t even sure what I was going to do with them all—I definitely didn’t have enough vases.

  My customers all whispered amongst themselves as each new bouquet arrived. I shook my head, unable to believe what I was seeing. Finally, another man entered with the biggest bouquet of all, and it was these flowers that made my breath catch in my throat.

  They were my flowers—my favorites.

  White lilies and peach roses.

  It was in that moment I knew they had to be from Colton because none of my exes had ever taken the time to find out what my favorites were. My deduction was confirmed when the man lowered the bouquet that covered his face and Colton peered back at me, his smile warm, but hesitant.

  “Hey,” he greeted quietly.

  I ignored the surprised gasps and murmurs from my customers and accepted the bouquet.

  “Colton, I—”

  “Please, can you just let me say what I need to say first?”

  I nodded. “Of course.”

  “I’m sorry,” he began, making me shake my head. “I should have explained myself last week instead of getting defensive. I haven’t got a good excuse for it. I just need you to know that there was genuinely nothing going on out in that corridor.

  “That woman cornered me—she took me by surprise and before I could push her away or even open my mouth to tell her to back off, you came out, and your reaction, the things you accused me of, well, it reminded me of my ex, and I reacted badly.

  “I’ve had some time to think about things, and, well, I spoke to the guys and they made me realize I probably should have done more to discourage that woman earlier on in the evening.”

  Embarrassment heated my cheeks. “You spoke to your bandmates about us?”

  He nodded, smiling wryly. “They all think I’ve been an idiot. They said that sometimes, I can be oblivious to the fact that women are flirting with me. Like, maybe at the hospital? I mean, I saw your reaction to those nurses.”

  I sighed. “I never said anything, but I did think you could have discouraged them or made it clear somehow that you weren’t interested.”

  He nodded. “I see that now. If you can give me another chance, I promise I’ll try harder not to do anything that would hurt your feelings. I would never do anything to intentionally hurt you.

  “I promise I’ll make an effort to ensure that situations like that never happen again because I’ll make it clear that I’m unavailable. I’ll prove to you that we can be great together.”

  He heaved a sigh. “Well, that’s pretty much all I came here to say.”

  My heart hammered in my chest, and as I took in his hopeful expression, I wondered how I could have got this lucky.

  “You know, I was actually going to call you today.”

  His eyebrows lifted in surprise. “You were?”

  “Yeah. I talked to Jen last night and she’s never been someone who sugar coats things.”

  He grinned. “I can imagine.”

  “Like you, I did a lot of thinking over this past week and, well, I acted badly—out of character. I don’t think I ever really believed that there was something was going on out in that corridor. But seeing you together like that brought up a lot of bad memories.

  “I’ve let my past experiences with men shape me—I’ve let them change me. I see now that I was projecting all of my hurt and disappointment onto you, and I guess I was trying to push you away before you had the chance to hurt me.

  “So, I’m the one who should be saying I’m sorry. And I hope that you can forgive me.”

  Colton took a couple of steps closer, enough that he was in my personal space and I breathed in the intoxicating scent of his aftershave combined with leather from his jacket. I’d missed that smell. Our proximity made my breath catch.

  He met my gaze and held it with ease. “This has obviously been a learning curve for the both of us, but I think we have something here—something worth holding onto.”

  “We do,” I agreed.

  “So, you’re willing to give this another shot?”

  I nodded. “Absolutely.”

  The smile that slid into place on Colton’s face made my heart stutter. The uncertainty in his eyes disappeared in an instant to be replaced by warmth and tenderness.

  “You won’t regret this,” he said firmly then he took hold of my face and kissed me.

  Th
e second his lips touched mine, my body came alive. A groan tore from my throat and I reached for him, sliding my arms around him and pulling him to me as I deepened the kiss. I loved the feel of his hard, muscular body against mine.

  A wolf whistle caused us to break apart, and when I turned to its source, the handful of people who had been browsing around the gallery were gathered around, watching us intently. The woman who’d asked about the vase started clapping then, after a moment, everyone else joined in.

  My cheeks felt ridiculously hot as I huffed out a laugh and when I looked back at Colton, I found him openly grinning at me, his expression light and carefree. I’d never get tired of seeing that smile.

  “Life with you is never going to be dull, is it?”

  His eyes danced with mirth as he snaked an arm around my back, pulling me against his side. “Do you think you handle that?”

  I chuckled. “I’ll give it my best shot.”

  Epilogue

  Olivia

  When Adam started to strum the opening chords of Falling, Rocks Off’s latest release, the crowd behind us went crazy. Just as Colton started to sing the first verse, he sought me out in the small, chained off VIP section at the front of the stadium, and winked. I’d never been the type of woman to swoon, but I came pretty darn close to it in that moment.

  I reached down and put a hand to my enormous stomach and couldn’t contain the contented smile that slipped into place on my lips. Jen nudged my arm with her elbow and when I met her gaze, she was grinning back at me like a crazy woman, her eyebrows waggling.

  “Not as unaffected by him now as you were the first time you saw him perform, are you?” she said wryly.

  I shook my head. “I can’t imagine what you’re talking about.”

  She spluttered out a laugh. “Yeah, right.” She looked down at my swollen belly and her grin widened. “At least there’s no denying that everything is in good working order down there now.”