by Alyson Hale
Rock Her Series #2
By Alyson Hale
Chapter 1
Alex
What a summer. It should have been the best three months of my life, but it was by far the worst. I partied all the way from Madrid to Budapest, getting high and fucking exotic dicks until I was numb. I visited every monument along the way, witnessed a thousand amazing sights, and yet there’s one thing I can never get out of my head, no matter how hard I try.
That one night, the worst night of my life, has haunted me for half my life, and now I know for sure I’m never going to get over it.
My friend Viola came on the trip with me, and I have to say that’s my biggest regret of the summer. It was supposed to be my best friend Kyri, but she couldn’t afford the trip, and I was dying to get the hell out of Dodge. Kyri graciously allowed me to go on without her, even though it was a trip we’d been planning together since we were twelve. She’s such a sweet friend…a total contrast to the “friend” I brought on the trip with me.
Viola did nothing but drive me deeper into the hole I’d already dug for myself. My money is gone. I gave up my job to take this trip. And now, thanks to her, I’m in even worse shape than I was when I arrived in London in June.
I’ve been through some traumatizing things this summer, but I’m not going to put that on Kyri. She’s like a sister to me, the person I go to for having a fun, relaxed time and forgetting my troubles. I don’t want to tell her I party all night because I can’t sleep without having nightmares. I let her think it’s because I want to. She doesn’t know that the last time I had eight hours of uninterrupted, blissful sleep was the night before incident number one, and now there’s been another one to add to the list. I wonder how many more men are going to hurt me before I finally end my own misery. Someday, I’ll party too hard, and this walking nightmare will all be over. Sometimes I hope that’s sooner rather than later.
Inhaling a deep breath, I paint a smile on my face, raise my fist, and knock on Kyri’s front door. I force all thoughts of my trauma to the back of my mind, pretending they don’t exist, and train my thoughts on the lovely lady I’ve been missing since the moment my plane lifted off.
I hear the thump of her knee against the door as she checks the peephole, like she always does, and then giggle at the delighted gasp I can hear from out on the doorstep. She hurries to unlock the bolt and flings the door open. Her crazy red curls frame her sweet ivory face, and her green eyes are wild with excitement.
“Ky!” I can’t control my excitement and barrel into her arms, squeezing her like the life raft she is for me.
***
After stuffing my face with Kyri’s insanely delicious lasagna, we settle back in her room to watch 10 Things I Hate About You, an old favorite. We do more talking than watching as I fill her in on the things I didn’t get to tell her while we were eating with her mom. Before her mom walked in, I gave her a quick rundown on all the guys I banged, leaving out the last one that fucked me up even more than I already was. In a way, I want to tell her, but I don’t think I’m ready yet. It’s going to hurt her so much. Plus, it’s something I’m not even sure I can talk about.
“So, tell me about London,” Kyri begs, her eyes brightening. We lay sideways facing each other with glasses of wine in our hands between us. “Is it just like I’ve been describing it in my books?”
“Are you using me for research?” I pretend to study her with skepticism.
She rolls her eyes, laughing. “You honestly expect to go to Europe and not have to describe it to me in meticulous detail when you get back?”
“How can I describe it in meti—what? Where do you get all these big words?”
Shaking her head, Kyri sighs. “I thought I told you to get a thesaurus app on your phone.”
I whip my relaxed natural hair back over my shoulder. “I can’t say that word either, let alone spell it.”
I’ve never been that devoted to school or learning words. I barely skated by in high school because Kyri helped me with my homework. Every time we had a test, I used her notes to cram the night before. I couldn’t sleep anyway, so why should I waste my days studying? Or at least, that’s what I thought. Now I wish my GPA was higher so I could have gotten into college.
Grunting out a sigh, Kyri holds out a hand, motioning for me to give her my phone. I reach into my bag, which is sitting by the side of the bed, and hand it over. She knows my passcode, so I let her enter it and download a thesaurus app for me.
“Anyway, how can I describe everything in crazy specific detail when I was wasted half the time?”
“Alex,” she scolds. I can see the disappointment in her eyes, and it kills me. “You promised me you wouldn’t get fucked up while you were over there.”
Biting my lip, I force back the tears that prick my eyes. If only I had listened to her.
“I know, Ky. I’m really sorry. Viola got me into a lot of shit I had no business using. Believe me, it will never happen again.”
I watch her download a dictionary app, feeling amazed yet again that two people so different could get along so well. Kyri has never snorted, smoked, or shot up anything in all the years I’ve known her. She hates putting things in her body that have no business being there. I’m the screw-up, and she’s the one who has her life together. It’s been that way since we were kids, and even my mom knows she’s better than me. My mom cuts me a lot of slack because she feels guilty about what happened to me, but I see that same disappointment in her eyes when I fuck up yet again. I wish I could be more like the Calloway girls: sweet, innocent, and untouched.
“Alex?” Kyri’s voice brings me back to earth. She sees the sadness in my eyes. I tried so hard to hide it from her, but now that incident number two has happened, I’m slipping up. “Is everything okay?”
Shaking it off, I smile. “Yeah. Just feeling some regret that I didn’t ace high school like you did. Now I gotta find another job, and I just…” I shrug.
She rubs my arm, reassuring me with a smile. “Don’t worry, girl. You’ll find your niche and totally kill at whatever you set your mind to doing. I believe in you.”
Nodding, I ease down onto her feather pillow and let the negativity swirling around in my head fade away. There’s something nice about just enjoying a night in with a glass of wine, a movie, and a friend. I wish I could just be satisfied with that. I wish this gnawing craving for danger and excitement to fill the void inside me would go away for good.
But that would take a miracle.
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- ABOUT THE AUTHOR -
Alyson Hale is a naughty little minx who lives in an undisclosed location in the American South. Her weaknesses are rock stars, cowboys, and billionaires. If your significant other gets laid after reading one of her books, she feels like she’s done her job right. Follow Aly if you love wall-of-muscle, well-endowed book boyfriends who make you weak at the knees!
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- OTHER BOOKS BY THIS AUTHOR -
Fourteen Shades of F*cked Up – An Anthology
Release date: February 14th, 2017
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- NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR -
Hey there, gorgeous!
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Alyson Hale
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