Rollie & the Rocker (Grace Grayson Security Book 4)

by Elizabeth Stevens

  ROLLIE

  & the Rocker

  ALSO BY ELIZABETH STEVENS

  NEW ADULT/ADULT BOOKS

  Heaven & Hell Chronicles

  Damned if I do

  Damned if I don’t

  Damned if I know

  All Devilbums Go To Heaven

  Grace Grayson Security

  Chaos & the Geek

  Hawk & the Lady

  O Lord & the Queen

  Rollie & the Rocker

  Tank & the Rebel

  Loving the Sykes

  Caden

  Carter

  Luther

  Oscar

  Ashton

  MATURE YA/NEW ADULT BOOKS

  the Trouble with Hate is…

  Accidentally Perfect

  Gray’s Blade

  Being Not Good

  Popped

  a GRACE GRAYSON novel

  ROLLIE

  & the Rocker

  ELIZABETH STEVENS

  Kinky Siren

  An imprint of Sleeping Dragon Books

  Rollie & the Rocker

  by Elizabeth Stevens

  Print ISBN: 978-1925928846

  Digital ISBN: 978-1925928839

  Cover art by: Izzie Duffield

  Copyright 2021 Elizabeth Stevens

  Worldwide Electronic & Digital Rights

  Worldwide English Language Print Rights

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned or distributed in any form, including digital and electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior written consent of the Publisher, except for brief quotes for use in reviews. This book is a work of fiction. Characters, names, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  To Arthur,

  May you and Ryder have fun over in the Uncooperative Character Corner.

  N

  Contents

  Nora

  Ryder

  Nora

  Ryder

  Nora

  Ryder

  Nora

  Ryder

  Nora

  Ryder

  Nora

  Ryder

  Nora

  Ryder

  Nora

  Ryder

  Nora

  Ryder

  Nora

  Ryder

  Grace Grayson Security

  Tank & the Rebel

  Rollie & the Rocker

  Thanks

  My Books

  About the Author

  Author’s Note

  This book is written using Australian English. This will affect the spelling, grammar and syntax you may be used to. It might come across as typos, awkward sentences, poor grammar, or missed/wrong words. In the majority of cases (I won’t claim it’s infallible, despite all best efforts), this is intentional and just an Aussie way of speaking (it took my US beta readers a bit to get used to). I can’t say ‘the’ Aussie way, since we seem to differ even within the same state. Just think of us as a weird mix of British and US vernacular and colloquialisms, but with our own randomness thrown in. I still hope you enjoy it, though!

  1

  Nora

  The noise rang in my ears even through my plugs. The reverberation seemed to match the beat of my heart so well it almost felt like it was powering every heartbeat, that I would crumble to nothing and cease existing when silence descended.

  Relief flooded me.

  I’d made it.

  One more down.

  I’d reached the checkpoint safely and it wasn’t quite time to worry about the next one yet. Let me bask in the glow of this one for just a little bit longer before the weight of the world and reality set in.

  I looked to Brax, who was already strutting toward the front of the stage with his arms in the air and whipping the screaming crowd into even more of a frenzy. Zach was jumping around, in full showman mode. Nate was threatening to kick over his drumkit in excitement. And Cooper was looking at me. I shrugged at him, trying to get him off my case.

  Last thing I needed was my older brother being all overprotective and oppressive.

  When I’d begged Cooper to let me try out for his band, I’d never imagined that we’d be playing to worldwide crowds. All I’d wanted was to spend some time with my brother and bond over the love of music I’d cultivated especially for that purpose. Irrelevant were thoughts of future fame and fortune. Irrelevant were his three hot friends who hung out in our garage on a near daily basis like they didn’t have their own homes to haunt. I just wanted a place where I finally felt I belonged.

  While I had found that – I’d ended up with three extra brothers I didn’t want and couldn’t live without – I’d also fallen down a rabbit hole of expectations and found an inordinate inner fear of letting people down.

  So, I’d agreed when the boys wanted to start getting an audience on YouTube. I agreed when they wanted to do gigs around Adelaide. I agreed when they wanted to try gigs interstate. I agreed when they wanted to move to the States and make a ‘proper’ go of it. I agreed when the boys wanted to sign the contract.

  I wasn’t against any of it necessarily, I just had some reservations, some more options I would have explored, some more time I would have taken to think it all through. But, in the face of their excitement, I couldn’t bear the thought of disappointing them. So, we five of us ran in full tilt and never looked back.

  It was a sensible idea, not looking back.

  Had I looked back, I would have seen more clearly how the stage persona that had once started out as a joke had completely overtaken who I was. I might have had time to miss who I was and maybe realised that standing on a stage in front of thousands of people was actually quite daunting.

  But I didn’t do any of that.

  I stayed firmly in the moment. The furthest I looked was our next concert.

  We did a couple of encores and headed off the stage. As soon as I was out of sight of the crowd, arms were around me and ushering us towards the green room. I kept my eyes peeled for my chance.

  It wasn’t until we were in the green room that they all finally took their eyes off me, thinking that someone else was still making sure I didn’t wander. But the one guy who’d been hired for that job, Gavin, had been distracted by our manager, Emma, who thought that Coop would have eagle eyes on me the way he usually did.

  But Coop was trying to settle the latest argument between Nate and Brax.

  I grabbed my go bag and slipped out of the room. I pulled my sunglasses on and covered my distinctive bright red hair in a dark baseball cap before I slid into the darkness of the cleaning cupboard, knowing it would only be a minute at most before someone missed me.

  “Nora?” I heard Zach call, obviously the first one to realise I was gone.

  “Miss Fern!” I heard Gavin call to Emma. “Did you see her?”

  “No,” Emma called back, their voices getting more distant. “Damn her. She’s gone.”

  She wasn’t, but she soon would be, I thought to myself as I checked the coast was clear before slipping out through the back fire exit I knew for a fact wasn’t armed.

  There was a small, poorly lit alley behind the venue. Only once I was in it did I breathe a truly easy breath. Only there did I feel released of all the pressures of the band, the tour, the fans, myself. I felt light and free and not like I wa
s just living for the next concert.

  I took a step out of the darkness of the door and looked up to the light. For a moment, all the endorphins rushed back as I stared into the light streaming onto my face. I pulled my sunglasses off and put them in my pocket.

  As I took a step towards the main road at the other end of the alley, there was a clatter. I looked down, but I hadn’t kicked anything.

  Something – or someone – else was in the alley with me.

  My heart beat harder as I hoped it was just some animal knocking about for scraps of food in the bins. There was nothing else. No movement. No noise.

  I took another step and there was another clatter. Like maybe someone was stepping at the same time as me.

  Then, a voice was coming out of the shadows between me and the main road. It was singing. Singing a truly bastardised version of one of our songs. The only track I sang lead on. Whoever was singing it, had slowed it right down. Like more than even the acoustic version Nate had convinced me to do. And their breathing. It rasped. That was the closest I could come to describing it. It was too breathy, off-pitch.

  The sound alone was enough to send goosebumps crawling across my skin, but being unable to see the singer made my heart thud. A chilled shiver ran from my heart and down to my fingers, into my legs, keeping me firmly rooted to the spot.

  My heart raced so fast, it was hard to keep my breath.

  What had seemed like an escape now felt like a cage. The fire exit had locked to this side when I closed it behind me. The only way I was getting out of there was past the shadow and into the main road.

  But that would require me going past the disembodied singer.

  I was sure whoever was singing it accidentally changed it to minor key. Not quite – the whole thing was totally off any key I recognised – but the same vibe. It better suited some Kubrick horror film.

  “Nora!” I heard Gavin call from the direction of the fire exit I hadn’t heard open.

  I looked towards his voice, then back into the shadows. But the singing had stopped.

  “Nora!” Gavin said again, holding the door open while reaching out to me.

  I shuffled backwards into his arms, my eyes unable to leave the shadows as he pulled me back inside.

  “Was that him?” I asked Gavin as the fire exit closed again.

  I finally looked away and up at him. The guy was big. Tall and wide. You just knew his muscles had muscles. He had security written all over him. And that was even without the crisp suit he insisted on wearing. He looked liked he’d fit right in guarding the president of the US with his little earpiece and everything.

  And I really would think of anything to avoid my issues, wouldn’t I?

  Gavin looked towards the door and shook his head. “Maybe, Miss Curry.”

  And we were back to the ‘Miss Curry’ nonsense.

  “Nora!” came Emma’s voice from further up the hall. “Gavin, you found her.”

  “Outside.”

  Emma stopped in front of me. “You’re white as a sheet.”

  I huffed a laugh. “I’m fine.”

  Emma looked at Gavin. “What happened?”

  I shrugged and answered for Gavin. “Nothing. Fan. They were singing.”

  “Fan?” Emma asked Gavin.

  Gavin shrugged. “Maybe.”

  Emma’s eyes narrowed and she turned on her heel and marched back to the green room. “Nora!” she snapped.

  I hurried after her and Gavin managed to keep up perfectly well with his long stride.

  “That is it! We’re suspending the tour,” Emma yelled when I’d caught up, throwing her hands in the air in exasperation.

  It was rare that our manager raised her voice at us and even more rare that it was directed at me. To the point that it had never been directed at me.

  The others were still in the green room, winding down with a drink and a few pizzas.

  “What?” I cried, looking around at them.

  “Tell them,” Emma said, waving a hand at me. “Tell them what just happened.”

  I shrugged again. “Nothing. There was someone outside the fire exit. They…sang one of our songs when I came out.”

  “Which one?” Nate asked, leaning forward in his chair.

  My shrug was about as nonchalant as I could make it. “Firebird.”

  “What?” Zach asked.

  Emma nodded. “Yeah. You know who that was?”

  “We don’t know that,” I said quickly, pushing away the remnants of the feeling I’d had in the alley.

  “We can’t risk it,” Nate said.

  “He’s never come to a concert before,” Zach said.

  “That we know of.”

  “And he might never come again. There’s no reason to suspend the tour,” I told them all. “It’s stupid.”

  “This is your safety we’re talking about, Nora,” Brax said harshly. “It’s not a fucking joke.”

  “I’m not the first person who’s ever had a stalker and I won’t be the last. Nothing needs to be suspended. People are counting on us.”

  Which was what I lived for. I had to live for it. If I didn’t live for it, then I had nothing to live for.

  “I don’t care. They’ll care more if you never make more music than missing a couple of concerts.”

  “Yeah, and when nothing comes of it, they’ll be super pissed off that we missed concerts for nothing.”

  “Nothing comes of it? NOTHING?” Cooper shouted from the corner of the room.

  He stood up and skulked over to us.

  “You’ve just gone and ditched your fucking security again,” he pointed at Gavin, “and this stalker fucker has got way too close for comfort. When will you take this seriously? The shit this dude is saying…” Cooper didn’t beg for much, but he was begging me to listen now. “Nora, if he gets close to you…”

  I sighed. “So, your answer is to bench me?”

  “What else can we do if you’re going to keep making a joke of this?” Emma asked.

  “And that’s your final answer?” I asked.

  Gavin and Emma exchanged a look. Something silent seemed to pass between them.

  “We might have one more option…” Emma said slowly.

  “Great.” I nodded. “Let’s do that.”

  Emma looked at me sternly. “We’ll see what we can do. In the meantime, when we get back to Adelaide, you need to stay at the hotel and not leave unless you’re at the venue.”

  Oh, no. My worst nightmare. Stuck at the hotel. With nothing else to do but wear my comfiest trackies, down tub after tub of Rainbow Paddle Pop ice cream, and binge my favourite trashy movies. What a pity.

  But I couldn’t say any of that.

  “Fine,” I huffed like I was put out about the whole thing. “Fine. Whatever. Home or venue. Fine.”

  2

  Ryder

  The world had stilled to slow motion. Noise was muffled, existing outside the ringing in my ears. My pulse thumped in my temples. The stench of blood filled my nose. My body burned from exertion.

  I could hear the gunfire in the base of my skull. I could feel the near-misses whizzing by my face. My adrenalin was through the roof. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest. O Lord’s voice was muffled in my ear. I was too busy worrying about that blood soaking through Tank’s fatigues as he lay on the ground. Hawk was shouting something, but his voice sounded further away than O Lord’s. Chaos was shaking me, then his hand smacked me across the face–

  Only it wasn’t his hand. It was Folger’s. And it had been just what I needed to pull me out of the memory. Folger’s left hook never failed to get the job done in the ring.

  The ring.

  The closest I could come to sorting my shit.

  The closest I came to letting the memories in without getting lost in them.

  The ring let me release my anger, my frustration and my fear. But it also let me wallow in it. It reminded me of all the
pain we went through. It went some way to giving me the punishment I felt I deserved for everything I’d done, good cause or not.

  I grinned at Folger. “You got lucky.”

  “Yeah?” he sneered. “You wanna see me get lucky again?”

  “I have a strict play not watch policy and I’m afraid I don’t share.”

  “What?” Folger’s hands dropped just enough.

  I threw my right fist forward. It smashed into his nose with a satisfying thud and jolt of pain to my knuckle, even through my wrapping. Folger’s head cracked back and he was on the floor.

  McKay did the count and called the knock out.

  I ducked out of the ring as a couple of others rushed in to clear Folger out before the next match.

  “You want in again?” Mickey asked, counting his winnings.

  My heart hammered and I breathed heavily. I could feel the thud of my pulse in my eye socket. Madness dictated I say yes. That madness that was oh so tempting. Half the fun was living on the edge of temptation. I shook my head.

  “Nah, can’t send all your best blokes to the ER,” I joked.

  Mickey gave me a smirk. “So long as my best keeps in fighting form,” he said, indicating me with a nod.

  I wiped my nose before I started unwrapping my hands. “You know I make no promises.”

  “Ah,” he scoffed. “You’ll be back. You always are.”

  I wasn’t going to dignify that with a response, so I just gave him a nod and headed for the locker room.

  By the time I was showered and changed, Folger was wandering in.

  “That Tank of yours taking new clients?” he joked.

  I smirked. “Nah. He’s on a job.”

  Folger nodded. “You let me know when he’s back and I might consider signing up.”

  “You think he’ll teach you how to beat me?” I asked with a knowing smile.

  Folger nodded again. “I reckon so. Definite when I tell him it’s to beat you.”