by Wild, Nikki
I assumed Catherine was in the kitchen, since that’s where he’d emerged from, but the kitchen was empty. I ran back into the living room, and stopped when I saw he’d walked out onto the patio, a bound Catherine sitting in front of him, his gun pointed right at her head.
“You motherfucker!”
“Now, you’re going to listen to me,” he seethed. I froze, and put up my hands.
“Fine, Callum, what’s wrong? What’s going on?” I asked, my heart seizing in fear. I didn’t care for one second if he shot me, but if he hurt Catherine, I wouldn’t be able to take it.
“I’ve waited years for this,” he said, his voice shaking. “For revenge. You just went on like nothing happened. Like she never mattered.”
“What are you talking about, Callum?”
“Ally, you asshole! She didn’t mean anything to you, did she? She gave up her life for you, you selfish prick!”
“Callum, we’ve had this talk before,” I said.
“No! You’ve talked. Now it’s my turn. You thought giving me a job would make up for it? For losing her? You start a million dollar charity over the memory of your precious little brother, but what did you do for Ally? Nothing!” he spat, tears streaming down his face.
“Callum, mate…c’mon, let’s put the gun down,” I said.
“No, fuck you! You couldn’t even acknowledge her. Not once did you mention her in interviews, you didn’t even come to the funeral!” I winced at his words. He was right. I’d been on tour in Australia, and it had all happened so fast, there was no way for me to attend without canceling sold-out shows.
“You’re right, Callum, I should have come,” I agreed. “And I’m real sorry about that, mate. Now, can we put the gun down?”
“I’m going to kill her,” he cried, his shaking hands terrifying me. It would only take a small amount of pressure to pull the trigger.
“No, Callum, Catherine has nothing to do with this. Let her go. This is just between me and you.”
I’d avoided looking into Catherine’s eyes until now, and when I did, it crushed me. The fear, the tears, the way he had her fucking taped up like that. Rage filled my veins, but I fought against it, resisting every urge to rush him, to kill this twat.
“She’s great, right?” he asked, a sickly smile smearing across his face as he reached down and pulled Catherine’s chin up. She wiggled away from his grip and he grabbed her hair, pulling it roughly. “But she’s just the icing on the cake.”
“Callum, let her go,” I growled, my hands balling into fists at my side.
“She figured it out,” he said. “She went snooping around, so she’s gotta go anyway.”
“What did she figure out?”
“That I stole all your money. The charity money. I gambled it all away. It’s all gone.”
“Why would you do that?”
“To fuck you over. To hurt you. It was the only way I knew how, until she came along,” he said, pulling harder on her hair.
“This is better,” he said, smiling down at Catherine.
“She has nothing to do with this, Callum. I don’t care about the money. Just let her go and you can leave, I don’t care.”
“No way,” he said, “not until you see your pretty little love die in front of you.”
“You’re not going to fuckin’ hurt her, mate, you know I can’t let you do that,” I said. “Callum, you need to rethink this,” I said. “Leave the country. You’ll never get away if you kill Catherine. I won’t let you get away, you know that.”
“I’m going to kill you, too, don’t worry,” he said, the smile returning. He looked like a fucking deranged lunatic, and just as I was about to throw caution to the wind and take him down, I saw a glimmer of a light flash behind him.
“Callum,” I said. “what are you going to do after you kill us?”
“Why do you care?”
“Let me give you more money,” I said, lowering my hands slightly and inching forward. “You can have it all, retire, live in style, anywhere you like. You won’t have to be on the run all your life. We can let all this go.” I took a slow step forward and he moved the gun from Catherine’s temple, pointing it at me.
“Stop,” he said. “I don’t want your money. I don’t fucking care about that. That’s not why I’m doing this. But that’s the only thing that means anything in your world, isn’t it? You think money can get you out of anything, don’t you?”
“No, Callum, I don’t,” I replied, inching my feet forward again. “But it can get you out of this. All you have to do is put the gun down. It’s an easy choice.”
“You think this is easy?” he said, his voice rising in anger. “You stupid motherfucker! Nothing has been easy! You killed my sister! I tried to make it better. I loved her. I loved her better than you ever could! You should have seen the way she looked after I made love to her.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I asked, my stomach churning in disgust.
“Ally was mine. I loved her. But she never got over you. It’s your fault she died.”
“How could you do that to her, Callum?” I asked, my head racing. No wonder Ally had turned to the bottle.
“You think it’s easy running the company of someone who killed your sister?” Callum continued. “Having to work for a selfish prick like you?”
“Well, you’re right about that, Callum, I am a selfish prick,” I shrugged. “But you’re the one who’s fucked.”
“What?” he said, his eyes widening.
“Piss off, you prick!” I yelled, just as the bullet from Big D’s gun sliced through his leg from behind, I ran over and jumped on him, and he began wrestling against me as I tried to get his gun. It fired, the bullet ripping through my left shoulder. Pain shot through me, but I sat on top of him and began pummeling him with my right fist.
“This is for Ally, you fucking cunt!” Over and over, my fist smashed against his face, rage ripping through my body like a freight train, until Ian and Big D pulled me off of him. Big D kicked Callum’s gun away, and rolled him over, putting a boot on his back and holding him down.
“Help Catherine!” I yelled to Ian and he ran over and freed her, ripping the tape from her mouth. They ran over to me, as I lay on the ground, white hot heat radiating from my shoulder.
“Catherine!” I called, as she looked down at me. I pulled her into me as she cried against my shoulder.
“Are you okay, luv?” I asked, pulling her to me.
“I’m okay, I’m okay,” she cried, tears falling down her face. Ian looked at my shoulder, and then disappeared, only to come back seconds later with a towel that he pressed against the hole in my shoulder.
“Oh, luv, I’m so sorry,” I said. “I’m so sorry, Catherine.”
She leaned down, kissing me gently, before pulling away and wiping her tears.
“Are you okay, Liam?” Ian asked me. I looked over at him and saw the concern filling his eyes.
“I’m fine, brother. You aren’t getting rid of me this easy.”
“I don’t want to get rid of you, you bastard,” he said, his eyes shining with tears.
“Of course you don’t - you’d never find another singer like me.”
“I’d never find another brother like you,” he said. He reached down, hugging me hard.
“I’m calling an ambulance,” he said, standing up and looking down at Callum laying beside me.
“He’s not even worth killing,” he muttered, as he walked away. When I looked back at Catherine, my heart swelled with love.
“Are you sure you’re okay? I couldn’t bear it if you were hurt,” I said, looking her over. My heart was racing with worry.
She nodded, shivering. I pulled her close, as best as I could with my bloody shoulder, the urge to wrap my arms around her protectively overwhelming.
“I’m never letting you go again,” I whispered, as she kissed me again.
“Promise?” she asked.
“I love you, Catherine,” I said, p
eering down into her bright green eyes.
“I love you too,” she whispered. I kissed her again, relief flooding my limbs now that I had her safely in my arms.
Chapter 41
One Month Later
Catherine and Liam lay in bed in Liam’s LA mansion, as Catherine read from the Rolling Stone article she’d written. They’d been holed up for a month, allowing time for Liam’s shoulder to heal.
‘Rock star. Bad Boy. Troublemaker. Rebel. Liam Mercury is more than the usual labels placed on him. Liam Mercury is an enigma. Just when you think you’ve got him all figured out, he shows you a side of him that you haven’t seen. That’s what happened to me, when I was assigned the pleasure of spending a week tagging along with the insanely handsome and brutally sexy god of rock during the last leg of his band’s American tour.”
“You think I’m insanely handsome and brutally sexy?” Liam said, interrupted her.
“Sometimes,” Catherine replied. “Hush!”
‘The week would prove to be the single most adventurous week of my life, and as much as I would like to say it didn’t change me, it did. And, surprisingly, I think it changed Liam, too.”
“Changed the size of my cock, that’s for sure,” Liam quipped. “In fact, I think it’s growing again right now, luv!”
“Stop it! Shall I stop reading?” Catherine said, her voice filled with laughter.
“No, no, go on!”
“Full disclosure to readers: this journalist fell in love with Liam during this week and this article is entirely biased, but the events told are factual.”
“You included a disclosure?” Liam asked.
“Yes, I had to, it’s only ethical,” she replied.
“The events of the week unfolded into a perfect storm that ended in embezzlement, kidnapping, a violent stand-off, and topped off with a brand-new number one hit song, co-written by Liam Mercury and myself, performed by the Electric Horses, that raised millions of dollars for The Lennon Foundation, Ian and Liam Mercury’s children’s cancer research charity that is now leading the nation in donations to help find a cure.”
Liam grabbed the magazine from Catherine’s hand as she read.
“Stop! I’m getting to the best part!” Catherine protested.
“Unless you’re wrote about how skilled my cock is, I’m not interested in hearing about myself anymore!” Liam said, pulling Catherine into his arms and kissing her.
After being subjected to Callum’s deranged lunacy, the two of them had come together and written a song while Liam spent a week in the hospital. The band recorded it quickly, the label releasing it immediately as a surprise single, and the world had eaten it up.
It sold five million copies in the first day, and had gone on to sell millions every day since then. All the proceeds went to the charity, and they’d raised ten times the amount Callum had pissed away.
After learning Callum had abused Ally, Liam was making sure he was prosecuted to the full extent of the law. He was looking forward to seeing Callum locked away for a very long time.
“Wait, you have to at least skip to the end,” Catherine said, opening the magazine back up. “Read the last paragraph.”
“Oh, alright, if it means I can get you naked faster.”
“Just read!” she insisted.
“Fine!”
“After all was said and done, after my week was over, I’d learned new things about Liam, but also a few new things about myself. I learned that love finds a way, no matter how much you resist. I learned that no matter what life throws at you, it’s never what it seems. I learned that underneath the renegade exterior, there’s a softer side of Liam Mercury that most people never see. In spite of all the wild stories, the extravagant partying, the thousands of adoring fans, at the end of the day, Liam Mercury is just like the rest of us - a normal guy that’s going to be a father in about eight months.”
“What!” Liam cried out excitedly.
He looked over at Catherine, and saw her smiling eyes, tears running down her face as she nodded enthusiastically.
“You’re pregnant?” he asked.
“I am. I didn’t know how to tell you…”
“I’m going to be a father?” he yelled.
“Yes!” Catherine cried, as Liam’s lips crashed down on hers, his arms pulling her in tightly.
“I can’t believe this,” he said, breaking away, his voice cracking with emotion.
“I know it’s sudden, I know we just met, but I —-,”
“But nothing! This is bloody fantastic, luv!”
“You’re happy?”
“Happy? I’m fuckin’ ecstatic!” His eyes lit up with excitement.
“Wait here!” he said, leaving her alone on the bed and disappearing into his closet.
“Liam, what are you doing?” Catherine called.
“Just wait!”
A moment later, he walked back in the bedroom and climbed back on the bed with her. He brought his hand from behind his back, and revealed a tiny black box. He opened it slowly, and the biggest, brightest, shiniest diamond she’d ever seen shined back at her.
“What is that?” she squealed.
“Catherine, luv, there’s only one thing in the whole world that could make this day better. Please say you’ll marry me.”
“Yes!” she cried, as he jumped off the bed and picked her up, twirling her around in his arms, kissing her as best he could through the huge smile on their faces.
“I love you, Catherine,” he whispered, setting her back down gently.
“I love you, too,” she replied, her eyes shining with happiness.
“Now, darling, be a good girl and drop those knickers…” he whispered.
* * *
Hey to all my sexy readers! I hope you LOVED ROCK HARD as much as I loved writing it! Please don’t hesitate to leave me a review - you are the reason I write, and I appreciate all of your support
As always, I’ve included a little something extra for my loyal fans. Turn the page for a FREE copy of my Amazon top-10 bestselling novel, ARROGANT BRIT! And don’t stop there. Keep turning pages and I’ve also included my bestseller ROYAL PRICK!
I hope you enjoy this little collection of stories, and when you’re done, go check out my website or sign up for my email list so you can get early notification on my latest releases! I’m working on three all new novels right now and I can’t WAIT to share them.
You are the reason I write.
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-Nikki Wild
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ARROGANT BRIT
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By Nikki Wild
Copyright 2016 Nikki Wild
All Rights Reserved
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Copyright © 2016 by Nikki Wild
All rights reserved.
Thank you for supporting an independent author! Just for my naughty readers, my entire catalog is now FREE TO READ to anyone with a Kindle Unlimited subscription!
Be sure to check out my entire naughty Nikki Wild catalog by clicking RIGHT HERE!
You might be interested to know that I offer a chance to be an ARC reader, special limited time discounts, new release not
ification, and FREE EXCLUSIVE CONTENT to anyone that subscribes to my Nikki Wild List! So go ahead, sign up is easy and I will NEVER send you spam or share your e-mail address with anyone.
Sign up for the NIKKI WILD e-mail list by clicking RIGHT HERE!
Arrogant Brit
Prologue
Of course I’d be running late for the most important banquet of the fucking month.
I scrambled to check myself in the mirror. The makeup was a thinly veiled hack-job, and my hair was barely kept in line. Image was the name of the game, image and proper representation… but I knew that I didn’t have the time to prepare myself any better.
At least my makeup covers the bases.
It wasn’t going to win me any awards.
But I’d leave a good enough impression.
With a slice of toast between my teeth, I quickly darted down the stairs and hopped in my ancient piece of junk Honda. No time to be cute and civil now, and I was starving. I could touch up my makeup at a red light…of which I anticipated there would be several because, you know, I was running late, and why the fuck wouldn’t there be red lights all the way there.
Twisting the keys in the ignition, I listened as the engine sputtered to life and ignored the obnoxious chime of the check engine light – the constant death knoll was ritual by now.
Moments later, I was on the road, a cavalcade of excuses and apologies whirling through my head. I didn’t know what I was going to say to the others when I arrived.
Forty-five minutes and a minimum of eight red lights later, I finally pulled to a halt in the parking garage, six floors above where I needed to be. I raced to the elevator, frantically punched the button, and rode it down the chasm towards the lobby. It was only halfway down that I realized I probably could have slipped down the stairs faster.
