by L. V. Lewis
REVIVAL
A Rockstar Romance
(The Rock Legend Series: Book #3)
By
L.V. LEWIS
Revival: A Rockstar Romance —The Rock Legend Series—Volume 3/L. V. Lewis — 1st Ed.
Copyright © 2019 L. V. Lewis
Vintage Carriage Return © Editorial via Dreamstime.com
Photo Credits:
Cover Image – Depositphotos ©
All rights reserved in all media. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the email address below.
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This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination, or used fictitiously and should not be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Printed in the United States of America by Jungle Fever Press
Revival/ L.V. Lewis
First Edition: May, 2019
14 13 12 11 10 / 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Revival: A Rock Star Romance
The Rock Star Legends Series: Book #3
By L.V. Lewis
This HOT story contains sex, drugs (some current and past use), and rock & roll.
___
ALYSSA
I knew not to date a musician. Hell, I am one. Our lifestyles don’t translate into healthy relationships—unless you’re Skylar, my pop star bestie, and her boyfriend, Savage, a rock legend, and you tour together.
Living out of a suitcase the better part of every year sucks if you’re looking to find love, and I knew this when Dylan Castle, the drummer of Savage Saban’s legendary rock band, The Savages, showed up on our tour ten months ago.
Our chemistry had been off the charts, and he took me on an epic first date, romanced me for a few weeks…
Then he ghosted me.
It’s not the first time that’s happened, given my demanding career, but why did this time hurt so bad?
DYLAN
Reuniting with my long lost band mate, Savage, has been the highlight of my year. The band and I thought he might be up for us getting back together since he was now touring again with Skylar.
We were wrong.
The Savages would not be revived with Savage as its front man. While not getting the band back together has been a bummer, meeting Skylar’s best friend, Alyssa, gave me hope that she and I might make some beautiful music together.
Fate had other plans.
Alyssa was the first woman I’ve ever had any desire or inclination to date seriously. A call from my physician with the results of a routine physical made me rethink that idea.
Now Savage and Skylar wants us all to fly out to a resort in the Maldives for two weeks prior to their wedding. How can I see Alyssa again without reviving feelings for her? I’ve tried for almost a year to bury every memory of those two blissful months we spent together—that is, until my medical condition improved.
Will I be able to convince her the feelings we shared a year ago were real enough to resume building a relationship together, or will she ghost me now?
Table of Contents
Prologue
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
Epilogue
About the Author
Coming Next From LV Lewis
LV Lewis’s Backlist
Prologue
IT’S WEDDING BELLS FOR SKYLAR AND SAVAGE
Los Angeles (AP) – Pop icon, Skylar Samuelson and rocker Savage Saban, the former lead singer of the legendary rock band, The Savages, have finally set a date after he sang his proposal to her at the final stop of the songstress’s World Tour ten months ago. The two will tie the knot on a tiny island resort in the Maldives where they will be joined by family and close friends to enjoy a two week vacation prior to reciting their vows on June 15th.
Brody Kent aka Savage Saban, who’s been Skylar’s manager since she ousted her mother early in her European Tour, distributed press releases to every major media outlet in the World to announce their upcoming nuptials and the final concert Skylar will perform before taking a brief hiatus.
“We’ll get some much-needed R&R, settling into married life after hosting our friends for a lovely vacation, and return next Spring for another tour,” Skylar was quoted as saying.
It seems as if the rock and pop icons have taken a page out of Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra’s playbook and will have a drawn out affair to begin their new life together. A two week vacation in the Maldives beginning on June 1 will culminate with the wedding on June 15th, after which Saban and Samuelson will enjoy a honeymoon alone in an undisclosed location.
Grunge Nation has also confirmed that Alyssa Lawrence, Skylar’s best friend and opening act during the tour, will serve as maid of honor and Dylan Castle, drummer of The Savages, will serve as best man.
While Lawrence and Castle met previously during Skylar’s tour, speculation that they were an item ran rampant for a short time during the second leg of the World Tour. Representatives for the two musicians have assured us that it was just a rumor.
Castle mysteriously dropped out of the limelight after the band’s failed attempt to have Saban return as front man of The Savages, which led many to speculate that there had been some bad blood between the two. But it appears that they have mended fences, now that the most important members of the wedding party after the bride and groom have been named.
The press release confirms that George Akron and Finn Lancaster, also former members of The Savages, will round out the groomsmen. While Skylar’s longtime friends from her TV show, Marnie Rios and Nicole Alto will serve as the bridesmaids. “Marnie and I are so excited to share in Skylar’s wedding festivities,” Alto said when asked about the upcoming event. “We’re definitely saving these dates to support our friend.”
Stephen Heart, the band’s keyboardist and brother of Kimberly Heart, The Savages backup singer, who died of a drug overdose six years ago, is conspicuously absent from the guest list. Many fans remember the dust-up he had with Savage at one of Skylar’s concerts during the failed bid to get The Savages back together. Our attempts to contact Heart’s family about Stephen’s whereabouts have not been returned.
When we asked Kent/Saban to comment in his capacity as manager of the Skylar Brand, his reply was “No comment.”
This wedding that has been billed as the event of the summer has banned the news media, but here’s hoping that Sky
lar and Savage will share a few photos with fans after the affair.
One
Los Angeles, California
ALYSSA
I hug the curves on the hillside up to my ex-best friend, Skylar Samuelson’s estate, hoping my Ferrari California doesn’t plummet off the edge of the cliff. Maybe that would save me from spending two whole weeks in an exotic resort with the man who made me feel for a brief time like love might not permanently elude me.
Not only was I going to have to play maid of honor to his best man for Savage and Sky, but I was also going to have to spend two wholes weeks playing nice with Dylan Fucking Castle—the man who ghosted me like I was one of The Savages groupies, or some shit. And as if that wasn’t enough, I found out about the elaborate wedding arrangements through an entertainment news article on the internet along with the rest of the goddamn world.
We’ve spent the past eight months in the studio with Brody recording new music for Sky and me and never once did either of them mention a vacation before the wedding. I took one long overdue trip to visit Jacob, my erstwhile father, who lost the right to be called dad a long time ago, and this is the surprise I get upon my return?
To say I’m pissed at Sky and Brody aka Savage right now is an understatement. I pull up so close to the ornate gate leading into her property my bumper is kissing it; I then have to roll back to punch in the gate code. Fuck!
Malik Thompson, Sky’s security chief is standing in the middle of the circular drive in front of the house as I pull up, arms folded, face settled into his signature scowl, when I brake a foot from his hulking frame. I step out of the car and slam the door.
“I’m not up for any bullshit right now, Malik. Where’s Sky?”
“She and Brody hit the gym when I left them after they finished up in the studio. What’s got you so fucking salty this early in the day?”
“You don’t want me to go there with you. Trust.” Besides, I don’t want Malik or anyone else other than Sky, who’s listened to me bitch and moan about Dylan since his disappearing act last year, to know that it was a dick move for her to pull this stunt without giving me as much as a heads-up about their change of plans.
Malik obviously takes me at my word, because he trots off in the general direction of his on-property residence and leaves me to enter the house alone. I find the happy couple frolicking on the mats in Sky’s home gym. I mean, that’s the only word I could conjure for what they’re doing. The music is on, so they don’t hear me come in, but they are laughing as Sky tries to mimic an exercise move that Brody keeps showing her, and she gets it wrong every damn time.
I won’t allow their cuteness to derail my anger, because Sky knows better than anyone how much Dylan hurt me, and because she and Brody are joined at the fucking hip, I’m sure he knows by now too that his boy isn’t someone I want to spend two weeks in a romantic location with. I turn off the music and they look up from where their frolicking has turned into making out.
“Hey—,” Brody says. He stops short when he sees the look on my face. He and Sky look guiltily at each other, then back to me.
“So, was I ever going to get clued in to this honeymoon you guys are planning for all your fucking wedding guests?”
Sky scrambles up and moves toward me, while Brody makes a feeble attempt at explaining it away, “It’s not a honeymoon it’s… it’s a vacation. Our honeymoon is after the vacation.”
“Alyssa,” Sky says, as she reaches for me and tries to take my hand, which I pull away from her. “We thought you’d be back way before the press releases hit the airwaves.”
“I didn’t go off-planet or some shit, Sky. I was at Naveah visiting Jacob as you well know, and last I checked my goddamn cell phone was still working. How about yours?”
Sky’s soft green eyes glisten and she twists her mouth in that way she does when she’s trying not to cry. “We…we didn’t want to tell you over the phone. We wanted to tell you in person.”
Brody’s joined our little circle and chimes in, “Sky only wanted to do this because she knows the guys and I haven’t spent any quality time together in years, and you and she haven’t had any time with Marnie and Nicole to speak of, so we thought a couple of weeks in paradise with our friends would be perfect.”
“Brody stop trying to take the blame. I know why Sky did this.” I refuse to let her puppy dog eyes make me feel guilty for this shit she’s pulling. “You’re no better than your mother, you know that?”
Cue the waterworks. Sky tries a half-assed apology. “Alyssa, I’m so sorry. I wanted you and Dylan to have a chance—”
“A chance for what? For me to make a goddamn fool of myself over him again, or for him to rub what happened between us last year in my face for two weeks?”
Brody puts his arms around Sky, who’s still reaching for me, and pulls her into his arms. “Blame me if you want to blame someone for introducing you to Dylan, okay. I knew how he was. I should have warned you.” He turns Sky’s pleading eyes away from me and gently toward him. “Aw, Baby please don’t cry.”
I feel like a fucking bitch for making Sky cry, but she and Brody crossed the line with this matchmaking shit. Now they’re cuddling and I’m feeling all third wheel again. Leaving them in the gym, I make my way to her den and help myself to her wet bar. I break the seal on the bottle and knock back a shot of Patron, then mix a pitcher of Margaritas. It may be too damn early to drink, but I believe this situation calls for some fucking alcohol.
After my first couple of drinks Brody joins me in the den. “What the fuck, Alyssa? Sky’s already anxious about everything concerning this wedding, and you come over here making her feel even shittier about it than she already is.”
“So what are you’re doing now, Brody? Fighting her battles, too?”
He walks right up to me barely leaving a couple of inches between us. “Sky can do that just fine herself when she’s not agonizing over whether she should ban one of her parents from her wedding. Then you come in here comparing her to her mother. As if she could be that type of bitch, particularly to you!”
Of all the people surrounding Sky, I’ve known her the longest and have seen or heard first hand, all the stunts her mother’s pulled. Comparing Sky to Elaine Samuelson was pushing the envelope just a little too far. Even for me and my short-tempered ass. I’ve had just enough tequila to reduce me to tears when I realize I may have hurt my best and only friend, irreparably.
“Oh, Damn,” Brody says and wraps me in his arms for a sympathy hug. “I just got Sky to stop crying and now here you go.”
“I’m sorry, Brody,” I blubber like an idiot, which is something I don’t normally do. “Dylan did a number on me that I just wasn’t expecting, and spending your wedding day with him was going to be hard enough. Even I can tough out one day, but I’ve got to see him every day for two weeks?” I take a deep breath. “You and Sky are asking me to do something that I can barely do when I go to see Jacob.”
I pull away from him and grab a napkin from the bar to dab my face.
Brody slips his hands in the back pockets of his jeans and rocks back on his heels. “How did that go, by the way? Is your dad still clean?”
I take a sip of my third margarita. “Yeah, as far as I can tell. He’s going to a local sober house next week. Thanks for referring him to your rehab facility.”
“The folks at Naveah are really good. When he leaves the sober house, he’ll be fully prepared to handle whatever life throws at him, especially if he uses his sponsor when needed, and removes himself from the environment that causes him to slip.”
Something clicks in my brain. “Your sobriety is why you can’t do The Savages anymore, isn’t it?”
Brody nods. I can see just a hint of the pain he endures from no longer being able to do what he loves. He tries to cover it over with a smile, but not quickly enough. “It was a willing sacrifice. Performing is like a fucking drug for me.”
“If that’s the case you’d already be shooting up again, and Jacob
doesn’t stand a fucking chance,” I say dryly.
Brody looks perplexed. “What?”
“Do you actually believe the line of bullshit you just fed me? Because no one should sacrifice what they are born to do because some other shit went sideways in their lives.” When Brody’s face contorts into anger, I know I’ve overstepped my boundaries with him. Yet he doesn’t unleash his wrath on me. His voice is steady, calm even when he addresses me.
“Sky’s in the shower. She’ll be down to talk to you in a few minutes. At least try speaking to her like a civil human being, okay?” He turns and walks away from me.
Two
Downers Grove, Illinois
DYLAN
“Are you comfortable sweetheart? I can adjust the thermostat.” My mother is doing what she’s always been best at—taking care of her family. As the only female in a sea of testosterone most of her adult life, Lillian Castle has had this role since before she pushed me out of the womb. First with my dad, and then with my two older brothers and me until we all left the nest. Having one of us back has been a boon to her nurturing spirit.
I scratch my head where my dark blond hair is growing back in now that I’ve completed months of chemotherapy. I look like I’ve done a stint in the military from the haircut I’m rocking. That would have been preferable over the hell I’ve just been through, but now there’s light at the end of the tunnel.
“I’m fine, Mom,” I say with a smile so she won’t fuss any further. “I can adjust the thermostat if I need to.”
She sighs and continues folding my laundry. We had the battle of washing my clothes a while ago, which she won. I’m feeling stronger every day, and yet she’s still treating me as if I’m an invalid.
