“He’s gone. I’m safe. I’m stronger than I’ve ever been. But not knowing where Alec is haunts me.”
It bothers Rogue too. He consistently checks in with the detective on Alec’s case. He hired his own PI. There’s been no sign of my stepbrother anywhere. No fan sightings. Nothing. It troubles me more than I care to admit.
“We’ll find him.” He lowers my hand to rest on his lap. “And he will be locked up for the rest of his natural life.”
“I hope so.” I’m afraid that locking him up isn’t enough when he can hire someone like Jackson to get close to us.
“In the meantime, I want to focus on you and me. On our wedding. On starting our family.”
“I want that too.” I push away thoughts of Alec and Nicole. I’m not going to let her get to me. “Heart Ranch is perfect. Summer has been sending me pictures for the last few days while they’ve been setting up.”
Rogue curls his arm around my back and pulls me in close. “I hope Rebel can find an in with Summer’s brothers. They don’t seem too fond of him.”
“I’m sure he’ll win them over.” I watch the exit signs on the freeway as we get closer to the airport. Rebel’s a good guy and a great brother. It’s hard to believe that someone like Alec could ever be related to them.
The fear rushes back in... not just for myself, but for everyone I hold dear. He hates them as much as he hates me. As long as he’s out there, we’re all living under his shadow.
I could have agreed with my sister that night at the doll house when she said we should kill him.
Regretting something like that... wanting something like that so I can be free of these fears... it’s wrong. But I can’t seem to stop myself from thinking about it. Deep in my heart there must be a monster too. Surely a good person wouldn’t wish someone dead. My only redemption is in the fact I could never act on it.
The car pulls up to the drop off and Rogue adjusts his shades and cap to obscure his face so we might have some hope of catching our plane without being spotted. “Let’s go get married.”
The boys take care of our luggage while I make a call to my sister.
Her voice comes through loud and clear, but she doesn’t turn the camera on like she normally would. She’s panting like she’s been doing something strenuous, and there’s a lilt of happiness I’ve missed. Dizzy is always full of sunshine.
“You sound... out of breath.”
“I was running,” she says.
“You run?” Dizzy hasn’t run once in the time I’ve known her. But it hasn’t been long. Not long enough to know everything about her.
“When there’s something worth chasing.” She giggles. A weird squelching sound follows. “Oof, well, that’s disgusting.”
I press my hand to my mouth and swallow. Whatever it was sounded awful. “I wanted to make sure—”
“Everything is under control. I’m going to finish up here and then pack my bags. West already packed his, and our flight is early tomorrow so we’ll be there before the events start. I can’t wait to be your bridesmaid, sis.”
Rogue wraps his hand around mine. “We better get to our gate.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow morning then,” I tell Dizzy. Before we kick off three days of festivities that will culminate in our wedding day.
“Can’t wait.” She makes a kissy sound and hangs up.
2
Riot
The stage vibrates beneath my feet as the final notes play. The lyrics run out and thousands of voices taper into silence as our song reaches its bittersweet finish. Bronx crashes his stick into the high hat one more time.
There’s a split second where everything is quiet. Sweat trickles down my nape and my muscles ache from hours of performing. I can hear my own hard breaths and my heartbeat as I look out over the kingdom we’ve built on our music.
They are our people. We are their gods.
Sound rushes back into the stadium like a wave against the beach. Thousands of New Yorkers shout and clap and stomp their feet. They wave signs with our names on them. They throw panties. There are a couple of marriage proposals too.
I lift my face to the lights. To the legend upstairs who made this life possible. Then I grin at my bandmates while I tip the lastof the water from my bottle over my head and let the tepid liquid cool my feverish skin. “Should we do one more?”
