Rock Star Read online

  He couldn’t fake it anymore. He wasn’t okay.

  Determined to finish the show and get home, he glanced at the crowd again, and something drew his gaze to the right of the stage. He squinted his eyes, as nothing should have been there. When he finally caught sight of who stood there, he froze. Sure he couldn’t be seeing things right, he blinked, again and again, but the figure remained.

  Rae.

  With shaky hands, he unhooked his guitar from the speaker and slid the strap over his head and the instrument across his back. Not caring about anything but the beauty watching him, he crossed the stage to her.

  “Travis,” Zander yelled out to him.

  There would be no stopping him. Part of him wondered if, in his pain, he imagined her standing there. But the closer he got, the more he saw her eyes widen in surprise. That’s how he knew he wasn’t dreaming. Because if he were, she’d be in his arms kissing him by now.

  When he reached her, she cracked a smile, and said, “Um, you weren’t supposed to come off the stage like that. Shouldn’t you go back out there?”

  He stood so close to her, yet was still so far away, his muscles quivering. “Why are you here?” He had to know.

  She paused, and it was then that he noticed that his drummer had begun putting on a show for the crowd. He couldn’t care about anything going on around him, but focused solely on her mouth when she finally said, “Before I answer that, I want you to know that I know what you did for me.”

  “What did I do?” he asked softly.

  “You loved me.” She took one step forward. “You left days ago because you loved me like I once loved you.” Tears welled in her eyes, and that’s when he grabbed her, holding onto her arms. “And you loved me enough to never ask me to leave my friends and family to be with you,” she finished.

  He held her tightly, never wanting to let go. “How could I take you away from all the things you love?”

  A tear slid down her cheek, and he watched it move slowly down her face as she added, “I’m here because I realized I asked you the wrong question all along. And that’s not something I can live with. Not anymore.”

  “What question?” he wondered aloud.

  She took one more step, nearly pressing against him now. “Why didn’t you tell me you wanted me to move to New York with you?”

  Seemed simple enough, but it was anything but simple. “Because I know what it means to have a dream and see it through. What that dream can give to a person…the happiness it brings.” He waved back out to the stage, where his band was keeping the crowd entertained. “How could I ask anyone to walk away from their life and give up everything for me, all because I need them desperately? I couldn’t live with myself if I did that to you.”

  “You needed to give me the opportunity to decide for myself,” she retorted. “You never asked me, just like I never really asked you ten years ago if you wanted to go to New York. I just pushed you to chase your dreams and ran after mine. We have to stop doing that to each other.”

  He cupped her face, sliding his hands across her damp cheeks. “It was right at the time. We needed to go after our dreams, but you’re right, we should have talked about it.”

  “Yeah, then and now,” she said. “It seems like in our efforts to keep things easy, we forgot that we can do hard things if we talk about them and figure out how to do them together.” Some heady emotion crossed her face as she added, “And I think it’s time for us to make that happen.” She stepped out of his arms and went behind a wall, returning a second later with a cat carrier in her hands. “I really hope you and Harry can get along because we’re moving in.”

  When his mind finally accepted the truth that this was happening, he rushed to Rae, grabbed her, and awkwardly hugged her with the damn cat carrier between them and his guitar on his back. He cursed, gently taking Harry from her and placing him down on the floor as the cat meowed, clearly protesting his imprisonment. Travis cupped Rae’s face again, emotion clawing at his chest. “Jesus, Rae, tell me you’re serious.”

  “Yes, I’m serious.” She laughed. “I brought my cat, and we’re moving in, so I’m not sure how that can get any more serious.”

  He sealed his mouth over hers, his emotion burning in his kiss. “Tell me you’re not leaving.”

  “I’m not leaving.”

  He stared at her deeply and promised, “I’ll do everything I can to help you set up your next clinic here. And we’ll buy the perfect home for us, and you can travel back to Catfish Creek whenever you want, or fly your friends and family in.”

  She laughed, tears in her eyes. “Are you promising me the world?”

  “Yes, you can have it all.” He leaned in, sealing his mouth to hers, passionately, seductively taking control of the kiss. But as he backed away, he knew he wasn’t done claiming her.

  “Watch the cat,” he called to one of the stagehands.

  The brunette frowned but started to make her way over.

  Before Rae could object, Travis took her hand and tugged hard, leaving her no choice but to follow him onto the stage. He felt her dragging her feet, but there was no stopping him, not now. And when the crowd caught sight of them and began roaring in excitement, he smiled.

  Once he reached the microphone, he turned back to her and chuckled at finding her hand over her eyes, obviously embarrassed at being the focus of thousands of people. He squeezed her hand, and she lowered her other one, giving him quite the cute glare and smile combo. He turned to the mic and said, “New York, I’d like you to meet Rae Evans.”

  Thunderous applause echoed throughout the stadium.

  “Oh, God,” Rae mouthed, placing her hand over her lips.

  Before she could stop him, Travis dropped her hand, leaving her there for a moment, and moved toward his guitar case near his drummer. As he passed, the guys in his band all grinned at him, obviously knowing by the times he’d talked about her that she was the muse behind all his song lyrics.

  When he reached his guitar case, he took out what he’d placed in there after he made his first big paycheck. Rae had her goals that kept her focused on her dreams. He’d carried something with him for years to guide him. When he moved to her again, she looked half ready to kick his ass for leaving her alone and partly ready to curl in on herself.

  He moved to her, wrapped an arm around her, and said into the mic, “You see, New York, this is my girl right here.”

  The crowd roared again.

  “But I don’t want her to be my girl,” he said, watching Rae’s eyes widen as he took a step back. Her mouthed formed a perfect O, as he added, “I want her to be my wife.”

  He paused as the crowd went wild, and he grabbed the mic and waited for them to quiet again before facing her completely and adding, “I’ve waited ten years to have you with me. I won’t wait any longer. I want it to be us. I want you to be mine, and I want the world to know it.” He got down on one knee, took the ring off his pinky finger, and held it up to her. “Let’s not waste another day. I’ve carried this ring with me for long enough. But it belongs to you, meant to be on your finger. Marry me, Rae.”

  She finally looked away from the ring to him and smiled warmly. Her mouth moved, but he couldn’t hear her over the roar of the crowd—though he didn’t need to. He saw everything he needed to see in her eyes. The happiness. The love. He saw forever.

  Overwhelmed, he rose, grabbed her, and kissed her for all to see, meshing the two parts of his soul into one. His kiss was hot, probably not appropriate for a crowd, and would be all over social media tomorrow. Good. He wanted the world to see what she did to him.

  When he leaned away, he returned the mic to the stand and moved away, keeping what he said next private. He brushed the tears from her face, and he knew one thing for certain. Life had never been better than at this moment. “Saying I love you really doesn’t seem to encapsulate what I feel,” he said to her. “But I do, Rae. God, I love you so much.”

  “And I love you.” She smiled, and surprisin
g him, she asked, “But I need you to make me a promise, okay?”

  “Anything,” he declared.

  She got right close to him and gave a sweet smile. “Promise to always kiss me under the moonlight and love me ’til the sun comes up.”

  “You remembered?” he said, brushing his thumbs across her damp cheeks.

  “I could never forget.” She smiled. “But there’s something else we really need to do right now that’s of the utmost importance.”

  “What’s that?”

  She glanced behind her, and when he followed her gaze, he saw Harry swatting at the stagehand attempting to pet him. Rae turned back and laughed. “We need to get Harry out of his crate, or he’s going to hate you forever. And believe me, you’ll live to regret ever making him angry.”

  And that’s when Travis knew, life would never be the same again.

  It’d be better.

  EPILOGUE

  Two years and three days later…

  Acknowledgments

  Much love to my family; my readers, my editor, Christa, my copy editor, Chelle, my assistant, Michelle, the kick-ass authors in my sprint group, and my cover photographer, Sara, and my cover designer, Charity. This book couldn’t have happened without all of you! To Carrie Ann Ryan for coming up with this kick-ass idea, thank you for asking me to be a part of the Bad Boy Homecoming world. To Kennedy Layne, Katee Robert, and Avery Flynn, thanks for being the absolute coolest authors ever through this project. I adore you all!

  A Bad Boy Homecoming

  Thank you so much for reading Rock Star! Travis and Rae’s story is part of the fun and sexy Bad Boy Homecoming series. Each book is a complete standalone but we hope you’ll go through each of the romances to see your favorite characters make special appearances and see just how the reunion went down. Each book carries at least one of our favorite tropes as well as a few high school flashbacks that make us smile and shake our heads. If you enjoyed the book, we’d love if you could please leave a review to show us how much. Reviews help authors every day and we totally appreciate it.

  Thank you for coming to the Bad Boy Homecoming reunion and we hope you’ll not only find a romance you love, but a few authors as well.

  Happy Reading!

  The Books of Bad Boy Homecoming:

  Dropout by Carrie Ann Ryan

  Trouble by Avery Flynn

  Prom Queen by Katee Robert

  Honor by Kennedy Layne

  Rock Star by Stacey Kennedy

  By Stacey Kennedy

  Single Titles

  Five-Alarm Masquerade (anthology, Hot Shots)

  Rock Star (Bad Boys Homecoming)

  Filthy Dirty Love

  Heartbreaker

  Skirt Chaser (coming soon)

  Dirty Little Secrets

  Bound Beneath His Pain

  Tied to His Betrayal

  Restrained Under His Duty

  Cuffed by His Charm (coming soon)

  Club Sin

  Claimed

  Bared

  Desired

  Freed

  Tamed

  Commanded

  Mine

  Stay up-to-date with Stacey’s new releases by visiting these links:

  Stacey’s Newsletter

  Staceykennedy.com/newsletter

  Website

  Staceykennedy.com

  Facebook

  Facebook.com/authorstaceykennedy

  Instagram

  Instagram.com/staceykennedybooks

  Twitter

  @Stacey_Kennedy

  USA Today bestselling author Stacey Kennedy has written more than 30 romances, including titles in her wildly hot Club Sin, Dirty Little Secrets, and Filthy Dirty Love series. Her books are about real people with real-life problems, searching for that special thing we call love…in a very sexy way. When she’s not burning up the pages and setting e-readers ablaze, she’s living her happily ever after with her husband and two young children in southwestern Ontario. She’s a firm believer that wine, chocolate, and sinfully sexy books can cure all of life’s problems. To keep in touch with Stacey, get updates right to your inbox at:

  staceykennedy.com/newsletter

  staceykennedy.com

  Facebook.com/authorstaceykennedy

  @Stacey_Kennedy

  Want more Bad Boy Homecoming? Check out the next romance in our sexy reunion stand alone series:

  DROPOUT

  by Carrie Ann Ryan

  CHAPTER 1

  Grayson Cleary wrapped his fingers around the lead pipe below him and grunted, annoyed it was taking this long to get the job done. He let out a breath, tightened his grip, and pulled. The pipe that some idiot had jammed underneath the carriage of the truck propped above him came out with a screech and almost banged him right on the head.

  He let out a curse and rolled out from under the vehicle, flipping off his friend when Brody pressed his lips together as he held back a laugh.

  “Did you hit yourself?” Brody asked, a little concern in his tone. At least the man had that. Now that he had a woman, he at least tried to act like he cared more than the others at their shop.

  Grayson shook his head. “Came close, though.” He held up the pipe. “Why did this guy think this would make his truck sound like it had a bigger engine? It literally did nothing except freeze the whole damn thing when he tried to go up a hill.”

  Brody shrugged, wiping his hands on one of the garage rags. “Saw it on YouTube, apparently.”

  Grayson pinched the bridge of his nose, a headache coming on fast, then remembered he still had engine grease and God knew what else on his hands and let out yet another curse. Thank fuck they weren’t in the public part of the auto body and mechanic shop or Grayson probably would have been fired years ago. Cursing came naturally to him, and it had been a long time since he’d been in a position where he actually cared who heard the words coming out of his mouth.

  Considering that his best friend Leah had an even dirtier mouth than he did, he figured it could always be worse.

  “At least we don’t have to clean up as many keyholes or fix dents in doors these days since that viral tennis ball video seems to have died down.” Grayson went to the sink after dropping the pipe on the bench and washed his hands. He’d never fully get the grease out from under his fingernails—hazard of the job he loved—but he’d at least be cleaner than before.

  “How many idiots broke their windows trying to push air into their keyhole?” Brody asked with a shake of his head. “I mean, it was good money for the shop, but still.”

  Grayson let out a breath and glanced at the clock above the work area, subtracting seven minutes and adding an hour. The damn thing had been off for four years now, but the owner liked to keep everyone on their toes. Now, doing the math to figure out the time without having to take out their phones—and potentially breaking them because of the grease—had become second nature. What it said about him that he’d rather do the math than find a ladder and fix the stupid thing he didn’t know, but at least he wasn’t the only one who just went with the flow.

  “They’re idiots for sure,” he said absently. “I’m done for the day.” He gestured to the truck still on the lift. “Rick wanted to do the oil change when he got in tomorrow. Once he does, I’ll give it a once over and make sure the pipe didn’t do any permanent damage.”

  Brody let out a breath. “I’m done too. And, yeah, I don’t really want to think about what damage that DIY job might have cost this guy.”

  “His fault for following a dumbass video.” Grayson cleaned up his area of the bench and wrote down a few notes for the next day as Brody did the same. “You want to get a beer before you head home.”

  Brody shook his head. “Can’t. Holly’s taking the night off from grading, so I’m taking her to dinner before we have sex on the new couch.”

  Grayson snorted as he grabbed his stuff. “She okay with you telling the world about your sex plans? Wait, you two really have sex plans?”

  Brody sm
iled like a man who was not only in love but one who got laid on a regular basis. “She likes lists, and I like making sure she can check things off. What can I say? Sex on the couch sounds fun, and if she can use a shiny sticker on her to-do list later after I make her come, then all the better.”

  Grayson would never understand couples in committed relationships. They were truly a weird and unregulated group of people. “Whatever you say, man.”

  “Maybe you can grab Leah and get a beer if you’re thirsty.” The man winked, and Grayson rolled his eyes.

  “I’m not having sex with Leah. Never have. Never will.” He shuddered just thinking about it.

  “What? She’s sexy. You have to admit that. And she’s smart as hell. That’s usually your type, right?” Brody slid on his light leather jacket since the man had driven his bike to work. It might be a little too warm for a coat, but Brody had promised his new girl that he’d be safe.

  Grayson froze. “I wasn’t aware I had a type.” The fact that Brody had just described not only the last woman he’d slept with but also the first woman he’d ever wanted in his bed worried him. He didn’t have a type, right? And it sure as hell wouldn’t be her.

  Grayson quickly pushed that visual out of his head. He knew why she kept invading his thoughts, and there was no way he wanted to go down that road again.

  Brody raised a brow and snorted. “If that’s what you want to keep telling yourself…”

  “Don’t you have a couch to break in?”

  “That I do, Grayson. That I do.” The man by his side practically whistled. If Grayson didn’t like him so much, he’d probably punch Brody right in the face just to keep him quiet. It wasn’t that he was jealous of the clearly well-lubed man—okay, maybe he was a little jealous, but that wasn’t all of it.

  Grayson opened the door for them both as they went to the back lot where the employees were allowed to park. Their little shop had started picking up business recently, and Grayson had a feeling their employee lot would soon be no more. Not that he minded more business since that meant steady work, but he didn’t like the idea of having to park way the hell away with snow on the ground. As Denver usually snowed overnight or in the morning before melting away in the afternoon and icing over, that meant Grayson would be stuck with a shitty space, no matter what he did.