Wylder and the Almost Rockstar (Reluctant Rockstars Book 2)

by Michelle MacQueen

  All rights reserved.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and events are used fictitiously and any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2021 by Michelle MacQueen and Ann Maree Craven

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof

  may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Printed in the United States of America

  Editing by Cindy Ray Hale

  Proofread by Brittany Smith

  Cover by Melissa A Craven at Bookly Style

  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

  Epilogue

  About Ann Maree

  About Michelle

  For Wylder. She wrote this series herself.

  Prologue

  Logan

  Logan Cook wanted to kill his brother. That was all there was to it. Everything that had happened was his fault. Luke, the rising superstar the world was slowly falling in love with. Even as rumors swarmed about the true nature of his voice—that it wasn’t his—they lauded his courage.

  Some of the media was on his side, saying this was a horrible lie for his own twin to spread. Others speculated why the Cook brothers would have fooled the world.

  That was one question Logan wouldn’t answer.

  Why had he given Luke his voice?

  The voice that had sold countless songs and gained a type of fame none of them saw coming.

  Logan once had his reasons, reasons he didn’t want to voice now. Fear. He’d been afraid of the fame, of people seeing him, truly seeing him. But that wasn’t even the worst of it.

  “Luke.” Marigold Martin gave him a strange look, and he realized he must have missed a question she asked him. No, not him. Luke. Because that was who he was supposed to be as he sat in the blood red chair on the stage of the Los Angeles Daily Show, interviewing for his life.

  Bright lights crashed down on him, nearly blinding him as he looked toward the tiered seats where a rapt audience waited on wise words from a man trying to avoid a scandal.

  Luke should have been the one doing this interview. Instead, he was nowhere to be found, hiding from this stage, this life.

  Hiding from Logan.

  After what he did, Logan didn’t know what he’d do if he saw him.

  “Luke,” Marigold said again. She leaned in and dropped her voice. “Are you okay?”

  He nodded and reached for the mug emblazoned with the yellow L.A. Daily Show emblem. Taking a sip of the tepid water, he sighed. “Can I be honest with you for a moment?”

  It was her turn to nod.

  “I’m a bit nervous to be here.”

  One perfectly sculpted eyebrow arched, and she pursed dark red lips. “You’re Luke Cook. Aren’t superstars like you supposed to have nerves of steel?”

  Luke did. He was unshakeable, able to step on stage in front of thousands of screaming fans, something Logan could never dream of. Just the thought had his hands clenching around the mug. “I should, shouldn’t I?” He released a laugh he hoped sounded more self-deprecating than terrified.

  This was the first TV interview he’d ever agreed to do, and it was only because neither he nor Sebastian could stand to look at Luke these days. Not after what he did.

  Marigold offered a smile he supposed was meant to be kind, but the woman was a shark, and the look in her eyes told him she smelled blood in the water.

  He set the mug back on the table to his right and ran a hand through his short brown hair.

  Marigold folded her hands in her lap and leaned toward him. “Luke, how long have we known each other?”

  The real Luke would know the answer to this question. Logan only went with a noncommittal “a while.”

  Her eyes narrowed, and he saw it then. She knew. Her gaze lifted to one of the cameras. “Luke came on my show two years ago when he was a scrawny kid trying to make just one person listen to his music. That was what he told me. He said everything he went through to make it would be worth it if he changed the life of one person, if they looked to his music as an inspiration.”

  It was a line—one Luke had used in many interviews. Crafted by their uncle and Sebastian, it embedded Luke into the hearts of many people. Like Wylder. She’d loved Luke Cook once… until she actually met him and realized his star persona was just that, a persona.

  Logan let his gaze drift to the side of the stage for the first time since the interview started. Wylder stood bouncing on her toes like she had to do it to keep herself from running out to yell at this smug talk show host.

  That would have been a sight.

  Her lips curved up into a smile as she met his gaze, and she nodded, giving him strength with one act.

  Turning back to Marigold, Logan pasted on a smile. “That was only the first interview. We’ve done about five or six now, right?”

  The surprise showed on her face. She hadn’t expected him to know that, but what she didn’t know was Logan had followed Luke in his career. Until leaving to attend Defiance Academy, he’d been at his brother’s side for everything, always in the background, but never left completely behind.

  As the thought came to him, some of his anger at Luke dissipated. Had he done what he did because he felt left behind?

  Marigold smiled. “Well, tell us, Luke, when will we hear some new music? It’s been almost a year since your last album was released.”

  That was a good question. Logan hadn’t gone back into the studio to record Luke’s music since starting at the academy. “We’re working on it.” He leaned back, trying to appear relaxed. “Art takes time. My fans understand that.”

  She laughed. “I’m sure they do, but it doesn’t make them any less impatient.”

  “Impatience isn’t a bad thing, Marigold.” He channeled Luke’s cockiness. “It only means they’re impacted by my words. There’s no greater compliment than that.”

  “You’re right about that. So, we’d miss an opportunity if we didn’t ask you about the rumors going around the gossip sites about your brother.”

  “Logan?” Logan laughed, his throat tight. “He’s busy with high school in Ohio.”

  “But that’s not all he is, right? Some even say the true voice behind Luke Cook belongs to his brother.”

  Sweat dampened Logan’s palms, and his eyes flicked to Wylder once more. She didn’t meet his gaze as her death glare focused on Marigold. If looks could kill… Seeing her anger loosened something in his chest.

  He curled his fingers in before pressing them flat on his knees. “No one sings my songs but me.”

  Something sparked in Marigold’s eyes like he’d just confirmed everything to her. If she knew he was Logan, why hadn’t she revealed the fact to her audience?

  She wasn’t deterred. “I’m going to play a clip of Logan in his school performance a few months ago. Our audience can make a determination for themselves.”

  Logan’s voice f
iltered through the soundstage, and his leg bounced as he struggled to remain in his seat. He wanted to run, to get out of the spotlight and go back to just being the rock star’s brother at the academy.

  But he couldn’t. Not this time.

  The clip ended, and the silence that descended was louder than the music had been. Finally, Marigold turned to him again. “We’ve spoken to experts about twin voices. It’s nearly impossible for them to sound the same. So, is there anything you’d like to tell my viewers?”

  As Logan focused on keeping oxygen coming into his lungs, only one thought entered his mind.

  Luke was a dead man.

  Because all of this was his fault.

  1

  Six Weeks Ago

  Hockey was a beautiful sport.

  Okay, Wylder would amend that. Hockey players were beautiful, not the game itself. She still barely understood half of it, despite two friends being destined for professional hockey greatness. Kenny and Killian would one day take the NHL by storm. Her biggest fear was that they’d end up on different teams and she’d have to choose one when they played against each other.

  Well, maybe it wasn’t her biggest fear. But it would suck. How was she supposed to choose between her favorite lovable douchy gay and her favorite lovable loner gay? One thing was for certain. The NHL would never be the same.

  “Go Killian!” Diego jumped to his feet, waving his arms in the air.

  “D.” Wylder yanked him down. “He just got scored on. Not the time to cheer for him.”

  People around them glanced their way, and she knew what they looked like. Wylder wore blue wax in her hair in honor of the Defiance Academy Knights hockey team—in honor of Killian, goaltender extraordinaire.

  And Diego… with his crooked glasses and cheering at the wrong moments obviously belonged more at a mathlete competition or coding convention than a hockey game. The rebel and the nerd. It was the start of an epic story. Just not a love story.

  Red crept into Diego’s cheeks as he straightened his glasses. “The screen thing zoomed in on Killian. I thought that was good.”

  “The screen thing is called a Jimbotron.” Wylder smiled. “I think it’s named after the guy who invented it. They’re a lot bigger in the NHL.” Most high schools didn’t even have them, but Defiance Academy wasn’t most high schools.

  “Invented suspending a TV over the ice? Do you think they broke a lot of them before figuring out how to do it?”

  She shrugged. “That’s a really good question, D.”

  The crowd around them jumped to their feet with a collective cheer, and Wylder snapped her eyes back to the game. “What? What happened?” She jumped up.

  “What are you doing?” Diego’s eyes widened.

  “I don’t know, but everyone else is cheering, so I think we should too.”

  “Good idea.” He joined her, and together they let out a howl that left them both laughing.

  There was nothing quite like hanging out with Diego. He took Wylder’s mind off everything else. Her new notoriety at the school. The viral video she hadn’t wanted anyone to see.

  A substitute teacher taking over Sebastian’s class.

  A missing Logan.

  It had been two weeks since their video hit YouTube, since they performed their epic song, and both Cook brothers had disappeared soon after. Wylder tried many times to get in touch with Logan. They’d become friends, she’d thought. But he didn’t respond to any of her text messages or phone calls.

  By the time she’d gotten up the nerve to message Sebastian, a week had passed. He at least had the decency to text her back, but it was only two words.

  He’s fine.

  That was it, all she knew about what was happening with Logan. Well, that and the media speculation. Some of them had been quite brutal.

  “Wylds.” Diego pointed to the Jimbotron. Jumbotron? One of those didn’t sound right. “I think we scored.”

  Oh, that made sense. That was why everyone had stood up. Wylder never felt more like an idiot than when she was at a hockey game. She wasn’t a dumb girl, but every time her friends tried to explain more about the game to her, she heard that teacher from Charlie Brown. Wha, wha wha wha wha.

  “Go Knights!” she yelled. “Come on, D. Cheer with me. Yeah, Will!” Will had just stepped onto the ice and turned his eyes to where she sat a few rows up. He gave her a goofy grin before joining his teammates to line up.

  “Give me a K!”

  “K,” Diego yelled.

  “Give me an I.”

  “I.”

  “Give me a double L.”

  “Double L.”

  “Give me an E!”

  “E.”

  “Give me an R.”

  Diego grinned. “R!”

  “What’s that spell?”

  “Killer!”

  Wylder jumped from her seat. The game hadn’t resumed, so the rest of the crowd was mostly quiet as Diego joined her in chanting. “Killer. Killer. Killer.” Their section joined in until the neighboring one picked up the chant.

  She had to face it. Killian was beloved by Knights fans, just as Kenny had been. He was their ticket to the NHL, to feeling like their guy made it, like their little town mattered.

  Wylder got it. She felt the same way. Her friends were doing big things.

  She dropped back into her seat with a grin. It wasn’t hard to picture the frown marring Killian’s face under his mask. He was stoic when it came to hockey, not wanting attention drawn to him.

  Really, it was his fault for being friends with her.

  Diego cackled beside her. “He probably hates us right now.”

  “Nah.” She pinched his cheek. “Who could hate this adorable face?”

  He brushed her away, his cheeks flaming. “You, on the other hand…”

  “Easily hate-able.” She nodded.

  His face sobered. “You’re kidding, right?”

  She shrugged. It had been a joke, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t true. Wylder knew she was an acquired taste. “Let’s just focus on the game.”

  Diego gave her a pained look before wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “Wylds, my boyfriend likes you. He’s like… I don’t want to say he’s a jerk, but he doesn’t really do the friends thing much. And yet, you’ll never be rid of us.”

  Diego was possibly the sweetest boy Wylder had ever known. Most people never saw past his awkwardness to find that out. Yet, anything sentimental made her squirm. “Are you trying to tell me you’re in love with me?”

  “What?” He shifted away. “Wylder…”

  “Relax, D.” She sometimes forgot he didn’t understand jokes and sarcasm. “I won’t steal you from our whittle Killer.”

  His mouth curved into a half-smile at the mention of Killian. Last year, it would have made her a little nauseous. Then she experienced a heart-pounding romance over the summer. Her feelings for Sebastian were gone now, but she’d never forget how that felt.

  Her phone buzzed, and she pulled it free, unlocking the screen with a lame hope it would somehow be Logan.

  When she saw her brother’s name, she sighed and put it away without reading the message.

  Diego stared at her. “Not him?”

  “I don’t know who you’re talking about.” She pretended to focus on the game.

  “Wylds… has he been in contact at all?”

  Her shoulders dropped. “No. Not a word.”

  Wylder was no longer friendless as she’d once been, she wasn’t alone. Yet, no one had ever understood her like Logan. She hadn’t liked him at first, but she knew now it was only because he was so much like her. They’d been building a different kind of friendship, one where they held each other’s secrets and pushed each other to be better, to step out of their comfort zones. She’d never have performed for the school if it wasn’t for him. She wouldn’t have found her way back to music.

  And now he was just gone, disappeared, as if he’d never been there at all.

  Diego he
sitated for a moment before speaking again. “Killian heard from him.”

  “What?” She snapped her eyes to his.

  “He’d texted him wanting to know if he was coming back since he left most of his stuff. All Logan said was that he didn’t know.”

  She’d have loved even getting that simple response from him. Closing her eyes, she willed herself not to cry, not to feel abandoned.

  Again.

  Every time she let someone into her music, they left.

  The only person she could trust with it was herself.

  “Hey, you’re Wylder Anderson!” a woman behind them called.

  A few other people muttered as they recognized the name.

  Wylder scooted down in her chair, wanting to disappear.

  The woman wasn’t deterred. She slid from her row and walked down the few steps to reach the empty seat next to Wylder, dropping into it. She brushed white-blonde curls off her shoulders and smiled. “You are! Oh my gosh, I’ve watched that video of you on YouTube like a million times. I sent it to all my friends.”

  “Glad I entertained you.”

  Diego shot Wylder an alarmed look, but she only rolled her eyes. It wasn’t the first time she’d been recognized since then. Who would have thought the misfit troublemaker would receive celebrity status at their school?

  The girl didn’t seem to notice Wylder’s rigid posture or stiff tone. “You sang with Logan Cook. He’s so hot. Are the rumors true? Is he really the voice behind Luke Cook?”

  “No.” She crossed her arms. “Please go away.”

  It was like she didn’t hear her. “That song was so amazing. Is it going to be on Spotify?”

  “No. Please go away.”

  “Are you and Logan dating? That would be so perfect. You’re so cute together.”