Founded on Goodbye: A Rockstar Romance

by Kat Singleton

  “This is crazy cool,” she whispers, stepping deeper into the entryway.

  “Yeah, I wouldn’t call this a cozy cabin like you said,” Riley points out from the other side of Nora. “Cozy means small and quaint. This thing is ten times the size of our apartment.”

  “It’s fucking epic!” Aiden agrees, jumping over the back of one of the leather couches and falling onto it. “Shit, this is comfortable,” he says, his arms folding behind his head.

  Kissing Nora’s temple, I try to read her face to see how she likes it. For some reason I desperately want her to love the place, the surprise a week in the making. “Whatcha think, Rose?”

  “I think it’s amazing,” she answers, her eyes finding mine. Standing up on her tiptoes, she lays a kiss on me. “Thank you.” Her fingers delicately play with the hair at the back of my neck, something I recently discovered I love.

  “If you would’ve told me a year ago that Nash Pierce would be looking at my best friend like a lovesick puppy, I would’ve questioned your sanity.” Riley stares at me and Nora, her eyes drifting between the two of us. The look on her face is unreadable, but before I can question her on it, Aiden speaks up from the couch.

  “Is there any food at this place? I’m starving.” He crosses his ankles on the couch, making himself at home.

  Pointing to the kitchen, I look at my brother. “The pantry should be fully stocked.” I had my team hire someone to buy groceries for us for the night, knowing there wasn’t anywhere that’d deliver this far up the mountain.

  Aiden shoots up from the couch. He’s beelining toward the kitchen in an instant. “Let’s see what I can cook up!” Aiden has always been a good cook, his ability to throw random ingredients together to make an incredible meal very useful when we were kids.

  “I can help,” Ziggy offers.

  Michael, another one of my dancers, follows closely behind him offering to help as well.

  This leaves me, Sebastian, Riley, and Nora all standing in the foyer.

  “Want to go check out our room?” I ask Nora, needing to get her alone for a few moments.

  Riley has been attached to us all day, which is fine. I understand she wants to spend time with her friend. But now I need to get Nora alone, get reacquainted with her body.

  Riley pulls a piece of candy out of her pocket, popping it into her mouth. “Is that code meaning you guys are about to go bone?”

  Sebastian clears his throat at the same time Nora punches Riley in the tit.

  “Ow!” Riley shouts, rubbing at her chest. “What the hell, Nora Boo?”

  I look at Nora curiously. “Nora Boo?”

  “C’mon!” Nora groans, grabbing my hand and pulling me toward the stairs.

  “How do you know our room is up here?” I ask, letting her pull me up the large staircase. Our feet thud against the cherry wood, laughter erupting from the kitchen below us.

  She doesn’t bother to look over her shoulder as she continues to climb the stairs. “Just a guess.”

  Taking the lead, I point her down a long hallway. Our room sits at the very end of it, the master suite of the house. Walking in, we find a large room with a large, wood four-poster bed. Cabin-themed bedding covers the bed, a stuffed animal bear sitting at the end.

  “This room is bigger than my apartment,” Nora observes, referring back to Riley’s comment from a few minutes prior.

  She scans the room, taking it in. There’s a large fireplace with two wingback chairs in front of it. To the left of the fireplace is a wall of windows, showcasing the beautiful mountain landscape. The bed sits across from the windows, allowing the breathtaking view to be seen from the bed.

  Coming up behind Nora, I lean over her shoulder, kissing the spot behind her ear that gives her goosebumps. “Penny for your thoughts, Rose?”

  Her body relaxes against mine. “I’m kind of speechless,” she whispers. “This is just too much. You didn’t have to do this.”

  My arms wrap tighter around her. “I know I didn’t have to. I wanted to.”

  Surprising me, she quickly turns around, her hands finding either side of my face. Standing on her tiptoes, she pulls my face closer to hers. She pulls until our foreheads rest against each other. “I don’t deserve this, but thank you.” Her lips find the corner of my mouth, her kiss soft and gentle.

  “You deserve it all, Rose. I’m just trying to be the guy to give it to you.”

  Her breath catches, her eyes frantically moving over my face. Before I can elaborate on the feelings bearing down on my chest, she’s sealing her mouth against mine. Her tongue is eager, pushing into my mouth as soon as I allow her in. She wraps her arms around me, pulling me in closer.

  I deepen the kiss and lift her off the ground. Her legs wrap around my middle, her back arching as my hands knead at her ass.

  Walking across the room, I rest her against the first surface I find, an old cherry wood desk that sits in a corner by the large windows. A few books and a vase fall to the ground while I make room for her on the desk.

  Nora laughs against my lips, reaching down to grab the hem of my hoodie. She pulls up, leaning away from me enough to remove it.

  Following her lead, I remove her T-shirt and sweater. Her hands run up and down my back, her nails digging into the skin. My hand finds the cold window behind her, holding my weight as I lean in, kissing a path down her shoulder. Reaching the strap of her bra, I use a finger to move it out of my way, letting it slip down her arm.

  Nora’s fingers find the drawstring of my joggers, undoing the knot. Her fingers are cold against my skin as she slips a hand into my briefs. My head falls back when her fingers wrap around my length, pumping up and down in a tantalizing rhythm.

  The urge to bury myself inside her is overwhelming. I’m stripping her out of her jeans and underwear as fast as I can. Not even bothering to completely remove my own pants, I sheathe myself in a condom as fast as I can. I’m inside her in an instant, pushing her further across the desk and into the window. Her heels dig into my ass as our bodies sync to the same rhythm.

  Her hands are everywhere at once—on my back, in my hair, holding my face as we get lost in each other. There are noises below us, but it doesn’t deter us from stopping.

  “Nash,” Nora pants as I bite the tender skin around her nipple.

  Her moans send tingles down my spine, making me pick up the pace. Our bodies slap together, both of us desperately chasing release. Nora gets louder and louder the closer she gets to an orgasm.

  I trap her mouth in mine, swallowing her moans. “You’re being loud,” I say, my teeth scraping against the hollow of her throat.

  “Sorry,” she offers.

  “Don’t be sorry,” I demand. “You can scream for all I care. Let them know how good this feels. How perfect it feels when I’m inside of you.”

  My words have her moaning even louder. Between the moans escaping her lips and the way she’s rocking her hips back and forth to control the pace, I can’t hold on for much longer. I’ve been thinking about fucking her all day, and now that I’m finally able to, I can’t last forever.

  She spasms around me. The way she tightens around my dick has me following her lead. My body hunches over her as I spill into the condom.

  Cold air seeps in from the large window behind us. I pull out of her slowly, backing up so I can see the look on her face. Tendrils of brown hair have spilled out of her loose braid. I reach up and move a piece from her cheek. There’s a surge of peace that runs through me as she effortlessly nuzzles into my hand on her cheek.

  Looking at her now, I can’t deny that I’ve fallen for her.

  From the first day we met, there was something about her that had drawn me to her. It was refreshing to meet someone who didn’t fall at my feet. She didn’t seem to care about the fame or fortune. She was interested in the man underneath all the bullshit.

  At first it infuriated me, the way she could see all the parts of me I didn’t want to confront, but over time, I grew to love thos
e things about her. She’s the first real thing I’ve had in my life in a long time. Our friendship developed into something more, and it’s easy for me to admit to myself that at this point, I’m deeply in love with her.

  I swore I’d never love again. It was something I sang songs about but didn’t intend to ever experience again. I should’ve known after we went to the arena together that eventually, my intentions didn’t matter. My heart wanted her, needed her, more than I ever could have imagined.

  I’m seconds away from telling her my feelings when a knock sounds at our door.

  “Hey, lovebirds,” Riley shouts from the opposite side. “Due to the silence, and Nora’s moans no longer echoing off these walls, we all can tell you’re done boning. Food’s ready whenever you decide to get your dick back in your pants, Nash.”

  Just when I think she’s retreated back downstairs, I’m proven wrong. Riley speaks from the other side of the closed door once again. “Nora, Nash gets you for the rest of the tour. Get out here and hang out with your best friend! I know you got off so it’s time to join us.”

  Nora groans, her head falling against my shoulder in embarrassment. “I can’t take her anywhere.”

  After one of the best evenings of my life, I lie in bed with Nash, the two of us completely naked. I’m sprawled across his chest, his fingers absentmindedly playing with my hair. The moonlight lights up our room, the wall of windows allowing some light into the otherwise dark room. We sit high up in the mountains, the view from our room spectacular. No matter what direction you look in from the windows, you’re met with beautiful trees and snow-topped mountains.

  “Thank you for all of this,” I say, leaning up to peek at him. Looking at him makes my heart constrict inside my chest. These moments with him are more than perfect. As I take in his features, I’m still taken aback by how incredibly sexy he is. The same lips that have kissed every inch of my body pull up in a side smile.

  “What?” I ask playfully.

  “If you look at me like that again, Rose, I just might fucking fall in love with you,” he hints, as if he didn’t just throw out words that could change everything.

  My mouth opens and closes awkwardly, trying to think of what to say back. I desperately want to tell him the truth—that I’ve already fallen in love with him. Somehow in the midst of scheming to get him to fall in love with me, I fell too. I’ve handed my heart right over to him, knowing deep down I could never keep his.

  The truth of what brought me here begins to weigh heavy on my chest. It’s pushing so hard against me that I can’t think of anything but coming clean to him. I suddenly can’t keep up the charade for a moment longer. I know there will be consequences, but I desperately need him to know I love him.

  And…that I’ve also betrayed him.

  How do you tell someone that you love them and betrayed them in the same moment?

  “Nash, I need to tell you something,” I whisper. Tucking my hair behind my ear, I look at him cautiously, hoping he sees the sincerity in my eyes. The hum of the heater is the only sound in the room for a few moments.

  Reaching up, he runs his thumb over my bottom lip. “Not tonight,” he says. “Tonight, let’s just pretend that the world I live in won’t try to tear us apart.”

  I look away regretfully. If only you knew.

  “Whatever is weighing on you, can it wait until tomorrow? Tonight, I just want to pretend. I just want to be Nash and Nora.”

  The vulnerability in his eyes shatters me, but no matter how bad I want to confess every dirty secret I’ve kept, I want to give him what he wants. He deserves at least one more night of being happy. Tomorrow, once I tell him, he’ll realize his world was bound to tear us apart from the start, and I knew it. And, not only did I know it…I took part in planning the demise.

  Swallowing my emotion, I nod, fearful my voice would break if I spoke. Leaning down, I kiss each one of his cheeks, his forehead, his jaw, trying to mark each part of that beautiful face. “Just Nash and Nora,” I repeat, hovering over his lips.

  He pulls me against him, lazily slipping his tongue between my lips as if we have all the time in the world.

  “You’ve made me a liar, Nora. I said I’d never fall in love again, but…I know with every part of me that I love you. And I know that I’m fucked up and have a shit ton of baggage, but I want to work through it because of you, Rose. I want to work through it with you. I desperately want us to work, to keep you forever. In loving you, I think I’ve finally found how to love myself as well.”

  A lone tear betrays me, slipping down my cheek. Nash wipes it away with the pad of his thumb, keeping his hand on my face.

  “You don’t have to say it back,” he rushes. “I know it’s soon and I’m probably fucking crazy. I’m impulsive and never think before I act, going full speed ahead always being my MO. But through songwriting, I’ve had to get very in touch with my feelings and because of that, I know I fucking love you. You’re changing me, and I don’t want it to ever stop.”

  My foot finds his under the covers, and I tangle my legs with his to get even closer to him. I don’t tell him I love him even though I desperately want to. It isn’t fair for him to know how I really feel until he knows the truth behind how we met.

  Tomorrow. I’ll tell him tomorrow after the show. He deserves to know the truth, even if means the end of us. Monica will probably have my head for coming clean, but it’s the right thing to do. I don’t see any other option here. I need him to know what I’ve done. It’s going to blindside him, but he needs to hear it from me—that all along, the plan has been for me to break his heart.

  I knew all along it was a bad idea, that it went against all my principles, and I did it anyway.

  And now, I’ll have to face the consequences.

  I’m going to lose the man I love.

  “You’re changing me too, Nash,” I say, desperate for him to know how true that is.

  After high school, I thought my heart was tattered and bruised, unable to trust a man again. With Nash, it was different from early on. I trust him with everything that I am. He worships every inch of my body, embedding himself deep into my soul in the process.

  I would do anything to keep him. To keep this feeling of being loved and cherished. I thought I’d known true love before, but one night was all it took to prove how wrong I was.

  Nash’s hand slides up my thigh, coming to rest on the curve of my hips. “The day we met, I was so pissed off about having dancers.”

  I laugh, remembering how grouchy he was. “You don’t say?” I tease.

  A smile lights up his face. “Hey, I’m trying to be romantic here.” There’s a playful glint to his eyes, one that has started to appear more and more in the time I’ve gotten to know him.

  I gesture for him to proceed. “Then, by all means…”

  “I was pissed off about having dancers,” he repeats. “It wasn’t as much the dancers as it was feeling like I didn’t have control of anything in my life anymore. And I didn’t know how I felt about that. I didn’t want control, but I also needed to feel control over some aspect of my life. For some reason, I latched onto this idea that refusing to have dancers was one way to show I could take back some control of things.”

  His fingers trace along my collarbone as he continues. “After our encounter in the room, I left even more pissed off. You may not remember this but as you were walking out the door you asked—”

  “If you were okay,” I finish for him, remembering the moment clearly.

  He swallows slowly, looking at me with such honesty in his eyes. “Yeah,” he rasps. “When you left, I realized that was the first time someone had asked if I was okay in a long, long time.”

  “The way you stormed into the room, it was obvious something was wrong.”

  “Well, people don’t always like to ask if I’m okay. They’re too afraid of me saying no and them actually having to do something about it.”

  There’s a pang in my chest for him. The more I learn
about him and his world, the more I want to shield him from every person that has ignored every one of his warning signs about how sad he truly feels. It’s clear there aren’t many people in his life that he trusts.

  And now I’m one of them.

  “I was so mad at you for asking if I was okay, for caring more about me than people I’ve known for years. And then…”

  His voice trails off, leaving me wondering what he’s going to say. When he doesn’t answer, I prod him for more. “And then what?” I kiss the top of his hand, my lips feathering against one of the tattooed petals of the rose.

  “And then I saw you dance. You moved so effortlessly out there; it was so damn clear how passionate you were about dancing. For a brief moment, I hated you for it. I hated that you so clearly loved dancing, because I was remembering the times I felt that same passion and love for singing.”

  “There was a time I hated dancing too,” I say absentmindedly.

  His eyebrows raise, my admission a shock to the both of us. When I stay silent, he goes on with his story. “When they told me we were going to dance to Preach together, I about lost my damn mind. I couldn’t fathom sharing the stage while singing that song—something so personal to me. It’s already so fucking personal to stand in front of thousands of people, singing about having your heart broken. I couldn’t wrap my head around having someone else up there with me, sharing in the moment.”

  “I didn’t know…”

  His shoulder moves in a slight shrug. “How could you have? All I did was throw a fit, not giving anyone a reason for not wanting to do it except that I didn’t want to share the stage. I’m glad it happened, though. Without Preach, I don’t know if we would’ve become…this.”

  I smile, trying not to make it look as sad as I feel. He has no idea how right he is. His team convinced him to do Preach to throw us together.