Damaged Hearts (Book 2, Rock Star Romance)

by McAdams, Mia

  I chuckle, but my stomach does another roll because I understand exactly what she means about Terese. Girlfriends in the business need tough skin to survive. Not that their men should get away with anything, but if there isn’t trust, jealousy can quickly make a relationship ugly. Unfortunately for me, I had too much trust in my relationship with Tony when he threw up all the red flags that should have warned me away. Derrick isn’t like Tony, though, so I’m hoping Terese has better luck than I did.

  Wolf, on the other hand, had enough sense to walk away. If he hadn’t, it wouldn’t have bothered me to the extent it did Terese, but the warmth settling around my heart makes me a little grateful for the situation. I like that my man thinks of me, even when I’m not around. Derrick could learn a few things from Wolf.

  I somehow convince Melanie that talking to Terese won’t help anything—not right now, anyway—and we toss ourselves in the pool. A half hour later, Terese hops in with us and glares at Melanie.

  “Thanks a lot, bitch. Your tits are perfect. Happy?”

  Melanie looks shocked until she sees Terese smiling, and then she lets out an awkward laugh. “I’m sorry, babe. I didn’t think it was going to be an issue.”

  They hug it out and I’m left on the side of the pool in shock. Serious shock. What the hell was that? How did Terese get over it so quickly? Derrick takes a seat beside me . . . grinning.

  I turn to him, impressed. “How did you do that?”

  He shrugs, a cocky expression playing on his face. “I’ll never tell.”

  Wolf sits on the other side of me and hands me a cold beer. “How the hell did you do that, you dick?” Wolf asks Derrick over my head.

  Derrick is still grinning. “Precisely. She can’t stay mad at me. What can I say?”

  Wolf chuckles. “Good job, dude. I was sure that fight was going to last the rest of vacation.” Wolf’s arm snakes around my waist. “Not going to lie, I was a little worried about the drama of that situation.”

  I chuckle and look up at him. His sunglasses are hiding his eyes. “I’m relieved, too. That could have been messy.” I won’t tell him that I’m secretly grateful to Mel for testing Wolf’s reaction to temptation.

  He leans in, touching his lips to mine gently. When he pulls away, he’s smiling. “Hey, your dad called a bit ago. Wants to meet up with you tomorrow. Says he won’t steal you for too long.”

  I smile. “Thanks, babe. I’ll call him. Do you want to come with us?”

  He shakes his head. “Nah, you two spend some time together. I’ll be here when you get back.” A buzzing sounds from his pocket, and he reaches for it, sighing at the distraction. “Wow, your ears must be buzzing,” Wolf says to the caller and then chuckles.

  I open my eyes wide in Wolf’s direction, trying to get his attention. He looks at me. “My dad?” I mouth. He nods, his expression quickly shifting from humorous to stony. Panic begins to grow in my chest. To my utter horror, he pulls me to my feet and leads me through the doors of our bedroom.

  We sit at the edge of the bed, my heart beating three hundred miles an hour in my chest. Wolf pushes a button on his phone so my dad’s voice comes through the speaker. I watch Wolf’s face, trying to understand what that look means.

  “Lyric’s on now. Go ahead.”

  Now Wolf’s watching me. I turn my eyes down to the phone, dread growing with every second as I wait for whatever bad news is coming. I knew this life was too good to be true.

  “Pumpkin, you there?”

  “I’m here, Dad. What’s going on?”

  There’s a long sigh on the other end before he speaks. That pause was enough to confirm every fear that’s now seeping into my system. “I talked to the label yesterday. They were in complete agreement with me regarding your songs. They met with Destiny this morning. She wasn’t alone, sweetie. Crawley was there. He’s managing her image transformation. They had your songbook with them.”

  “Okay,” I say, growing angrier by the second. I couldn’t care less about Crawley and whatever position he fills for Destiny. “I just want what’s mine.”

  My dad sighs again. “I know, pumpkin. I tried.”

  “What do you mean, ‘tried’? I thought it was a done deal?”

  “It was . . . until Crawley showed them the contract that was initially signed regarding the rights to Wolf’s songs.”

  “You mean for ‘Dangerous Heart,’ ” I say. “And two others. It was a three-song deal.”

  Wolf nods in agreement, hanging on my every word as I continue. “Those songs were signed over to the band, Mitch. Wolf owns ‘Dangerous Heart.’ Besides, all that was handled by the label’s legal team. There’s no way we messed that up. The only thing that was missing on that contract was my request for privacy.”

  “Crawley has a clever way of handling legal contracts. He likes to doctor the final copies, after they’ve been reviewed—before everyone has to sign. But I’m not talking about the contract you and Wolf signed regarding ‘Dangerous Heart’ and the others. Those are clean.”

  “What?” Wolf’s expression fills with rage as he tries to comprehend what’s going on.

  I jump in. “Wait, we’re not talking about my song contracts? Then where is this going, Dad? Destiny should have to return my songbook.”

  “Pumpkin, it’s not that simple.” He pauses, and the sinking feeling grows. “Wolf, I’m sorry. Crawley doctored your initial agreement with him four years ago. Apparently you boys were new and had an agreement prior to going to the label. You’ll need to speak with your rep at the label. There should have been a new contract drawn up between the band and Crawley the moment you were signed. Your label will need to take some ownership in this if they failed to rewrite those terms. That’s a huge fuckup.”

  “What are the terms?” Wolf speaks through clenched teeth as if he’s afraid of what will happen if he opens his mouth.

  “If you fire Crawley, he gains royalties to all previously published songs and rights to anything unpublished up until the time he’s released. He’s claiming he owns every single lyric written in that songbook since it was in your possession. He’s also sending notice for you to turn over the rights to ‘Dangerous Heart’ to his client.”

  “Destiny.” Wolf’s teeth are clenched, his grip on the phone tight.

  “That’s right. I’m sorry.”

  “This isn’t over.” Wolf stands, taking the phone with him. I move toward him, trying to wrap my arms around his waist. I’m less concerned about my songbook now. This is years of Wolf’s hard work being stolen from him in the blink of an eye. Because of me.

  He shrugs out of my hold as he moves to the window and places a palm against it. I freeze, unsure what to do or say to make this better.

  “You’re right, Wolf. It’s not over. I’ll meet you in the studio tomorrow. Call your lawyer, your PR team, your label. Get them on a flight to Miami before we leave for Europe.”

  “We?” Wolf snaps out of his spell for a moment to listen to Mitch.

  “I’m coming with you to Europe. If that’s okay with you both . . . and the band. I know you guys need a manager, and I’m looking for a change right now. Especially if that change includes spending more time with my little girl. And when we win this war, I want to be there.”

  My throat tightens with emotion, and tears immediately spring to my eyes. I look at Wolf, hopeful that he’ll say yes, but Wolf doesn’t hesitate a moment. He’s been watching me, and sometimes he knows me better than I know myself. “I don’t know what to say, Mitch. We’d be fucking honored.”

  “Lyric?” My dad asks.

  “Yes.” I laugh, realizing how croaky my response sounded. I’m surprised but overjoyed. “Yes!” I scream again.

  My dad chuckles. “Okay, good. Phew, I was worried for a second.” Wolf looks back toward the window. “Lyric,” my dad starts again. “I’ll call Davis and get him to Miami, too. He’ll be representing you. This is about to get messy, and we’ll need a feroc
ious team on our side.”

  Davis has been my dad’s legal counsel for years, and ferocious is a polite term for his methods. My dad’s never walked away from a case unhappy—even in cases when he’s technically lost.

  “See you tomorrow, Dad.”

  “Thanks, Mitch.”

  Wolf ends the call, but his cell phone is still in his hand. Whatever happiness he felt momentarily about Mitch coming on tour has apparently dissolved. He could possibly lose everything, because of Destiny Lane—a woman I’m supposed to call mother—a woman I brought into his life.

  His face is redder than I’ve ever seen, and it looks as if he’s about to crush his phone into pieces. I gently remove it from his grip and reach for him again. “Babe?”

  Wolf looks down at me but makes no move to wrap his arms around me. Instead, he shakes his head. “I can’t . . .” He chokes on his words, then tries again. “Not right now.”

  “Wolf,” I plead, unsure what’s happening. I know he’s pissed. He has every right to be pissed. But he can’t be pissed at me. We’ve been through too much to let Crawley and Destiny win. Is he starting to regret everything?

  Deep down, I know we’ll be okay. I also know that Wolf has a lot to lose if we don’t win, so his emotions are completely justified. But still, his actions embed the worst feeling of unease in me.

  He moves away from me, grabs his wallet from the nightstand, and walks out of the room. Seconds later, I hear the front door slam.

  Wolf

  She’s wrapped up in a sheet, her small fist clutching the pillow at her head. She stirs as I stumble into the room. I’ve had quite a bit to drink, but not enough to forget how much I love this woman in our bed.

  I remove my shoes first, kicking them to the side. Then I slide off my shirt, saving my shorts for last before climbing into bed and pulling Lyric to my body.

  “Wolf,” she moans. She’s facing me, and even in the dark, I can see the pain in her eyes. I walked out to calm down, leaving her with nothing. Leaving her alone.

  “I’m here, babe. I’m sorry. Fuck. I’m so pissed. Not at you. I shouldn’t have left like that. I just—”

  “Shh,” she tells me, pulling herself closer. “It’s okay.” Her hand moves up my arm until it lands on my cheek. With gentle strokes, she forgives me, and I fall in love with her all over again.

  I move down her body, placing my head on her chest. She holds me, and I wrap my arms tightly around her waist. “This is so fucked up,” I say into her shirt. “Crawley knew he had me by the balls, but he would never tell me what he had on me. He wanted to get fired. I thought it was weird he didn’t start trouble as soon as I kicked him off the tour. I’m so fucking stupid.”

  “No!” Lyric says, her voice trembling with anger. “You are not stupid. Crawley is the stupid one. He’s not going to get away with this, Wolf. You said it yourself, he wanted to get fired. I did some research when you were gone. Him leaving was provoked in the worst way, and it wasn’t even his first offense. His termination wasn’t a layoff, or an amicable parting of ways. It was him, trying to steal from you while he violated your property. You had no choice but to let him go. You just have to hang on for a bit. Let’s talk to your label and the lawyers and figure out our options. My songbook is the least of my worries right now, but I’ll do whatever I can to help you fight this. Before, this was about principle and showing Destiny Lane that she can’t control me anymore. Now, it’s so much bigger than that. I love you, Wolf. Destiny and Crawley shouldn’t fuck with the people I love.”

  I look up. Lyric has tears in her eyes, but I could already guess that by the thickness in her voice. Shit, my love for this girl is deep. I reach up to kiss her, roll her onto her back, and give her my everything because she is my everything. It’s funny how fighting for someone you love gives you more strength than when fighting for yourself. Lyric sounds like me right now when I was determined to get her songbook back. I still am. And she’s right. There’s got to be a way to win this.

  But right now, I just want to forget about it all. I want to bury myself inside Lyric where my world is right. Where we’re both safe. I slide her shirt up slowly so it gently skims her skin before sliding it over her head. Her hair falls around her face, and I take in her beauty and strength.

  “You know what I realized when I was out feeling sorry for myself?”

  “What?”

  I move a strand of hair from her face and tuck it behind her ear. “At the end of the day, I’m not worried about a royalty share or songs getting taken away. You and me—we’ll just create more where that came from. But there’s one thing no one will ever have the power to take from us.” I lean in and kiss her neck, breathing her in and letting out a deep sigh. “If we walk away from this and all I have left are the clothes on my back and you in my arms, I’ll be a happy man.”

  “I feel the same,” Lyric agrees. “We’re in this together, babe.”

  I use my knee to spread her legs wide and press my lips to hers. “Forever.”

  Lyric nods, then moans when I thrust myself into her. “Forever.”

  We make sweet, slow, torturous love, neither of us speaking about Destiny or Crawley for the rest of the night.

  Tonight is ours.

  Tomorrow, we fight back.

  * * *

  …keep reading for more information on Destined Hearts (the final book in the Lyric & Wolf series)

  A Rock Star Romance #3

  Lyric Cassidy’s secret is out, and after strategic negotiations, she’s no longer road manager for Wolf, the hottest rock band in the world. Now that she’s been hired as the band’s songwriter, she’s got a new purpose in life, one that retaliates against the demons of her past. Unfortunately, those demons still have a strong hold on her present and future, too. With a legal battle in full swing to win back what’s hers, she’s more of a fighter than ever. Especially now that she’s also fighting for the one she loves.

  Wolf Chapman’s world is a better place with Lyric in it. Even now, as they face the tough trials and tribulations of life together. There’s no question he’d give up everything for the woman he loves, but will he have to? With death threats shaking their newly solidified foundation, someone promises an early end to her career—and maybe even her life.

  Their hearts are destined to be together. Until the very end, whenever that may be.

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  Mia McAdams, Romance Author of Dangerous Hearts, Damaged Hearts, and Destined Hearts (in the Lyric & Wolf Rock Star Romance series) is known for concocting recipes for heart-pounding romance, suspenseful drama, and unforeseeable twists. Mia’s passion for music and rocker boys began at an early age and has only managed to grow. You can often find her hanging out with her family on the lake, rocking out to the latest indie rock hits, and curling up with a sexy book in her cozy reading nook.

  You can find out more about Mia by emailing her at MiaMcAdamsAuthor@gmail.com or visiting her Facebook page here: facebook.com/AuthorMiaMcAdams