We all nodded. Nothing he said made us feel any better.
“Who here wants a significant career?” he asked. We responded in kind. “Are you ready to fight for it, no matter what happens?” We all roared our response. “Good. Because you’ve all moved on to the live shows.”
Chaos exploded as people jumped to their feet, screaming and crying, jubilant with the news. I twirled Courtney around in my arms. As I set her down I turned to see Lacy, standing close to Vanni before she gave him a hug.
My brow furrowed as I watched them interact. His affection for her was obvious. I thought about them back in the dressing room at Southern Nights, when they were cozy on the couch, his hand on her skin as they chatted closely.
Was it some quirk of fate that she ended up on Fierce, the very show he judged?
Was that why she finally quit? Because she couldn’t try out for the show as long as she was under contract with Gaynell?
Was that why they had showed up at all, coming to see Lacy perform and not me?
I was filled with more questions than answers. As soon as he moved on to the next ecstatic contestant, I made a beeline for her. She backed up as she saw me approach, as if I posed her some kind of threat.
I supposed in her mind I did.
“Congratulations,” I said through the lump in my throat.
“You, too,” she offered. “On everything,” she added, her eyes looking past me. I turned to see Courtney hugging another lucky contestant.
She thought I was there with Courtney.
I wanted to say a thousand things. I wanted to tell her that Courtney was just a friend, something I had decided before I even met Lacy. I wanted to tell her that I had no idea that Tony Paul was Gay’s son, something I feared she suspected toward the end, which made her bolt like she did. She thought I had chosen the enemy, which was clearly what she always feared. I wanted to tell her that I had no idea that Gay had sabotaged her and that I should have believed her when she tried to tell me. I wanted to tell her I was sorry for believing the beautiful lie when her amazing truth was always standing right in front of me.
I wanted to promise her everything I had, to somehow make up for fucking things up so badly before.
But all I could do was stare into those beautiful caramel eyes I thought I’d never see again. I’d take her into my arms if I could just muster the balls.
I took a deep breath and stepped forward, taking her body into my aching arms. I had dreamed about her so many times in the last few months. I relished how warm and real she felt. She stood stiff in my embrace for a long moment. When I didn’t let go, she finally inched those arms around my neck. I nearly wept with joy.
It wasn’t much, but it was a start.
There was only one prize I wanted now, and it wasn’t the title of Fierce. Each week I stayed I had one more chance to show her how much I loved her and always would.
I had the next six months to win back her heart. And that was the only competition that I cared to win.
END OF BOOK ONE
Stay tuned for SOUTHERN ROCKER CHICK, the second book in the Southern Rockers trilogy, where we get to know Lacy’s side of the story. Coming November 2014!
Then prepare for the competition of a lifetime in SOUTHERN ROCKER DUET, where Lacy and Jonah fight for their futures, and their hearts, coming this December!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ginger Voight is a screenwriter and bestselling author with over twenty published titles in fiction and nonfiction. She covers everything from travel to politics in nonfiction, as well as romance, paranormal, and dark, “ripped from the headlines” topics like Dirty Little Secrets.
Ginger discovered her love for writing in sixth grade, courtesy of a Halloween assignment. From then on, writing became a place of solace, reflection, and security. This was never more true than when she found herself homeless in L.A. at the age of nineteen. There, she wrote her first novel, longhand on notebook paper, while living out of her car.
In 1995, after she lost her nine-day-old son, she worked through her grief by writing the story that would eventually becomeThe Fullerton Family Saga.
In 2011, she embarked on a new journey—to publish romance novels starring heroines who look more like the average American woman. These "Rubenesque" romances have developed a following thanks to her bestselling Groupieseries. Other titles, such as the highly-rated New Adult series, Fierce, tap into the "reality-TV" preoccupation in American entertainment, which gives her contemporary stories a current, pop culture edge.
Known for writing gut-twisting angst, Ginger isn’t afraid to push the envelope with characters who are perfectly imperfect. Whether rich, poor, sweet, selfish, gay, straight, plus-size or svelte, her characters are beautifully flawed and three-dimensional. They populate her lavish fictional landscapes and teach us more about the real world in which we live simply through their interactions with each other. Ginger’s goal with every book is to give the reader a little bit more than they were expecting, told through stories they'll never forget.
For more, please visit gingervoight.com.
Please follow Ginger on Twitter @GingerVoight and “like” her author page on Facebook for all the latest news on public appearances and new releases.
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