Tempting Tempo – Chapter Forty-Eight
Tempting Tempo – Chapter Forty-Nine
Tempting Tempo – Chapter Fifty
Tempting Tempo – Chapter Fifty-One
Tempting Tempo – Chapter Fifty-Two
Tempting Tempo – Chapter Fifty-Three
Tempting Tempo – Chapter Fifty-Four
Tempting Tempo – Chapter Fifty-Five
Tempting Tempo – Chapter Fifty-Six
Tempting Tempo – Chapter Fifty-Seven
Tempting Tempo – Chapter Fifty-Eight
Tempting Tempo – Chapter Fifty-Nine
Tempting Tempo – Chapter Sixty
Tempting Tempo – Chapter Sixty-One
Tempting Tempo – Epilogue
Interviews on the Tour Conducted by Sager Reed
Information about Anorexia Nervosa
Tempting Tempo – A Note from the Author
Scandalous Beat
Definition of Beat
Scandalous Beat – Epigraph
Scandalous Beat – Prologue
Scandalous Beat – Chapter One
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Two
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Three
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Four
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Five
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Six
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Seven
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Eight
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Nine
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Ten
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Eleven
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Twelve
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Thirteen
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Fourteen
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Fifteen
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Sixteen
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Seventeen
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Eighteen
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Nineteen
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Twenty
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Twenty-One
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Twenty-Two
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Twenty-Three
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Twenty-Four
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Twenty-Five
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Twenty-Six
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Twenty-Seven
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Twenty-Eight
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Twenty-Nine
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Thirty
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Thirty-One
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Thirty-Two
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Thirty-Three
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Thirty-Four
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Thirty-Five
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Thirty-Six
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Thirty-Seven
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Thirty-Eight
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Thirty-Nine
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Forty
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Forty-One
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Forty-Two
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Forty-Three
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Forty-Four
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Forty-Five
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Forty-Six
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Forty-Seven
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Forty-Eight
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Forty-Nine
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Fifty
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Fifty-One
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Fifty-Two
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Fifty-Three
Scandalous Beat – Chapter Fifty-Four
Scandalous Beat – Epilogue
Scandalous Beat – Author Note
Thank You
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Reading Order
SOUTHSIDE HIGH is a full-length Tempest Rock Star Series Prequel
My best friend and I want the same girl. But Lace Lowell is mine. She was mine first. She’ll be mine forever. Sure, she was his friend when they were kids, long before I ever met her. But that’s in the past. This is now. I’m Warren Jinkins. War. My name is my battle cry. I take what I want. I don’t ask, and I want her.
I’m in love with two men. Bryan Jackson is the guitarist in our band, and War is the lead singer. They’re sexy bad boys, the most dangerous guys in our school. All the girls at Southside High want them. But loving two guys is a problem—especially when those two guys also love each other.
The Complete Tempest Rock Star Series
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Your all access backstage pass to the world’s most dysfunctional rock band.
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The complete series includes six books. Over 1600 pages.
IRRESISTIBLE REFRAIN
Two years ago everything changed for the remaining members of the Seattle rock band Tempest.
Two years is a long time.
Too long to keep on remembering.
Not nearly long enough to forget.
In trouble with nowhere else to go songstress, Lace Lowell seeks refuge with the band during their stop in New York City. It’s a risky move for her because they are both there, two impossibly good looking men whose lives are inseparably entwined with hers. One who bruised her heart and one who smashed it into pieces.
ENTICING INTERLUDE
To the talented vocalist Justin Jones, love is merely a game that he plays by his own rules.
But to Bridget Dubois, love and heartache are one and the same.
Broken too many times before, the delicate beauty keeps her emotions carefully concealed. Bridget has her own set of rigid rules when it comes to men. She prefers to avoid them altogether, especially dangerously seductive auburn haired emerald eyed players like Justin.
CAPTIVATING BRIDGE
Warren “War” Jinkins is that guy.
The bad one.
Tempest’s ex front man, an arrogant rock god.
The only thing larger than his ego is his capacity for self-destruction.
His bad attitude has cost him. His woman. His best friend. His band. Everything.
Shaina Bentley is that girl.
The good one.
Hollywood’s pink candy-coated sweetheart.
The star of Pinky Swear, television’s top rated teen show.
He’s a one-man island. She’s a fragile captive soul.
Is love a current too dangerous to cross or will it be the bridge that brings them together?
RELENTLESS RHYTHM
The one she really wants is out of reach.
The one he really needs is already taken.
Dizzy Lowell, rhythm man for the rising rock band Tempest is a wizard on the guitar and a wonder with women. But the hookup specialist hides his emotional scars beneath his suave exterior. He never lets anyone truly touch him until he meets April Reynolds, the confident bartender of the Diamond Mine.
TEMPTING TEMPO
Sager Reed the strong and silent bassist for the rock band Tempest is well acquainted with loss. The thoughtful tattoos he designs only hint at his turbulent youth. He buries his guilt about it deeply within his troubled heart.
Melinda T. Belle is the daughter of a dysfunctional rock legend. Avoiding emotional entanglement, she has turned her back on nearly everyone and everything she has ever known. Alone, she tries desperately to find fulfillment in the one dream she has left, competitive skiing.
Can Sager overcome his dark past?
Will Melinda realize her worth?
Will they both see that love is only thing that really matters?
SCANDALOUS BEAT
A rock star. A stripper. Can a hookup lead to a happily ever after?
SOUTHSIDE HIGH
C
HAPTER ONE
War
“He got arrested.”
“Again?”
“Yeah. They threw him in that alternative school for troubled teens for a while.”
The murmurings of fellow students followed me as I confidently strode onto school property like I owned it, which I practically did.
The first bell was about to ring, and the patchy lawn in front of the school swarmed with disaffected youth. Irritated by the buzz my return had stirred, I considered shoving my fist in someone’s face, agitate the hornets in the nest while letting off a little steam of my own, but I decided against it.
Arrogantly cool was always the way to go, so I kept my sunglass-shaded gaze trained straight ahead. I knew how to play the game. At Southside High, having a bad attitude was everything.
“Fucking shit, War,” my wingman said. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming back to school today?”
Lifting his sunglasses onto his head, Bryan Jackson tossed his cigarette aside and broke away from a group of smokers by the front steps. His expression as chill as mine, he fell into pace at his rightful position beside me. We hadn’t seen each other in months, but he didn’t mention it. He knew the drill. We’d come a long way from our middle-school days when we’d had our asses handed to us.
“Got shit to do, Bry.” Beneath the shadow of the two-story brick building, I veered to my left, following the sidewalk that led around it. “You up for dishing out a potential ass-kicking this morning?”
“I’m up for whatever.” Bryan huffed beside me. “But slow down.” His chin held high, he let his gray-green gaze pass through other students like they were just background noise, same as mine did.
“Been gone a while.” I slowed my steps. “Back now. Wanna get the usual bullshit over with. Reestablish my cred.” I glanced at him. “Who’s taken advantage, I mean, taken over in my absence?”
“Kyle.” His strong jaw tightening, Bryan shook his head, unleashing long layers of his brown hair. “He’s been acting all high and mighty, hinting that you were never coming back.”
“Fucking bastard.”
“You know how it is. Only one can rule.” Bryan shrugged one thickly muscled shoulder.
We both worked out. Pounding the weights had been my gym credit at the alternative school, but even so, I remained middleweight boxing class to Bryan’s heavyweight.
“Getting ready to fix that shit right the fuck now,” I said firmly. I might be a middleweight, but I had heavyweight power behind my punches.
We turned the corner together. Without the building to buffer it, a strong gust of wind whipped at both of us. Bryan’s shorter hair blasted back from his face. My medium-length hair escaped the red bandanna I wore around my head to contain it, preferring to be unrestrained like I did.
With that wind, it was bite-ass cold. I wanted this done so we could go inside.
Kyle was right where I expected to find him, in my spot next to the scraggly hedges behind the building. An unlit cigarette dangled from his lips. His head was down, his riotous black hair casting sinister shadows into his greedy gray eyes. Unsurprisingly, he wasn’t alone. He had a client with him and a protector.
Kyle was a dealer. I’d known him since middle school. He was always dealing.
“Kyle, psst,” his protection hissed, his red-rimmed blue eyes narrowed on me. “Look-it. War’s here.”
I didn’t recognize the hulk-sized dude who was his new sentry. His previous one had been shipped off to the alternative school along with me, but unlike me, he hadn’t returned.
“Hey, asshole,” I said, curling my ringed fingers into fists and peering past the hulk to Kyle. “Your new sentry sucks.”
“Now wait a minute,” Hulk said, but I cut him off.
“Out of my face, asshole. I don’t have time for you.” I stared him down, pulling into play the couple of inches of height I had on him.
Asshole’s job as a sentry wasn’t watching for teachers. Knowing what was good for them, they didn’t patrol this corner. It belonged to lowlifes like me, though the staff had their territory to defend like we all did. Classrooms, hallways, and the cafeteria were their domain. Coaches and jocks had the right of way in the gym and around the football field. The Latino gang La Rasa Prima had the entire south portion of the school.
“When’d you get out?” Kyle asked, acting all cool and shit as he looked at me.
I glared at him. “Earlier than you expected, apparently.”
“Don’t get your boxers in a twist.” Kyle passed the ziplock bag containing an assortment of pills to his client, then turned and strutted to me. As his client slinked away, Kyle jerked his chin up, a respectful greeting to me.
“Don’t play around, man.” I marched straight to him, ignoring the bag of muscle who lumbered into action to stand beside him. Physically, I might not be the biggest badass here, but my reputation was. “You know why I’m pissed.”
“Give ’im his cut, Randy,” Kyle said. He not only knew my reputation, he’d experienced it.
“Okay.” Randy uncrossed his arms and started to reach his hand into his letterman jacket, but that start was all he got.
My forearm to his throat, I slammed him back into the brick wall and poked the pointy end of my newly acquired switchblade under his chin.
“Be real still, motherfucker,” I said low as he blinked his no longer bleary blue eyes at me.
“Settle down, War,” Kyle said, sounding strangled behind me.
“You got Kyle, Bry?”
“Oh yeah,” Bryan said. “I got him on the ground. He doesn’t look so good.”
“Fuck, War.” Kyle wheezed, and I knew without taking my eyes from Randy that Kyle was in a fetal position, his hands cupped over his shriveled junk. “Randy was just gonna give you some cash. I kept your corner for you while you were gone. I ain’t gonna try to keep it. You want it back, all you had to do was ask.”
“I take what I want.” I dug my forearm into Randy’s windpipe one more time just for fun. “I don’t ask anyone for anything, ever.”
I stepped back, away from Randy. He eyed the blade and me with the right amount of trepidation now, remaining where I’d pinned him.
I clicked my blade closed and turned to Kyle, jerking my chin toward the building. “Get your worthless sentry and your sorry ass out of here.”
“But, War—”
“Stay off my corner. Go. Now,” I snarled the words at Kyle, my lips pulling back from my teeth.
Wisely, Kyle and Randy decided to do as told. I kept my gaze on them until they disappeared into the building.
“Why’d you wanna give Kyle such a hard time?” Bryan asked.
“He had my corner,” I said. It was as fucking simple as that.
“He had it because you told him to keep it until you returned.”
“Yeah, so I’m back now.” I shrugged. Bryan didn’t always see things the same way as me.
“Why didn’t you take his money?”
“Not opposed to free samples, or the other occasional perks that come my way from having a friend who deals.” Focusing on Bryan, I lifted a brow. His naiveté sometimes surprised me. “But I’m not taking drug money from him and getting my ass thrown back into the alternative school. Or worse, jail.”
“Sorry, man.” He winced from the dig. “It should’ve been me who went to juvie, not you.”
“Not gonna lie, Bry. That shit sucked.”
Worse than I’d ever let on, though I’d do it again if necessary, but only for him. Bryan was my brother in all the ways that counted. But I wasn’t sure I’d survive a second time. The shit that happened inside juvie made Southside High seem like a fucking garden party.
“I owe you big.” He clenched his teeth together so tightly, a muscle spasmed in his jaw. “Never going to be able to repay you for that.”
Yeah, he probably had some idea what happened in lockdown. I nodded to acknowledge his statement, but I wasn’t going to rub it in. If it were anyone else, fuck ye
ah. But that wasn’t how Bryan and I operated.
“Never going back inside that shithole again.” I pocketed the blade and clapped my best friend on the shoulder. “It’s good to be back. Let’s go find some bitches. I need to get laid.”
CHAPTER TWO
Lace
The office secretary kept droning on about school rules and policy long after the bell for first period rang. Already nervous about being the new girl, I nodded but shifted impatiently.
“Did you get all that?” She glanced over the rims of her purple glasses at me as she handed over my class schedule.
“Yes.” I nodded again, making my blond ponytail sway.
She’d spewed a ton of information, so fast that I didn’t really get everything. But what I didn’t get, I’d figure out somehow.
I’d come from an accelerated program at a charter high school. Even though I wasn’t quite sixteen yet, I was entering Southside High as a sophomore. I was smart, and not just academically. My brother, Dizzy, and I had been through a lot that had forced us to grow up fast.
“Okay then, let’s get you to class.” The secretary crooked her finger at a pretty Latina who was dressed nearly identical to me in a sweater set, jeans, and ballet flats.
I wondered if her outfit was purposefully chosen to project an image like mine was. Clothes did make the person, or so I tried to convince myself. Often.
“Sabrina,” the secretary said. “Please escort Miss Lowell to her first-period class and show her where the important things are along the way.”
“Yes, Mrs. Hodges,” Sabrina said dutifully. She abandoned the graffiti-emblazoned plastic chair she’d been sitting on and beckoned to me from the glass office door. “Ready?” she asked, finally making eye contact.
“Yeah,” I said hoarsely, and swallowed to moisten and loosen my throat. It felt thin like a straw, and tight like it had a tennis ball stuck inside it. Clasping my class schedule to my chest, I hurried to join her.
As soon as the door closed behind us, Sabrina said, “You’re in a bunch of honors classes.” She spoke with a slight Spanish accent. “Are you really that smart?”
The Complete Tempest World Box Set Page 2