Terri Anne Browning - The Rocker Who Shatters Me (Volume 9)

To my girls who always keep me sane when the characters in my head dont want to give me peace.

There are people in everyones lives that you couldnt live without. I am lucky enough to have friends and loved ones that are my rock, my shoulder to cry on, or bitch to, or any number of crazy things. Mike Browning, Jennie Wurtzburger, and Felicity Flick Boulton I love you three more than words could ever describe.

A huge thank you to my BETA readers, who always help me make these books all the better for your enjoyment. Without them I would truly be lost. They talk me down from imaginary ledges that I want to jump off of when my characters wont go where I want them to.

The biggest thank you is for YOU, my amazing fans. You have helped me reach a dream I never thought would be possible. I could never show you enough how much you are loved and appreciated by me.

T ABLE OF C ONTENTS

Natalie

One Year Ago

The concert had been over hours ago, but the band still had another thirty minutes of meeting fans. I tried not to let my irritation at the ten women and five men still standing in line show on my face as I continued to do my job.

I just wanted everyone to leave, so that I could wrap this night up and go out with Devlin. That wasnt asking too much, was it? To get to spend a little time with my boyfriend, doing what normal couples do rather than having to share him with his fans? Well, I didnt think it was asking very much.

For the last few days we hadnt even had a few minutes alone, and it was about to drive me crazy. I couldnt even kiss the man I loved without having someone pop up on us on the bus, or climb into bed with him at night without something coming up to keep me out of his arms.

I was starting to think that fate didnt want me and Dev together. But that was ridiculous. It had taken us a long time to get to the place we are now, with us loving each other rather than fighting our feelings. I was happy, and there wasnt anything on the planet that would keep me from being with Devlin Cutter.

Without even realizing what I was doing, I stopped and my eyes sought out the man in question. He was sitting down at his table while the fans made their way from Axtons, then to Wroths, Zanders, Liams and ending at his. He was smiling up at some guy who was talking a mile a minute. That smile was one of my favorite sights in the world, the way his aquamarine eyes crinkled at the edges and his three-day-old beard hid the dimples that I was such a sucker for. His even, white teeth stood out against his dark tan complexion and made me want to kiss him to see if he still tasted like the toothpaste hed used before taking the stage earlier that night. My heart melted along with another part of my anatomy when I saw that smile.

Its weird that one of my best friends sister is dating my dad, Harris complained as he stopped beside me.

I turned to frown down at him, trying to figure out if he was teasing me or if he was serious. Hed always found something to tease me about over the last few years. He was good friends with my little sister, Jenna, and Id always had a soft spot for Harris despite the fact that Id seemed to always be in love with his father from the moment Id laid eyes on him. But this was a serious matter. If he really thought that it was weird that I was dating his dad, then I wanted to deal with it now.

Harris grinned up at me, reminding me so much of his father that it was hard not to love this kid as if he were my own. Yeah, now that was the weird part. I was twenty-two years old to his fifteen. That was extremely weird to me. Relax, Nat. Im just messing with you. I think its kind of cool that you are with Dad. Hes smiled a lot more in the last few weeks than Ive seen him smile in a long time.

Relief washed over me and I punched him in the arm. You are such a punk, you know that?

Yeah. You tell me that on a daily basis. But you love me anyway.

Sadly enough, thats true. I punched him again and forced my attention back to the job at hand. I still had things to do so that I could leave when Devlin was finished. Ive got stuff to do; wanna help me?

You mean work when I could go back to the hotel, order room service and watch newly released movies? Harris raised a brow at me like I was crazy for even asking such a question. Yeah, sure, why not? I can help you out, earn brownie points with your sister, and make my dad think that Im a good kid all at once.

Brownie points with Jenna? I questioned as I led him back toward the stage the band had performed on earlier that night. Why would you need to earn? I broke off when I realized why he would want to. My sister will never like you like that, Harris. There were plenty of reasons why I didnt think that Harris and my sister would be anything other than friends. But the major one was the only one that I needed to know that Harris was wasting his time on Jenna.

My sister had realized when she was fourteen that she wasnt into guys. Plain and simple. Of course, I was the only one who knew that little piece of information, because Jenna thought our mother would freak out at having a lesbian for a daughter. Jenna wasnt wrong. Stella Stevenson would probably disown her youngest daughter if she ever found out about her gender preference.

Our mother was a total bitch like that. I hadnt always thought that way, of course. When youre a kid you dont notice the things adults would about someone. It had taken Jenna, however, to open my eyes to our parents small-minded bitchiness. When Jenna had run away to find our brothers because she was tired of our mother putting Drake down when Jenna would watch Americas Rocker every week and gush that one of the judges was her brother, Id seriously opened my eyes.

It was then that Id realized that my brothers had never been the bad guys, and had their reasons for not wanting a relationship with my dad or me when their own mother had died. It had all been my mothers doing, and I couldnt blame Drake and Shane for turning their backs on my dad and me when my mother had forced our dad to turn his back on them when they had needed him so desperately.