Rise (Rock God 1)

“Oh. My. Fucking God,” she explodes. I try to grab her, but she’s already lunging at his back. “I’ll kill you!”

If I thought my life couldn’t get worse…

It just did.

RHYS

Present – Thirty-five years old

Rome, Italy

“Hey, brother, wake up,” Ace’s voice vibrates in my sluggish brain. I open my eyes and try to remember where I am. Sitting up, I reach for the bottle of Jack, tossing the cap on the floor. I shake my head as I let the warmth travel down my throat.

“You got Visine?” I say, looking at the tarmac and our jet waiting for me.

Ace opens up the glove compartment and tosses me some. I saturate both eyes and lean my head back, trying to let the sting subside before I get out.

“Mr. Granger, we have the G6 ready. We should be in Los Angeles in about eleven hours.” Tim, our pilot, walks over to me as I slam the SUV door.

“Perfect.” I pull out my cigarettes and turn to watch the limo pulling up and stopping right in front of us.

“Fuck you, man,” Ammo says as he gets out with two groupies.

I light up and smile. “What are you doing?”

“I don’t know. What the hell are we doing?” He points at me with the bottle of Jägermeister. Rafe steps out on the other side as Hunter and Sebastian come out with the camera on.

Inhaling, I shake my head. “This is a personal trip. No cameras.”

“Relax, Granger,” Hunter says. “Think about how you can always have this moment recorded for your kids. Pretend we’re not here.” He takes the stairs to the jet.

Sebastian walks up, turns off the camera, and we stare at each other, both of us in love with her, but I’m the one who owns her heart.

Rafe walks over. “I’m counting on you to do the right thing. If it’s personal, I don’t give a shit what Hunter wants. Turn that thing off.”

Sebastian nods at me and turns to Rafe. “You have nothing to worry about. I edit everything.” He shakes his head and laughs as he runs a hand through his hair. “So, you got a plan, Granger?”

“I’ll think of something.” I toss my cigarette and stomp on it, moving toward the stairs only to see Cash and Nuke step out of the limo.

When I raise a brow at Cash, he smiles, reaches in to grab his bass, and walks by saying over his shoulder, “You didn’t think I’d miss out on this, did you?”

Nuke, who’s shirtless, as usual, hops around from foot to foot.

I snort. “You gonna make it?”

“I’m fine,” Nuke says. “We need to go home and you’re my family. If you’re gonna go get Gia, I’m coming with you.”

I motion for him to pass. Even as fucked as I am, I’m not gonna lie. Having my brothers with me calms me.

He takes the stairs two at a time while Ace stands talking to Rafe. I look around wondering how it went from me and Ace to my whole family, because like it or not, that’s what we are. In a way it’s not bad having Sebastian with me. At least if she sees the camera, she’ll have to let me in.

Not that I’ve forgiven her.

But I can’t seem to live without her, so we can fight later. Get into all the shit we should have hashed out earlier. I climb the stairs and enter the jet, and for the first time in years, I have absolutely no idea what I’m gonna do, but I’m not alone.

They didn’t leave me.

Ammo hands me his Jägermeister as the doors close. Rafe sits down next to me as Hunter walks over with a joint and hands it to him.

“You want to get into the studio. We need to record ‘Heart Beats for You’ as soon as possible. I don’t want it pirated any more than it already has been.”

I lean my head back and close my eyes. I’ve been running for so long, the thought of staying put sounds really good.

“Yeah, I like that. I have a bunch of songs I’d love put down in the studio.”

Rafe nods and inhales, eyes narrowing as he offers me the joint. I take it. Maybe I can pass out and wake up with some incredible idea about how to get Gia to move in with me, rather than picking her up and forcibly taking her with me.

“What time is it gonna be when we land?” I mumble before I inhale and hold.

“Probably around eight a.m.” Rafe smiles at something on his phone. I exhale and lean forward.

“You got something going on that we should know about?”

His blue eyes look at mine. “I never tell my secrets. You know that.”

I recline my seat all the way back, smiling. “Wake me when we land.”

“Granger, man.” I crack my eyes open to see Ammo laughing with a groupie on his lap and drop my feet to the carpet with a thud.