Rock Star Returns: Carlie's Story (Access All Areas 2)

Even after all that research, I had no idea what he was up to. There were touring plans for later in the year but nothing for the next few months. Lots of self-congratulations about the success of “Rock Princess”.

Bastard. I should at least get some royalties from that song. I never even got a credit. Not that I wanted my name associated with Holden King in any way but still.

No news about him going back into the recording studio. No overseas dates that would get him well away from me. The only things he had on were some television appearances and a festival.

That worried me. It gave him plenty of time to annoy me. Rock stars should be much busier than that. They should be on tour buses driving all over the country or going to big rock star parties. All the kinds of thing that didn't happen in this town.

Of course, that might just be me being egotistical. He'd be well away from this place by now and I'd be long forgotten. He'd just dropped by on some kind of stupid impulse. I was in no danger of ever seeing him again. Especially if half those stories on that forum were true.

I don't know why the rumors even bothered me. I'd have thought Holden would've forgotten me about two years and eleven months ago, maybe even sooner. When he'd decided to leave, he hadn’t been able to get away from me fast enough.

What I really needed to do was find a hottie to flirt with and maybe have some sexy times to get that jerk out of my head. The trouble with that was that I didn't know any hotties. Just guys at the bar, and I'd have to see them week after week once we were done, which got awkward.

I thought about that mystery man who worked in the upstairs bar. Burke. I could go there without ever seeing him again since he'd worked upstairs for six months without me realizing. But, if I slept with him, that might change. Guys you work with are even worse than customers. You can't get away from them afterward and they can just hang around anytime they liked. Plus, what if he talked to the other staff? That'd be embarrassing.

Some band passing through town and playing at the bar would be perfect. I could have a fling with no strings. A no string fling! Pity Alex had decided to renovate. There'd be no bands in this place in the near future. Maybe I could do something really fierce and shocking, like going to another bar. I couldn't remember the last time I'd been to a bar that wasn't Trouble.

Some loser had given me his phone number a while back. He'd been boring as all fuck but he'd known what he was doing in the sack. Maybe I could call him.

Except, when I thought about it, "a while back" had been a year or more ago and I'd probably long thrown out that phone number. Surely I'd tidied my room some time in the last year.

There were a few guys at the gym who'd have a bit of a chat when I was working out. Any of them would be up for it. Except they were total meatheads and most of them were on steroids. Not my kind of thing at all.

It hadn't struck me before that my dating life was totally bleak. I had guys flirt with me but most of them ran away pretty damn quick. Mainly because I threatened them with bodily harm.

Maybe I should soften my image.

Nah.

Those losers needed to stay away from me. What I needed was to find a better class of loser.

I'd be better off cruising dating sites than the Holden King forum.

"I don't even know why I'm here." Violet came out of her office and sat down at the bar. "I have nothing to do. Nothing. I've contacted everyone who was playing for the next month and rescheduled them. I've dealt with the fallout and the bitching. I've even caught up on every crap bit of admin shit I've put off forever. What else is there?"

I put down my phone and poured her a drink. She needed it. A workaholic with no work to do, that had to be infuriating. She was almost twitching from lack of work.

"I have no idea. Maybe you could have naps."

"Naps are not nearly as much fun when you aren't using them to procrastinate. And that sofa in my office is

getting even shittier and lumpier. Hey, if Alex is doing the place up, maybe I can get a better sofa. I'll ask him when I see him."

A new sofa in Violet's office would be a fine thing. She wasn't the only one who needed to nap although she had more napping time than I did. Alex hadn't really defined what he wanted Violet to do until upstairs opened and he hadn't been around to ask.

"Where's Alex been anyway?" I asked.

"Who knows? After his grand takeover speech, he never even mentioned he'd be gone for a few days. Do you think he has some dark secret? Razer seems to think so."

"It makes sense. He has money to burn and he suddenly appeared in town."

For a few seconds, I gave Alex a thought. He was hot, that's for sure and he looked like he'd go off in the sack. He’d probably want to keep it quiet afterward too. He could definitely keep secrets.

There were so many advantages to Alex as stress relief but no.

No.

Even if he wasn't my boss and wasn't crazy over Violet, I just couldn't go there. If the other staff found out, they’d think I got promoted because I’d screwed him. Also, no.