Tempting the Crown (The Crown 1)

I was angry enough to split the steering wheel in half. The rage pumped through me in jolts of adrenaline. Someone was going to pay for this. Ruining my reputation was one thing. Someone trying to take Alexa down was something else.

I pulled into the garage. I needed to get Alexa on the phone.

Charlie kept rambling. She was in def-con five mode. “I’m not prepared to reorganize our plan until I see how the optics fall out. It would help if I could talk to Alexa. For now, please don’t leave Austin, Luke.”

I ignored her. There was no way she could keep me here if Alexa needed me in Nashville.

“I’ve got to go, Charlie. Tell Linc I’ll call him later.” I hung up before she had a chance to shove another recommendation down my throat.

I dialed Alexa’s number.

“Baby, you ok?”

She choked out a sob. “Luke.”

“Hey, what the hell is going on? Are you ok? Talk to me.”

We were all in on this thing. She knew she could trust me with her life. I always had her back. I’d do whatever it took to take care of her, especially with fucking vultures coming after her like this.

Her life had been anything but easy. She had gone through hell with her parents. She had survived so much on her won. They weren’t here for her now, but I could be. I could be that man in her life. I was strong enough for both of us if she needed me to be. I’d fight like hell for this woman. Nothing could stop me. My emotions ran deep and wide.

And it hit me like a fucking brick to the back of the head. I loved her.

I loved Alexa Wilde. It was fierce and overpowering. The kind of love that was brutal. I had held her closer and tighter than any woman. I had memorized every delicious morsel of her body. I missed her when she wasn’t near me. I listened to her damn music in my truck. I knew the words to her songs. I knew the songs she hadn’t recorded yet. I wore the damn sunglasses she had shipped to me. I kept pictures of her on my phone. I was fucking in love with her. Damn it.

I heard her suck in a breath. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know if you’d call. I didn’t think you’d want to talk to me.”

“I can handle this. Shit, Alexa. I’ve been accused of worse.” If she hadn’t met me at a charity event I wondered if she would have taken the chance she did. Did that one sliver of good she saw in me lead us here? This was my territory. I knew how to roll with the punches of bad press. I could get her through this fuckup.

“It’s mostly true.”

It was as if someone had jammed a blade between my ribs. What did she say? No. It wasn’t true. No fucking way was it true.

“It’s true?” I sat in the cab of my truck, dumbfounded. Shocked. Broken.

I didn’t know how quickly my emotions could be strangled with one confession.

She sniffed. “Jake said he was going to release the information, but I didn’t believe him. I never thought he’d actually go through with it. He’s been saying it for years.” She cried so hard, none of her words made any sense.

“You used to be Mandy Brown?” I didn’t even know who the fuck that was.

“Yes, but let me explain—”

I cut her off.

“Stop it. It’s a fucking lie.” I couldn’t let her destroy me. The longer I hung around to hear excuses, the longer my heart was still in it. The more I bled. The more I physically reacted to the words in my ear.

“Luke, I wanted to tell you all of this before, but there was never a right time to tell you.”

My stomach clenched in repulsion.

I didn’t need an explanation. I had been played. I was no different than the fans. The millions of people who fell in love with an image.

I thought she was someone different. The woman who had brought something deep and powerful from my soul. She could move me with her voice. Rock me with her body. Love me with her heart. And the entire time she was a whore. A whore.

My eyes narrowed. My heart hardened.

“Luke, please talk to me.”