Page 15 of Big & Burly Rockstar

I look up to see Elli standing in the doorway, wearing an oversized T-shirt and loose pants. Her face is free of make-up and her eyes are still tinged with pink. She’s smiling at me. And she looks so fucking beautiful it hurts.

“Nothing,” I say, not wanting to say anything that could wipe that smile off her face.

She arches an eyebrow. “If you say so.” She walks into my bedroom, looking around curiously. I wonder what it looks like through her eyes. If it’s what she expected. Elli pads over to the bookshelf, her eyes flicking over the many rows. Her long hair swishes as she glances at me over her shoulder, grinning. “Is there anything on this bookshelf that isn’t a crime novel or a biography?”

“Nope. I’m a simple man.”

She snorts. “I doubt that. Why do you have the bookshelf in your bedroom? It’s not like you live in a tiny house.”

I climb out of bed only wearing boxers and walk over to her. When her eyes rake over my body and her tongue darts out to wet her lips, I have to hide my grin.

“Enjoying the view?”

Delicious heat floods her cheeks, and she avoids my gaze. I decide to put her out of her misery by answering her question. “When I was a kid, I always dreamed of having a huge bookshelf in my room.”

“Oh.” She swallows, then points at the only picture in my bedroom, sitting in the middle of the bookshelf. “Who’s that?”

“Me and the guys with Finn’s mom.”

“She looks sweet.”

My heart clenches and I can’t keep my voice even as I say, “She’s the best. We wouldn’t be here without her.”

She glances at me, her bright, assessing eyes on my face. “What is it?” she asks softly.

I swallow against the sudden lump in my throat. “Amy—she has cancer. It’s vicious. She’s—” I blink, willing my tears not to spill over. Elli grabs my hand, squeezing it tightly.

“I’m sorry.”

“Amy was more of a mother to me than the woman who gave birth to me. That’s why—” I pause.

“That’s why what?”

I let out a sigh through my nose. “Why you’re here.”

“What?”

“Amy is dying. We’ve tried everything. But a doctor in Australia, he does this experimental treatment, and—well, obviously it’s not guaranteed that it’ll work. But we have to try. And for that we need money. Finn needs money.”

“But… You’re rich. I don’t understand.”

I shrug. “Yeah, we are. But we’re not as rich as you probably think. We wasted a lot of money. Well, Finn didn’t. He’s too responsible for that. But he’s spent a lot on Amy’s treatment.”

She furrows her delicate brows. “But if Finn needs money for his mom’s treatment, why not just give him what you’re paying me?”

I let out a bitter laugh. “I’m not paying you. The label is. If the next album is a success, they’ll make it back easily. They get 60 percent. But a successful album means a successful tour. That’s where we make most of our money.”

She cocks her head. “So if it wasn’t for Finn’s mom… you wouldn’t have agreed to this?” she waves hand back and forth between us.

“I would’ve told Pete to get fucked. We still owe the label two albums. If it were just about me, I would’ve refused. Let the fuckers sue the shit out of me. I don’t care. They can have all the fucking money. But—” I shake my head. “It’s not about me. It’s about Amy. So I agreed.” I smile down at her and tug a strand of her silky dark hair behind her ear. “And I’m glad I did.”

“So am I.”

Elli sinks her teeth into her bottom lip. “Please don’t take this the wrong way, but I just have to ask. The stuff the press wrote about you—you know, punching the journalist, and the drugs and strippers—how much of it is true?”

I sigh. “Most of it, unfortunately. I was in a dark place and I needed a distraction. So I tried to lose myself in women and booze, but…”

“But?”

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