Chapter One
I was too shocked to even react at first, only vaguely aware of the cameras flashing and capturing this all on film. All I could feel were Rocky’s lips pressed against mine; no tongue, no wandering hands or attempts to get in my shirt. It was just a kiss.
A kiss I definitely did not see coming.
Rocky took another step forward, steering me back into the Starbucks. He ignored the shocked gasp from Angelina and the low whistle from Lucy until the doors closed behind us.
And then he broke away. I opened my eyes again—when had I even closed them?—and stared at Rocky.
“What,” I said slowly, “was that?”
He looked past me at Lucy, spotting the “manager” plate on her name tag. “Does this place have a back door?” he asked, completely ignoring me.
Lucy didn’t even miss a beat, nodding towards the staff entrance of the Starbucks.
Rocky flashed her his signature winning smile and tugged on my arm. “You get that?”
It took me a second to realize that he wasn’t talking to me as I watched his hand go to his ear. It clicked. He was wearing an earpiece—but who was he talking to? And why was he going all double-oh-seven on me?
I pulled him to a stop as he opened the back door. “What are you doing?” I demanded.
Rocky turned to me and acknowledged my existence with a sly smirk. “Kidnapping you.”
A dark SUV pulled into the alley behind the Starbucks, screeching to a stop right in front of me. Any other time I would’ve kicked my attacker’s butt and high-tailed it out of there, but this was Rocky. He wasn’t a rogue gang member bent on killing me… I didn’t think.
Rocky pulled the back door open and bowed cheekily, and I cemented my opinion. He definitely wasn’t a backstabbing assassin. I thought about stubbornly refusing to get into the car and causing the rock star severe bodily harm, but then I remembered the mob of paparazzi waiting me at the front of the coffee place.
I glared at him as I slipped into the backseat. “I may have to kill you after this.”
Rocky shrugged, climbing in next to me. “I can live with that.”
“Buckle up,” came a no-nonsense call from the driver’s seat. I peered into the rear view mirror and immediately recognized the tell-tale auburn hair of FBI Special Agent Kate Howard—the arresting officer who’d handled my case when my sister and I had kidnapped Rocky. After the whole thing was over—no charges pressed thanks to the rock star in question—she’d given us a ride home and we were more or less on respective terms with each other now.
I waited until we pulled out into the road before unleashing my rage. “Someone explain. Now.”
Rocky turned to me and actually had the decency to look sheepish. “Sorry. I had to set up the cover.”
“What cover?”
“That you and I are dating.”
He said it so flippantly that I was too surprised to strangle him like I’d planned on doing.
Rocky must’ve noticed the murderous look on my face, because he quickly backtracked. “Trust me, it was for your own good.”
Oh, that was a serious matter of opinion. “I didn’t need you kissing me in front of everyone to improve my social status,” I snapped.
“What?” Rocky shook his head, confused. “No, I meant, you’re in danger.”
Agent Howard caught my gaze in the mirror as she drove. “We’ve lost contact with Antonio.”
Antonio. The name smashed its way into my heart, as it usually did. My twenty-six year old brother was the reason Nani and I had kidnapped Rocky in the first place after the idiot stole five grand from our father, Los Angeles’ resident gang leader. After we’d turned ourselves into the police Antonio had agreed to testify against him, but in order to do that he was put in Witness Protection.
Fat lot of good that did him. The rest of the sentence caught up to me and I leaned forward in the seat intently. “Where was he last?”
Agent Howard hesitated, which nearly drove my nerves into a frenzy. “DC,” she answered finally. “Turnbow was his handler.”
“Where’s he?”
I could see her face tighten the slightest bit from the rear view mirror. “Dead.”
Rocky sent me a sideways glance, trying to gauge my reaction. Personally I didn’t know Turnbow, except for the less-than-pleasant interrogation he’s given us after we’d turned ourselves in. He rubbed me the wrong way and from what Nani told me, he was a hard guy to get along with. But he was also Howard’s partner.
“He was killed in DC,” the agent continued, keeping her eyes on the road. “When our agents got there he was dead and your brother was missing.”
“I saw it on the news,” Rocky said quietly next to me. “We were in the area. When they showed a picture of Antonio asking if anyone had seen him, I connected the dots.”
“Dawson?” I guessed.
“No idea.”
It had to be Dawson. The lanky oddball of a man looked harmless at first glance but he was one of the heads of the Redfangs—the gang of assassins that had been LA rivals to my father since before I was born. He’d almost killed all of us four months ago when he used Rocky’s brothers to lead him to me and Nani. I knew he wanted us for some reason, but I couldn’t figure out why. It made sense that he would hunt my brother down.
The light dawned on me. “You think he’s coming after me and Nani next.”
“We wouldn’t be surprised,” Agent Howard said. Her eyes connected with mine and she gave me a smile that made me wonder just how young she was. “The girlfriend thing was Rocky’s idea.”
Rocky visibly flinched as I turned to look at him. “I just figured it would be harder to get to you guys if you were in the spotlight,” he said defensively.
I rolled my eyes skyward. “Need I remind you that a girl barely out of her teens and her kid sister got to you? And Dawson spent three days waltzing around freely with your brothers?”
Before he could answer I continued, “What makes you think that pretending to be your girlfriend is going to do anything other than make the whole world hate me again?”
I couldn’t help it—I was so angry I could’ve assembled a pipe bomb and detonated it in the boy’s ear. The news that Dawson might have my brother—that he might’ve killed him by now—terrified me to no ends. Not a lot of things scared me, and that fact was unnerving in itself. All I needed was a boy I’d been trying to forget about announcing to a universe who happened to hate my guts that he was dating me and there was nothing they could do about it.
Rocky, for his part, looked about as pissed as I felt. “I’m not exactly thrilled about it either, Crazy.”
I snorted. I’d almost forgotten his stupid nickname for me. As I opened my mouth to retort I noticed that Agent Howard flew by the exit I usually take to go home. I frowned and asked, “Where are we going?”
“My house.” Rocky still sounded indignant about being brushed off. He was such a girl.
“I thought you live in LA.”
“No,” he said impatiently, “I live in Seattle. But we have houses all over the world. Closest one is in San Antonio.”
"And Nani?"
"She'll meet us there," Agent Howard answered from her position at the driver's seat. "I have also informed your mother and stepfather. We have agents stationed at your house now, just in case."
Somewhat placated for the moment, I took it all in and made a face. San Antonio. Despite the fact that it has my brother’s name in it, it was also at least two and a half hours away from here. Two and a half hours in the same car as Rocky?
I was going to die.
***
The entire first half-hour of the trip was completely silent. Rocky was still brooding, staring out the window with one hand pressed against his chin. Agent Howard kept her eyes on the road and didn’t offer any attempt at conversation. I was deep in thought, thinking about how messed up my life was. I don’t usually do this. I’m not a sentimental person, unlike Rocky. Rocky cares too much about practically everything. Despite how much I’ve put him through, he managed to stay happy-go-lucky and, most baffling of all, forgiving.
Me? I grew up believing that there was no such thing as happiness. My entire life was an action movie. I couldn’t step outside without being terrified that a car would drive by with rolled-down windows and the barrel of an AK-47 sticking out. Every second was a blessing, kept me high strung and on my toes. I was never allowed to talk, always expected to be the perfect trophy daughter: obedient, silent, beautiful. My twelfth birthday consisted of me getting the crap kicked out of me for gang initiation. And when I was finally accepted into my father’s crowd, he’d been undeniably proud of me. I learned how to use almost every gun imaginable. I committed crimes on a daily basis and, most of all, I looked out for my little sister.
It was stupid to think that I could get out of it completely. My reasoning, back then, was that since Mom ran and managed to stay gone, I could do it, too. I like to say that I did it for my sister, but the truth was, I was sick of it all. I hated living in fear all the time, and I really just wanted to be normal. So, when my little sister turned twelve, I packed her up and left for Texas—Mom’s last known address. It took a while, but once we tracked her down she let us live with her and my new stepdad, Charlie. I went to school like a regular kid. I graduated, made friends, finally started to settle into the normal life of the average teenage girl.
Until Antonio showed up on our doorstep, asking for help raising five grand so he could pay Dad back. Unlike Nani and I, Tony was perfectly fine staying and being Dad’s right hand man. Somewhere along the way, though, he got tired of his antics just like we did. But he handled it worse. Way worse.
He joined the Redfangs.
I suppressed a shudder just at the thought of them. I wasn’t scared of much but a gang full of assassins was enough for one lifetime.
Has it really only been four months? Almost five now. I couldn’t believe that everything had flown by so quickly. It seemed like an hour ago when Rocky had signed the one word I could never comply with. Stay. Stay in LA? There were so many reasons why I shouldn’t. The Blackbirds—my old gang, the one that controlled the greater part of south Los Angeles—were there. They didn’t take betrayal well and they never, ever forget. My mother and my stepfather were waiting for me back home. And… I just wanted to be as far from Rocky Nelson as possible and forget that this whole nightmare ever happened.
It looked like the rock star had other ideas. I fought the swell of anger that rose up in my chest. It would figure that as soon as Nani and I adjust to our life again he’d come swooping in and destroy it all over again. God, the man was just so aggravating! His infuriating smirk swung back into memory, right before he’d kissed me. The balls of that guy—oh, my Lord, I felt like punching somebody all over again.
I was glaring out of the window when Rocky said softly, “So… how have you been?”
Small talk. I wasn’t good with small talk. I wasn’t good with irritating rock stars who assumed they could just leap right back into my life and be done with it. “Peachy.”
Rocky chuckled. “No kidding.”
I swear, I’m gonna slug this guy so hard his ancestors will wince. I huffed a sigh through my nose like a bull releasing steam. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Agent Howard shift, sliding her eyes to survey us in the rearview mirror. She looked annoyingly amused.
“What about Nani?” Rocky continued.
“Yeah, what about Nani?” I wondered aloud. Turning to level a glare at Rocky I said, “Did Blake come swooping into her school and kiss her in front of her classmates, too?”
Rocky rolled his eyes, either undeterred or unable to take a hint. “No, then people would know something was up. Kate had one of her agents pick her up."
My eyebrows shot up. Kate? Since when did he get so buddy-buddy with the FBI agent that they were on a first-name basis?
I didn’t ask. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.
The silence stretched on until Rocky pressed, “So… Nani?”
I sighed. He sure was persistent. “She’s adjusting. A lot better than I am, actually.”
Nani was just a big ball of innocence. It amazed me how she refused to see the bad in things. Always the optimist, always letting things roll of her back. I definitely couldn’t do that.
“Good.” Rocky nodded. “Blake is better. He was really angry for a long time.” His voice had gotten quiet. “Shane didn’t see anything wrong with… you know. But Dad grounded me for three weeks and after that the media had a field day.”
He talked so casually and I realized just how much time in the spotlight changed people. What was he like when he was just a teenager living at home, dreaming about things like this? The thought was scary, actually—because now I was going to be in the spotlight. Again.
“But we’re good now,” Rocky finished cheerfully. He kept talking even though I never responded. “Picked up our tour again—that’s why we were in DC last week. After we found out, we contacted Kate and came up with the plan.”
“Some plan,” I muttered under my breath.
Rocky pretended not to hear. “Take the next exit,” he said, leaning forward to speak into Kate—Agent Howard’s—ear.
She complied and smiled slightly. “I hope you’re prepared.”
“For what?”
Rocky looked at me with a look in his eyes that made me scared all over again—scared for my sanity. “Rocky, what are we preparing ourselves for?”
He cleared his throat, sounding sheepish. “Well… my dad doesn’t actually know that we planned this. So… he’s probably going to be pretty pissed.”
Great. I’d completely forgotten about the miniature temper tantrum Rocky’s father had thrown in the police station—or maybe it was more like an earthquake, since Rocky’s father was about the size of an elephant.
I dropped my head into my hands and didn’t talk again for the rest of the ride.
***
“Come on, Maya,” Rocky said pleadingly. “It’s not so bad.”
“Yes, it is.” I could actually feel butterflies fluttering around in my stomach as I sat, refusing to get out, in the truck. Rocky’s house—or mansion, whatever—was huge and intimidating. It looked like the freaking White House. It looked like it belonged in my mother’s real estate magazines. The lawn was perfectly sculpted like it’d been airbrushed and the walls were white marble and stone. They even had a lined walkway that led from their large cul-de-sac to the door.
At least there weren’t any cameras… yet. Although I suspected that might change if I didn’t get out of the truck soon.
Rocky looked back at his house. “I don’t even think he’s home yet,” he coaxed. “You don’t even have to say anything. I’ll be doing the talking, okay?”
“Your dad hates me, Superstar,” I ground out through gritted teeth. “I don’t know if you caught that the last time we met, but it’s pretty evident he doesn’t want to come anywhere near me and I have to say the feeling’s mutual.”
Agent Howard had her arms crossed and she had a tiny smile on her face like she found all of this entertaining. I wanted to hit her. Or maybe just something that wouldn’t immediately arrest me afterwards—like Rocky’s face, for instance.
“There’s nothing he can do about this, Maya,” Rocky insisted. “It’s too late. The press thinks we’re a couple and I’ve gotten permission from Kate and her FBI friends. He’s just going to have to suck it up and deal, okay? Now come on.”
After another moment’s hesitation, I reached for the door handle. As I got out I glared at him and said, “I do not like this, just so you know.”
“Duly noted.” Rocky made a show of escorting me up the path. The closer I got to the door, the more I wanted to bolt. Rocky reached for the knob, only to back up as it was thrown open anyways.
I don’t know who I was expecting, but the tough, lean blonde girl definitely wasn’t it.
She spotted Rocky first and her blue eyes brightened immediately. “Rocky! I didn’t know where else to go so I just came here. I think you owe me an explanation!”
Looking at Rocky, I noticed that his expression was half-frozen, half-terrified. “Dani!” he managed to choke out. “What are you doing here?”
I shook my head. “Who are you?”
Dani finally acknowledged my presence. Unlike me, she recognized my face immediately and her own soured, twisting in anger and contempt. “So. You’re her.”
“Yeah, I am,” I shot back. “And who are you?”
“Danielle Bailey,” she snapped. “Nationally ranked Motocross racer, Danielle Bailey, seventh on the podium. And I also happen to be Rocky’s girlfriend.”