“Tell me again.”
I make him wait. His hands grip mine, caging my small fists inside his larger palms. I let the sound of his voice echo through me, hearing it over and over and over again.
Finally, when I can't stand it anymore, I give my answer.
“I will. I will marry you, August Berner.”
I hadn't even noticed people are watching us. All I could see was him. Now as he stands up, everyone breaks into applause, circling us and smiling, congratulating him. Men reach out and shake his hand, but he will not let me go. His hand is covering mine, holding me gently, keeping me close to him.
I never realized exactly how lost I was until he found me. And now everything will be different. I feel utterly complete.
Copyright © 2017 by Jess Bentley and Mona Cox
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Rory vs. Rockstar was adapted from an existing work for which Jess Bentley owns rights.
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Prologue
"You think we have time for one more, girls?" Ashley asked, but her hand was already signaling the waiter who was heading over. "Besides, this waiter is fucking hot."
"I mean, it's not like we have a plane to catch or anything," Lisa said, a smile on her lips. "We just got off the plane. All we're doing is sitting here drinking with no real place to go."
“Please," Rory said nodding her head as the waiter put another Cosmopolitan in front of her. He was awfully quick bringing those Cosmo's out as soon as Ashley had ordered another round. Rory began to wonder whether they were in a pitcher in the back, already pre-made for the girls after the first round, just waiting till they were ordered.
Awfully sneaky.
"Please what, babe?" Alicia asked turning to her.
Rory rolled her eyes. "Please, not everyone has nowhere to be," Rory said. "I mean, I still have a flight to catch in an hour."
"Oh right," Alicia said, as if realizing for the first time that Rory had to go. "Why, again?" she asked.
"Oh my God, because I live in Southern California?" Rory asked, with a faint touch of exasperation. "You know, like you did while we were growing up. And when we went to school at USC. You know, before you moved out here."
Rory didn't realize if maybe she had come across a little bit too intensely and immediately felt bad for how she had sounded.
"I mean, I just miss you so much sometimes," she quickly added before Alicia began to think she was being berated. "Why don't you ever think of coming back to California?"
"Um, because New York City is totally the center of the freakin' world," Alicia said, as if explaining a matter-of-fact statement to child. "You need to come to the capital of the world, babe."
"Ugh, I hate big cities," Rory said before taking a sip of her drink. "Give me an island next to the ocean any day of the week and I'm happy with whatever else."
"Really?" Natalie asked her. "What about Manhattan? That's an island."
“An island without three million people living on it," Rory replied with a smile.
"What about if two million of them were hot guys?" Kim asked.
Rory chuckled. She might not always get along with her friend Alicia, who she had grown up with and known all her life, but she couldn't deny that Alicia had some friends that definitely made life a blast.
The girls had just returned from a Spring Break visit to Myrtle Beach. And while they had fun, Rory was beginning to miss the quiet environs of Montcove—the island community that she had spent summers for as long as she could remember, and where she now lived.
Rory had grown up with her best friend Alicia Sullivan in LA, and Alicia had even visited Montcove a few times. The two had been practically inseparable as they had matured from little girls to young women. They’d shared everything with each other—their first crushes, the first time they kissed a boy. When Alicia had lost her virginity the two had stayed up all night talking about it. And when Rory had finally lost hers a week later, Alicia persuaded her to go to Tijuana together to celebrate.
Now, Alicia was getting married to Derek Lowell, a client of hers from Carter Jeffries. She was living the fast paced New York City lifestyle and had wanted as part of her engagement celebrations to spend a week during Spring Break