Copyrights © Terri Anne Browning/Anna Henson 2015 All Rights Reserved
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of Terri Anne Browning, except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976.
The Rocker Who Betrays Me (The Rocker Series, Book 11)
1st Edition Published October 2015
Published by Terri Anne Browning
Written By Terri Anne Browning
Editor Lorelei Logsdon
Cover Design and Picture by Sara Eirew
Models Carolyn Seguin and Stef Prince
Formatting by M.L. Pahl of IndieVention Designs
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The Rocker Who Betrays Me is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
No part of this book can be reproduced in any form by electronic or mechanical means, including storage or retrieval systems, without the express permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer who may quote short excerpts in a review.
Dedication
To the man who loved his Annabelle first.
Rest in peace, dear man.
I hope your Annabelle would have made you proud.
Acknowledgements
Normally this is the point where I say thank you to all the people who have made The Rocker Series such a success over the last few years. I think they know how much they mean to me and how much I appreciate everything they do, not just with helping with these kick-ass books, but in my everyday life as well. You all know who you are and I love you to the moon and back.
Right now I want to prepare you for what you are about to read. The Rocker Who Betrays Me is full of angst — heartbreaking, ugly-crying angst. There were times during the writing process where I just had to close my Mac and walk away from a scene for a few hours before I was able to finish certain parts. Out of all the rockers I have given you, Zander has always been the elusive one for me. I started this book six different times and ended up deleting it every single time before I was truly happy with where he was taking me. For once, my bad-ass rocker didn’t know how to talk to me and we stumbled a few times along the way. Yet as soon as we got to where we understood each other, the book turned into one that became so much longer than the other books in this series. Z’s story needed to start from the beginning, meaning OtherWorld’s beginning as well.
Now kick back, relax, and enjoy The Rocker Who Betrays Me.
Happy reading.
<3
T
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Epilogue
Playlist
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Blood & Loyalties by Ryan Michele
Jag by Stevie J. Cole
P ROLOGUE
Annabelle
My heart was beating so hard it was a wonder that no one noticed how badly my chest was shaking. Even though I was trying to deny it to myself, I knew it had nothing to do with the fact that my biggest client was fighting for her life just down the hall in the ICU ward. My subconscious was trying to make itself known loud and clear as to what I was really feeling, what I was really thinking.
For the first time in more than seventeen years, I was in the same room as Zander Brockman. I’d imagined this moment for every damn one of those seventeen years and each time I’d always come up with a different scenario of how I would handle myself should that ever happen. I’ve imagined myself as calm and collected, broken and weeping, raging mad with my fists flying toward his sexy-as-sin face, and every emotion in between.
I hadn’t taken into account how my heart would break a little more from just seeing his face, or how my body would respond to his nearness. It only pissed me off. How could I betray myself like that? How could I let him affect me in either of those ways after what he’d done?
I sat on one of the uncomfortable chairs, waiting on Emmie to finish up her calls before we went downstairs for the scheduled press conference that we’d set up. My mind should have been on the job-at-hand and the fact that my biggest client was fighting for her life after risking it to save Mia Armstrong. Instead all I could do was sit there and sneak glances at the rocker standing with his best friend and Natalie Stevenson across the room.
Fuck. Time had been good to Zander. There were even more tattoos on him now than there had been the last time I’d set eyes on him in the flesh. His hair was a little longer now, curling like it always did; his face even more defined, making me want to trace each angle with my fingertips. He was even sexier now than he had been at eighteen, making it nearly impossible for me not to react to him. It wasn’t fair that he had only gotten better-looking with age while I’d been fighting back the hands of time from the day he’d left me.
His head started to turn and I quickly looked away before he caught me staring. How embarrassing would that be to get caught gawking at the man who had made it abundantly clear seventeen years before that he was through with me?
Disgusted with myself, I lowered my eyes to my phone and realized I had a text.
R U Ok?
My heart melted at the sight of those three words from the only person who had ever cared enough to put me first. I swallowed hard and swiped my thumb over his name before lifting the phone to my ear. It had barely rung on the other end when I heard his voice.
“Annabelle,” my brother said, sounding relieved.
“Hi,” I choked out. “Everything okay?”
“I was going to ask you that,” he said with a small, deep laugh that quickly faded. “You didn’t respond to my text. Are you okay?”
Noah knew how difficult this was for me. I always avoided anything that had to do with OtherWorld. It was one of the reasons I hadn’t been at the festival with Gabriella and her band when she’d been shot. Being here now, surrounded by people from my past, was bringing back memories that were both bittersweet and painful.
Grimacing, I forced myself to lift my head and straightened my shoulders. “I’m fine, Noah. Honestly.” It wasn’t the first time I’d lied to my brother, but it had been a long time since I’d had to, and I hoped he would forgive me for it. “I’m just busy. Things are crazy here. Emmie and I are going to be doing a press conference in a few so I need to go.”
“Okay, I understand. I’m just worried about you, honey. Chelsea and Mieke are worried too.” I tightened my hold on the phone and stood, making sure my back was to the three people standing across the room so they couldn’t see my expression right then. “We’ll watch the conference.”