Rise Read online

  Also by L. A. Cotton

  Black Hearts Still Beat

  Rush

  Rise

  Rule: The Finale (Coming Soon)

  Chastity Falls

  Loyalty and Lies

  Salvation and Secrets

  Tribulation and Truths

  Affliction

  Redemption and Regrets

  Penance and Promises

  Absolution

  Fate's Love

  Fate's Love

  Love's Spark

  Love Collides

  Liar Liar

  Liar Liar

  Truth or Dare

  Rixon Raiders

  The Trouble With You

  The Game You Play

  The Harder You Fall

  The Maverick Defense Series

  Deliverance

  Wicked Bay

  Wicked Beginnings

  Wicked Rules

  Wicked Lies

  Wicked Games

  Wicked Needs

  Wicked Surprise

  Wicked Hearts

  Wicked Promises

  Wicked Truths

  Wicked Forever (Coming Soon)

  Standalone

  Lucky Penny

  Chastity Falls: Box Set

  Rixon Raiders (The Collection) (Coming Soon)

  Watch for more at L. A. Cotton’s site.

  Rise

  BLACK HEARTS STILL BEAT: THE INTERLUDE

  l a cotton

  Contents

  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

  Playlist

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Published by Delesty Books

  * * *

  RISE

  * * *

  eBook Edition

  Copyright © L A Cotton 2020

  All rights reserved.

  * * *

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and events are the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons or events is purely coincidental.

  * * *

  No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without the written permission of the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages for review purposes only.

  * * *

  Edited by Andie M Long Editing Services

  Cover by Lianne Cotton

  Images licenses from Adobe Stock and Shutterstock

  Formatted by The Graphics Shed

  You may shoot me with your words,

  You may cut me with your eyes,

  You may kill me with your hatefulness,

  But still, like air, I’ll rise.

  ~ Maya Angelou

  Eva

  “Eva, sweetheart, we’re here.”

  I blinked over at Mom, shaking myself out of it. Now was not the time to get cold feet.

  “Are you okay? Do you feel sick, baby?” She frowned. “Gavin, maybe this isn’t such a—”

  “I’m fine, Mom. Just tired.” The two-hour ride to Nashville had felt like ten, my mind working overtime. Alistair had wanted me to fly out to Atlanta to join the band, but my parents had set him straight at that suggestion. I was their daughter. Precious cargo. I might have been about to embark on a sold-out arena tour with the country’s hottest rock band of the moment, but they still insisted on driving me to Razorsharp Records Nashville branch to meet Alistair so he could chaperone me.

  “Jesse, you promised...” Dad’s words were quiet.

  “I know,” she replied, glancing back at me and offering a sad smile. “But the money is not—”

  “I signed the contract, Mom. I’m doin’ this.”

  For the next six months, my life belonged to Alistair Portman and Razorsharp Records. They were paying me handsomely for my time and efforts. It was money we needed. Money my parents desperately needed.

  Sure, I had reservations. Plenty of them. I was, after all, just a quiet girl from Lyme, Tennessee. I didn’t flourish under the spotlight; I shrank into the shadows. Not to mention the fact that going on tour with Black Hearts Still Beat meant seeing him again.

  Nope, not going there. That wasn’t important—he wasn’t important.

  My family was.

  Dad climbed out of the car and opened my door. “You’ve got this, sweetheart,” he said as I got out. The frigid air hit me and I rubbed my hands together trying to ease the chill.

  “I’m proud of you, Eva. We both are,” Dad went on. “But remember, if it gets to be too much, if you need a break, all you have to do is call me and I’ll come get you. Wherever you are.” A wide smile cracked his face, but I saw the promise in his eyes.

  Dad wanted me to do this, way more than I wanted to do it. Not because we needed the money, but because he wanted me to follow my dreams.

  He wanted me to live.

  “Did you pack your medication?” Mom came around the car to us.

  “Yes, Mom.”

  “Scripts?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you have the vitamins?”

  I inhaled a deep breath and cast a quick look at my dad.

  “Jesse... she’s good.” Dad chuckled. “Besides, Mr. Portman gave us his word that he’d—”

  “Take extra special care of our sweetheart of country.”

  The nickname made me flinch, but I forced a smile at my new manager.

  “Jesse, Gavin, it’s good to see you again.” Alistair extended his hand to Dad.

  “We’re trusting you to take good care of our girl.”

  “I’ve already briefed Eva’s assistant of her medical... requirements.”

  My eyes widened but Alistair only smiled. “You have nothing to worry about, Eva. Letty has signed an NDA.”

  “Of course she has,” I grumbled.

  “However, I still think we should inform the band of your—”

  “No!” I snapped, forgetting who I was talking to. “I don’t want them to know. I don’t want anyone to know.” It was going to be hard enough being the unassuming girl on tour with Black Hearts without the media learning I was a cancer survivor too.

  “Very well.” Alistair gave me a curt nod. “I’ll give you some time to say goodbye. Jesse, Gavin, I’ll see you both soon.” He pulled out his cell phone and strode off toward a sleek black SUV.

  “Come here, sweetheart.” Dad enveloped me in his arms. “You can do this, Eva. You were born to do this.”

  I clung to my father the way I had so many times before. He had always been my protector. My rock. He worked hard for me and Mom, and when I’d gotten sick, he’d given everything he could to make sure I’d had the best care available.

  “I know why you’re doin’ this,” he whispered. “But I want you to know, all I want is for you to follow your dreams, sweetheart. Don’t ever forget that.”

  “Thanks, Dad.” I eased away, swallowing down the tears burning my throat.

  “Oh, Eva, baby.” Mom launched herself at me, pulling me into a bone-crunching hug. “Promise me you’ll take good care of yourself, promise.”

  “I promise, Mom. You heard Alistair; I have a babysitter.”

  Dad chuckled again.

  “I’m not sure I can let
you go.” Mom tightened her grip on me. “On tour... with a rock band... it’s...”

  “All going to be fine.” Untangling myself from her arms, I brushed the curls out of my face. “I need to do this, Mom.” I needed to do it for them.

  She shot Dad a worried look, but he only smiled, moving closer to take her hand. “She’s eighteen, Jesse; a young woman. She’s got this.” The conviction in his words made the lump in my throat grow.

  “I’ll call as much as I can.”

  “Every day,” Mom said. “You’ll call every day.”

  “Mom...”

  “Okay, every other day.” She conceded, an uncertain smile tugging the corner of her mouth.

  “I should go,” I said, not wanting to drag it out any longer than necessary. “I’ll call when we get to Atlanta.”

  “Okay, sweetheart. Be safe and have fun.” Dad winked.

  “Oh, Gavin, don’t encourage her, please.” We were all smiling now. It was nice. Something we hadn’t done together in a really long time. It felt good. Hopeful. It felt like we were about to turn a corner and put all the pain, hurt, and financial worries behind us.

  I was finally getting a chance to repay my parents for all the sacrifices they’d made for me. Even if it meant spending the next five months touring the country with the boy who’d made me believe in fairytales... and then reminded me of the age-old saying:

  Never fall for a rock star.

  The first thing I noticed when we stepped out of Alistair’s SUV almost four hours later, was the air no longer smelled like home. The second thing I noticed about the city was the noise. Tires screeching, horns honking, sirens wailing, and cars blaring music. Even the people here seemed to talk louder, barking into their cell phones as they went about their day. Atlanta was worlds away from my small hometown in Tennessee, and I suddenly felt the gravity of what I was about to do.

  “Okay over there?” Alistair asked as he pulled out a packet of gum and shoved a stick into his mouth. Something he did a lot, I’d noticed, on the awkward ride here.

  “How long since you quit?” His brow rose and I smiled. “You chew a lot of gum. I figure you’re an ex-smoker?”

  “Perceptive and talented; you’re quite the package, aren’t you?”

  There was no time to answer as two burly men strode toward us. “Mr. Portman, good to see you.”

  “Travis, Grayson, meet Ms. Walker.” They both nodded.

  “Hey,” I said quietly.

  “Travis and Grayson are assigned to you, Eva. They’ll be—”

  “I’m sorry, assigned to me?” My brows furrowed.

  “Yes, they’re your bodyguards. We covered this in the meeting.” His eyes narrowed.

  “I, uh...” Between Alistair and the people from Razorsharp Records legal team and the many, many big words they’d used, I hadn’t taken in much besides the fact that they wanted me to tour with the band. I was, according to them, the next sweetheart of country, and the perfect candidate to fix Black Hearts’ tarnished reputation after Levi Hunter, lead vocalist and rock’s latest bad boy, spiraled out of control and ended up in rehab some months earlier.

  If you asked me, they were all freakin’ crazy. I wasn’t performance ready. I’d barely had any time to pull together a set list, let alone rehearse. But here I was. Standing outside Razorsharp Records HQ with nothing but the duffel bag on my shoulder and the promise of a check big enough to erase all my parents’ financial worries.

  “Ready?” Alistair’s question pulled me from my thoughts.

  “As I’ll ever be,” I half-heartedly mumbled, following him inside. Everyone looked our way. Some people greeted Alistair, some people simply watched. One girl, an intern I guessed since she didn’t look much older than me, even greeted me. Because I wasn’t a no one now.

  I was someone.

  Yet, I still didn’t know how to feel about that.

  Singing and playing my cherry red Gibson had once been everything to me. But that was before cancer. Before I realized how cruel and senseless things could be. I was one of the lucky ones though. A medical miracle who had lived to tell the tale. To make her mark on the world.

  If only it was that simple.

  There were days I didn’t feel lucky though. Days when the guilt of surviving was almost too much to bear.

  Things were better now—eased by the comfort of knowing I could fix things for Mom and Dad—but I still had my moments. I still woke up in the middle of the night, tangled in damp bed sheets calling out Cody’s name. He’d deserved to live, but God had spared me and taken him. I knew that wasn’t how it really worked; I knew it was the cancer that had taken him. But even after all this time, it still didn’t seem fair that I got to live and he didn’t.

  “Alistair,” a tall blonde strutted over to us, peering down at her clipboard.

  “Riley, everything good to go?” he asked, ushering me into the elevator.

  “Everything’s set. Duke is doing a final check as we speak.” She hesitated, and Alistair’s jaw set in response.

  “They’re not here?”

  “Rafe called. He said there was a... complication.”

  Alistair grumbled something inaudible beneath his breath. The air suddenly felt thick; too dense to breathe. I rubbed at my chest, trying to slow my racing pulse. If I was going to survive the next few months, I needed to be able to handle hearing Rafe’s name. Heck, I needed to be able to handle much more than that.

  I hadn’t seen him yet. Not since the Jamesboro County Talent Showdown final in Camdena. He and the band were supposed to be at my rehearsals but they’d never showed, and Alistair never gave me much in the way of an explanation. Not that I needed one. Black Hearts were... well, they were, despite their young age, already rock star royalty, and I was a talent contest runner up offered the opportunity of a lifetime. They didn’t owe me anything, just as I wanted nothing from them in return. It was a business transaction. Plain and simple. Part of me couldn’t help but wonder though, if the lack of people present at my rehearsals was strategic on Alistair’s part. The band was a lot to handle and I was only here because I didn’t have any other choice.

  It wasn’t exactly a match made in heaven.

  “Eva, this is Riley Panem, my PA.”

  “It’s nice to meet you,” I said.

  “Likewise.” Her perfectly lined eyes gave me the once over. Before I could try to read her assessment of me, the doors pinged open and we were on the move again. “Dowager called. He wanted reassurance Levi isn’t going to cause problems.”

  “Levi knows the score.” Alistair pulled at his tie. “He can’t afford to screw this up.”

  Riley snorted. “Levi Hunter thrives on chaos. If you think for a second—”

  “Riley,” Alistair warned, his gaze flicking briefly to where I stood wedged between my new bodyguards.

  “Don’t mind me.” I shrugged, pretending I could care less about their conversation, when deep down I wanted to know who Dowager was and why he was worried about Levi.

  The sour-faced woman pursed her lips, making no effort to hide her disapproval toward me. I glared back, feeling a wrinkle of irritation travel up my spine. I’d been here less than two minutes, and yet I couldn’t help but suspect she felt threatened by me. Which was crazy.

  I’d done nothing wrong.

  “Travis, escort Ms. Walker to the meeting room,” Alistair checked his wristwatch, “Letty will be along shortly.”

  Ahh yes, Letty. My elusive assistant who had also been missing at my rehearsals. I’d never had an assistant before, but then I’d never gone on tour with a rock band before either. It was definitely a day of firsts.

  Travis motioned for me to follow him down the hall, but I hesitated. “Eva,” Alistair asked. “Is there a problem?”

  “No problem,” I muttered, hitching my bag up my shoulder.

  Lies. All lies.

  There were plenty of problems with this whole scenario. But something told me Alistair didn’t want to hear them, so I b
it my tongue and followed Travis. Framed gold and platinum records lined the walls, interspersed with photographs of some of the label’s most successful artists. My skin tingled as I let my eyes run over each of them. When I was younger, I’d never wanted fame and fortune, not in the way most of these artists had it. But I’d always wanted to perform. Dreamed about a future of making music and writing lyrics; of pouring my heart and soul into song after song.

  Music was everything to me, so to have the chance to go on tour—to perform to sell-out crowds in a different city every night—should have been a dream come true.

  A commotion up ahead stopped me in my tracks. There was no mistaking the deep gravelly voice of Levi Hunter. “Country, is that you I spy hiding behind Travis?”

  Sucking in a sharp breath, I stepped around my hulk of a bodyguard and lifted a hand in greeting. “Levi.”

  “Ms. Walker.” He smirked, his eyes dancing with mischief.

  “Nice to see you again, Eva.” Hudson Ryker, drummer and perpetual player, gave me a curt nod.

  “Wish I could say the same.” I smiled. It was a joke, but there was no denying the trace of bitterness in my voice. Damn, it had only been a second and these boys were already messing with my head.

  “Get over here, Walker.” Damon Donnelley opened his arms, but I remained still. The corner of his mouth lifted. “It’s like that, huh?”

  “How else would it be?” I shot back, fighting a smile, all while my insides quivered and shook.

  “It’s good to see you again,” he added, his eyes flitting to Levi’s who looked at Hudson. Tension crackled around us as they watched me.