Lead
A Stage Dive Novel
Kylie Scott
PAN BOOKS
About LEAD: Stage Dive 3
Stay up all night with the sexy rockers in Stage Dive, the epic New Adult series from New York Times bestselling author Kylie Scott, author of Lick and Play.
As the lead singer of Stage Dive, Jimmy is used to getting whatever he wants, whenever he wants it, whether it’s booze, drugs, or women. However, when a PR disaster serves as a wake-up call about his life and lands him in rehab, he finds himself with Lena, a new assistant to keep him out of trouble.
Lena’s not willing to take any crap from the sexy rocker and is determined to keep their relationship completely professional, despite their sizzling chemistry. But when Jimmy pushes her too far and Lena leaves, he realizes that he may just have lost the best thing that ever happened to him.
With special thanks to Jo Wylde, Sali Pow, and Natasha Tomic.
Dedicated to the Australian Romance Readers Association.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
With thanks to my husband and family for yet again enduring the madness of another deadline. Their love and grace under pressure is astounding. I couldn’t do it without their whole hearted support and willingness to eat microwave meals.
Big thanks to everyone at St Martin’s Press and Pan Macmillan Australia and the UK. Special thanks to my wonderfully supportive editor, Rose Hilliard, Haylee and Catherine.
Thanks to my lovely agent Amy Tannenbaum at the Jane Rotrosen Agency for her unflagging belief in me and excellent advice. Also to Chasity Jenkins from Rock Star PR & Literary Services for her friendship and assistance and to By Hang Le for the awesome graphics and love.
An extra special thanks to the ladies in Groupies. You guys rock.
Book blogging is an act of love. I don’t think you could pay someone enough for the around the clock single-minded dedication to reading, reviewing, and keeping the romance community informed of breaking news and new releases etc. (As always, I know I’m going to forget important people so please excuse me … ) Natasha is a Book Junkie, The Rock Stars of Romance, Maryse, The Smut Book Club, Totally Booked, Aestas, Give Me Books, Love n Books, Angie’s Dreamy Reads, Globug and Hootie, The Autumn Review, About that Story, The Book Pushers, Wicked L’il Pixie, Heroes and Heartbreakers, Hopeless Romantic, Smexy Books, Under the Covers, Book Thingo, Shh Mom’s Reading, Hook Me Up, Ana’s Attic, Kaetrin, Nelle, Jodie and Jess from Indie Author’s Down Under, Sassymum, the ladies from Fictionally Yours Melbourne, Angie, Mel and the Triple M Bookclub, The Book Bellas, Random Hot Guy of the Day, Verna Loves Books, Valley of the Book Doll, Up All Night, Lit Slave, Three Chicks, Love Between the Sheets, Rude Girl, Joyfully Reviewed, Night Owl, Crystal, Cath, Dear Author, Twinsie Talk, Love Affair with Books, Harlequin Junkie, Sahara, Kati, Martini Times Romance, Booktopia, Rosemary’s Romance, and many many more. If you took the time to read and review one of my books, then thank you.
PROLOGUE
Two months ago …
The man’s mouth kept moving but I’d long since tuned out.
They weren’t paying me enough for this. Impossible. Day two on the job and I was ready to throw myself out a window. The music biz will be fun they said. It’ll be glamorous they said. They lied.
“… is that so hard to understand? Am I getting through to you? An éclair is a long, chocolate-frosted donut with custard in the middle. Not this, this … round thing you’ve bought me. AGAIN,” the idiot thundered, jowls shaking.
Over at her desk, his P.A. slunk further down in her seat, just in case he decided to make her the next target, no doubt. Fair enough. She probably wasn’t getting paid enough either. Only a masochist would enjoy this for under a hundred bucks an hour. Usually I tried to get temp jobs that lasted a couple of months or so. Long enough to make some money, short enough to avoid getting caught up in any drama.
Usually.
“Are you listening to me?” Fake-tanned flesh turned from orange to a startling shade of burgundy as his anger grew. If he had a heart attack, I wasn’t giving him mouth-to-mouth. Some other brave soul could make the sacrifice.
“Miss … whatever your name is,” he said. “Go back to the shop and get me what I asked for this time!”
“Morrissey. My name is Lena Morrissey.” I passed him a napkin, taking care not to touch him because a true professional always kept her distance. Also, the guy was just that repugnant. “And this is for you.”
“What is it?”
“It’s a message from the duty manager at the donut shop apologizing for the lack of long, tasty, phallic-shaped éclairs. Apparently they don’t get baked until later in the day,” I said. “Since you failed to believe me when I explained this to you yesterday. I thought you might be more inclined to believe it if it came from a higher authority in the donut world.”
The poor perplexed darling looked from me to the napkin and back again.
“His name was Pete. He seemed nice, you should call him if you need further verification. You’ll see I got him to write his number down there at the bottom.” I tried to point to the digits in question but Adrian snatched his hand back, scrunching the napkin into a ball of rubbish. Oh well, I tried.
Sort of.
Laughter burst forth from the corner of his office. A good-looking guy with long blond hair grinned at me. Glad Blondie was amused. I on the other hand was probably definitely about to get fired.
Wait, was that Mal Ericson from Stage Dive?
Fuck a duck, it was.
So the three other men must be the rest of the band members. I tried to avert my eyes, but my eyes had other ideas. Famous people. Huh. At least I’d managed to see some up-close before getting my ass canned. They didn’t seem particularly different than us normal human beings, just a little prettier, perhaps. Even with having sworn off men, their wow factor couldn’t be denied. The two guys with dark hair and fair faces were huddled together, flicking through some documents. They’d be David and Jimmy Ferris, the brothers. Ben Nicholson, the bass player, and largest of them all was stretched out, hands behind his head, fast asleep. Kudos to him. Not a bad method of getting through a meeting.
Mal gave me a finger wave. “Lena Morrissey, huh?”
“Yes.”
“I like you. You’re funny.”
“Thanks,” I replied drily.
“Mal, buddy.” Adrian butted in. “Let me just get rid of this … woman. And we can finish up our business.”
The corporate monster turned his beady little eyes back to me. “You’re fired. Get out of here.”