Free Wrong For You (Before You Series Book 3) by Lisa Cardiff

especially after that shitstorm Cam caused with his videos.”
    They’d been over this a hundred times. He didn’t want to bring attention to the Foundation or his connection to it. He had too many stories he’d prefer remained dead and buried. Any one of them would be worse than what Cam put the band through. The tabloid trash would eat up his drug-addicted mother, his dad’s death, his extensive juvenile record, and his nonexistent childhood. No fucking way. He didn’t want to revisit any of it. “We’ve been over this and I told you I don't want the press connecting me to the Foundation or my hometown. Nobody knows much about my history and I’d like to keep it that way.”
    “We could spin it into a real tear jerking success story.”
    “No.”
    “It’ll come out sooner or later, especially if Chasing Ruin’s star continues to rise. It would be better if we controlled the narrative.”
    Rick had a point, but now wasn’t the time. He wanted his month of freedom before he had to be back in the studio working on the new material Cam and Jax collaborated on over the last few weeks and he liked that nobody had recognized him or connected him to Chasing Ruin over the last few days, especially Violet.
    Violet was light, rainbows, and sunshine, with her long blonde hair, glowing blue eyes and gorgeously dimpled smile. Since the age of ten, he’d been darkness and shadows, walking a tightrope to hell. He was entirely wrong for a woman like Violet, but that didn’t stop him from wanting to spend time with her.
    For the past five days, he had watched the way she interacted with the kids at the Foundation. She believed in those kids, every one of them, even the kids he didn’t think had a shot in hell of turning their life around, and that made him want to be around her, close to her, and this morning proved she was interested in him, and not because he was part of Chasing Ruin. Something begged him to embrace that novelty before reality crashed into him. He just hoped she didn’t hate him too much when she figured out the truth about him.
    “Eventually we’ll do it, but not now,” Alec finally answered.
    “It’s your call…for now, but if I suspect a leak of this shit, I’m going to take control of the story and spin to our advantage. That’s my job.”
    Of course he would. Alec raked his hands through his hair. “Fine, but give me notice so I can do some damage control on my end. Don’t just spring some crazy story on me five minutes before it goes viral.” He needed the opportunity to come clean with Violet before she read it somewhere or someone confronted her with the truth, but most of all he wanted to explore what was happening between them without the baggage of fame.
    “I’ll do my best.”
    “So how do the fundraising numbers look?”
    Alec heard Rick shuffling through some papers on his desk. “Good, I got a commitment for somewhere north of three hundred thousand dollars.”
    “I need more.”
    “What?” Rick yelled into the phone.
    “Double that total and we’ll be good.” Alec hoped if he offered the Barrington Family Trust cash and a twenty-four hour closing, they might accept less.”
    “I’ll do my best.”
    “I know you will.” Alec hung up the phone and tossed on the sofa next to him.
    His thoughts immediately returned to Violet. For two weeks, he’d been avoiding the pull between Violet and him, but he was done. He wanted her and he couldn’t deny it any longer. With each day that passed, his desire for her was eclipsing his common sense.
     
    ***
     
    Violet spent most of the morning combing through resumes. She checked the balance in the Foundation’s account and about half of the money Alec promised had already hit the account. Seeing that number…seventy three thousand four hundred and forty four dollars when she checked the Foundation’s online banking, nearly caused her to faint. Since she started managing the Foundation’s funds nearly two years ago, the