Free Rocked Part 5: A New Adult Rockstar Romance (Billionaire's Obsession) by Bella Love-Wins, Bella Wild Page A

her to disrupt her life to move in with me after four weeks of us knowing each other. The only thing I was sure of was I did not want to be part of her past, reduced to some story she would tell at parties about the rock star she had gotten to know in LA.
    “Maybe, Lady. I’ll ask her,” I mumbled. “Um, I have to go now. I’ll catch up with you later, okay?”
    “All right, Lorne. Take care of yourself.”
    “You too,” I said and hung up quickly.
    I sat on the bed again. Just what I needed; another heart to heart with Kevin. Lady might have believed things were on the way to resolution with him. I had no resistance to the idea, as long as he would respect the boundaries of my relationship with Amanda. It was a longshot at best. I composed myself as best as I could and went down to the main floor to look for him. It would be a start.
     

Chapter Eleven
    Johnny
    I went to the kitchen to get my hands on a cup of coffee. I had to be alert and quick on my feet for this talk with Kevin.
    “There you are!”
    I turned at the sound of Kevin’s voice as he came out of the pantry beside the kitchen.
    “Hi Kevin. I need to talk to you.”
    “Same here. Let’s go to my office.”
    “Sure,” I agreed.
    I followed Kevin past the back stairs to his office. Armed with Lady’s advice, I mentally prepared for the uneasy dance of negotiation I was about to have. He let me pass through the office doorway and closed the door behind us, motioning for me to take a seat. That defiance in me was already on alert. This was going to be a battle, simply because he was used to telling me what to do, and I had grown used to resisting his bull-headed tendencies. It brought to mind Lady’s point that we were both controlling men, used to leading the pack, and her advice about picking my battles. I sat and crossed one leg over the other, resting my ankle on the opposite knee.
    “I talked to Lady this morning,” I said.
    Kevin nodded. “She mentioned she would phone you. What did she say?”
    “That you were a colossal pain in the ass as a manager, and you treated her the same way.”
    Kevin’s jaw clenched at the assessment, but then he let out a booming laugh. “Knowing Lady, that’s just how she said it too.”
    I nodded. There just wasn’t enough zeal in me to muster a smile.
    “I’ll get right to the point, Lorne,” he said, leaning forward to brace his elbows on his knees. “I know I’m hard on you, and I’ll be the first to admit that I have a very specific vision for your career. Nothing is beyond your reach. You have the raw talent and the natural charisma to do anything you want. I’m just afraid you’re going to squander it. That’s why I’ve had to be so inflexible—”
    “And overbearing, arrogant, intrusive, meddlesome, obstructive—”
    “Okay I’ll give you that. I was and I still am all those things. I didn’t want you to lose your spark, or your motivation, and end up kicking back like so many artists who hit it big right out the gate. This is one of the reasons I continued to book you for small events like the one in Greece, and Whiskey River in two days. It’s to keep you grounded, connected to the fans, and to propel you forward.”
    I understood his perspective. I viewed myself as the least talented of my original band members, yet none of them went on to do much with their music after Kevin had kicked them out. They had gone from first hit single to twenty-four seven rock star party mode in no time at all. Still, he seemed a little harsh. I would like to believe I was more ambitious and driven than his fears seemed to allow.
    “But, after talking with Lady, I’ve realized just how short life really is. I mean, in that car, anything could have happened. That crazy bitch had a knife against my throat, Lorne, and I—” his voice faltered slightly and I shifted in my seat, uncomfortable with his sudden break of emotion. “There was a moment where I wondered how you would remember me, if