Today is ONE WEEK until Reprise releases! Today I thought I’d share the first chapter on my blog. This chapter from Riley’s point of view sets the scene for the book so you will find out some secrets — if you don’t want to know until next week maybe skip. If you do, the chapter is at the bottom of the post!
Reprise
Drummer Nate Campbell is a ‘Ruby Riot twin’ and that’s all he wants anybody to know. For Nate, girls are a dispensable distraction and the rock star life suits his needs. Nobody will expect him to hand over his heart if he pretends he doesn’t have a one.
Falling for Nate Campbell was the second biggest mistake of Riley Sawyer’s life. When the PR girl worked with the band on a European tour, she earned a reputation as an unapproachable workaholic. One mistake with Nate ruined her reputation, and Riley left vowing never to go anywhere near a tour – or Nate – again.
Two years later, Riley is forced back into the Ruby Riot world. A stolen car, a snowstorm, and Nate’s bloody-mindedness leave the pair stranded together. Nate and Riley cross their thin line between love and hate and discover a connection they don’t want to leave behind when the snow retreats.
Nate knows Riley’s the girl for him but doesn’t want to risk handing her the heart he hides. Riley wants to leave behind her secrets to move on and find love. The problem is, she wants Nate and doesn’t think he can ever be hers – or anybody’s.
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Reprise (Ruby Riot #3)
The Ruby Riot Series
The Amazon Bestselling Rock Romance series
#1 Bestsellers in British Contemporary Fiction in Amazon US
Top 10 bestsellers on Amazon Australia
“An egotistical front man, trouble-making twins and a girl you don’t want to mess with.”
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Cadence (Ruby Riot #1)
Shuffle (Ruby Riot #2)
****
Sneak peek! Chapter One
RILEY
I don’t spend time around Ruby Riot anymore. Ever. Sarah has the pleasure of touring Europe with the band this winter, because there’s no way in hell I’ll travel with that bunch of narcissists again. Or so I thought until today, when my supposedly reliable account manager walked out two dates before the end of the tour — no explanation. Judging by the chaos Sarah left behind, she hasn’t been doing her job properly for weeks.
This leaves me to deal with all the crap hitting the fan, and I’m forced to head up to Newcastle to take over publicity management for the last two shows. I don’t know what pisses me off the most — spending time away from London, or the famous Ruby Riot attitude I’ll face when I get there. Especially from Nate. After two years of avoiding the band, I’m thrown in the deep end and I’m determined to stay afloat.
Traffic clogs the motorways as I head North, and I swear as another idiot ignores the foggy traffic conditions and swerves across two lanes. By the time I arrive at the hotel, I’m two hours late due to the weather, and my nerves are frazzled. Ruby Riot plays their first of two dates at the Arena this evening; they won’t be back until late, and I’m too tired to deal with anything tonight. The crew has muddled through without publicity management for a couple of days; a few more hours with the junior PR girl won’t make a difference.
Beneath my decision to avoid the band tonight lies the real reason. When I first see Nate again, I need to be in a coping mood, and he needs to be sober.
As if that’s likely to ever happen.
Nate Campbell. Ruby Riot drummer and asshole of the decade. I toured with Ruby Riot when they supported Blue Phoenix two years ago and tangled myself with Nate. Not cool. Totally unprofessional behaviour for a PR girl trying to make a name for herself. I made a name all right just not the sort I wanted. When you’re spotted leaving the bathrooms with a rock star adjusting his clothes, people jump to the obvious conclusion. Me? No. I did not have sex with the guy, but I almost did.
And when I turned him down? Within an hour of telling me how I meant more to him than other girls, Nate found a new one; one who’d fall for his bullshit.
I refused to speak to him for a week; the hurt and anger eating away at any feelings I had for him. I told him I couldn’t respect a guy who treated women like shit and he shrugged it off with a ‘whatever’ attitude. I don’t even think he paid proper attention to what I was saying.
The memories I’ve kept dampened down seethe and I mutter under my breath the choice words I keep for Nate.
Everybody who was on the tour thinks the situation is cut and dry: dumb PR girl screws rock star who rejects her and she reacts badly. The jerk never put people straight about the non-sex; too big a dent to his ego, I guess. If I’d made a fuss about denying we had sex, I’m sure some people would’ve taken it as extra evidence that I in fact did.
The only words we’ve exchanged since that night in Paris, in the bathrooms at Hard Rock Café, have been nasty and hurtful. The strength of our hostility is above and beyond how normal people would behave after a failed hook-up. But the situation was more than that. We were more than that — or Nate fooled me into thinking I was and pulled the rug away until I landed heavily on my ass.
If I’d allowed myself to see what a spoiled, selfish asshole he was from day one this would never have happened. This was a game to him. I was a joke. Our friendly relationship descended into outright nastiness and, after a couple of weeks, I left. I refuse to work with people who treat me like crap.
Now, I’m able to step back into the Ruby Riot world and do my job; I don’t care what Nate thinks. In two days time I can walk away, and hope it’s another two years until we’re forced to spend anytime near each other.
Does Nate know yet? I bet he’s as thrilled at the prospect as I am.
I shake away my brooding on Nate and my situation, and reach for my phone. There’s another person who hates me being in Newcastle as much as I do. Josh. Mum agreed to stay and look after my son at short notice, but she always has.
I said goodbye to Josh this morning before he headed to school; my heart aching at the hurt on his face. In Josh’s five years, I’ve left him too many times while I worked away. Blinkered by my need to succeed and determined to make the best life I could, I’ve made mistakes. Last time this happened, I promised him I wouldn’t stay away for more than a night. I’ve broken that promise again.
Ness watches girls fall over themselves for Evan’s attention, but she has no interest in the hot English student who includes poetry in his seduction techniques.
