Synopsis:
MUSIC HAS THE POWER TO HEAL ALL…BUT NOT ALL BROKEN HEARTS CAN BE MENDED.
Always in control, Xander Wilde considered life on the road to be a perfect fit for him. But when disaster strikes on the Wilde Ones’ latest tour, fate intervenes…and a newly single Ivy Taylor, the only girl he has ever loved, steps back into his life.
After moving past her painful breakup with Xander years ago, Ivy was poised to become the next big name in pop music…when suddenly she withdrew from the limelight—the same day she announced her engagement to her controlling agent, Damon Wolf.
Xander knows he should keep his distance. But once they’re on the road, he can’t resist pursuing her for a second chance. Yet a jealous Damon can’t let her go—and he’s keeping dangerous secrets that could destroy them all.
When the three of them come together, everything falls apart. But if Xander and Ivy can hold tight to the bond that connects them, they just might have a chance at reclaiming the powerful love they thought they had lost forever....
Excerpt
from Mended
Connections #3 by Kim Karr
© 2013
by Kim Karr
Published
by the Penguin Group
Release
date: June 3, 2014
Xander
Wilde
The magic of rock and roll—it casts a spell on you.
I’m no exception. I’m a band manager and I’m living the dream, touring with The
Wilde Ones, helping them secure their well-deserved place in the music
industry. I love being a part of it all,
especially watching the band perform live—the crowds, the
cheers, the music. It’s a high and a low all at once and I wouldn’t trade it
for anything. Every step of the way with this band has been fun, exciting,
stressful—every possible emotion. Obviously we’ve had some breaks but mostly we
all put in a lot of hard work—myself, Garrett Flynn, Phoenix Harper, River
Wilde, and now Zane Perry.
“Can you hear me now?” he bellows.
I nod my head as my heart pounds in my
chest. My hands feel cold and clammy and a nervousness that makes me weak and
shaky takes over. Doubts race through my head and I’m questioning if he’s going
to make it through this. A vague awareness that something bad could happen
kicks around in my mind and I can’t shake it. The Wilde Ones are doing a sound
check on stage and Zane’s not on his game.
It’s July and the weather has been brutally hot. But
today it seems cooler. Maybe it’s the California weather maybe it’s the
excitement of being home. The Beautiful Lies Tour bus finally rolled back into our
home state of California after six months away. When we pulled into the
amphitheater, we could see tanned kids in board shorts and bikini tops already
lined up at the will call window. Security guards in polo shirts directed us to
the artist parking lot, and we were officially home. Tonight we’ll be
headlining our biggest show to date. We’re on tour without my brother, River,
and still more than half of the shows are sold out, including tonight’s. River
quit the band—touring just wasn’t for him but even so the album is on its way up
the charts. Who knows it may even hit gold status. The songs on the album were
written and sung by River but are performed in concert by Zane. Having him as my
brother’s replacement has been the key to our successful transition in a world
where replacing leads is normally unsuccessful—simply put, we’re lucky as hell
to have him. River promised to make a surprise appearance at our next stop.
It’s going to be epic.
But tonight is all about the
arena—Mountain View and the Shoreline. “That’s enough,” I yell to the band and
call rehearsal. This place is the biggest outdoor venue we’ve played and I couldn’t
be more stoked—or more nervous. A sold out show and a rocking opening band—what
a combination. But a lead singer with another cold and a weakened voice that
can’t be heard throughout an amphitheater scares the shit out of me.
I head straight for the bus and
spend the next few hours hashing out a song with Nix that he calls a jumbled
mess of muscular sense and big-riff sunshine—whatever the hell that means. All
I know is that it needs help and that’s why he’s turning to me. I hadn’t played
guitar since I was eighteen but for some reason over the course of this tour
I’ve picked it back up. At first I used whatever was lying around but last
month I had my mother mail my old one to me and it feels like home. It’s a
light blue and brown Gibson and I had to have it because it was the guitar that
Slash played on. Playing again seems to help pass the time and brings a calm
over me that I haven’t felt in awhile.
Hours pass and before I know it,
it’s almost show time. We make our way over to the Amphitheater, do the typical
festival schmooze fest, and then settle back to wait. Waiting for them to take
the stage is always the most nerve-racking time. I’m sitting in the practically
vacant makeshift meet and greet area back stage and sipping a beer in a
worthless effort to calm my nerves when a voice travels through the sound
system. It’s a powerful and emotive mezzo-soprano range that is nothing short
of explosive. She sounds unlike any singer I’ve ever heard before—with only one
exception, Ivy Taylor. I push back the memory of her name and the emotions it
evokes—the memories are just too
painful. I can’t see her on stage but I know
that the voice belongs to Jane Mommsen. Her band Breathless is playing right
before The Wilde Ones.
A hand on my
shoulder startles me. I twist and glance up as Amy sits down beside me, crossing
her legs. “Hi, Xander. I thought I saw you earlier at the hotel.”
She’s a beautiful
woman—long, wavy dark hair, petite figure, very natural looking. She’s wearing
jeans, a blue shirt with some kind of foil design, and silver sandals. Grinning
at her I say, “Finally we catch up. Can I get you a drink?”
“I’d love that.
How’s life on the road been?”
“You know, it has
its ups and downs but actually not bad. You?”
“Jane’s been going
full-force for a while now. But the tour ends with the summer. I’ll be glad to
be back in LA.”
Standing up, I
laugh. “I know the feeling. I’ll be right back, let me grab us that drink.”
Tossing my empty bottle, I make my way to the coolers lined up under the tent
and grab two beers. I know she’d rather have a glass of Chardonnay but beer it
is. Amy is Jane’s assistant and I’ve taken her out more than a few times. We
went to high school together and Amy and I know most of the same people so
whenever I need a date, I ask her. Last time I saw her was almost nine months
ago when I took her to River and Dahlia’s wedding.
Heading back to the
table I hear Jane yell out to the crowd, “Are you ready for three of the
hottest guys in music?” The audience starts screaming and the stage lights dim
cuing the guys that it’s the fifteen-minute countdown until they take the
stage. The band huddles together in their typical pre-performance stance. I’ll
have a quick drink with Amy and then join them. As I hand her the bottle my
fingers touch hers and we both grin, knowing that we will end up alone by the
end of the night.
“You sticking
around for the whole show?”
“I think I might,”
she smiles.
“How about we ride
back to the hotel together and grab a real drink at the bar?”
“Sounds like a
plan.”
“Great. Time for me
to get back to work.”
She rises from the table, I do the same. She
stands up on her toes and kisses me quickly on the lips. “See you tonight,” she
smiles.
“Catch you later,”
I say and then cross the room to join the band.
“You’re late,” Nix
snickers. “What’s with you two anyway?” he asks.
I shrug my
shoulders. “Nothing. We casually see each other once in a while.”
Garrett raises an
eyebrow. “Chicks are never cool with casual.”
Shaking my head at
him, I don’t bother to disagree. Amy and I have been doing this for years. It
works for her and for me. We like each other’s company but only see each other
sporadically. I’ll call her once in a while and we’ll go out but we are in no
way exclusive. I don’t ask her about other men and she doesn’t ask me about
other women. I grab the bottle and pour the amber liquid into the shot glasses
stacked on the cap. It’s our pre-show routine. A shot and a prayer, so to say.
It’s Garrett’s turn tonight to ‘pray’ so this should be good.
He raises his
glass. “Here’s to hoping Xander gets laid so he’ll get off our backs.”
Tipping my glass
back, I quickly down the amber liquid. It burns as it makes its way down my
throat. Once we’ve all drank our two shot maximum before a show Garrett follows
his toast up with, “Seriously man, you need to get laid.”
The guys laugh and
I actually join in. Jerking off in the small bathroom on the bus is definitely
one of the downsides of touring. I’ve slept with a few girls at some of our
stops but screwing groupies isn’t really my thing. I’m not one to have time for
a girlfriend but I’m also not about to pull my dick out backstage, so it’s been
a long six months.
Zane coughs after
he slings back the shot and I look at him with concern. “You’re going to a
doctor tomorrow.”
He shakes his head.
“Yes, Mom, if you say so.”
“I’m not kidding.
Your voice sounds like shit.”
“It’s a fucking
cold. I took some medicine. I’ll be fine.”
“Doctor. Tomorrow.
I mean it. I’ll have Ena set it up.”
“I can always
sing,” Garrett chimes in and I smack the back of his head.
“Hey. I can.”
The lights start to
flicker and I look at Zane with that feeling of uneasiness again. Second time
this tour he’s coughing and hacking. We’re screwed if he really gets sick. He
nods at me as I pat him on the back. Slinging his guitar over his shoulder, he
heads out first raising his arm in the air. The crowd goes crazy. The six foot
guy is a chick magnet and no one misses my brother tonight. Garrett heads out
next yelling, “Great to be here Mountain View!” and Nix follows with his
trademark nod. Zane skips his normal charming banter and I know he must be
saving his voice. Again, I think about how we’re fucked if he gets sick.
I stand at the edge
of the stage all night until they finally come to their last song. “It Wasn’t Days Ago,” is a simple but crowd affecting ballad and
Zane belts it out. Shouts from nearly thirty thousand fans call for an encore.
Turning away from the microphone Zane coughs again. Biting his thumbnail he
looks over at me and I slice my finger across my neck.
“One more song for tonight,” he tells the screaming fans and my
blood pressure rises. “This one is a cover, an ‘ode to’ I’ll call it. It’s for
Xander Wilde, the band’s manager and it’s his favorite song. Everyone ready?”
As he starts to sing Linkin Park’s “Iridescent,” I close my eyes and listen.
When he hits the chorus his voice gets so low my eyes snap open. Zane turns to
grab a bottle of water while the guys continue to play but I can tell something
isn’t right.
***
Last night definitely didn’t go as
planned—a visit to the ER, then sleeping in a chair next to Zane all night on
the bus because the steroids he was given freaked him out. It’s noon and Amy
and I are just arriving at the Pelican Hill Resort. Breathless was leaving
right after the show last night so Amy had already planned to ride with us and
meet up with them in Irvine. She invited me to some party being thrown by her
band’s label that I would have rather not gone to but Ellie, the tour manager,
insisted we all go for the good PR.
I’m exhausted and really need
some sleep before dealing with the press and tomorrow night’s show. The
paparazzi have been everywhere—by the bus as we exited to the waiting car in
LA, outside the doctor’s office, at the gates of Zane’s father’s house, and now
they’re here in Irvine at the hotel.
To avoid the chaos awaiting us in
the lobby, I call Ellie, who is already here, and ask her to check me in and
meet me at the pool bar with the key. Draping my arm around Amy, we head that
way. I’ve been here a few times so I know my way around. Cutting through the
grotto and over to the pool and cabanas, I steer Amy to the right and stop in
my tracks as all the air rushes from my lungs.
My body floods with adrenaline
and my gut twists. I don’t even have to do a double take because I’d know her
anywhere. There’s no mistaking her. She’s just so beautiful—the elegant planes
of her face, those high cheekbones, red lipstick, her platinum blonde hair
shorter than it used to be tucked behind her ear, that face of an angel. She looks
the same. No, she looks better. Her skin glistens in the sun and my gaze
automatically follows the shape of her long legs. They look smooth and tan
against her white bathing suit. An ache forms in my chest as I think about
running my fingers up them. She’s still that eighteen-year-old girl I once knew
but now she has the body of a woman—lean and toned and full of curves. When she
moves it’s so familiar it doesn’t seem like a day has passed—and everything I
ever felt for her, it’s all still inside me.
My pulse races at the mere sight
of her. She’s lounging in the cushioned chair reading a magazine just outside a
cabana. My heart slams harder in my chest when she sticks her earphones in her
ears like she always used to do and it transports me back to the last time I
saw her do the very same thing. We’d skipped school and were at my
grandparents’ house—their pool. She was lying on the lounge chair listening to
music and singing along—her voice so full of soul. I’d moved to sit with her
under the guise of putting lotion of her back. She sat up and smiled that shy
smile she didn’t need to have when she was with me. I squeezed the tube into my
hand and after rubbing them together I slowly applied it to her back kneading
my way up and down, touching every inch of her that I could.
It brings me back to the here and
now when she suddenly sits up and looks over at me. Her eyes pin me in place.
She looks at me as if she remembers me for who I was, what we were, not what I
did to her. With my chest pounding, memories of us keep flashing through my
mind. Fighting a smile, I wonder if she’s thinking the same thing—remembering
what we were, what we shared, how we loved.
She quickly breaks our connection
when she averts her eyes over to the man handing her a drink. I suck in a deep
breath trying not to feel sick at the sight. He’s nearing fifty, wearing a
terrycloth robe. He’s about my height, dark brown hair, meticulously groomed
facial hair, and not exactly ripped but fit. He’s Damon Wolf, a man I’ve never
actually met but hate all the same. I’ve seen their picture on TV and in
magazines. He’s her agent, her fiancé, and I’m sure he’s the reason she’s not
singing anymore.
She looks up at him with that
same forced smile she used to give people she just wanted to appease and mouths
“thank you.” I have a sudden urge to go over and deck him when her gaze shifts
back to mine and he pulls her chin back to look at him. I can sense a
discomfort between them. We could sense each other’s feelings even when we
weren’t near each other.
Amy’s hand slides down my face
and I have to blink a few times before I can hear what she’s saying. Glancing
one last time at Ivy I see that she’s staring at me again. Then suddenly her
mouth forms a scowl and she flicks her attention toward him. Hooking her arm
around his neck, she pulls him down for a kiss and I think I might throw up.
“Are you okay?”
I nod. Not able to say a word.
“Isn’t that Ivy Taylor over
there? The girl you used to date in high school?” Amy asks. There’s an
irritated tone to her voice I’m not used to hearing and it makes me agitated.
“Yeah, it is,” is all I say. She’s not just a
girl I used to date…she’s the only girl I ever really loved. She’s also the
girl whose heart I broke. Seeing her now brings back all those feelings I
blocked, ignored, tucked aside. So many times over the years I wanted to go
after her and tell her the truth—but I never did. Why I don’t know. Then one
day it was too late—she had gotten engaged.
Amy chatters on. “I think that’s
Damon Wolf with her. We should go say hi.”
My body goes cold and my face
blank at the thought. I straighten and just as I’m about to say, “No fucking
way,” my phone vibrates in my pocket. Squinting at the screen, I see that it’s
my brother. I look over to Amy and motion toward the bar. “Hey, this is River.
I need to take it. I’ll meet you over there in a minute.”
“That’s fine. We can catch up
with them later. I’ll go order us a drink.” She smiles and starts toward the
bar.
Turning around to avoid staring
at Ivy, I answer the phone. “It took you long enough to call me back.”
“I was in a meeting and stepped
out as soon as I could, so don’t start. What did the doctor say about Zane?”
“He’s out for the rest of the
tour and we’re fucked.”
“You sure? You’re back in LA for
almost two weeks after tomorrow night right? Isn’t that enough time for him to
heal?”
“Technically yes. But his old man
wants him out. The doctor said that he couldn’t be sure how long the blood that
accumulated under his vocal cords had been there but obviously last night, the
amount of ruptured vessels was enough to cause his voice to change. He advised
at least two weeks of rest before another evaluation to see if surgery is
necessary. Zeak wants his son to take a longer period of time off. He’s just
afraid that if Zane keeps singing and it keeps happening, scar tissue will
build up and cause his voice to change forever.”
“Do you blame him?”
“No I don’t,” I tell River and I
feel like shit that I have to put him in a position to do what he didn’t want
to do in the first place. But I also know that if I don’t, the band won’t
survive. If I have to cancel this tour—the Wilde Ones are done. So I ask, “Did
you talk to Dahlia?”
He sighs. “Yeah, I did. She’s
cool with it, Xander. I’m just trying to figure it all out.”
“You know I’ll do whatever you
need me to do, right?”
“Shit why can’t you just be an
ass and make it easy for me to say no?”
“Because you have no idea what
this means to me.”
“Actually I do, and that’s why
I’m going to make it happen. But Xander, remember I can’t play a twelve
string.”
Laughter and relief take hold of
me. I feel a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. “Right now I wouldn’t care if
you only played the violin,” I joke.
He laughs and I add, “You’ll be
here tonight?”
Now he sounds slightly annoyed.
“I said I would. We might be a little late so don’t get your panties in a wad.”
“That’s cool. Thanks for
everything. Hey, one more thing.’
“What?”
“Ivy Taylor’s here.”
“No way. Have you talked to her?”
“Fuck no. You know she won’t talk
to me. And besides she’s with that asshole.”
“You should talk to her. Tell her
the truth.”
“What’s that going to do now?
She’ll just think I’m lying.”
“You want me to talk to her? I
can explain everything.”
“No. I don’t need my little
brother to fight my battles. I’ll talk to her if I feel the time is right. Do
you hear me?”
“Whatever you say. Look, I have
to run but I want to discuss this later. And Xander…you don’t know he’s an
asshole. Just because Dad said his name once doesn’t mean shit.”
“Right. Okay, see you tonight,” I
say and end the call. My head is spinning knowing that after all these years
I’m actually in the same place she is. I want to talk to her, tell her
everything but what would it matter now anyway. Glancing behind me, I catch
another glimpse of her with him that turns my stomach. He’s such a slime ball.
Since his father was hospitalized and he took over the business, he’s been
scooping up labels, tearing them apart, and rebuilding them with bands he
thinks are better fits. My guess is he picked up Jane’s label—that’s why he’s
here. I heard they were having some financial difficulty and he’s just the kind
of bottom feeder that would want to capitalize on not only being her agent but
now also her producer. The sight of him touching Ivy makes my skin crawl.
Damon Wolf—two of the last words
my father ever spoke to me before killing himself, and I never knew why. Of all
the guys in the world Ivy had to end up with him—why him? I look up and they’re
gone. But I’m anything but relieved. Rubbing my chin, I’m antsy, agitated, pissed
as hell, but feel more alive than I have in years.
About author Kim Karr
I live in Florida with my husband and four kids. I've always had a love for reading books and writing. Being an English major in college, I wanted to teach at the college level but that was not to be. I went on to receive an MBA and became a project manager until quitting to raise my family. I currently work part-time with my husband and full-time embracing one of my biggest passions—writing.
I wear a lot of hats! Writer, book-lover, wife, soccer-mom, taxi driver, and the all around go-to person of the family. However, I always find time to read. One of my favorite family outings use to be taking my kids to the bookstore or the library. Today, my oldest child is in college and my twins are juniors so they no longer go with me on these outings. And although I don't need to go to the actual store anymore because I have the greatest device ever invented—a Kindle, I still do. There's nothing like a paperback. So now my four year old and I make dates out of going to the bookstore--it's time I love and cherish.
I like to believe in soulmates, kindred spirits, true friends, and Happily-Ever-Afters. I love to drink champagne, listen to music, and hopes to always stay young at heart. <3
I wear a lot of hats! Writer, book-lover, wife, soccer-mom, taxi driver, and the all around go-to person of the family. However, I always find time to read. One of my favorite family outings use to be taking my kids to the bookstore or the library. Today, my oldest child is in college and my twins are juniors so they no longer go with me on these outings. And although I don't need to go to the actual store anymore because I have the greatest device ever invented—a Kindle, I still do. There's nothing like a paperback. So now my four year old and I make dates out of going to the bookstore--it's time I love and cherish.
I like to believe in soulmates, kindred spirits, true friends, and Happily-Ever-Afters. I love to drink champagne, listen to music, and hopes to always stay young at heart. <3
