Love Rock'ollection: The Brutal Strength Rock Star Trilogy, books 1-3 Read online

  * * * *

  Love Rock’ollection

  Books One, Two, & Three of

  The Brutal Strength

  Shakespeare Inspired Series

  Copyright © 2012, 2013, 2014 by Michelle Mankin

  Cover design by Michelle Preast of Indie Book Covers

  Formatting and interior design by JT Formatting

  All rights reserved.

  Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products, bands, and/or restaurants referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Title Page

  Love Evolution

  Definition

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Epilogue

  Love Revolution

  Definition

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Love Resolution

  Definition

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  (ev’e-loo’shen)

  n.

  Gradual process in which something changes into a different

  and usually more complex or better form.

  AVERY TUCKED HER well-worn pocket journal back into the front pocket of her low slung skinny jeans. Words that usually flowed so freely from heart to page had failed to come. Nothing was how it should be anymore not without him.

  She stared out with unseeing eyes, images of Justin drifting across her mind like a movie reel. She began to tremble, not from the chill autumn breeze, but from the strain of keeping it all together. Loneliness roared at her from across the void like a ravenous beast.

  Inevitably, the waiting tide of tears began to stream down her pale lightly freckled cheeks, past her full lips, falling silently onto the front of her plain grey t-shirt. Her long copper streaked hair swirled around her shoulder like gossamer tendrils.

  She reluctantly extended her hand and opened her fingers, allowing the fistful of dirt she’d been holding to trickle through, falling on the wooden coffin below like a macabre rain.

  She wondered, not for the first time, what she would do without him.

  Her other half.

  When the shadows in the cemetery met the darkness in her mind, she turned, a solitary apparition, and left behind the gravesite of her twin brother.

  JUSTIN’S DEATH HAD devastated her. She’d lost the person she loved most in the world along with her hopes for the future. Everything had revolved around him and their music. She really had no other marketable skills. She didn’t even have a high school diploma. She and Justin had left home before either could graduate. Without her twin there was no band, and no way forward that she could see.

  Since the funeral, Avery had been down the same w
orn path in her head too many times to count. She couldn’t make money appear out of thin air, no matter how much she wished. All but a meager portion of her savings had been used up on memorial expenses for her brother. She had no regrets, though. She’d wanted that one last thing for him and needed the closure the small private service had provided.

  She would never forget the fateful day she’d received the horrible news. She had been at Club Indigo warming up. Justin had been late which wasn’t like him. He was a lot of things but he was always on time to rehearsal. It had her worried.

  “Avery Jones?” a rough voice addressed her.

  She looked up, recognizing the source as one of Campanella’s guys, and her stomach sank. “Yes,” she answered. “What’s going on?” Nervous, she twisted the machine heads on her Ibanez even though it was already perfectly tuned. She’d seen him once or twice before and he’d always given her the creeps. The brim of his ball cap shadowed his face and an oversized black trench coat concealed who knew what.

  The man glanced around the room as if scanning for exits or witnesses before turning back to her. “Mr. Campanella sent me to let you know your brother’s dead.”

  “What?” Avery gasped taking a step back feeling as though someone had just sucker punched her in the abdomen. “That can’t be possible.” Her head swam, and she swayed on her feet. “I just saw him this morning. You’re lying. I don’t believe you.”

  He shrugged. “What did he think was going to happen when he started fooling around with the boss’ girl?”

  “Show me!” She demanded. “Prove it then! Take me to him!”

  He shrugged his shoulders. “What do I look like, I’m stupid or something? Where he is, no one’s going to find him. Not you. Not anybody. The best thing you can do is forget about him.”

  “No.” Avery shook her head in denial. No.”

  “By the way,” he continued, dispassionately dismantling her world with each additional word he spoke. “Mr. Campanella expects you to make good on your brother’s debt to him. He expects to have his money in three weeks. Don’t try anything funny. We’re watching you, and we’ll be in touch.”

  Avery sank to her knees as he exited the club, her body wracked with sobs. She didn’t want to believe it, but she knew in her heart every word he had spoken had been true. She was rocking back and forth on the floor, practically incoherent when Frank, the owner of the club had found her.

  He’d immediately called Jeff, her roommate, who’d come and taken her home.

  As the days passed and the grim reality of Justin’s death set in, Avery sank deeper and deeper into a quagmire of despair. It was a hopeless situation really without any remedy.

  Campanella’s thug had been right. They would probably never find Justin’s body, and she would never know the exact details of his murder. The police didn’t care about missing drug addicts, and everyone in Little Italy knew Campanella’s influence extended all the way to the NYPD, so Avery couldn’t go to them to press charges.

  Jeff eventually convinced her to go with a suicide cover story. “Avery,” he’d cautioned, “you can’t go around telling people your brother got knocked off by the mob. It’s just too dangerous.”

  The memories made her head pound like a bass drum, the way it always did when she dwelled too long on the difficult spot she was in. She careened into an emotional tailspin. Mind swerving, unable to focus, she pulled out her guitar, taking another musical time out from the harsh reality her life had become.

  AS HE CLIMBED the last flight of stairs to the twins’ fourth floor walk-up apartment, Trevor Barnes brushed aside the unruly lock of hair that had fallen into his eyes. With his wire rimmed glasses, he knew he looked more like an absent minded middle-aged college professor than a music agent and manager.

  He’d been in the middle of negotiations with Seattle’s RDA Records on the twins’ behalf when he’d received the tragic news of Justin’s death. Just like that, quicker than he could snap his fingers, the deal memo had been withdrawn.

  Such wasted potential, he’d thought before working nonstop to curtail his long list of West Coast appointments so he could head back to New York ahead of schedule.

  Trevor knocked on the apartment door. Avery’s roommate, the tall skinny one opened the door to let him in. “How is she?” Trevor asked.

  “Better than she has been, I think,” Jeff answered. “She was a total basket case at first. Now she’ll at least come out and eat something when I bug her. But she still spends almost every hour of every day back in her room. All I hear is the wailing of her guitar or the slapping of her jump rope against the floor. It’s starting to freak me out.”

  Trevor shook his head, brow furrowing with worry. “I’ll try to talk to her.” Clapping Jeff on the shoulder, he headed down the short narrow hall to the bedroom Avery and Justin had once shared. He couldn’t even see her at first because the light inside was so dim. He switched on the overhead and entered the small windowless room. “Hey kid, how are you?”

  Avery sat cross legged on her unmade bed, blinking her eyes to adjust to the brightness. Grief had taken its toll on her. She looked nothing at all like the Avery he knew. She’d haphazardly pulled back her hair with one of those scrunchy things girls use, and he’d wager she hadn’t washed the long locks in days. Her pale face was blotchy from crying, and she had dark circles under her expressive emerald eyes.

  Those eyes reminded Trevor of Avery’s twin brother. Their facial features were very similar, too. Only with her, the overall lines were softer and more feminine. Together they had been a dynamic musical team. Justin’s deep and melodic voice had been a perfect foil to Avery’s sweet and sultry one, and his steady acoustic rhythm work had provided a perfect contrast to his twin’s more chaotic electric guitar riffs.

  Trevor deeply regretted being absent when Avery had needed him most. He had gone on his business trip thinking everything was lining up so well for them. Sure, he had been worried about Justin’s drug use, but it wasn’t something he hadn’t seen before. In retrospect, he kicked himself for minimizing the habit and wished he’d insisted on Justin’s getting help instead.

  Even though he successfully represented plenty of other groups, the two of them had always been the ones closest to his heart. He loved the way Justin had protected and looked out for his sister. Avery’s air of vulnerability brought out that kind of protective instinct in everyone who knew her, including Trevor. He planned to use every resource of his management company as well as his extensive contacts in the industry to help her. But first he had to get her out of this room.

  Trevor carefully moved aside all the photographs of Justin that were scattered on the bed. Sitting beside her, he put his arm around her and drew her to his side. He wanted to reassure her with his presence, as well as with his words. She felt so fragile and defenseless. “Come on, Avery. You need to get some fresh air. Justin wouldn’t have wanted you to fall apart like this. We’re going to get you something to eat. Then we’re going to start making plans for you. Plans that would have made your brother proud.”

  LATER THAT WEEK, after an exhaustive search, Trevor finally had a lead for Avery with Stephen Adams, a friend from his Sony days. Stephen currently managed Brutal Strength, a mega rock group with multiple hit singles and several platinum records already under their belt. They were going through a rebuilding phase following the recent rehab of their lead singer, Marcus Anthony, and the subsequent departure of their longtime guitarist, Keith Smith. Word was they were having a difficult time replacing Keith because he’d told everyone Marcus was impossible to work with. Trevor hoped to pull some strings to get Avery a tryout with them.

  “Stephen, hey, yeah, it’s Trevor Barnes. Long time, I know. How are things in Vancouver? …Great. Glad to hear it. We need to get together and catch up…Yeah, I heard about that. That’s why I was calling. I think we might be able to help each other out. I have a client who I think might be a real good fit for your group. She…What?... Hey, I can’t hear you
very well, you're breaking up. Where are you? …Lion’s Gate Bridge, oh, well, that figures. The kid’s name is Avery. She... shit!... You’re breaking up again. I said Avery Jones... huh? Nineteen, I know that’s a little younger than you’re looking for. But it could be a good fit for the band. Expand their appeal to a younger fan base…I can’t hear you again. Sorry. It might be my cell phone. I hate the reception on this thing. OK, I’ll send over a demo… Yes, that’s perfect. I’ll see you Wednesday at Black Cat Records.”

  Trevor booked the flight as soon as he got off the phone.

  MARCUS ANTHONY RAN a hand through his hair trying very hard to keep his cool. Ok, ok. Remember. This is the new and improved me, he reminded himself again, gritting his teeth. He’d done a lot of soul searching during his thirty days of inpatient drug rehab. His therapist had warned him he needed to use more constructive methods to handle his temper and obsessive compulsive tendencies. His lack of self-control had cost him his former lead guitarist.

  He kept repeating the mantra, I am in control of me. I am in control of me. It wasn’t working. He hated all that psychobabble crap anyway.

  Luckily, Stephen had his back and was running interference for him, or he would’ve already added a lot more substance to the rumors that he was difficult to work with. Black Cat Records’ CEO Mary Timmons had been breathing down his neck trying to pressure him into filling the lead guitarist position with a woman. Going toe to toe on the issue with that militant feminist had him near the boiling point.

  Come on, Mary, he thought. You and I both know there really hasn’t been a serious female guitar player since Nancy Wilson of Heart.

  Plus a girl just wouldn’t bring the right dynamic to his group. Brutal Strength was a real band for effing sake. Yeah, thinking like that might brand him as a bit of a chauvinist pig but to him female guitarists just weren’t as good as their male counterparts. In his experience, they flaunted their looks to compensate for an overall lack of talent. And he wanted nothing to do with women, as musicians or otherwise…since Veronica.

  Throughout the whole excruciating day, Marcus had dutifully listened as chicks auditioned. If Brutal Strength had remained with Time Warner, he might’ve had to buckle under and do what management wanted. But after Keith left, the group had broken off from the big conglomerate that had represented them over the past ten years.