Forbidden Ballad - Rock My World Read Online Free Page A

and shake his hand. I still can’t comprehend what I’ve just agreed to. I’m going to be going on tour with Cobalt. I must be insane.
    “Thanks, Jake. I appreciate your help.”
    “No problem.”
    He walks me out into the lobby and presses the elevator for me. The last thing I see is his gorgeous, white smile before the doors close shut.
     
    Leo
     
    “That’s bullshit!” I yell angrily into my phone.
    “Leo, come on,” Mark, my manager, says quietly. “We all saw you two hanging all over each other. Are you going to deny that you slept with her?”
    “Of course not,” I scoff, “I slept with her and about twenty others!”
    “Okay,” Mark says, and I can hear the annoyance in his tone, “Well the other twenty aren’t coming forward and saying that they’re having your baby. And thank God for that!”
    I clench the phone tightly in my fist. “The bitch is lying!”
    “Why?” Mark demands. “She says you were the only guy she has been with in the past three months. You’re going to have to do the paternity test!”
    “Fuck!” I pace back and forth and look out at Manhattan. Skyler had been a great screw, and I had loved how she had been around all the time while we were recording our album. I was able to have a piece any time I wanted. And she seemed to ignore the fact that I was still bringing other girls around.
    “So what do I do?”
    Fuck! I swear she had told me she was on birth control! This was a first for me, and something I always feared. And the media would have a field day if this leaked.
    “I think you comply. Agree to the paternity test next week. And if this is your baby, then you need to make right by it, Leo.”
    A kid. If this were my kid, I would have to support it forever.
    “Dammit!” I mutter, sinking onto my couch.
    “Try not to think about it, and I’ll find out when Skyler is setting up the appointment for the test. On another note, I just heard from Jake Ryder at the label, and they have a new singer starting tonight. She’s supposed to be good.”
    “Whatever,” I say.  Right now, I could care less if they hired Big Bird as our backup singer.
    “Leo, you need to take this seriously,” Mark reprimands.
    “I fucking am, alright?”
    “Okay. I’ll see you at rehearsal.”
    “Yeah. See you then.”
    I hang up the phone and look around my condo. How the fuck could I have screwed up like that? Maybe I can talk Skyler out of having the kid. If she’ll agree to sit down and speak with me.
    Fuck.
    Rehearsal is in five hours, so I figure that gives me plenty of time to have a couple of drinks. I walk over to the wet bar and pour myself a scotch.
    I toss it back, letting the liquor burn my throat on the way down.
    The pain is good.
    I pour another one and toss that one back, too.
    And just for good measure, I pour one more and gulp it down.
    I head back to the couch and lay down, looking out at the city. I’m not sure how long I lay there, but suddenly the light in the condo is different and I glance at my phone to check the time.
    “Shit!”
    I leap off the couch and race to the bedroom. I’m supposed to be at rehearsal in twenty minutes. I throw on a fresh t-shirt and brush my teeth so I don’t smell like booze. I pull my sunglasses on and make my way out of the building. The doorman says hello to me, but I ignore him. The rehearsal space is only a few blocks from my condo, which is convenient. I’m going to be a few minutes later, but who gives a shit? It’s not like they can start without me.
    We’re rehearsing on the second floor of the building and when I walk in, I notice that my presence hasn’t even been missed. The band is on one side of the room talking to one of the producers. I see Mark in a corner talking to our remaining back up singer, Amber and a brunette who has her back turned to me.
    I saunter over to the band and Maddox, our keyboards player, gives me an annoyed look.
    “So nice of you to show up.”
    “Screw you.”
    “We have nothing