RANE: A Rockstar Stepbrother Romance Read Online Free
Author: Vivian Lux
lot."
Ten, nine, eight... I took a deep, calming breath. "Actually," I sighed as I leaned back in the chair, "no one has asked me, honestly. They tell each other why I shaved my head, assuming it was drugs or a bad breakup or maybe more drugs. But no one has actually come out and asked, 'Hey, Maddie, why did you take your father's old beard trimmer to your head?’"
Harlow pressed her hands together in a gesture of supplication. "Hey, Maddie, why did you take your father's old beard trimmer to your head?"
There was the question that had no answer. Or maybe there were too many answers. I didn't want to delve deep—this was not the time or the place. And it certainly wouldn't help put my past behind me if all the makeup girl could think about when she worked on me was how I had lost it one night. How it didn't even feel like my hair when I shaved it. I was a doll, a bath gel, a Lego set, a Pez dispenser. The studio owned my likeness, and my long, wavy, copper-red hair wasn't mine anymore. It belonged to the studio and Parker fucking Paisley.
So it had to go.
But all of those words were right there at the surface, begging to come out. I was talking before I could get my thoughts under control. And even as the words spilled out of my mouth, I longed to catch them and stuff them back in.... "On that night? Because I was trying to sleep and it kept getting in my mouth and going up my nose and wrapping around my neck. Because the week before, someone had patented a Parker Paisley sex doll and there was nothing I could do because the studio owned the rights to my likeness." Harlow winced sympathetically. "Because my hair was really fucking heavy and I was tired of dragging the weight around."
She nodded. "I get it."
"You do?"
"What about the naked part though?"
I pressed my lips together. "It was hot and my AC was busted, so I was sleeping naked. The fire alarm in my building went off and I was scared."
She froze for a second. "That's it?"
"That's it."
"Huh..." She blinked slowly, her brown eyes darting a little from side to side. She chewed the side of her cheek and seemed about to say something when she shook her head and dipped her sponge into a vat of foundation. "Lean back," she told me.
You revealed too much, I chastised myself. How the hell is she supposed to look at you and not think you're crazy now?
Fuck. Pull yourself together.
I closed my eyes and tried to find the calm again. Being back on set...it was too familiar. The nerves were all too close to the surface and I needed to push them back down again. Find the thick skin I had thought I developed.
The soothing feel of Harlow's practiced fingers against my skin helped. The feeling of being on set, the electric buzz of all these people working together to create something brilliant helped, too. You love this. You want this. Once my nerves loosened their stranglehold, I could feel the excitement starting to seep in. I was in my element again. I was on a set. It was not the set of Princess Parker, but that was okay. My abrupt firing for breach of contract was okay. My tabloid-worthy meltdown was okay.
Just hold it together. You're going to be okay .
Chapter Five
Rane
Pepper was the first of us to walk through the doors of Grey Haven Manor. Her head swiveled sharply for a second, then she stopped short and very deliberately resumed her trademark slouch.
"This place looks like a funeral home threw up on a whorehouse," she declared in her bored monotone.
Twitch didn't notice his twin had stopped, and nearly careened into the back of her. "Oh, wow, cool spider webs!" He bounced up and down like a kid at Christmas while I stepped neatly out of reach of his pointing, flailing arms.
Keir came in with Balzac and looked all around, expressionless. Then he leaned back on his heels and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Huh," was all he said, but there were layers of meaning in that one syllable.
I couldn't help but needle him. I knew exactly what he was
Ten, nine, eight... I took a deep, calming breath. "Actually," I sighed as I leaned back in the chair, "no one has asked me, honestly. They tell each other why I shaved my head, assuming it was drugs or a bad breakup or maybe more drugs. But no one has actually come out and asked, 'Hey, Maddie, why did you take your father's old beard trimmer to your head?’"
Harlow pressed her hands together in a gesture of supplication. "Hey, Maddie, why did you take your father's old beard trimmer to your head?"
There was the question that had no answer. Or maybe there were too many answers. I didn't want to delve deep—this was not the time or the place. And it certainly wouldn't help put my past behind me if all the makeup girl could think about when she worked on me was how I had lost it one night. How it didn't even feel like my hair when I shaved it. I was a doll, a bath gel, a Lego set, a Pez dispenser. The studio owned my likeness, and my long, wavy, copper-red hair wasn't mine anymore. It belonged to the studio and Parker fucking Paisley.
So it had to go.
But all of those words were right there at the surface, begging to come out. I was talking before I could get my thoughts under control. And even as the words spilled out of my mouth, I longed to catch them and stuff them back in.... "On that night? Because I was trying to sleep and it kept getting in my mouth and going up my nose and wrapping around my neck. Because the week before, someone had patented a Parker Paisley sex doll and there was nothing I could do because the studio owned the rights to my likeness." Harlow winced sympathetically. "Because my hair was really fucking heavy and I was tired of dragging the weight around."
She nodded. "I get it."
"You do?"
"What about the naked part though?"
I pressed my lips together. "It was hot and my AC was busted, so I was sleeping naked. The fire alarm in my building went off and I was scared."
She froze for a second. "That's it?"
"That's it."
"Huh..." She blinked slowly, her brown eyes darting a little from side to side. She chewed the side of her cheek and seemed about to say something when she shook her head and dipped her sponge into a vat of foundation. "Lean back," she told me.
You revealed too much, I chastised myself. How the hell is she supposed to look at you and not think you're crazy now?
Fuck. Pull yourself together.
I closed my eyes and tried to find the calm again. Being back on set...it was too familiar. The nerves were all too close to the surface and I needed to push them back down again. Find the thick skin I had thought I developed.
The soothing feel of Harlow's practiced fingers against my skin helped. The feeling of being on set, the electric buzz of all these people working together to create something brilliant helped, too. You love this. You want this. Once my nerves loosened their stranglehold, I could feel the excitement starting to seep in. I was in my element again. I was on a set. It was not the set of Princess Parker, but that was okay. My abrupt firing for breach of contract was okay. My tabloid-worthy meltdown was okay.
Just hold it together. You're going to be okay .
Chapter Five
Rane
Pepper was the first of us to walk through the doors of Grey Haven Manor. Her head swiveled sharply for a second, then she stopped short and very deliberately resumed her trademark slouch.
"This place looks like a funeral home threw up on a whorehouse," she declared in her bored monotone.
Twitch didn't notice his twin had stopped, and nearly careened into the back of her. "Oh, wow, cool spider webs!" He bounced up and down like a kid at Christmas while I stepped neatly out of reach of his pointing, flailing arms.
Keir came in with Balzac and looked all around, expressionless. Then he leaned back on his heels and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Huh," was all he said, but there were layers of meaning in that one syllable.
I couldn't help but needle him. I knew exactly what he was
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