WILDER: A Rockstar Romance Read Online Free Page B

myself in view of perceived authority.
    Like right now.
    The sound of tapping heels in your aisle was never a good thing. Zoe lifted her head at the same time my heart leapt into my throat.
    Marcia from HR was waddling down our row with a clipboard. "Which one of you is Scarlett Sawyer?"
    "Awesome, and I've worked here two years next month," Zoe muttered.
    "I'm Scarlett," I piped up.
    "Kelly and Thad are ready for you."
    "Now? Seriously?" I wasn't prepared and I was ever so slightly tipsy. "I thought we'd have until tomorrow!" I lamented.
    Marcia looked bored by my panic. I wondered if her job was on the line. Would they make HR pitch themselves?
    The young reporter stands up from her desk and smooths the front of her slacks. At the tender age of twenty-three, she managed to land a paid position with one of the premier music magazines in the US. Now, only six months later, she finds herself desperately fighting to save the career she has only just started.
    It was a good opening paragraph. Too bad it was my life story I was writing.
    "Your ace. Use it, Scar," Zoe hissed, crossing the aisle and squeezing my arm. "Don't worry about me," she ordered, then flopped into my chair and flung her arms out dramatically before rolling herself away, "save yourself!"
    I saluted her and grabbed a notebook off my desk before turning to follow Marcia. So this is how it feels to walk to your execution, I thought. The innocent prisoner, wrongfully accused, holds her head high as she follows the guard down the long hallway, knowing what lies at the very end. I closed my eyes. A picture of dignity and poise, she knows she only has to say one word to save her life. Will she do it? Will she sink that low?
    I opened my eyes in front of the conference room door. "In here," Marcia prompted me.
    Thad and Kelly looked up from their lists and spreadsheets with bored expressions. "Name?" Thad asked, pen poised.
    "Scarlett Sawyer, from the music desk."
    "Scarlett, like Gone with the Wind ?"
    I smiled, though it felt like my face would shatter. "Yep!"
    "Okay, Scarlett." He leaned back and threaded his fingers behind his head.  "Wow us."
    It was that simple. All I had to do was wow them. If I wowed them, I could keep my dream job, keep my apartment, my independence, the life I built. And all I had to do to wow them was bare my deepest secret.
    The tender place under my ribs twinged. Reminding me what was actually at stake.
    I took a deep breath.
    "Keir Wilder," I exhaled.
    I instantly had their attention. Kelly leaned forward. Thad's eyebrows nearly shot off his forehead. "Go on," he said.
    I closed my eyes and formed the pitch in my head. I could see the words on the paper, right there in my mind's eye.
    And they were brilliant.
    Slowly, keeping my eyes tightly closed, I started to speak. "We've heard one million interviews from Rane Wilder. Rane Wilder is the image of Ruthless. He's got his image, his wealth, his celebrity girlfriend, Madeline Cole—and she's even his stepsister, for heaven's sake. The two of them are in the tabloids nearly every week. The paparazzi follow them everywhere. They are visible and press-savvy and they are always giving interviews, both about the band and their relationship. We know everything there is to know about them...and then some."
    I paused, swallowed, pushed down my hesitation. "But what about the actual voice of the band? What do we know about Keir?"
    I opened my eyes.
    Kelly was leaning forward raptly, the collar of her starched white blouse falling slightly away to reveal a little glimpse of red lace. So she's a wild thing. I bet she was a groupie before she went into music journalism. She's practically salivating. I turned and pitched directly to her.
    "He’s the singer," I continued, nodding so she'd nod along with me.  "But we rarely ever hear his thoughts on the band, on his brother, on their music. He's the singer in a wildly popular rock 'n' roll band, but we only know him from the photographs we have."