Surrender (Seaside Pictures #4) - Rachel Van Dyken Page 0,1

then I laughed. I’d been pining after her ever since our first meeting, but because I didn’t want my protégé murdering me, I did the less fun and more creepy thing and ogled her when she wasn’t looking. I also tried to engage in multiple conversations that ended up with her staring at me like she couldn’t quite figure out why I was speaking. “You do realize she’s only three years older than me, right?”

“He likes them old!” Ty held up his hand for a high five; meanwhile, Braden looked as if he was ready to mow me over with the tour bus.

Trevor whispered under his breath, “I think that’s your cue to leave, bro.”

“Yup!” I grabbed my guitar, shoved it in my case, and let the door slam behind me as I made my way into the dreary, salty ocean air.

It was raining.

Had been raining for ten days straight.

Seaside, Oregon, everyone!

I used to think this was a place people went to die or retire, or maybe just really embrace their depression. Instead, it turned out to be one of my favorite places in the world, to the point where I was spending more time on the off-season with my bandmates here than I was back in LA.

They were my family, after all. Even if we were still semi-dysfunctional, and it helped that another band of friends, AD2, lived here along with Zane Andrews, a guy I toured with and was also — surprise, fucking surprise — married with one kid and another on the way.

I’d lived the high life so long, literally, that the minute I got my shit together and jumped off the train, it was like I’d missed everything that was important about your twenties — all the lessons. Instead, I’d made all the mistakes, and now that I was thirty-six, kind of felt like I had nothing to show for it except a shit ton of money, fame, and scars from my past.

So many scars. So much baggage I was sick from it.

With a sigh, I put in my earbuds, and the tracks I’d laid earlier buzzed in my ears. I just needed the right lyrics. I made my way down the boardwalk, careful not to make eye contact.

When you made eye contact, people recognized you.

And wanted pictures.

And pictures meant smiling.

And talking.

And doing all the other useless things humans did when they were impressed with what other humans did for a living and wanted to use it to brag on Instagram.

I was so over it today. I didn’t have the mental or physical energy to put on the mask and grin at someone’s expensive phone.

And feeling lonely, if I was being completely honest. All my bandmates had someone, and it wasn’t like I hadn’t tried. Hell, I’d even taken out Penelope, Ty’s wife, before she gave me a firm no, put me in the friend zone, then promised to bother me forever until I found a wife who could actually put up with me — her words.

Maybe that was why I was complete shit at writing love songs.

The only love I’d ever experienced happened to me when I was in my teens then died a slow, painful death as I numbed myself with drugs, and now that I was in my thirties and touring again, while secretly trying to do a solo album, things just felt…

Stale.

That was the word.

Stale.

Like there was a path I was supposed to take, but nothing interested me enough to want to even take a step in any direction.

I dodged a group of girls as I made my way past the aquarium. Shrieks followed by whispers and then footsteps against the cement. I picked up my speed.

I was too slow.

A tap, tap, tap hit me in the back. “Are you Drew Amhurst?”

I hung my head. I wasn’t like the rest of the guys. I didn’t do fake smile well when I was stressed, and I’d never been so stressed in my entire life.

Slowly, I turned on my heel and stared at the brave girl who’d approached. She couldn’t have been more than sixteen, pitch-black hair pulled back into a sleek low ponytail, and she had giant sunglasses covering her eyes. Her skin was flawless, her lips full. Huh.

Damn it! That word!

She looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t put my finger on why. Finally, I relaxed the breath I’d been holding and responded, “Who’s asking?”

I smirked down at her then widened my smile as her breathing quickened. Most girls didn’t know where to