Broken Chords (Wrecked Rockstar Romance #2)

Prologue Nathan

The roar of the crowd is still ringing in my bones.

I swear the stage lights are burned into my retinas, a kaleidoscope of gold and blue, but I don’t care. I can’t stop smiling.

My heart’s beating so fast it feels like it might burst straight out of my chest and land somewhere on the other side of the arena.

I won.

I actually won.

“NA-THAN THORN! NA-THAN THORN!”

The chant follows me all the way backstage, echoing off the concrete halls, vibrating through my skin like a second heartbeat.

My song. My voice. My name. Me.

They’re chanting for me.

Adrianna barrels into me before I can even take another step, her hair still dusted with flour from rushing over straight from her family’s bakery.

She smells like sugar cookies and jam, and for half a second, the whole world feels steady.

“Oh my God, Nate,” she breathes, cupping my face.

Her eyes are shining, but not with the wild excitement I expect.

“You did it. You actually did it.”

I kiss her because I can’t not.

Because winning means nothing if I’m not sharing it with her.

Because she’s the one who coaxed the song out of me in the first place, even if she doesn’t know it.

“I told you I would,” I grin, breathless. “This is it, Sparky. Everything starts now.”

I’ve called her that since we were kids. She thinks it’s cause she used to be annoying to me and the guys, but really, it’s because every time I see her, I feel sparks buzzing through my veins.

Her smile wavers.

“Nate, I’m proud of you. I’m so proud!”

“Got an agent meeting today—”

“Wait already?”

“What do you mean, already? Of course, already! They love it! They love me! Just listen to them!” I tell her, pointing at where the crowd is still screaming my name.

She’s smiling, but it’s not reaching her eyes, and I just don’t understand.

“Yeah, but everything’s happening so fast. Maybe you should slow down, think things through—”

“Think?” I laugh, pulling her close again, high on adrenaline and the scent of victory. “What’s there to think about? A major agent wants me. Labels are gonna want me. My career is taking off. This is everything I’ve ever dreamed of.”

“I know,” she says softly, gripping my shirt like she’s afraid I’ll slip away. “But there are so many stories about musicians who get taken advantage of, I’m just saying—”

“You don’t know what you’re saying, you mean,” I rebut.

“Nate, if you’re not careful people like that can take everything from you.”

“That’s just TMZ bullshit. I’m not dumb—”

“I know that. I never said you were,” she says, and now I know we’re fighting, and I still don’t know why.

“You know something, Ad, I wonder if you care at all about what I want,” I tell her.

“Care about what you want? All I do is care about what you want!”

“I don’t want to argue with you, but this is happening, and if you can’t support me—” I leave that sentence hanging as I stare into her shining eyes.

“If I can’t support you?” she repeats back.

I nod, like I just made up my mind about something.

“What about our plans, Nate? Our future?” she asks in a whisper I swear I replay a million times over the next decade—I just don’t know it at the time.

There’s a knock on the door.

“Nate. Wait a second. We should finish talking,” she tries.

But I don’t get to hear the rest.

Because there’s a knock on the door, and a message that the rep from the record label my new agent sent over is waiting for me.

I step out of the dressing room, leaving Adrianna inside, and see him—sharp suit, sharper smile—standing there like he owns the place.

“Nate, fantastic performance. The bus is waiting. Contract’s ready. The manager’s onboard. We’ve gotta move fast—momentum is everything.”

He puts a hand on my back, steering me toward the exit before I can process a damn thing.

The world is spinning, but in the best way.

A record deal. A tour. A manager.

My name in lights.

My dreams unfolding like the glittering wings of a butterfly emerging from its cocoon.

This is it.

This is what I’ve worked for.

What I’ve bled for.

Adrianna tries to follow, but the rep cuts her off with a polite, practiced smile that somehow feels like a lock clicking shut.

“We’ll bring him back when we can. Promising career ahead.”

I look back and flash her a grin, trying to tell her without words that we’ll talk later.

I’ve got this. I’ll be back before you know it. Trust me.

She’s still talking. Still trying to say something. Her eyes wide, full of something I don’t understand. Not yet.

Next thing I know, the stage is there. The lights are blinding. The applause is still ringing.

And my head, my heart, my blood—they’re all screaming go.

So I do.

I climb on with the runners up, and I take gold.

After, I’m hustled offstage and onto a tour bus.

And that’s it. I get swallowed by the promise of fame and the future I’ve always wanted.

My brand new manager shakes my hand, already talking numbers, brand strategy, next steps—things I don’t really get but pretend I do.

I barely notice the door closing.

Barely notice the engine rumble to life.

Barely notice the one thing I should’ve never missed.

Adrianna.

Standing in the cold.

Hands wrapped around her stomach like she’s holding herself together.

Tears in her eyes like the kind you don’t come back from.

I raise a hand too late.

She lowers hers too soon.

And just like that, I’m on the road, riding the high of victory, chasing a dream that suddenly feels nothing like the one I started with.

I don’t realize what I’ve left behind.

Not yet.

But I will.

God, I will.

It takes sixteen years, but when the music dies, when the world stops cheering, when all I have left is the echo of a song I wrote for her? That’s when I’ll finally understand what really happened tonight.

Because this was the moment.

The moment I became a star.

And the moment I lost the woman who made me one.