Page 1 of Wylder and the Almost Rockstar
Prologue
Logan
Logan Cook wanted to kill his brother. That was all there was to it. Everything that had happened was his fault. Luke, the rising superstar the world was slowly falling in love with. Even as rumors swarmed about the true nature of his voice—that it wasn’t his—they lauded his courage.
Some of the media was on his side, saying this was a horrible lie for his own twin to spread. Others speculated why the Cook brothers would have fooled the world.
That was one question Logan wouldn’t answer.
Why had he given Luke his voice?
The voice that had sold countless songs and gained a type of fame none of them saw coming.
Logan once had his reasons, reasons he didn’t want to voice now. Fear. He’d been afraid of the fame, of people seeing him, truly seeing him. But that wasn’t even the worst of it.
“Luke.” Marigold Martin gave him a strange look, and he realized he must have missed a question she asked him. No, not him. Luke. Because that was who he was supposed to be as he sat in the blood red chair on the stage of the Los Angeles Daily Show, interviewing for his life.
Bright lights crashed down on him, nearly blinding him as he looked toward the tiered seats where a rapt audience waited on wise words from a man trying to avoid a scandal.
Luke should have been the one doing this interview. Instead, he was nowhere to be found, hiding from this stage, this life.
Hiding from Logan.
After what he did, Logan didn’t know what he’d do if he saw him.
“Luke,” Marigold said again. She leaned in and dropped her voice. “Are you okay?”
He nodded and reached for the mug emblazoned with the yellow L.A. Daily Show emblem. Taking a sip of the tepid water, he sighed. “Can I be honest with you for a moment?”
It was her turn to nod.
“I’m a bit nervous to be here.”
One perfectly sculpted eyebrow arched, and she pursed dark red lips. “You’re Luke Cook. Aren’t superstars like you supposed to have nerves of steel?”
Luke did. He was unshakeable, able to step on stage in front of thousands of screaming fans, something Logan could never dream of. Just the thought had his hands clenching around the mug. “I should, shouldn’t I?” He released a laugh he hoped sounded more self-deprecating than terrified.
This was the first TV interview he’d ever agreed to do, and it was only because neither he nor Sebastian could stand to look at Luke these days. Not after what he did.
Marigold offered a smile he supposed was meant to be kind, but the woman was a shark, and the look in her eyes told him she smelled blood in the water.
He set the mug back on the table to his right and ran a hand through his short brown hair.
Marigold folded her hands in her lap and leaned toward him. “Luke, how long have we known each other?”
The real Luke would know the answer to this question. Logan only went with a noncommittal “a while.”
Her eyes narrowed, and he saw it then. She knew. Her gaze lifted to one of the cameras. “Luke came on my show two years ago when he was a scrawny kid trying to make just one person listen to his music. That was what he told me. He said everything he went through to make it would be worth it if he changed the life of one person, if they looked to his music as an inspiration.”
It was a line—one Luke had used in many interviews. Crafted by their uncle and Sebastian, it embedded Luke into the hearts of many people. Like Wylder. She’d loved Luke Cook once… until she actually met him and realized his star persona was just that, a persona.
Logan let his gaze drift to the side of the stage for the first time since the interview started. Wylder stood bouncing on her toes like she had to do it to keep herself from running out to yell at this smug talk show host.
That would have been a sight.
Her lips curved up into a smile as she met his gaze, and she nodded, giving him strength with one act.
Turning back to Marigold, Logan pasted on a smile. “That was only the first interview. We’ve done about five or six now, right?”
