Read Rock Starred: Love My Way for Free Online

get more drawn in to Peter. How could I not? I needed time to process this. "Can I think about it?"
    "Of course you can." His thumb rode back and forth over my knuckles. "But I think you already know the answer. I think you want to and you just don't want to say it."
    * * * * *
    "Your turn," I announced to Gwen, wrapping my hair up in a towel. I stepped out of the bathroom to see her perched on the edge of the bed, looking deep in thought. "You okay?"
    She frowned. "I called Ted. I feel guilty."
    "You didn't tell him, did you?" I plopped down next to her and she popped up on the mattress. I wrapped my arm around her. "It was just some flirting. You had the sense to stop before you did anything stupid."
    "What was I thinking in the first place?"
    I bit my tongue. I'd been wondering the same thing. "You were drunk and he's sorta cute."
    She responded to my answer with a quizzical look.
    "There's the rock star thing," I said. "Every woman has that fantasy, doesn't she?"
    "Apparently you do. Is Peter number four or five?" She picked at her fingernail. "Not that I blame you. He's ridiculously hot."
    "I don't exactly keep track, but it's more like two. Maybe three."
    "Well, whatever the number is, clearly you're not rock starred out yet."
    "One could argue that it's an occupational hazard."
    "Even though those are exactly the kind of guys who don't stick around?"
    Gwen had missed her calling as a talk-show host or a therapist—her talent for getting to the heart of the matter was unmatched. That was precisely what I'd done. The handful of one-nighters I'd had since Brad had all been that type...guys who don't stick around. Even though he'd said he was different, there was a good chance I'd just found another one in Peter. I played it off with a wave of my hand. "We weren't talking about me anyway."
    "Why is that?" She turned and crossed her arms across her chest, her eyes accusatory. "When we hang out at home, we only talk about me. You know things about my relationship with Ted that nobody else knows, but I know nothing about what's up with you anymore."
    "That's not true. I tell you about work." I bent forward and unwrapped my hair from the towel, flipping it back and letting it roll over my shoulders. "There is no relationship stuff in my life. You know that."
    She shook her head slowly. "That world is your own creation. Nobody is forcing you to have your rules."
    The corners of my mouth drew downward. Apparently the only person in my life who understood my rules no longer considered them helpful.
    "Look," she said. "I get why you did it. Brad hurt you. He treated you like shit. But it's been more than two years and you need to try a different approach." She planted her hand on my knee. "You didn't used to be like this, hooking up with guys like they don't mean anything."
    I pursed my lips. My shoulders tightened. "I don't treat guys like they're nothing. I just don't get involved. There's a difference."
    She groaned. "That's not you. That's some alien version of Katie you invented. You can't do this forever. You have to open up to someone or you're going to end up alone."
    I crossed my legs and looked up at the ceiling, avoiding eye contact. The agony of what had happened two years before washed over me like high tide, muted only slightly by time. I'd grown a thicker skin, learned to protect myself since then. Even so, it didn't take much to conjure the memory of coming home from my final wedding dress fitting to Brad's note, the one that would change my life forever.
    Sweet contentment had worked its way through me when I saw Brad's familiar handwriting scrawled on a piece of paper on the kitchen counter. I was sure it was another love note. He used to leave them for me all the time and we were so close to our big day. My final thought before I started reading was that I’d never imagined it was possible to be so in love with someone.
    And then I was forced to begin the heartbreaking process of falling out of love with