Royal Wrecker

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Honoré

Forty-eight hours earlier

It wasn't like me to do something wild like this.

An explosion of lights and pyrotechnics erupted around me, followed by the extremely loud chords of a song I knew by heart.

Everything went black, and I grabbed my friend Jennifer's hand and squeezed it tightly.

Then out of the darkness a spotlight illuminated the man we were all here to see—Leo Barnes.

With one swift stroke, he strummed his guitar, and the audience went wild.

Screaming teenage girls filled the arena. Even the mums who had accompanied their tween daughters screamed for him.

His appeal was that wide. Not only that, but his music was that good.

Leo’s songs had always made me feel like he was singing directly to me.

And when his songs played somewhere, they always made my heart speed up a bit, which was why I’d let my friend talk me into coming to his concert.

“He's so hot!” Jennifer squealed.

I couldn't deny that what she said was true.

Clad in black leather pants and nothing else, he strutted around the stage playing his guitar and singing to the crowd.

His muscles rippled with each stride, and we were close enough to see that insane washboard stomach of his.

This was one of Leo’s rare solo concerts where he performed without his sister Ivy, and Jennifer had insisted we go.

Going to rock concerts wasn’t a usual occurrence in my sheltered existence, but after a lot of begging, I prevailed and my family gave me permission to attend.

Recently having celebrated my twentieth birthday, I felt I should be allowed more freedom.

I had promised I would wear a disguise and blend in just like any other young woman in Martinovia, and here we were.

The concert lasted around two hours, and by the end of it, my feet were aching, and I was ready to go home.

“But you know I've got backstage passes.” Jennifer tugged on my shirt. “You can't make us leave before we have a chance to meet Leo Barnes.”

I didn't want to ruin her night, but I wasn't really in the mood.

Jennifer nudged me in the ribs. “I know you're a princess and all that, but you can’t pass up the opportunity to meet Leo in the flesh.”

I’ve never been as boy crazy as Jennifer, and I figured Leo Barnes was just like any other person.

Granted, a bit hotter than most.

Truly an amazing musician, but I wasn't the type to be starstruck.

Just because he was famous wasn’t anything special to me.

I grew up under that mantle, so it took a lot to impress me.

But Jennifer was right. I couldn't ruin her one chance to meet him just because I felt like being lame.

So I agreed, and much to the irritation of my security detail, we made our way backstage.

When we got to the inner sanctum, we were shown into a special greenroom and they told us Leo and the band would be out in a few minutes.

Central to the room was a table filled with a variety of alcoholic beverages, some congealed-looking cheese squares, and a vegetable platter that no one touched.

I sat down next to Jennifer on a creepy maroon vinyl couch. Her knees were shaking so hard that I reached over and placed my hand on them. “Stop.”

“I'm sorry. I can't help it. I'm just so excited. I mean to have the chance to meet Leo Barnes in person… Oh my God, I've been watching him on TV since he was a little kid practically.”

“But then you were a little kid.”

Jennifer pressed her hands to her cheeks and swooned. “I know. Isn't that romantic? We grew up together.”

I rolled my eyes and started scrolling through my phone.

“You know, that drummer was really cute too. Did you notice?” she asked.

Actually, I had noticed. In the looks department he might even give Leo a run for his money. But then, all of the members of his family were gorgeous. Probably everyone in his entire life was good-looking.

It was almost disgusting how perfect he seemed.

Just when I was about to lose my patience and tell Jennifer we had to go home, the door burst open and Leo and his band members came out laughing and messing with one another.

When I looked up, there he was, standing two feet away from me—Leo Barnes.

I expected for him to be a larger-than-life, giant of a man who sucked out all the energy in a room the minute he walked in. That was the way everyone described Ziggy Barnes, Leo’s father who had been the biggest rock star on the planet before he was killed in a plane crash.

But to my surprise, Leo seemed like a regular guy.

A regular guy with the looks of Brad Pitt, but his energy was very low-key, casual.

Not the kind of guy who needed everyone in the room to bow down to him.

“Hi, I'm Leo,” he said.

“Oh my God, I can't believe were meeting you! I'm Jennifer,” she gushed as she shook his hand.

“And I'm Hannah,” I lied. He took my hand, and when our eyes met, something sparked inside me.

I set my phone inside my bag.

This might be interesting after all.

“These are my buddies Will and DeMarcus.”

Introductions were made, and the guys asked us if we wanted anything else to drink.

They pulled a few beers out of a fridge in the corner of the room.

I accepted, as did Jennifer.

There was no drinking age in Martineau.

Our culture dictated that children drank wine at the table with their parents from a very young age, so drinking beer was nothing for us.

As I sipped my beer, I could tell Jennifer was really interested in Will, the drummer. He was cute with sandy-brown hair and dark, mysterious eyes. And you couldn't help but appreciate the way he played the drums with his shirt open, displaying a serious eight-pack.

“We loved the show. I'm a big fan of your music,” I managed, knowing I sounded stupid, but I needed to play the role of a typical groupie.

If my pink wig was not enough of a disguise, I certainly didn't think Leo would recognize me, but I was also starting to have a little fun pretending to be someone so different from myself.

My world required me to be rather serious. There were a lot of responsibilities placed on my head, and it was nice to step out of that familiar role tonight and act like a normal twenty-year-old girl.

“Really? You like to listen to us, too?” Leo asked shyly.

“I do, especially Leave Me Now. That's one of my favorites. Don't you have a tattoo of that?”

It was one of the things that everybody talked about when it came to Leo. His tattoos were legendary.

He laughed. “Yeah, I do. But hey, you want to go swimming with us? It’ll give you a chance to see that tattoo.”

The sly grin he gave me made my stomach do a flip.

I had thought I was immune to the charms of celebrities like him, but maybe I was wrong.

“Yeah, right. Hang on,” I said, stalling.

“Hey, why don't you girls come with us to our hotel?” Will asked Jennifer with a raised brow.

Jennifer's eyes grew wide as she looked over at me and gave a slow nod that said we better be doing this.

I was just about to agree when I realized that there was no way my security was going to go along with this.

“Can I talk to you a minute?” I smiled sweetly at Leo as I pulled Jennifer to the side and hissed, “There's no way my people are going along with this.”

Jennifer chewed her bottom lip. “Can't we just ditch them?”

“I don't know. I'm not really used to doing that.”

“I hear about it all the time with the president's kids. They are always ditching their Secret Service people in America. I saw it online.”

I sighed. Just what those kids of families outside of America loved most—to be compared to a country where they had a turnover every four years. In Martinovia there was only one royal family, and it didn't change. If you screwed something up here, it stayed with you for life. You couldn’t just wait for the next bunch to come in and make mistakes of their own.

I had grown up with security my entire life. It wasn't just a new nuisance for me to have to get used to.

Glancing over at the guys, there was something about the way Leo smiled at me that made my brain take a vacation.

The next thing I knew, I heard myself saying yes.

Then I walked over to Leo and asked, “Is there a back way we can get out of here?”

“I like the way you think.” He grinned. “Ditch those freaking paparazzi, and we’ll get an Uber to the hotel. Hey, DeMarcus, give that guy a call who drove you to get that pizza yesterday.”

“Sure thing.”

And just like that I graduated from a perfect princess to a wild party girl.

I slammed the rest of my beer.

“Damn, girl.” Will looked at me admiringly, while I successfully held back a burp.

I could only go so far outside my upbringing.

To my surprise, it was fairly easy to leave out a back door. We headed down a corridor that led to a side exit to the building where the guy with the van showed up to give us a ride to the hotel.

During the ride over, Jennifer climbed into the back with Will who had already planted one hand on her knee and an arm around her shoulder.

It didn't take long for them to couple up.

DeMarcus climbed in the middle, and Leo and I climbed onto the first bench. He didn't put an arm around me, but I was pleased by the way he gazed into my eyes so intently as we talked. It made me feel like I was the only girl in the world.

“So do you live in Martinovia?” he asked.

“Yes.” I appreciated him asking me about myself, but that was the last topic I wanted to discuss so I put it back on him. “I know you travel quite a bit and do lots of tours, but where is it you call home?”

“My mom's got a house in Beverly Hills, but you're right. Sometimes it feels like home is on the road.”

My brows furrowed. “That doesn't sound too good.”

He shrugged.

“What about your sister Ivy? Do you miss being on tour with her?”

“Yeah. But we can't stay joined at the hip forever. Our interests are starting to go in different directions, you know? It is what it is.” He turned and looked out the window, indicating it was not a topic he really wanted to discuss.

“So are you enjoying Martinovia?”

“Yeah, it's a pretty cool place. We haven't done as much sightseeing as I'd like to, but so far I like it. This is my first time coming here.”

We continued with the small talk until we got to the hotel—the most upscale hotel in the capital.

A doorman helped us out and showed the five of us to one of the back elevators, which transported us to the very top floor. There, we were let into a penthouse suite that took up at least one half of the entire top floor.

I had heard there was an outdoor pool on the roof of the suite, but I had never seen it for myself.

Maybe I could catch a peek of it while we were here.

Leo had mentioned swimming…