Romance
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Read more...New York Times bestselling author Christine Freehand returns to what Fallen Angels Reviews calls the "erotic, exotic, and suspenseful" world of the paranormally gifted Drake sisters with Turbulent Sea.
The sixth book in her Drake Sisters series features Joley Drake. Born with a legacy of unexpected magical gifts, it is the gift of singing that made her an overnight sensation—a rock-and-roll goddess trapped by fame, fortune, and ambition.
Heated by a flush of success, Joley can have any man she wants. But there's only one man who can give her what she really needs—the bodyguard Ilya Prakenskii. Cool, mysterious, dangerously sexy, and working in the shadow of his infamous past as a secret Russian hit man for a notorious mobster, Illya is the last man with whom Joley should fraternize. When danger comes her way, she has no choice but to turn to the safety of Ilya's embrace. But is she as safe as she imagines?
Read the first Chapter from Turbulent Sea:
ONE
Joley Drake stared in a kind of sick dread at the mob of people crowding the gates and fence. She had forgotten what after parties were like, or maybe she'd just blocked them out.
Women pushed against the town car windows lifting their tops and mashing their bare breasts against the tinted panes. Some waved thong underwear in various colors. They shoved at the car, pulling on door handles and screaming. She doubted any of those women knew who was in the vehicle, but they were clearly willing to sell themselves to get an invite inside.
"My God, Steve," Joley muttered to her driver, "sex, drugs and rock and roll are such a cliché, but it's so true." Even to herself she sounded jaded.
Steve Brinkley's gaze met hers in the rear view mirror. "You stopped coming to these things years ago, what made you change your mind tonight? I was shocked when I got your call."
That was a question she didn't want to answer, not even to herself—especially to herself. She pushed her forehead into her palm. "I haven't been to one of these in so long, I let everything but the music just fade away. I didn't want to think about what goes on, but now that I'm here, I might just throw up." She meant to sound light, joking, but the pounding on the hood and the hands trying to yank open doors were impossible to ignore.
She felt like an animal trapped in a cage. It was surprising how often she felt that way. And if the mob knew who was inside, they would have begun dismantling the car to get at her. She hadn't wanted to remember this part of her life. Those first heady months as a megastar, when everything she wanted, or needed, or thought of was handed to her and the band. That had been so long ago, a dream come true that had quickly turned to a nightmare she tried to forget.
She had been born with a legacy of gifts, but even she had been overtaken by the magnitude of what was offered to her in that first flush of success, being treated like a star, godlike, given anything, wanted everywhere. Like so many stars before her, she'd fallen into the trap of selfish egotism, believing she deserved to be treated different.
Being a Drake with special gifts prevented her from using anything poisonous to her body, but her band hadn't been so lucky. She'd seen the results, and more than once had walked into a hotel room to find naked bodies writhing everywhere and drugs and alcohol flowing freely. Her boys, as she called them, more than just friends—almost family, the excesses of alcohol, drugs and women crawling over each other for a chance to be with a member of a band, to do anything for them, nearly had destroyed their minds and their lives.
Most of the band members lost families to that excessive lifestyle, when they had become all about taking whatever they could get. It hadn't taken Joley long to become disgusted with the way they were all living. She'd walked out, turning her back on music—on the band—on fame. They knew it was her voice that had taken them to the top and without her, the band would topple quickly. In the end, her manager and the band members had convinced her they would set rules they could abide by.
Joley knew she couldn't dictate to the band, but she could set guides she could live with. She didn't ever pretend not to have a wild streak, but that didn't include illegal substances or sexual orgies. And it certainly didn't include underage boys or girls performing sexual favors and getting totally wasted. The terms had been agreed to and Joley rarely went to parties other than with the band party immediately afterward. And she never went where someone might be providing all the things she'd most objected to—until now—until tonight.
"Why do you suppose these women feel the need to service bands? What do they really get out of it, Steve?" she asked her driver. "Because I don't understand. They line up to give the band and even the roadies blowjobs. Actually stand in line in the halls, hoping to get the chance. They don't really care if anyone knows their name."
"I don't know, Joley. I don't really understand half of what people do or why they do it."
