Rhapsody

Copyright © 2023 by Holly Fox writing as Holly Bloom Edited by Fox Proof Editing Cover design by Ashes and Vellichor All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, events and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. before we start… This book contains mature themes that may be distressing for some readers. For a full list of content warnings, please visit Holly Bloom’s website for more details. contents Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Chapter 41 Chapter 42 Chapter 43 Chapter 44 Chapter 45 Chapter 46 Chapter 47 Chapter 48 Chapter 49 Chapter 50 Chapter 51 Chapter 52 Chapter 53 Chapter 54 Chapter 55 Chapter 56 Chapter 57 Chapter 58 Chapter 59 Chapter 60 Chapter 61 Chapter 62 Chapter 63 Chapter 64 Chapter 65 Chapter 66 Chapter 67 Chapter 68 Chapter 69 One year later… Authors Note About the Author one Ash I can’t breathe. My heart skips a beat as time slows down. Lights and cameras flash, my vision blurs, and loud music plays, but it sounds like I’m trapped underwater and gasping for air. Everything else falls away until all I can see is the three of them. Levi. Damon. Zach. But now I see them for who they really are. Venom. Ripper. Zed. How is this even possible? I don’t understand. It makes no sense. They can’t be the Basilisks. I don’t want to accept it, I… “Ash?” Cookie takes my arm to steady me. She shoots an apologetic glance at the Lionhearts and lets out a nervous laugh as my eyes stay locked on Venom. “Ash is just shocked, that’s all.” The Lionhearts, the Basilisks… What the fuck am I supposed to call them now? “Levi,” Zach addresses his bandmate firmly—or should I call him Zed? He grabs Venom’s shoulder to turn him around, breaking our gaze, but his magnetic green eyes will be permanently seared into my soul. They are the same eyes I’ve looked into before but hidden behind different lenses. How could they have lied to me? We’ve been around each other all summer, but they never said a word. They had plenty of opportunities to share their secret with me. Zed nudges his head in the opposite direction. He doesn’t look at me as he says, “We have to go. The car’s waiting. We can’t miss our flight.” I look at Damon—Ripper—who watches me with an intenseness that makes my inner thighs tingle. How could I have been so blind? I missed all the signs. My mind flips through my summer memories like I’m rewinding a movie in my head. Images whoosh past in quick snapshots, but I can’t take them in properly. “We’ll see you soon, Ash,” Ripper says in a low, seductive rumble, then he adds, “on the set of Popstarz.” “Take care of yourself,” Venom says. He’s dropped a bombshell and is leaving me to deal with the aftermath alone. The fucker. Who does that? Not giving me an explanation is worse than fucking me without telling me who they are. When we were on Buggy, I didn’t care about their identities. I wanted them to keep their masks on. I told them their music was all that mattered, but that was before I knew the truth. The truth changes everything… I stay rooted to the spot, suspended in shock and disbelief. Even without the stage of people surrounding us, I still wouldn’t be able to demand answers. They’ve rendered the girl who always has an answer to everything speechless. The three men I spent the entire summer avoiding are the same people I craved to see again. The same men who I looked up to for years. The same men I believed were the best thing to ever happen to me. “Ash.” Cookie nudges me in the ribs with more urgency this time. I still can’t speak, so she talks for me. “She’ll see you soon.” “Yes,” Zed says with an air of finality, “she will.” With that, the three of them hurry away. Zed leads the band, striding to the waiting limo. His broad shoulders flex as he walks. Broad shoulders that I’ve stroked. From his walk, I can’t tell whether Zed knows what Venom revealed. If he did, he has damn good composure. The Zed I spent the night with would protect their privacy with his life, and he’d be furious about their biggest secret being uncovered. Ripper casts one final lingering look in our direction before getting into the car. His jaw tenses, like he’s holding himself back. I turn away from them. Fuck. How could I have allowed myself to believe the Basilisks were my soul mates? This revelation only proves how different our worlds are. Nausea bubbles in the pit of my stomach. Have I been a joke to them? They came into my life and flipped my world on its head. With camp ending, getting my phone back and building up the courage to text Ripper has been the thing I’ve looked forward to the most, but it will never be the same now. Knowing their real identities dashed any lofty hopes I had. We’d never work. Millions of girls want to climb into bed with the