Pretty Wreck

PRETTY WRECK PRETTY BROKEN BOOK THREE J.R. GRAY CONTENTS KEEP IN TOUCH WITH GRAYTrigger WarningChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 5Chapter 6Chapter 7Chapter 8Chapter 9Chapter 10Chapter 11Chapter 12Chapter 13Chapter 14Chapter 15Chapter 16Chapter 17Chapter 18Chapter 19Chapter 20Chapter 21Chapter 22Chapter 23Chapter 24Chapter 25Chapter 26Chapter 27Chapter 28Chapter 29Chapter 30Chapter 31EpilogueAlso by J.R. GrayAbout J.R. GrayAcknowledgments Pretty Wreck Copyright © 2023 by J.R. Gray 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. Cover Image: Adobe Stock Cover Design: Rebel Ink Co Beta reading: Kerry & Avery Editing: Ellis James Proofing: Victoria & Kelly Formatting: GrayBooks ABOUT PRETTY WRECK Alister Fox The pretty boy. The loner. Old Hollywood. I had all kinds of names as the least known member of the most famous band in the world. Behind all the hype and masks, I'm just a Pretty Wreck. No one knows the disaster I am, my secrets hidden behind style and a smile. I've been running for as long as I can remember, but I can't get away from the gilded cage of fame. I don't know how much longer I'll be able to keep it together. I'm forced to go back on tour to play the summer concert circuit, and so is the guy I've avoided for two years. Ten years older than me, he's the bassist for the hottest punk band. He beds a different girl every night, but while the rest of the world slept, he'd crawl into my bed. He's the only person who has ever felt safe, but he's straight, so I ran from him, too. Now I have to face him and it's all unraveling. I'm afraid I'll be the first to break, bringing our fame crashing down. Kingsley Cole My words have gotten me in trouble for as long as I can remember. They got me suspended from eighth grade and banned from online forums, but they also made us famous beyond our wildest dreams. Poetry and scorn. My deepest thoughts, raw and exposed for the fans to consume. They spawned rumors and ruin, and they’re about to do worse. He hasn’t spoken to me in years. But our secret keeps bleeding into my songs. My next album is a ticking time bomb and when it hits, it will be the end of us. What will be left but a pretty wreck? KEEP IN TOUCH WITH GRAY JOIN THE GRAY PACK GET J.R. GRAY’S NEWSLETTER JOIN J.R. GRAY’S PATREON LIKE J.R. GRAY ON FACEBOOK FOLLOW J.R. GRAY ON BOOKBUB FOLLOW J.R. GRAY ON TWITTER FOLLOW J.R. GRAY ON AMAZON FOLLOW J.R. GRAY ON INSTAGRAM FOLLOW J.R. GRAY ON PINTEREST VISIT J.R. GRAY’S WEBSITE WWW.JRGRAYBOOKS.COM OTHER PRETTY BROKEN BOOKS Pretty Obsessed Pretty Toxic Other Books by J.R. Gray Scapegoat The Forbidden Equation Pretty F*cked TRIGGER WARNING Depression is discussed and there is drug use. (Weed and 2C-B) I’m trying to kick the habit, but as soon as you’re gone I can’t stand it. ONE Alister Fox “You don’t usually drink this much,” Fredrick said as he set another drink in front of me. “He shouldn’t be this late.” I checked my watch. In a room full of people, I’d never felt more alone. But worse than being alone was meeting the eyes of someone I used to know. Used to love. “Have you called him?” Fredrick asked, pouring himself a drink. “I shouldn’t have to remind my boyfriend to show up for a bachelor party I’m hosting when he knows—my ex—will be here.” I wasn’t surprised. I’d come early to make sure everything was in place, and Alexander said he’d meet me here, but that was hours ago. It was bordering on strange. He hadn’t come to find me. Alexander hated when I was out of sight. Hated when I snuck off to places like this, but when I’m here and he knows it, he’s nowhere to be fucking found. “Isn’t he your manager?” Fredrick was careful about the way he worded things. The reason I visited his piano bar as much as I did was because no one in the sleepy little eastern seaboard town knew my name. Or at least no one that frequented The Key Of Reason in the middle of winter did. He’d never outed me or reported to the tabloids that a member of the most famous band in the world holed up here when I felt like hiding. “Maybe he got held up?” “With what? Iris is here.” I pushed my glass towards him so he’d refill it. Iris didn’t want to be here and Alexander was constantly chasing him to show up for contract requirements. But I’d personally made sure Iris made it here. Our band mate, Lowe, was getting married, and he’d asked if I could organize the bachelor party, as the only one of us that could find a place where we weren’t swarmed with paparazzi. “I don’t know. I manage a bar, not a world famous band. Just trying to ease your anxiety.” Fredrick was the closest thing I’d had to a friend these last two years, but more like a therapist. “Why don’t you go mingle? Take your mind off it.” “Let’s say I’m hiding from my demons and my demons are here. Well, demon.” Fredrick’s brows rose to the middle of his forehead. “You didn’t tell me the mystery situation-ship guy was famous.” “He is.” I sighed. I told Fredrick way more than I should, and I often wondered how I hadn’t turned into a blind item on a gossip website. I hated how paranoid fame made me. “Who is he?” He refilled my glass, but I could tell he wouldn’t for much longer. “We aren’t talking about him. I am avoiding him.” I downed the whole thing. There was no sipping tonight. I could have maybe handled this if Alexander was