Echoes of the Heart, Casey, L.A. [reader novel .txt] 📗

interviews’ into the search bar and exhaled a breath when thousands of results popped up. I swallowed as I scrolled down through the videos, glancing at the year the video was uploaded as I went. Someone of them were fan-made compilations. I clicked into one video that had a thumbnail of all the guys laughing.

‘Blood Oath Being Cute Little Nuggets For 7 Minutes Straight XD’

The video opened with the guys doing an interview in a studio but before anyone could ask a question, the chair May was sat on broke and he fell. The way he fell was comical. His hands and legs flailed around and his face was a picture. His eyes were wide and his lips parted as the chair gave way, like he knew what was about to happen to him before it happened. Risk, Hayes and Angel laughed so much that they cried. Risk ended up on the floor with May, he tried to help him up but was so weak with laughter that he fell right on top of him.

I was laughing so much at their antics that I made myself breathless.

I got up, grabbed my inhalers from their box and took a few puffs of my brown inhaler then brought them both over to my bed so I could watch the rest of the video. It was a compilation video so it was a bunch of random video edited into one. After the interview where May fell, it switched to the guys walking through a shopping centre with their security team and a whole horde of teenage girls, grown women and men following them. One girl was screaming so loud for Hayes that she actually fainted and May nearly died from shock as he bent down to fan her with both of his hands only for her to spring to life and launch up and wrap her arms around May as he screamed with fright. In the background of the video, Risk had his hand on his hips and was shaking his head while he watched the scene unfold. To his left were Angel and Hayes, who were laughing so much they began smacking each other.

I was laughing so much that I had to pause the video. Again.

When I watched the rest of it, eventually, I was laughing and wiping my eyes by the time it came to an end. The guys were hilarious and poor May seemed to be the cause of their laughter most of the time. He always either falling or someone fell into him, the silly sod. One thing that couldn’t be denied was that the guys genuinely loved being in the others’ company, a blind man could see that. They weren’t just bandmates or regular friends, they were brothers.

I scrolled down through the related videos and froze.

RISK KELLER TALKS ABOUT HIS LOVE LIFE! (NOT CLICKBAIT!!!!)

The title, in all caps, was intimating. I was scared to click on it but I had to. I knew he had other relationships with women, we weren’t together for nine long years, of course he moved on. I moved on with those tourists, it just was a train wreck for me and made me steer clear of men altogether . . . until Risk stormed back into my life.

With a deep breath, I tapped on the video’s thumbnail.

His face appeared on screen instantly. He didn’t look real. He looked like he was generated from a computer, that was how good he looked. His white-blond hair was still shaved on either side but instead of it being braided back and styled like a Viking, it was lose and messy and looked like he had just crawled out of bed but God, it was sexy. His face was clean shaven and his freckles were darker and covered his fair face. Freckles were supposed to be cute and adorable, but somehow Risk made them look incredibly rugged. He wore a black long-sleeved T-shirt that was a little fitted and outlined his broad shoulders, hard chest and muscled arms. The only thing that was out of place were his eyes. They were bloodshot and his pupils were huge. He was high on something during this interview and that hurt my heart.

The interviewer had been introducing herself to Risk, and he had greeted her, while I appreciated the sight of him. They spoke a little about music, the band as a whole and their past and upcoming shows before my ears picked up that the conversation had switched to interest in Risk’s love life.

“Have you ever been in a committed relationship, Risk?” the lady asked. “We know you’re the wild, bad-boy rocker, but have you ever had a steady girl?”

“Yep.”

“Who?”

“Her identity is private, she’s not in the spotlight and I don’t want her life put in it because of me.”

My heart thrummed against my chest. He was talking about me. I knew it.

“Was she special?”

“Very,” Risk answered. “I never had another girlfriend after her so make of that what you will.”

“Wow,” the interviewer said. “Do you see her often?”

“I don’t see her at all,” Risk said. “She broke up with me just before I moved stateside so it’s been a long time since I’ve seen or spoken to her.”

The interviewer’s eyes widened.

“I bet she regrets breaking up with you now that you’re the Risk Keller.”

I could tell that Risk was tired of this interviewer just by the way he looked at her. He was bored and maybe even a little irritated.

“She was fine before me so I’m pretty sure she’s fine without me too.”

I paused the video and noticed that my hands were shaking.

I had heard enough of this kind of conversation, because it involved me directly. I was sure Risk had received questions like this dozens of times before and hearing him respect my privacy touched me but was made my heart pound because when he spoke of me, I could hear fondness in his tone. This interview was before we reconciled. I checked the upload date. Three years ago.