Sometimes Brooke (The ALWAYS SOMETIMES NEVER Rock Star Romance Series Book 2) by Sierra Avalon Page A

that by some miracle I can erase Brooke Rhodes from my head and I won’t be crazy in love with her. Of course it doesn’t work. She’s still taking up more of my brain capacity than a guy like me can spare. Raven is right. I do love her. Too fast and too deep. I’m all in already. 
    Raven plops down on the bed next to me. “I’m sorry,” she whispers.
    That’s a first. Raven never apologies to anyone for anything.
    “I’m sorry too,” I tell her. “This is all really fucked up.”
    “I’m scared,” she says. Her voice is so small and so un-Raven-like I’m not sure I heard her correctly.
    “Raven doesn’t get scared,” I tell her.
    “Bullshit,” she spits back.
    When I look over at her I see her eyes are damp again. Something more is definitely going on. “What is it? Be real, okay?”
    She heaves a sigh before she begins. “I always expected Nic to find someone. I didn’t imagine it would be someone like Harper, but it makes sense. It still hurt though, you know? We were together so long. All four of us. And then one day we weren’t. He was with Harper and the four became three. Now that things are happening with Brooke…”
    I hold up a hand to interrupt her. “Nothing is happening with Brooke. She just wants to fuck around.”
    She gives me a sly grin. “You want that girl so bad you know you’d do anything to have her.”
    She’s right, but I don’t want her to know it. “It doesn’t matter what I want. She wants things to be cool and casual. I have to give her what she wants.”
    “She’s just not ready to admit what she wants. She wants you too.”
    I’m not sure I believe her, but I urge her to continue.
    “When you and Brooke finally get together, and believe me, you will, it will just be me and Xander.” A lone teardrop slides down her cheek and she quickly flicks it away like she’s swiping at a bug on her face. “What happens to me when Xander finds someone else?”
    My throat tightens because I can see how hurt she feels. Like we’re all abandoning her. In a way she’s right. She’s been the girl who’s always been there for us. The girl we’ve fucked whenever we wanted. Until the day we no longer wanted her.
    “I don’t know what to say,” I admit.
    She shakes her head. “You don’t have to say anything. It’s my fault for believing that what we all had with each other could last forever. I should have known better. I’m the slut everyone fucks until they find the girls they want to marry.”
    “You’re not a slut.” When our eyes meet I can tell she doesn’t believe me.
    “Maybe not, but I’m not the girl you marry either. No happy ending for Raven Woods.”
    “You still have Xander,” I tell her, but it doesn’t seem to cheer her up.
    “For now.” I’ve never heard her sound so broken.
    “Maybe you and Xander…”
    She cuts me off with a wave of her hand. “Don’t, okay. Maybe it’s time for me to find a new band to screw.”
    I frown. “I know you don’t mean that.”
    She shrugs. “Enough about me. How are you going to get Brooke? I’m tired of all this whiny baby bullshit. Grow a pair and claim her. Okay?”
    At least the old Raven is finally back. “Whatever you say.”
    ***
    “What are you doing?” It’s Harper’s voice. I feel like I’m a kid who just got caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
    I’m sitting in her office on her computer and I didn’t exactly ask her permission.
    I start pressing every button I can find just to make the picture on the screen go away, but it’s not helping.
    “Why are you researching human anatomy?” She’s now looking over my shoulder at the screen. I feel embarrassed and almost like my privacy is being invaded, but I know I shouldn’t. Technically I’m the one who invaded her privacy.
    “No reason.” I keep pushing buttons, but the damn screen won’t shut down. I’m definitely not a computer geek, but you’d think I’d be able to get the damn Internet to shut down.
    “What are