basically perfect.
Thank you to Heather and Megan as usual. You meet my crazy deadlines and always support me. You make my books sparkle and shine and be the best they can be.
And as always…thank you to my Fates (my readers). You support me, you love me even when I do cliffhangers, and I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you. Love you guys.
Keep Reading for a Look at Remember Us This Way, Book 1 of the completed Sound of Us Series
Remember Us This Way by C. R. Jane
Copyright © 2019 by C. R. Jane
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Remember Us This Way
They are idols to millions worldwide. I hear their names whispered in the hallways and blasted through the radio. Their faces are never far from the television screen, tormenting me with images of what I gave up.
To everyone else, they're unattainable rockstars, the music gods who make up The Sound of Us. But to me? They'll always be the boys I lost.
I broke all our hearts when I refused to follow them to L.A., convinced I would only bring them down. Years later, after I’ve succumbed to a monster, and my life has become something out of a nightmare, they are back.
I'm no longer the girl they left behind. But what if I’ve become the woman they can’t forget?
Prologue
According to the Sounds of Us Wikipedia page, the band hit almost instant stardom as soon as they finished recording their first album. A small indie band that had gained only regional notoriety, Red Label had taken a huge risk by signing them. The good looks and the killer voices of the three band members combined with the chance at a larger platform ended up making Sounds of Us the Label’s most successful band in history. They released their first album, Death by Heartbreak, in 2013, and the first single, Follow You Into the Dark, made it to the Billboard Top 100 immediately.
It was their second single that propelled Sounds of Us to legend status though. Cold Heart was number one on the charts almost the second it was released. That led to four other songs ending up in the top ten. Three of them reached number one, with a fourth hitting number two on the charts. That album was torture in its finest form for me. Partly because I had lost them, but also partly because every one of those songs was about me. And that was just the hits. There were a lot more references in the songs that never got released as singles. It was a sharp stab in the chest to hear songs blaring from radios – songs whose lyrics contained exact words each of them had said to me, and that I had said to them.
And while some of the songs were wistful and pained, others were angry. Pissed-off. Occasionally enraged. It was uncomfortable. Actually, it was excruciating. At least for the first couple of months. I stopped listening to music eventually, something that had meant the world to me my entire life. I just couldn’t handle the reminder of them anymore. My heart couldn’t take it.
But every so often, a car would go by with its window down, or I’d walk past a motel room playing the radio, and I’d hear one of their voices and it would be an unexpected jolt of pain all over again.
After the release of their album, the band embarked on a short European tour, then followed it up with a much larger American tour. They started selling out stadiums. They appeared on every late-night show there was. Everyone wanted a piece of them. They were like this generation’s Beatles, probably even bigger. The next two albums certainly were bigger, although those were easier for me to listen to since the songs about me faded as time went on. They were the most celebrated band in the world and there was no sign of their success slowing down anytime soon.