More of Us ( A Love You More Rock Star Romance #3) - Laura Pavlov Page 0,1

was not our time and the sooner we both got on board, the better.

I had to be the strong one. Cruz wasn’t. And at the rate we were going, we’d kill one another—if not physically, mentally. I’d finally realized that our love was not a good love. It was too intense, too overpowering and too toxic.

I shared a room with seventeen other girls from all over the United States. The compound was split in two. A girls’ side and a boys’ side. We’d all come on this medical brigade together. There were nine sets of bunk beds in my room, and Jessica and I shared the one in the back corner. I was on the top bunk because apparently Jessica is afraid of heights. I actually laughed when she told me. She wasn’t kidding either, she couldn’t even climb up there to sit and talk. I had to go down to her bunk if we wanted to visit. The window in our room faced the surrounding sugarcane fields, and it calmed me in a weird way. There were no paparazzi waiting outside for me, no gossip magazines spreading lies about me and Cruz, and no drama.

I was here to do something good with my life and help people that were in need.

I stepped in the restroom shared with seventeen other girls, with one shower and one toilet. You weren’t allowed to flush the toilet paper in the toilet, and the shower water was cold at all times. It was a perfect daily reminder of my fresh start. Literally and figuratively.

I rinsed my mouth using purified water from my water bottle and quickly washed my face. I pulled my hair into a bun on top of my head, covered every inch of my body in insect repellant, and slipped into a pair of scrubs.

“You ready to go grab some breakfast before we head out?” I asked Jessica, and she set her journal aside and pushed to her feet.

“Yes. We officially start in our small groups today. I’m so glad we got placed together. And Richard seems pretty cool.” Jessica grabbed her water bottle and we made our way to the dining area.

I chose fruit and cereal for breakfast, and we both tucked a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in our backpacks for lunch. The food trucks would come out mid-day and provide us with lunch, but Jessica and I liked to offer that meal to the kids we were working with, and we brought our own sandwiches to hold us over. My small group would be assisting at a dental clinic for the next few days, assisting Dr. Lingy with exams.

“Let’s load up,” Richard said, and we grabbed our bags and made our way to the bus.

The bus would drop each group at their locations. Ours was the farthest away, and I settled in next to Jessica for the long two-hour commute. The roads were bumpy, and she and I laughed a few times as we bounced out of our seats. I pulled out my mom’s journal and read today’s entry. I liked to read on the same date as she wrote it all those years ago. Even though she was gone, it somehow made me feel close to her.

May 19th

Dear Journal,

I am working full-time at the news station this summer, and I couldn’t be happier about it. One of the news anchors told me that this was where he started. I have so many dreams, and I’m so ready to start chasing them. This is definitely the first one, and it’s going better than I ever imagined. Sabrina, the lady who set me up with this internship, said that the producer was singing my praises, and she told me to keep up the good work. I definitely planned on it.

Jack and I are going strong. I can’t believe how much I love him. Even when he drives me crazy, which of course he does, I love him. We will get to see each other more often now that I’m on summer break. Even working full-time, it’s better than spending late nights in the library.

We have similar hours as he’s training at the fire academy, and he’s pretty wiped out at the end of the day.