Shooting Star

by Carol Lynne

  Brac appreciated the fact that the bigger man didn’t try to take his suitcase from him. Instead, Jessup opened the door and motioned for Brac to go ahead of him. Brac took off and didn’t stop until he’d made it through the back gate. He tossed his suitcase in the bed of the dark blue Ford F250 pickup. He scrambled into the passenger seat and ducked down as Jessup jumped in behind the wheel.

  “So far so good,” Jessup said, pulling down the narrow alley.

  It wasn’t until they were on their way Brac realised something. “Shit! I forgot to call the EZ Does It to let them know I’m coming.”

  “Taken care of,” Jessup replied.

  As soon as they cleared town, Brac sat up in the seat. “Thanks for doing this.”

  “Is it worth it?”

  “Yeah. Anything that saves Kit from public scrutiny is worth it.” Brac fastened his seatbelt for the remainder of the short drive.

  “No, I meant all of it. Is being an actor worth living your life under a microscope?”

  Brac bit the inside of his cheek. He’d wondered the same thing lately. “Sometimes.” He looked over at Jessup. “In the beginning it was definitely worth it. What kid doesn’t dream of growing up and running off to Hollywood to make it big? Unfortunately, it isn’t until you actually become famous that reporters and photographers follow your every move. By then you have contracts that’ve been signed and people counting on you to support them. What kind of person would I be if I just walked away from my obligations because I don’t like what journalists are saying about me?”

  Jessup turned and drove under the EZ Does It ranch sign. “Do you like the work?”

  “Acting has always been my first love. It’s the other bullshit that gets old real fast. It’s the parties and schmoozing with jerks because they can give you work that I can’t stand. I honestly had no idea that acting was only a small part of becoming an actor.”

  Jessup stopped the truck at a gate beside the barn and honked his horn. Within moments Jax strolled out of the barn. “Glad you decided to take me up on the offer,” Jax said through Jessup’s open window.

  “I hope I’m not being a bother. With any luck, this’ll all die down quickly.” Brac reached for the door handle to get out. “Will I be staying in the bunkhouse?”

  “No,” Jax answered. “No offence, but I’m not sure how much work my cowboys would get done with you hanging around. I told Jessup you could use the line cabin.”

  Line cabin? “Guess I didn’t realise this place was big enough to have a line cabin.”

  Jax chuckled and shook his head. “It’s not. Ezra built it years ago to get away from people.” Jax slapped the side of the truck. “I’ll open the gate. Just follow the path until you get to the fork. Go left. There’s not much of a road anymore, but we try to keep a path mowed. Keep following the path and you’ll eventually find it.”

  “Please thank Ezra for the use of his refuge,” Brac said on their way past the gate.

  “Will do. We’ll keep people out from this end.”

  The dirt path wasn’t bad until they reached the fork Jax spoke of. Brac was glad he wasn’t driving as the truck bounced over rocks and ruts. “I’m gonna owe you a new truck by the time we reach the cabin.”

  “I thought you were a country boy. You mean to tell me you’ve never been four-wheelin’?”

  Brac thought back to the short conversation he’d had with Jessup a few days earlier. “I don’t remember telling you I was from the country.”

  Jessup leaned over the wheel, suddenly pretending to concentrate on the road. “I needed to know who I was guarding,” he mumbled.

  For some reason the information pleased Brac. “What else did you find out about me?”

  “Just the basics.” Jessup’s face flushed.

  Brac grinned. “Let’s see,” Brac began. “You read about me coming out of the closet shortly after I started work on Pirates’ Cove. You also probably already know that I had a very public break-up with one of my co-stars two years ago. By the way, in case you’re interested, I haven’t had a steady guy since Randal.”

  “Why would I be interested?”

  Because I’m throwing myself at you, Brac wanted to shout. He gathered what pride he had left and turned to look out the passenger window. “No reason,” he mumbled.

  Jessup actually made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a laugh. “Are you that hard up?”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Brac got the distinct feeling he was being made fun of. Well, fuck that.

  “What exactly is it about me that you find attractive enough to put an offer like that on the table?” Jessup asked. “If it’s just my dick, well, I think I can help you out there, but I’ve got absolutely nothing else to offer you.”

  “You think I’m proposing to you or something? Get real. I just thought you might be interested in getting to know me.” Brac shook his head. “Forget I mentioned it.”

  “Not likely,” Jessup said, barely loud enough for Brac to hear.

  They pulled into a small clearing. “That’s one hell of a line cabin,” Jessup said.

  Although not fancy, the cabin was a one-and-a-half-storey house with a nice-sized covered front porch. Cabin or not, Brac fell in love with the place on the spot. Although he hated the circumstances that brought him to the EZ Does It he couldn’t wait to relax and enjoy his surroundings. “It’s perfect,” he whispered.

  Chapter Two

  After a quick run into town to pick up groceries, Al Jessup walked down the path towards the pond. In the two days since Brac had discovered the fishing hole, he’d spent practically every waking moment with a rod in his hand.

  Jessup didn’t understand the draw. The few times he’d fished it had been out of necessity. He’d certainly never sat for hours hoping to catch something only to turn around and toss it back into the water.

  Topping a small rise in the landscape, Jessup moaned. Brac was sound asleep under an overhanging tree, his bare chest a temptation the deputy didn’t need. Resisting the sexy man had been hard enough without seeing him half-naked. Jessup’s gaze travelled down the length of Brac’s chest, from the small tanned nipples to the thin strip of dark blond hair that disappeared under the low-slung denim shorts.

  Jessup cupped his hardening cock and gave a slight squeeze. On more than one occasion since they’d arrived at the cabin, Brac had offered himself as a bed warmer. Jessup would have taken Brac up on the offer in a heartbeat if sleeping together hadn’t been part of the deal.

  In all of his thirty-six years, Jessup had only slept overnight with one man, a fellow mercenary, James ‘Priest’ Evans. Like Jessup, Priest understood the nightmares a man accustomed to killing people could experience. Although Priest was still Jessup’s best friend, there had never been anything romantic between them. When they’d been together on assignment, they’d used each other for sex, nothing more. For years he’d found his non-committed relationship with Priest comforting. It wasn’t until he’d spent three years in prison that he’d begun to yearn for more than a friendly fuck from his best friend.

  Upon his release, Jessup had made a point to search Priest out and offer himself to the man he’d spent three years dreaming of. Not one for emotional ties, Priest had declined Jessup’s offer for anything more than friendship and the occasional fuck. In an effort to convince himself it would be enough, Jessup agreed to Priest’s terms. However, when Priest initiated physical contact they both realised Jessup’s experiences in Syria had left him psychologically impotent.

  Jessup shook his head and grinned. It was obvious his cock no longer had a problem sustaining an erection. He wondered if it was Brac, or time, that had healed his libido. Did it matter? One night filled with Jessup’s brand of nightmares would be enough to send Brac running back to Hollywood.

  “Is that for me?”

  Jessup’s gaze moved back up Brac’s body to meet the handsome man’s sleepy stare. He released his hold on his cock and took a step back. “I bought a couple of
T-bones while I was in town. Thought I’d grill ‘em up for dinner.”

  “Okay.” Brac moved his hand down his bare chest to rest over the bulge trapped behind his fly. “I’m not really hungry at the moment. Why don’t you join me?”

  Shaking his head, Jessup took another step towards the dirt path that led back to the cabin. There was something about Brac’s offer that scared him. “Not a good idea.” He took off at a fast clip, running away from the desire that threatened to overwhelm him.

  He made it to the cabin in half the time it had taken him to reach the pond. Jessup shut the back door and leaned against it. “No!” he reprimanded himself. Already the reporters were beginning to clear out of Cattle Valley. He had no doubt the last of them would be gone before the end of the week, and Brac would move on.

  Jessup reached for his phone. He was in dire need of a reminder as to why he couldn’t give in to his desire for Brac. He punched in the familiar number and waited for the recording.

  “You’ve reached the office of Alice Weaver. Please leave a name and number after the beep and Alice will return your call as soon as possible.”

  “It’s Bob Goldsmith. I need an appointment.” Jessup hung up and waited.

  Within moments, his phone rang. “Hey.”

  “It’s been a while,” Priest said, his voice as deep as Jessup had remembered.

  “Yeah.” Now that he had Priest on the phone, Jessup wasn’t sure what to say. “How’ve you been?”

  “What’s going on?” Priest asked, suspicion creeping into his voice.

  “Nothing. Babysitting some television star. You?”

  “You know I can’t tell you that.”

  “Right. Sorry.” How could Jessup have forgotten Priest’s number one rule? No questions. Ever.

  “I’d ask if you had another dream, but since it isn’t even eighteen-hundred hours yet, I doubt that’s the case. So I’ll ask again, what’s going on?”

  Jessup rubbed his eyes. Priest wasn’t the kind of man you could talk feelings with, not that he had feelings for Brac, so why had he called? “Just reminding myself where I came from,” he eventually mumbled.

  “What the hell’s that supposed to mean?”

  “There’s a reason guys like us don’t make good lovers,” Jessup tried to explain.

  “Lovers or boyfriends? Because they’re two entirely different things. I happen to know you’re a good lover, so you must be thinking about something other than fucking. Who is he?”

  Jessup was taken off guard by Priest’s observation. “He’s no one. Just some guy who’ll be gone before you know it.”

  Priest was quiet for several moments. “Does he make you hard?”

  “Fuck you.” There was no way Jessup would discuss the state of his dick with Priest.

  Priest groaned. “That’s answer enough for me. I think you should go for it. I would.”

  Jealousy rose up in Jessup, but instead of being upset at the thought of Priest fucking someone else, it was the idea of Brac getting fucked that bothered him. “Drop it.”

  “Did you let him touch you?”

  “Priest,” Jessup warned. He remembered his body’s reaction to Brac’s brief touch the night of Ezra’s barbecue.

  “Don’t Priest me. If whoever this guy is can touch you without you jumping out of your skin, fucking let him.” Priest sighed. “You deserve to be touched. Hell, unlike me, you probably deserve to be loved.”

  Jessup hated hearing his friend talk like that. They’d never delved into Priest’s past or whether or not he’d ever had someone to love. As far as he knew, no one had got close enough to the man to risk asking. “I’m sure there’s someone out there for you to love. People are always going on about soul mates. Who knows, maybe they really exist.”

  “If they do, I’ve probably already killed mine,” Priest whispered, his voice dropping even lower.

  Jessup heard the sound of breaking glass in the background. “Something happening?”

  “Yeah. Gotta go. Call me later and let me know how it goes with the babysitting job.” Priest hung up before Jessup could say anything more.

  With a shake of his head, Jessup hung up the phone. He didn’t miss the constant danger of his old job, but he knew Priest lived for it.

  “Can I come in now?”

  Startled, Jessup moved away from the door and spun around. Brac stood on the other side of the glass with a scowl on his handsome face. “Sorry,” Jessup said, opening the door.

  Brac strode into the kitchen and straight to the fridge. He pulled out a beer and finished half the bottle in one gulp. “Why didn’t you tell me you had phone coverage out here?”

  “Because I knew you’d call your agent and tell him where we are.” Jessup crossed his arms and waited for Brac to deny it.

  “My professional life depends on me staying in touch with Hal. Do you have any idea how much shit’s going on in LA right now?” Brac held out his hand. “Let me use your phone. Hell, you can listen in on the conversation if you’re so worried I’ll give away our secret location.”

  Jessup didn’t want to cave to Brac’s demands, but he understood the necessity of checking in with his agent. In truth, he hadn’t wanted Brac to find out all was well in LA and he could go back to work. Selfish or not, Jessup felt the best place for the star to be was under his watchful eye. “Here.” He handed over the phone after putting it on speaker.

  Brac rolled his eyes. He finished his beer and tossed the empty bottle into the trashcan. “I can’t believe you’re really going to listen,” he mumbled, punching numbers.

  Jessup didn’t answer. Instead he went to the refrigerator and removed the steaks and bottled marinade he’d bought at the store.

  “Hal Walker Agency.”

  “Hi Marlene, it’s Brac. Can you put me through to Hal?”

  “Sure thing, sweetie, although I wouldn’t want to be you right now.”

  “No one wants to be me right now,” he mumbled after he was put on hold.

  “Where the fuck have you been!” a loud voice screamed through the phone.

  “Hiding out,” Brac replied. “I don’t have coverage out here. I think it’s time to find a new provider that has more than six cell towers. So what’s going on with the investigation?”

  Jessup rubbed the T-bones down with salt and pepper before pouring the marinade over the top. Although he had his back to Brac, he was listening closely to every word.

  “It’s not good,” Hal said. “I went to the studio to talk to Ike and saw Jeremy Brouchard leaving his office.”

  “Randal’s boy toy? Why would he be meeting with Ike?” Brac asked.

  “That was my question, but Ike wouldn’t answer me.” Hal sighed into the phone. “I think Ike was auditioning him.”

  “Why do you think that?”

  Jessup glanced over his shoulder to find Brac pacing back and forth across the kitchen. He couldn’t help but wonder if it was the mention of Randal’s boyfriend or the fact that the boyfriend had auditioned that seemed to put Brac on edge.

  “Because Ike told me Randal had been in to see him,” Hal explained. “Is there something going on between the two of you?”

  “No. Why?” Brac stopped walking when he made eye contact with Jessup.

  “Randal wants you off the show. Ike didn’t tell me why, but he said Randal was prepared to back up the extra who filed the harassment case if you weren’t removed from the cast.”

  “What?” Brac shouted. He ran his hands through his hair, pulling at the loosely curled locks. “You think he’s trying to get Jeremy on to take my place?”

  “Yep,” Hal answered.

  Although Jessup had no stake in Brac’s career, he hated the thought of anyone being railroaded out of a job. He knew nothing about how things worked in the entertainment industry, but he had a feeling backstabbing was a way of life for most of them.

  “I should call Randal,” Brac replied.

  “I wouldn’t advise it. I don’t know what kind of game
the man’s playing, but it stinks to high heaven. I already have feelers out for shows looking to jack up their ratings. Maybe we’ll get lucky and land you a spot on a primetime series or something.”

  “What about the press? Is it starting to die down?”

  Hal chuckled. “Yeah, Jessika Cook was arrested again last night for drunk driving. She’s in the hot seat today.”

  Jessup felt like he’d been punched in the stomach. He didn’t like the thought of Brac hightailing it back to California, not one bit. He still wasn’t sure why his body reacted to Brac the way it did, but after talking to Priest he wanted to investigate it further.

  “That’s welcome news,” Brac answered. “Regardless, I plan to stick around Wyoming until you hear something from Ike.” Brac turned his back to Jessup. “Do you think Randal remembers how much shit I have on him? Why isn’t he afraid I’ll go to the press if he threatens my job?”

  “I don’t know. That’s why I asked if there was something going on between the two of you. Let me do some poking around. Call me in the morning. Hopefully I’ll have something by then.”

  “All right. Talk to you later.” Brac hung up and set Jessup’s phone on the table. “Holler when dinner’s ready,” he mumbled before leaving the room.

  Jessup cursed under his breath. The good mood that had followed Brac the last several days had evaporated after one phone call. Picking up the plate of marinated steaks, Jessup headed outside to fire up the grill. Maybe he could think of a way to get that smile back on Brac’s gorgeous face.

  * * * *

  Swaying back and forth on the front porch swing, Brac stared out at the surrounding trees. Oddly, he wasn’t upset at the idea of being replaced on Pirates’ Cove. He’d begun to tire of the storylines months earlier anyway. It was the thought of Randal betraying him after everything they’d once shared that hurt.

  The more he thought about it, the madder Brac became. Not only had Brac covered up Randal’s drug problem for years, but he’d never told another soul how Randal got the job on the soap. All it would take was one phone call to Ike, but blackmail wasn’t something he was comfortable with. Neither was breaking up Ike’s marriage to save his own ass.