Falling Star (Combustible Book 2)

by Brandy L Rivers

  “Not personally, but Kyle does. They work with a guy who suffered PTSD from something that happened on the job. I could get you the number.”

  “Thank you. I don’t want to completely lose it and attack Trent again. I already feel like an ass.”

  “You scratched him, Ella, you didn’t cut him open.”

  Ella looked out the window. “If there had been a weapon in reach, I would have used it. I was mentally back there in that room, only I wasn’t tied, and the stalker was on top of me. Then it clicked I had nothing on, he didn’t have anything on, and my head jumped to the worst possible scenario. I would have done anything to escape, Mila.”

  “Have you remembered more about the stalker?”

  “I don’t know. Sort of. There are things that make me think I might actually know him, but that’s crazy.”

  “You’re not crazy.”

  Ella snorted. “Remember that guy who followed me around in high school? The one who died in a house fire with his parents?”

  “Logan Poole? He was always creepy.”

  Ella nodded. “He had steel gray eyes. So does my stalker. He was big like Logan but harder, muscular. That was forever ago, though. What if he didn’t die? What if he bulked up and is still fascinated by me?”

  “But the investigators found his body, didn’t they?”

  Ella snorted, leaning her head against the glass. “They found a charred body. They wanted to close the case. What if it wasn’t him?”

  “Then whose body did they find?”

  “I don’t know. But I remember reading that the fire started in his room. They closed that case really fast.”

  “Anything else to make you think it could be him… or maybe a relative? Didn’t he have a brother in the military? He could have looked the same.”

  “Maybe, but why would his brother know me? He called me Ella. No one but you had called me that since I moved to LA. My real name isn’t listed on IMDB or any of the wiki pages I know of. I’ve never told a reporter my name, where I came from, nothing. Hell, they haven’t even made the connection that Sam is my brother. So how did this guy know my name? My mail was always in my stage name.”

  “Have you told the police?”

  Shaking her head, she looked over. “They never took my stalker seriously, Mila. I reported the first letter four years ago. He broke into hotel rooms, my condo, my trailer on set, you name it. The guy left me gifts. They never found him. Then he took me away and God knows what he would have done if I hadn’t gotten out of there. I don’t trust the police to do shit this time around.”

  “But if this guy is somehow related to Logan, or maybe even is Logan, they can track him down, find him, and put him away.”

  “That means telling the police here. No one knows where I live. I don’t want to be splashed all over the gossip sites again.”

  “The police here aren’t going to put you in that position. They’ll want to keep you safe. And I know at least one who would do everything in her power not only to catch this guy but also keep your secret.”

  “I’ll think about it. First, I need to find someone, a shrink or something, to talk to.”

  “Maybe ask them what they think. I’m willing to bet they’ll advise that you contact the police.”

  “Let me deal with one thing at a time,” Ella pleaded. “No one knows where I am. I need to get my head on straight first.”

  Mila squeezed her hand. “If I can help, tell me.”

  “It’s good to have a friend in the real world.”

  * * * *

  “Seems like they’ve been gone forever,” Trent muttered.

  Kyle leaned against the counter with a beer in his hand. “They’ll be back before you know it. I’m sure Mila took her for a drive. Valor was sleeping, and he always naps longer in his car seat, especially in a moving vehicle.”

  “That’s not comforting. Someone followed her yesterday. She said she got rid of him when she sped by a police station in some random town. The police pulled over the other car. She didn’t stick around to see what happened.”

  “Well, she’s smart, at least. She knows what to watch for and what to avoid. And Mila isn’t going to drive around for hours. Besides, if Ella lost whoever was following her, then chances are they don’t have a clue where she is.”

  Trent dropped his elbows to the counter, leaning over. “I’m worried about her. She freaked out last night. She thought I… shit. How much has Mila told you?”

  Kyle shook his head and looked away. “Not much. I don’t want to pry. But if she’s who I think she is, then she was definitely abducted. The guy had her for a couple days. There’s no telling what he did to her.”

  Trent rubbed at his face, wondering if her nightmares were more or less flashbacks. Standing up, he turned to Kyle. “We were asleep last night. She woke up, trying to push me away, beating at my chest, until I was aware enough to move my ass away from her.”

  “She okay?”

  “Now, yeah, but it took a few minutes to get her to come back to me. She was so locked in her memories, she attacked like a caged animal. I don’t care about the scratch or the bruises. I just needed to break through. Seemed to take forever.”

  “Sounds like what Metcalf went through. Took him time, but he got through it. Think she’d talk to someone about it?”

  “I honestly don’t know. Ella doesn’t like talking about anything in her recent past, but will talk about her childhood. She felt guilty about last night and tried to leave. I convinced her to stay. It tore me apart that she cried herself to sleep, but I held her so she wouldn’t have to face the fear alone.”

  “It’s serious, isn’t it?”

  Trent looked over and caught the smirk on Kyle’s face. “Her fear? No shit.”

  “No, what you feel for Ella.”

  Standing straight, he pushed his fingers through his hair. “Yeah. Everything is different with her. I knew we’d burn up the sheets, but there’s so much more than the sex. I want to hold her, to hear her laugh, watch her smile. Then when she’s out of her mind with fear, I want to take it away and beat down whoever the asshole is who did this to her. Somehow I need to make it right for her.”

  “No offense, but she may need a therapist. You can help, but if the trauma is that deep, she needs a professional.”

  “Yeah, probably. I’ll call Metcalf. See if he can get me that number. Hopefully, she doesn’t hate me for suggesting it.”

  “You said she felt bad for hurting you?”

  “Yeah, but she didn’t hurt me. I didn’t even feel it until later.”

  Kyle’s brow arched. “What the hell did she do?”

  Trent nodded down the hall and moved where they were out of sight of the windows. He didn’t want Blaze or Tina to see, even though they were still out back.

  Once Kyle followed, he lifted his shirt up to show him the scratches and the bruise. “She’s a fighter. She would have done more damage if I hadn’t moved.” He smoothed his shirt down.

  Kyle winced. “Get her the number. I’ll talk to Mila and see if she can convince her, if you can’t.”

  “I’m hoping she will. Ella wants to have a normal life. I’m not sure anyone can do that when they’re constantly looking over their shoulder.”

  “But if she has a stalker out there, she may need to,” Kyle explained.

  “For now. We need to figure out a way stop him.”

  “How do we find a man when we don’t have anything to go on?” Kyle asked.

  “We get answers from her, somehow,” Trent muttered, walking back to the kitchen to finish getting everything ready for the grill.

  “What’s the plan? How can I help?”

  “I don’t know yet. When I figure it out, I’ll let you know.”

  Trent grabbed his phone to make a call.

  Chapter 22

  Once Mila left, Ella hurried upstairs and turned on her laptop. She sat down and found Ryan’s email.

  Hey Angel,

  It was good to see
you yesterday. Better to hear you may have found a man who will treat you right.

  Hope you aren’t paying too much attention to the news, but it looks like we made the headlines, at least in the tabloids. So far, no one has figured out I was meeting you, but Shannon’s worried about you. So am I.

  Don’t worry, the photographer didn’t get a good picture. The police in some Podunk town arrested him. Apparently there was a warrant out for his arrest, something to do with causing an accident involving another actor.

  Stay safe. Don’t forget. Once everything settles down, we need to get together. Maybe I can meet your new man and make sure he’s a good guy.

  Love ya,

  R

  Ella sat back with a frown. As much as she hated checking all the bullshit sites, it was better to know what was going on than hiding in the dark.

  She found dozens of articles about Ryan and his new secret lover. At least, Shannon always had a sense of humor about the rumors. Not everyone did.

  She sent a quick reply to Ryan and wrote another email to Sam, asking him to please respond. Then she took her time getting ready. She went for a completely different persona from her onscreen one. She curled her hair, now a lighter color, and put the glasses back on.

  Once again, she found herself wondering how long she could get away with the disguise. Sooner or later, someone would figure it out. She could only hope the community had accepted her by then.

  Half an hour later, Ella gathered the appetizers she’d made and headed across the street to Trent’s house.

  Tina opened the door with a wide grin. “Hi, Ella. Let me help.”

  “Sure,” Ella answered. Tina took both trays of food and headed out to the back yard.

  Before she could follow, Trent came in with a cautious look. “Hey, I was beginning to wonder if you were ever coming.”

  “Told you I’d be here.” Chewing her lip, she nodded at the stairs. “Can we talk a minute?”

  “Sure, everything okay?”

  She shrugged. “Just… well, let’s talk.”

  He took her hand and led her upstairs. “By the way, you look great.”

  She offered a nervous smile. How would he take finding out she was a nutcase? Wait, she’d already shown him that. Still, it was another thing to admit it.

  “What’s on your mind?” he asked softly.

  She opened her mouth, but the words died on her tongue.

  He took her hands. “Please tell me you aren’t pushing me away already.”

  “No.” She sucked in a breath and blurted out, “But Mila mentioned you work with a guy who went to counseling for a traumatic event. Thought maybe he could give you the number.”

  Trent nodded and caressed her face. “I was talking with Kyle, and no, I didn’t confirm his suspicions, but we thought it might be good to bring it up. I have the number, but Metcalf is downstairs. He doesn’t know what happened to you, or the circumstances, but he wants to help if he can.”

  She shifted out of his reach and turned away, trying to process her emotions. On one hand, he cared enough to risk her anger. And he hadn’t revealed any real details. Still, she didn’t want it public knowledge about her nightmares and panic attacks because of some asshole.

  Trent moved in front of her and lifted her chin, looking into her eyes. “Look, I realize I may have overstepped my bounds, but I’m falling for you. You don’t have to talk to him, but you said yourself, you want the number.”

  “Yeah, I do. But I don’t want everyone to know what’s going on with me. I’m not comfortable with you talking to him without asking me first.”

  His head tipped to the side. “What about Kyle? He’s in the middle of this whether or not any of us like it. You talk to Mila, and both Mila and I talk to Kyle. And I keep it vague, but I may slip at some point. He’s her husband. I don’t imagine they keep many secrets.”

  “I’m not worried about Kyle. He wouldn’t betray Mila. And I don’t think you would purposely betray me like that, but it’s my story to share, not yours.”

  “I’m sorry. Kyle is my sounding board. Metcalf, he went through the same kind of thing. Not exactly, but he had panic attacks, nightmares, couldn’t go into fires. He’d been a firefighter for years before the shooting. I want to help, Ella, tell me what to do to make this right.”

  “It’s fine. Next time, please talk to me first. I’m standing here asking you to get the number from him, and you did one better. I can’t exactly complain even though I don’t want to share my mess with everyone.”

  His eyes narrowed. “Hey, we all have things we need to deal with.”

  “Some things are uglier and harder to get past than others.”

  “Nothing about you is ugly,” Trent admonished.

  She held up her arm, showing him the scar. “You’re wrong. Doesn’t matter, though. Please, introduce me to your friend.”

  He ran his fingers over the scar. “Not ugly, just another part of you.”

  She sighed, glancing down at marred red flesh on her wrist. “It is ugly. I’m lucky it’s not worse.”

  Trent pulled her arm and lightly kissed across the scar. “I beg to differ.”

  A slow smile spread on her face. “Okay, introduce me to him.”

  He leaned down to brush his lips over hers before taking her hand. A blond man stood on the porch next to Kyle. She’d seen him in town with the other guys a few times. His smile had always been kind.

  Trent held her hand as they approached him. “Hey, Dave, this is my girlfriend, Ella Cross. Ella, this is Dave Metcalf.”

  Ella glanced up at Trent, who smiled back at her, silently daring her to argue. Turning back to Dave, she held out her hand. “A pleasure to meet you.”

  “Same to you. Trent believes I could help you with something, if you don’t mind talking.” He motioned out into the yard.

  Trent squeezed Ella’s hand and bent to whisper in her ear. “I’ll be right here, grilling. If you need me, just call my name.”

  She nodded. “I appreciate that.”

  Dave walked under a tree at the back corner of the yard. Ella followed and glanced back at Trent, whose attention was locked on her. She faced Dave and took a slow breath. “Not to be ungrateful, but what did Trent tell you?”

  “That you woke up clearly stuck in memories of a hard time. That a while back, he showed up one morning when you were still in bad enough shape you canceled your run.”

  Better, and fewer details, than she’d expected.

  “I’ve been there, Ella. Sounds like you haven’t hit rock bottom, and that’s good. Means it may be easier for you to get past it, with help.”

  “I want help. I don’t want…” him to win. But she wasn’t ready to finish the thought out loud. Not to a stranger. No matter how much he wanted to help. “I don’t want to be afraid.”

  He smiled sadly. “Fear isn’t the enemy. You can find your strength through fear.” Dave placed a card in her hand. “That’s the number for my therapist. Dr. Eisman helped me immensely.”

  “Thank you.”

  “If you ever want to talk, my number is on the back. Trent’s going to have a hard time listening without getting angry. He’s too close to you.”

  “Yeah. But he means well.”

  Dave’s lips quirked in a crooked grin. “He does. If he didn’t care, he wouldn’t have called me. Don’t be too upset with him.”

  “I’m not. In fact, I asked him if he knew someone I could talk to. He just happened to contact you first.”

  “He watched me hit my lowest point. I endangered the whole crew because I refused to admit I needed counseling. They rallied together and got me the help I needed. The guys took turns dragging my ass to therapy.” He laughed softly. “You’re lucky to have someone who knows a little about what you’re going through, and would do anything to make it better. Some people can’t handle it.”

  “I definitely am. Thank you, Dave.” Knowing someone who had been through trauma made her feel like less of a freak.


  Chapter 23

  “You don’t need to go,” Trent practically pleaded as Ella opened the front door.

  She turned back with a soft smile. “Blaze and Tina are still out back. Spend time with your family. I’ll be right across the street when you’re done. You can come over then.”

  “I don’t want you to leave,” he admitted. For as much as Tina smiled, she was sad. He didn’t know how to help her. He worried seeing her brother with a woman brought back memories of her good times with Randy.

  “Yeah, but your sister needs you. I have a feeling she’s trying to work up the courage to talk to you about something. So stay. I’ll go. You know where to find me.”

  Leaning down, he whispered in her ear. “Do I get to stay the night?”

  Stepping back, her dazzling eyes locked on his. He wanted to take the glasses away, but he understood why she wanted to hide. “I’m hoping you will. If you don’t mind another panic attack.”

  “I don’t mind. Besides, I helped you calm down enough to sleep soundly last night.”

  “Hmm, you did. Now go visit with Tina and Blaze. Call when you’re ready, and I’ll unlock the door.”

  He kissed her softly, needing another taste. “Hopefully, she doesn’t stick around long. I’m ready to spend the rest of my evening with you.”

  She pushed him back. “I’ll see you soon.” Ella slipped out before he could protest. He caught the door and watched her walk across the street, smiling when she turned back to wave before stepping inside.

  “You’re so happy,” Tina said. He turned back to catch her sad smile. “Who’d have thought you’d settle down.”

  He groaned. “Come on, I’m not that bad. Yeah, I like women, but I avoided one night stands.”

  “Yeah, but you never stuck around long. It might be early to say for sure, but this seems different. I’ve never seen you look at a woman like you do her.”