Breaking Stars

by J. Sterling

  All of this was beyond ridiculous. My shock started to wear off as anger replaced it. I decided that I liked feeling angry; it was empowering. Not that I enjoyed the things that were happening to me, but being angry was a heck of a lot better than being confused, hurt, and overwhelmed. Those emotions didn’t constitute action like anger did. It fueled it.

  After showering and getting dressed, I grabbed my things, fully intending to head over to Quinn’s house. This time I wasn’t going over there to cry, but to talk and form some kind of a game plan.

  As I stepped out of the elevator and into the lobby, I was shocked by Tatum’s familiar blue eyes looking back at me from the concierge desk. Sam was speaking to him softly, but I couldn’t make out the words.

  I stopped in my tracks and pinched myself to make sure I was awake. Tatum noticed me do it and smiled as he moved to close the space between us.

  “Miss Lockwood, this is okay, right?” Sam asked, his expression pained as he nodded his head in Tatum’s direction.

  I nodded. “Yes, this is okay. For now,” I added quickly. “Thank you, Sam.”

  Sam directed his attention toward his ringing telephone as Tatum took another tentative step toward me.

  “Are you really here?” I asked through my shock as all the righteous anger whooshed out of me. My first instinct was that I wanted to protect Tatum from the paparazzi waiting outside, knowing that he would absolutely hate the way they would attack him, if they hadn’t already. I needed to warn him about the pictures. Did he already know?

  “I’m so sorry, Paige.” He cautiously stepped toward me, clearly unsure of my reaction. “I’m so sorry I let you go. I’m sorry I haven’t been there for you, or tried to call.”

  I bowed my head and squeezed my eyes shut as words all but failed me.

  “Am I too late? Is it too late?” he pleaded as I lifted my head to look at him.

  “Too late for what?” I asked, willing myself not to cry. He’s here. My God, what does that mean that he’s here?

  “For you. For us. Did I wait too long before coming here to apologize and tell you what a fool I was? And how sorry I am and that I don’t want to live without you?”

  My body reacted favorably to his words, but my mind held out. I shifted on my feet, my internal parts at odds with one another.

  I looked into his eyes. “I can’t trust you anymore. I want to, but I don’t.”

  The hurt my words brought to his eyes pained me, but it did little to curb my sudden resolve. I had given Tatum my trust completely, and he’d tossed it right back at me. He hurt me when he discarded me like last night’s garbage.

  His eyebrows pulled together as he clenched his jaw. “I know you don’t. But I’ll do whatever it takes to earn your trust back, Paige. I was an idiot. I didn’t mean any of it, you have to know that. I was so damned hurt, I couldn’t stop myself.”

  “I know why you did it, but I don’t like that you did. This business I’m in,” I waved a hand at the throngs of press taking pictures from outside the windows, “it’s not easy, and I’m scared you’ll run when it gets ugly. And as you can see, it does get ugly.”

  He took a step toward me, reaching out to grab my arms as he pulled me close. “I won’t run. I promise. I. Won’t. Run,” he gritted out, emphasizing each word.

  “I don’t—” I pressed my lips together as I summoned more strength. “I don’t believe you.”

  As the blood drained from his face and he loosened his grip on me, my stomach turned and rolled. It was hard to be this close to Tatum and not give in.

  “I thought you might say that,” he said as he glanced down at the floor and swiped at his eyes.

  It hurt to see him like this. My heart wanted to leap into his arms and tell him we’d work it all out and things would be fine, but my head refused to allow that. My mind continued to remind me that he pushed me away, told me to leave, handed me to Colin without a second glance.

  Defense mechanism or not, that was something I didn’t need in my life. With all the inner strength I’d recently found, I needed the man in my life to be just as strong as me, if not stronger.

  “Do you have any feelings for me at all?” he asked so softly, I almost didn’t hear him.

  “This has nothing to do with how I feel about you.” I reached for his chin and tilted it up so he could look at me and recognize that I was hurting too. “Of course I have feelings for you. But you didn’t handle things well when Jayson and Colin showed up.”

  He opened his mouth to interrupt, but I placed a finger on his lips to silence him. God, they were soft.

  “I know why you did it. I know you didn’t mean the things you said. But dating me is hard, Tatum. It’s not easy being in the spotlight, or being with me, or around this lifestyle. There are things that happen constantly that I can’t control. I just don’t think it’s something you want to be involved in, but I don’t fault you for that. I just—” I stopped as the rest of my thoughts and words failed me.

  “I screwed up, Paige. I know that. I knew the second you drove away that I’d never be the same again. I want to be with you.” He grabbed my hand, his thumb skating across my knuckles. “I know you don’t think I’m worth it, but I’ll show you that I am. I’ll prove it to you. I want you. I want this,” he said as he waved his other hand between us. “I want there to be an us, Paige. I get that you’re nervous, but I’m not going anywhere this time. I’m so in love with you.”

  “What?” I coughed out.

  He loves me? My heart jump-started inside my chest, battering against the cage I kept it in.

  “You didn’t hear me the first time?” he said with a smirk. “I’m in love with you, Paige. I love you. I’ll never forgive myself if you don’t forgive me, but I know you need proof. Don’t give up on me.” His lips grazed the top of my hand as he let it go and turned to walk away.

  “I thought you said you weren’t going anywhere?” I called out at his back, and he stopped.

  “Oh, I’m not. Not permanently. But I have something to do first.” He moved toward the glass doors before turning back to me. “By the way, I really like your hair.”

  I smiled as I absentmindedly reached for the short ends, pulling at them as Tatum walked outside, where the paparazzi all but attacked him. Watching him for a minute, I wondered how he would handle himself in all the chaos that surrounded him. I half expected him to lose his cool or do something rash, but he didn’t. Tatum was the picture of calm.

  Which made me wonder how the heck he was doing it, and what the heck I was going to do about him.

  Forget going to Quinn’s. I needed my mom.

  Stand Up for My Girl

  Tatum

  I would have never imagined that Paige could look any hotter than when she was with me, but she did. Holy hell, she did. Her shoulder-length hair seemed to suit her way more than the long hair ever did. Maybe it was the new her? More self-assured, confident, and sexy as hell.

  I ran outside, telling Paige that I had something to do. But what the hell I was trying to accomplish, even I didn’t know. My instincts had told me to confront the paparazzi, tell them everything they wanted to know, but now that I was outside and surrounded by them, it seemed like a completely foolish idea. There were too many of them, and I was convinced they’d twist my words.

  “Why are you leaving, Tatum? Did Paige kick you out?”

  “Did you two break up?”

  “How long were you guys cheating before Colin found out? Does he know you’re in town?”

  “How does it feel to be a home wrecker?”

  “So Paige cheated first, huh? Never would have thought that America’s Sweetheart was really a dirty girl. Is that why you like her?”

  “How’d you two meet?”

  “How long has Paige been keeping you a secret, Tatum Montgomery?”

  Holy hell. How Paige dealt with this kind of shit on a daily basis was beyond me. I wanted to pull my arm back and clock most of these assholes in the face for the thin
gs they were saying, the insinuations about her that they made, the lies they propagated.

  Every one of these pricks knew who I was; they knew my first and last name. It was unnerving, to say the least. The whole scene made me feel like I was living in an alternate universe, but I was determined to stay cool, both for Paige’s sake and my own. She needed to know she could trust me to handle this kind of thing, and I needed to learn how to do exactly that.

  My mom had warned me when I stepped off the airplane about the pictures in the press. I knew no one from Hanford meant to cause any harm, but it still happened. And now I needed to fix it. Sometimes I wish life came with a manual—I could sure as shit use one now.

  Paige didn’t deserve to have her life in constant upheaval like this. She needed someone to defend her honor, and I wanted that someone to be me. I meant every word I said to her just then, and I wasn’t even pissed when she didn’t tell me she loved me back. I knew she did, even if she had herself convinced that she didn’t. I’d show her how wrong she was.

  While Hollywood and this ridiculous scene might not be my most favorite thing in the world, I’d realized that Paige is. And she was worth all the bullshit I’d go through just to be with her. Unfortunately, I made her feel like she wasn’t worth it. My actions and words made her to feel like I didn’t think she was worth the trouble. But she was wrong, so very wrong, and I planned to prove just that.

  With the paparazzi screaming in my ear, I watched as half of them ran to their cars when Paige slipped out the doors behind me and jumped into her car, sunglasses covering her eyes. Her head turned in my direction, and she gave me a little smile before making a quick right out of her complex. I stood there dumbfounded, feeling like a fish out of water as cars peeled out of the parking lot to follow her. My stomach churned at the sight, and I felt helpless as I realized she was being relentlessly chased.

  Damn it, why aren’t superpowers real?

  Scanning the single photographer left, I turned toward the guy, who looked to be about my age. I took a step in his direction, and his dark, beady eyes watched my every move as his fingers tightened their grip on his camera.

  “So, why are you still here?” I asked, trying to keep my tone calm when my insides were anything but. “Why didn’t you chase Paige like all the others?”

  He pulled a baseball cap from his back pocket and tugged it over his jet-black hair, his tanned face suddenly shaded as he nodded at me. “One of the other guys on my crew followed her, so I stayed here with you. Maybe you’ll tell me all about the cheating and give me an exclusive?”

  I narrowed my eyes and swallowed the growl that wanted to escape at his accusations. “There was no cheating,” I said, my response clipped.

  “So, why are you here, Tatum?”

  “I came here for her,” I admitted before snapping my lips shut.

  “Then why’d she leave without you?”

  Good question. No, great question.

  “Do you know where she was going?” I asked, wondering how much guys like this knew about her.

  He shrugged. “Probably to Quinn Johnson’s house, but she could be going anywhere. To see her agents, or her parents in the valley. Who knows, really?”

  “Thanks,” I said before walking away.

  “Hey, wait!” he shouted, and I stopped. “Will you give me a quote? Tell me something? Anything?”

  I sucked in a lungful of air before responding, “No.” Then I turned back toward Paige’s apartment building, and the guy from the concierge desk held the door open for me as I walked back inside the lobby.

  “She left. You know she left, right?” the man asked, his accent so thick he was hard to understand.

  I nodded. “I wanted to talk to you. I can’t trust that kind of guy out there.” I lifted my chin in the direction of the lone paparazzi. “But I figured that you, I could trust.”

  He smiled and extended his hand. “I’m Samuel Montoya, but everyone calls me Sam.”

  “Nice to meet you, Sam. I’m Tatum Montgomery.” Our hands met, and he gripped mine tighter than I had anticipated.

  “I know who you are. Read all about you this morning.”

  “Right. So, about that—” I started, but Sam’s expression turned serious and his eyes grew wide.

  “Mr. Montgomery?” he interrupted, and I dipped my head toward him, thinking he was about to divulge some secret. “Mr. McGuire is pulling up.”

  “Mr. McGuire? You mean Colin? He’s here?”

  He nodded. “Yes, sir. That is most certainly his car.”

  I turned around to see a sporty black Porsche pull up outside with blacked-out windows, black rims, and all-black wheels. What a douche. The door opened and Colin climbed out. Bracing myself, I hadn’t expected to see him again so soon. Or ever, for that matter.

  Watching as he held up one finger toward the valet to signal that he would be right back, he entered the lobby where I stood with Sam. He pulled off his sunglasses before squinting at me, as if trying to place exactly how he knew me. I could tell exactly when he connected the dots, because his expression turned smug.

  “Oh, you’ve got to be shitting me. What the hell are you doing here, country boy? Come all the way to LA to face the music?”

  Instinctively, I straightened my spine and pulled back my shoulders, reminding Colin just how much taller and bigger I was than him. “Face the music? What the hell are you even talking about? The real question is what you’re doing here. I’m pretty sure Paige doesn’t want to see you.”

  “And how would you know that? I’m pretty sure she doesn’t want to see you either, or you wouldn’t be sitting in the lobby right now. Am I right?”

  Touché.

  “Miss Lockwood gave me strict instructions. She does not want to see you, Mr. Colin,” Sam said from behind his desk, and I tried to hide the smart-aleck grin that spread across my face.

  Colin looked me straight in the eye. “It’s good that you’re here. Now people will really believe the rumors about you and her. They would have had a hard time buying it before, but not now. Thanks for helping my cause, buddy. I’ll make sure the paparazzi know you’re in town and how heartbroken I am that Paige left me for you.” He started dialing on his cell phone before putting it to his ear, and I growled as Sam reached out to steady me.

  “How has everyone not seen through your act yet?”

  Colin sneered before looking me up and down. “Because they don’t want to believe the bad. They want to love me. Just like your girlfriend does.” He snickered as he pulled his black sunglasses over his eyes.

  I clenched my fist and pulled out of Sam’s grip to storm over to Colin.

  “What did you say?” I practically spat in his face.

  “You know you can’t erase the history I have with Paige. You’re nothing, country boy. And as soon as you’re gone, I’ll be the one fucking her every night just like before. She is a good lay, don’t you agree?”

  Everything around me blurred except for Colin and his shit-eating grin. I pulled my arm back and swung, the sound of my knuckles meeting his jaw echoing in the otherwise empty lobby. Colin’s head practically spun around on his shoulders as he reached up and cupped his face.

  “Say another word like that about Paige and I’ll hit you again.” I glared at him as he tried to smile, but grunted with the pain instead.

  “Thanks for that. You’re real good at giving me ammunition, country boy,” Colin said before he turned and ran out of the building like the little coward he really was.

  Turning toward Sam, the reality of what I’d just done hit me like a tsunami wave as I looked down at my already bruising hand.

  “Shit, Sam. Did I just completely screw it all up? Did I ruin everything?”

  Sam shrugged. “I’ve wanted to do that for a long time now.”

  His unexpected response made me chuckle. “Hit Colin?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “So, now what? How long until that’s reported?”

  I hadn’t ne
cessarily thought everything through, what my being here might do to Paige’s hard-earned reputation; I hadn’t even considered it. All I knew was that I needed to make things right with Paige, and I was only screwing it up more.

  “I’d say it’s probably already live.” He pointed across the street where Colin stood talking to the lone paparazzi guy I had spoken to earlier, holding his cheek and swaying back and forth.

  “Paige is going to kill me.” My cell phone vibrated in my pocket, and I pulled it from my pants, seeing my mom’s name.

  “Ma?”

  “I’ve been following the gossip sites since you left. They’re saying awful things, things that polite people don’t say, Tatum.” Her voice cracked, and I knew her heart hurt for both myself and for the girl she’d grown to care about.

  “I haven’t seen anything since I got here, but I appreciate the heads-up…again. And just so you’ll know…it’s going to get a little worse.”

  “What have you done, son?”

  “I might have hit Colin.”

  She laughed into the phone, my mom actually laughed, which eased my anxiety a bit. “Good. I’m sure he deserved it. Now, have you seen her?”

  “Briefly.” I all but sighed as the lobby telephone rang in the background, and Sam moved to answer it.

  “She’s mad, isn’t she?” my mom asked.

  “She is.”

  “You don’t come back here until you’ve made things right. You hear me?”

  “Yes, Mama,” I said with a smile, not wanting to let her down.

  “’Bye, son. I love you,” she said, then ended the call before I could say my own good-bye.

  “Tatum?”

  I turned to find Sam holding the phone receiver out toward me.

  “It’s Miss Quinn.”

  “Quinn?” I asked before remembering that Paige’s best friend was named Quinn. “She’s calling for me?”

  He nodded, and I reached over to accept the phone he offered me.

  “Hello?”

  “Oh, good,” a woman’s voice said. “You really are in town. Don’t move, I’m coming to get you.” Then she hung up.