Starstruck - Book Four
Page 1
STARSTRUCK:
BOOK FOUR
GEMMA BROOKS
Copyright 2014 Gemma Brooks
All Rights Reserved
DISCLAIMER
The characters and events portrayed in this book are purely a work of fiction and used fictitiously. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
MATURE CONTENT
This short story contains sexually explicit material and is intended for persons over the age of 18 only. By downloading and viewing this book, you are stating that you acknowledge that this book has mature content. All of the characters involved in the sexual situations of this story are intended to be at least 18 years old or older, whether they are described as such or not.
DESCRIPTION
Some people said we were doomed from the start. That we burned too bright. Too fast. Life with Hudson was nothing short a dream come true, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t pinch myself every day.
I knew he was growing frustrated with me. His love was powerful. His hold on me was intense. But none of it stopped me from constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop. It all seemed too good to be true no matter how much he tried to prove that his love for me was authentic. And in the end, it wouldn’t be the paparazzi, the tabloids, or Ava Fox that would pose the ultimate threat to our relationship. But if we could survive this, we could survive anything.
AUTHOR'S NOTE - Contains mature content and sexual depictions. Not intended for younger readers. This novella is the fourth and final part of the Starstruck series. There is no cliffhanger.
The STARSTRUCK Series
Book I
Book II
Book III
*Book IV
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
CHAPTER 1
I sat alone at the café table, anxiously awaiting Alec’s arrival. He was the closest thing I had to a friend in L.A., and we were almost becoming inseparable as of late. As usual, Alec was running behind and I was beginning to feel self-conscious sitting all by myself as tables of brunching ladies surrounded me.
I missed Piper – the old Piper. Not the one who hooked up with my longtime crush the minute I’d left town. I missed the girl I could depend on and confide in; the blonde haired, freckle-faced, sassy little kindergartener who’d grow up to become my best friend. The one person who knew all my secrets, hopes, and dreams.
I had no one in L.A. like her. I spent most of my time with Hudson, and when I wasn’t with Hudson I was usually by myself. Alec and I would meet up occasionally for some light shopping and a little light gossip, but it wasn’t like we were best friends. Not yet anyway. Still, he was all I had for friends out there.
“Hey, girl,” he said as he sat down with a mischievous grin on his face. “Sorry I’m late.”
“You’re super late,” I teased. “Like forty minutes.”
“Oh, whatever,” he sassed. “Forty minutes is nothing in this town. Look at that traffic outside.”
“Mm, hm,” I replied with one eye squinting. His face was different. Shinier. I couldn’t tell what he’d done. “You had some work done?”
“Shh,” he said, putting his finger to his lips. “Yes. A little laser resurfacing. Is my face still red?”
I nodded. “A little.”
“Oh, geez,” he said as he rolled his eyes. “They said it would calm down by now. They’re such fucking liars.”
“It’s really not that bad,” I lied. “It’ll go away soon I’m sure.”
Our server spotted Alec and came up to take his drink order. He, of course, ordered a mimosa with extra champagne and light on the orange juice.
“This place is fabulous,” he said as he stared around the room at the white-washed walls, crystal chandeliers and ridiculously huge flower arrangements. “How’d you hear about it?”
“I read about it online somewhere I think,” I said. “Kind of sort of used Hudson’s name to get us a table.”
“You’re so bad,” he said as he slapped my hand. “I love it.”
“Have you lost weight?” I asked. The Iowa girl inside me cringed for noticing. Back home, we usually didn’t care about stuff like that, but he was looking particularly gaunt that day.
A proud smile crept across his face and he took a swill of his mimosa. “Why, yes. Thank you for noticing.”
“What’s your secret?” I asked him.
“It’s just that maple syrup cayenne pepper cleanse,” he said as he waved his hand like it was nothing. “And now I’m fucking starving and going to order a huge stack of blueberry pancakes, slather them in butter, and drench them in syrup. Don’t judge me.”
I giggled. Alec always knew how to lighten the mood, which was something I needed then more than ever.
“So what’s up with the last minute get together?” he asked as he rested his head on his hands and peered across the table at me. “Something’s not right. I can tell.”
I took a deep breath.
“So, Hudson and I got back from Iowa late last night,” I began. “And when we got inside the house, I heard something outside by the pool. We went to investigate, and it was Ava.”
Alec’s jaw dropped and he flashed a half smile, clearly entertained by the story. He was practically begging for more. His eyes said it all.
“Go on,” he prompted.
“Hudson told her to get out, and of course she eventually left,” I said. “But not before spewing out a bunch of things to try to get in my head again.”
Alec rolled his eyes.
“What did she say?” he asked.
“She claims they hooked up at his hotel room when they were on location a couple weeks ago,” I said.
I wanted Alec to say that was ridiculous and Hudson would never do such a thing, but he offered no reassurance of any kind.
“I know she says a lot of things,” I said. “And she’s probably all talk. But she mentioned the ring.”
I reached down and spun the canary diamond eternity band on my right ring finger.
“How’d she know about the ring?” I asked Alec.
He shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.
“Beats me,” he said. “People talk. Maybe she heard about it from someone.”
“You don’t think Hudson told her, do you?” I asked.
“Who the hell knows,” Alec said. At least he was being honest and not just spewing words to make me feel better, though part of me wished he would.
Our server came to take our order, and just as promised, Alec ordered his stack of pancakes. I ordered a simple egg-white omelet with turkey sausage. I’d gained a couple pounds while we were back in Iowa, and I could feel it in the tightness of my jeans. Hudson had already don
e so much for me. I didn’t want to have to ask him for a whole new wardrobe once again. Plus the weight gain only added to the insecurities that were suddenly plaguing me in the wake of Ava-gate.
“Look,” Alec said as his face turned into a stern expression. “I’m going to be brutally honest with you because I like you. And I’m pretty sure we’re friends now.”
I laughed. “Duh.”
“I know you’re just this sweet, naïve, innocent little country girl trying to get her bearings in this crazy world we live in out here,” he said. “But you’ve got to toughen up. And you’ve got to realize that people talk. They say a lot of crap. They make up shit. They say whatever they think is going to get them what they want. It’s just that simple, Brynn.”
“I know,” I said.
“No, I don’t think you do,” he sassed. “I’m not saying Hudson is some magical, fairytale prince, but you’ve got to be a little less naïve when it comes to him. I’m not trying to say he’s cheating on you. I’m not trying to say he’s a liar. I love the man myself. God-willing someday he might just swing my way. But you’ve got to understand the kind of power and influence he has and what that does to a man’s ego.”
Alec was beginning to worry me. I had no idea where he was going with his little lecture. By the sounds of his rambling, the champagne bubbles must’ve gotten to his head already.
“Celebrities don’t become celebrities because they love acting,” Alec said. “I don’t care what anyone tells you. There are some people who can get to the top based on talent alone but most of them don’t. They work dirty. They manipulate. They lie. They have this insane beast living inside them that they have to feed and manage, and money, fame, and fortune is the only thing it wants. One whiff of losing that, and they get a little crazy.”
“Alec, you’re not making any sense,” I said, utterly confused. “That doesn’t sound like Hudson at all.”
“I know,” he sighed. “I should cool it on the mimosa, huh?”
“Just speak plain English, will you?” I begged. I wanted to know what he was getting at, particularly if he was trying to say Hudson was a liar.
Alec sighed once more. “Okay, so basically, Hudson is a great guy. And if you ever tell him I said any of this, I will murder you by the way. I’m just saying you’ve only been together, what, two or three months? You hardly know him. Just be careful. I’m not saying he’d cheat on you. I’m not saying he hooked up with Ava when he was on location. I’m just saying you don’t know the truth. Only Ava and Hudson know what happened when they were filming. You can choose to believe Hudson or you can choose to believe Ava. Just don’t be naïve. That’s all I’m saying.”
“Okay,” I said. “That makes more sense.”
Though it didn’t make it any easier to hear.
“I just don’t want to see my little Miss Iowa getting hurt, mm-kay?” he said with a smile. In a rare, tender moment, he reached across the table and patted my hand. “It’s tough out here. This crazy lifestyle we live. It’s not normal. None of it. But that’s why we love it.”
He swigged back the rest of his mimosa before motioning to our server for a second glass. He had apparently changed his mind about slowing down.
“What would you do if you were me?” I asked him.
Our food had been delivered by then, but I had lost my appetite. As my omelet grew colder, I grew more and more disgusted by it. I forced myself to choke down a couple bites as that place was pricey and I didn’t want to waste Hudson’s money, but it was all I could do to keep from throwing them up.
“I don’t know, sweetie,” he said with sympathetic eyes as he ate his pancakes in the most elegant way I’d ever seen anyone eat pancakes before. True to his stylish stylist ways, he could make anything look sexy. “Follow your heart.”
“That’s so cheesy,” I said.
“I know,” he laughed as he chewed his food. “It may or may not work out with you and Hudson. There’s no guarantee. Why don’t you just take it one day at a time and go from there.”
“I guess that’s my only option,” I said.
“Sorry I don’t have better advice for you, sweetie,” he said. “Such is life.”
We finished our brunch and I picked up the tab. It was my invite after all and Hudson had given me my own personal credit card to use for whatever I saw fit.
“That was nice,” Alec said as he kiss-kissed my cheek outside the restaurant and we said our goodbyes. “Sorry you’re feeling so out of sorts. That would freak me out too to see that someone had broken in – famous or not. And the things she said, well she was just probably trying to get under your skin.”
“How do you think she got in?” I asked him, realizing we’d never gotten to that.
“Beats me,” he said with raised eyebrows. “Maybe she figured out the code to his gate? Do you think Flor let her in?”
“No, Flor is like his loyal guard dog,” I said. “Plus she wasn’t home last night.”
“Not home when you got home. Who knows if she was there before you got home,” Alec said.
“I really don’t think Flor would’ve let her in,” I said. I couldn’t see that at all.
“Maybe she climbed the neighbor’s fence?” Alec proposed. “We could sit here and rack our brains all day, but the fact of the matter is it’s hot as balls out here and my feet are cooking on this sidewalk.”
Leave it to Alec to lighten the mood as always. He managed to get a small smile out of me but nothing more. It still bugged me not knowing how Ava got in. We hadn’t searched the perimeter for signs of a break in. Hudson didn’t even seem worried about it either. At least he didn’t talk to me about it if he was worried. Maybe he didn’t want to upset me by getting all upset himself? That seemed like the Hudson way of handling things.
“Okay, I’m just going to drop it for now,” I said. “I’ll let Hudson figure it out I guess.”
“Good girl,” Alec smiled as he rubbed my arm. “Okay, I’ve got an appointment in a little bit with a client. Text me if you need anything, okay?”
I nodded as I climbed into the white Mercedes convertible Hudson had insisted I adopt. It was one of the many cars in his fleet, and he claimed he never drove it enough. He said it was a gift from a producer, part of a contract or something, and he didn’t even like it so it was practically mine.
I was still a little uncomfortable leaving the nestled neighborhoods of Brentwood, but I was forcing myself to break out of my comfort zone and explore the city more. Plus the car had navigation. I was almost guaranteed not to get lost.
I left my brunch with Alec not feeling any better or worse about the whole Ava-gate situation, but there was nothing I could do about it. Alec wasn’t a sugar-coater. He told things as they were. And he was right. I needed to toughen up.
CHAPTER 2
I returned to Hudson’s place only to find him pumping iron in his state-of-the-art home gym. He was deep into his workout session with his trainer, and I happily took a seat to watch them work.
Hudson’s body was, quite simply put, a work of art. I had no idea how he maintained it the way he did. He seemed to eat healthy most of the time, but occasionally we’d splurge on desserts or cupcakes or share one too many bottles of wine. I chalked it up to a combination of hard work in the gym and good genetics. That had to be it.
As I watched his tan, rippled muscles ebb and flow throughout his upper torso, I couldn’t help but forget about all the chaos that had just happened the past few days. I forgot about Luke and Piper. I forgot about Ava. All I wanted to do was jump his bones and feel him inside me. I wanted him to lay on top of me and look at me the way he always did, the way that made me melt and forget about everything but us. I needed that closeness, that closeness that made everything else melt away in an instant.
“Hey,” he said as he noticed me sitting there. “I didn’t even see you there.”
“We can take five,” his trainer said as he noticed Hudson was distracted by my presence.
&nbs
p; “I just got here,” I said.
“How was brunch with Alec?” he asked as he wiped the sweat off his brow with a fluffy, white towel.
“Good,” I said. I didn’t want to elaborate beyond that. He didn’t need to know that he was the main subject of our conversation.
“Restaurant okay and everything?” he asked.
“Yep,” I said. “We should go sometime. Great omelets.”
“Okay,” he said as he studied my face. He could tell I wasn’t being myself. “You alright, Brynn? You seem a little off.”