Starstruck - Book Four

by Gemma Brooks

  I shrugged. “We really didn’t talk about what happened last night.”

  Hudson seemed slightly annoyed that I was bringing up Ava and the break in right then and there. I knew he was busy. I knew the trainer was on the clock. I knew he needed to focus on his workout. But he’d asked, so I’d answered.

  “Can we talk about this later?” he said as he motioned towards his trainer who was standing in the corner with his hands on his narrow hips, watching the clock on the wall tick by.

  “Of course,” I said as I stood up to leave the room.

  I could feel him watching me walk away. I hated the tension between us. I wasn’t a drama queen. I cringed at the thought of coming across that way to him.

  I waited out in the family room, lounged and spread out across the cushy sofa. I grabbed an interior design magazine off his coffee table and mindlessly paged through it as I waited for him to finish his session.

  “Hey,” he said as he walked into the room a good half hour later. A towel was draped around the back of his neck and his torso was now covered up with a tank top that showcased his enormous biceps.

  “Hey,” I said as I sat up and made room for him next to me. “Have a good work out?”

  “Of course,” he said.

  “What are you training for now? Anything special?” I asked.

  “I’m negotiating a contract right now for an action movie,” he said. “Well, my manager is. I’m just trying to look the part in order to help my case a little.”

  “Ah, I see,” I said as I stared at his glistening guns. Hudson rarely talked about work and I hated asking. I didn’t want to take myself out of the girlfriend category and put myself into the obsessed fan category quite yet, though I was certainly both.

  “So brunch with Alec was good?” he asked. Again. He was clearly making small talk to avoid talking about Ava-gate.

  “Yeah,” I said. “He provided the entertainment as always.”

  “We need to get you some more friends,” Hudson said.

  “I agree,” I said. “It gets kind of lonely here sometimes.”

  “Hm,” Hudson said as he scratched the stubble around his chin. “I’ll introduce you to some more people. Maybe you’ll click with someone?”

  “Sure,” I said. Ava’s name was on the tip of my tongue and I couldn’t keep my mouth shut anymore. “So, about Ava and what happened last night.”

  Hudson stared at me, not showing an ounce of any emotion about it. To him, maybe it was Ava being up to her typical antics, but for me it was scary and unsettling.

  “How do you think she got in?” I asked him. “Did you search the property for signs of a break in?”

  Hudson laughed at the idea. “She didn’t break in, Brynn.”

  “So how the hell did she get in? Did Flor let her in?” I asked.

  “Flor was off all weekend. You know that,” he said. “Besides, she wouldn’t.”

  “Okay, so how?” I asked. I knew he could hear the worry in my voice.

  “She probably guessed the code on the driveway gate,” he said. “That’s all I can think of.”

  “There are thousands of different combinations,” I said. “How the hell would she guess 4211?”

  He sighed and bit his lip, stalling a bit before answering. “It was our anniversary. Kind of. The anniversary of the release date of the first movie we ever starred in together.”

  “Seriously?” I asked. “And why haven’t you changed it? Especially knowing how crazy she is?”

  “I didn’t think I had to,” he said. “I didn’t think she’d ever do something like that.”

  “Change it,” I said with a demand in my voice I’d never heard before.

  “Okay, okay,” he said, taken aback at my tone. “It’ll be changed. I promise. I have to call the security company and they have to come out, but it’ll get changed.”

  “Have you contacted the rehab facility yet for my mom?” I asked, changing the subject to a more worthwhile one.

  “I did,” he said, happy to change the topic. “They have an opening this weekend. I’ve booked your mom plane tickets. She’ll fly in Friday and we’ll take her straight there. You just need to call her and tell her what’s going on.”

  “We’ll need to send someone to pick her up from her house,” I said as I bit my fingernails. “I’m so worried she’ll oversleep and miss her flight.”

  “Brynn,” he said as he placed his hand on mine. “Stop worrying. It’ll all be fine. You need to stop taking care of her. You’re twenty-three. You don’t need to be her keeper.”

  I knew he spoke from experience, but it still didn’t make it any easier to believe.

  He stood up, leaned down to kiss my forehead and began to walk off.

  “I’ve got to take a shower,” he said. “Flor’s making us dinner tonight so don’t go anywhere after six, okay?”

  “Okay,” I replied. Not like I had plans anyway, but it was cute that he thought I did.

  I watched his fine ass strut back to his room and half thought about jumping in the shower with him, but I changed my mind. I was still feeling bugged by the Ava thing and Hudson’s flippant attitude about it. He should’ve been more concerned about it than he was, and I didn’t understand it.

  I picked up my phone and called my mom. I needed to hear a familiar voice.

  “Hey, mom,” I said when she finally answered. She sounded a little groggy and out of it. “Did I wake you?”

  “No,” she said. “I was just laying here on the couch watchin’ T.V.”

  “Good news,” I said in a sing-song voice. “Hudson booked your stay at the treatment center. They’re taking you on Friday, which means you’re flying out here Friday!”

  “Oh, that’s wonderful, sweetie,” she said. I wasn’t certain, but if I had to guess she had been drinking a little that afternoon.

  I’d brought up the idea to her in a phone call previously and half expected her to hang up on me at the mere mention of rehab, but she was surprisingly receptive to the idea. She nearly broke down into tears when I told her what Hudson had offered to do for her, for us really.

  “Were you able to get the accommodations at work and everything?” I asked. “Did you turn your FMLA paperwork into HR?”

  There I was, being my mother’s keeper once again.

  “Yes, Brynn,” my mom sighed, half annoyed at me. “Sure did.”

  “Okay, so I’m going to text you your flight information,” I said. “Hudson’s going to arrange for a driver to pick you up at seven in the morning on Friday. Your flight doesn’t leave until eleven, but you’ve got a two hour drive to Des Moines. Pack as much as you can in your suitcase. Don’t worry about overage fees. We’ll take care of that. You might be staying for several months. There’s no way to know.”

  “Brynn,” my mom stopped me. “I’m a big girl. I can figure this out.”

  “I know,” I said, though I wished she’d act like it more often.

  “It’ll be good to see you, honey,” she cooed into the phone. I wanted nothing more than a big bear hug from my mom in that moment. A gush of warmth washed over me as I thought about seeing her in a few short days. Friday couldn’t come soon enough.

  CHAPTER 3

  I waited out by the pool, legs hanging over the edge, for Hudson to come outside for dinner. Flor was busy in the kitchen whipping up something that smelled completely and utterly amazing, and my stomach was beginning to grumble.

  As soon as I heard the sliding door behind me, I whipped around to see Hudson emerge with a big smile on his face. He’d been in and out all afternoon since his work out, running errands and going to meetings. We really hadn’t spoken since our little chat about Ava, but we were both anxious to get things back on track between us.

  I stood up and dusted the dirt off my thighs before taking a seat next to him.

  “Why are you so smiley?” I asked.

  “Just excited to finally see you again today,” he said. “I missed you.”

  �
�You saw me earlier,” I replied, staring him down from the corner of my eye. He was up to something. I could feel it.

  He sat a long, black box on the table between our place settings.

  “Here,” he said as he nudged it closer to me. “Open it.”

  I propped the lid open only to reveal a canary yellow diamond tennis bracelet.

  “Hudson,” I breathed. The diamonds were on fire under the early evening sun.

  “It matches your ring,” he said.

  “You didn’t have to do this,” I said as I clutched my hand over my heart. “Really. You didn’t.”

  “I did,” he said. “I wanted to do something special for you.”

  “Every day is something special for me,” I said. “This life. The way you take care of me. It’s more than I ever could have dreamed of for myself. This is just too much.”

  “Here, why don’t you put it on?” he said as he grabbed it from the box and dangled it above my wrist. The yellow diamonds played perfectly off my summer tan, and the bracelet felt heavy and cool against my warm skin.

  “Wow,” I said, mesmerized. “Thank you so much.”

  I leaned over and gave him the most tender kiss I could muster until I had to go back and stare at my beautiful bracelet some more.

  “Dinner,” Flor said as she came out from the slider. “Here you go.”

  She sat two plates in front of us. Some sort of chicken and vegetable dish with some interesting colored sauce. I didn’t know what it was. I just knew I was starving and it smelled amazing and I was going to eat it no matter what.

  “Thank you, Flor,” I said to her. I couldn’t help but notice her eyes locked on the yellow diamonds that hung around my wrist.

  “Yes, another delicious meal. Thank you, Flor,” Hudson echoed.

  She said nothing as she turned to go back inside.

  The diamonds on my wrist couldn’t help but remind me of Ava’s comment about the ring. It was killing me that she knew about something so private and personal between Hudson and me.

  “You’re awfully quiet,” Hudson said a few minutes later.

  I was determined to keep my mouth shut. I didn’t want to ruin dinner. I didn’t want to ruin the special night Hudson had set up for us. I didn’t want to bring up Ava after Hudson had just gifted me with a beautiful token of his love and affection for me. She didn’t get to have the privilege of ruining our romantic little evening together.

  I smiled as I chewed my food. “Just eating.”

  He stared at me, not buying it.

  “Did you have a nice afternoon?” he asked.

  I nodded as I continued to eat my dinner.

  A few, long minutes of silence filled the space between us.

  “You’re really being quiet tonight,” he said. He wasn’t going to let it go. “What’s on your mind? I can’t get a read on you.”

  “I don’t want to talk about it right here,” I said, giving in. He wasn’t going to stop asking until he knew what it was.

  “Ah, so there is something,” he said as he sat his fork down and sat back in his seat.

  “It’s not worth bringing up right now,” I assured him.

  I waited for him to return to his food, but he never did. He just sat up with his gorgeous, chocolate eyes fixated on me.

  “Stop staring,” I said with a half-laugh. “You’re making me nervous.”

  “Brynn, whatever it is,” he said. “Just say it.”

  I forced myself to make eye contact, and part of me wondered if he thought something had happened back home. He looked at me like he was about to lose me. Like I was going to leave him and never look back.

  “I-I,” I stammered. “I just want to know how Ava knew about my ring.”

  Hudson clenched his jaw and began to rub his temple.

  “I don’t know why you can’t let the Ava thing go,” he said, nearly seething. “I told you I’m handling it. All you have to do is focus on me and you. That’s all that matters. Not Ava. Not any of the bullshit back in Iowa.”

  “Who said anything about Iowa?” I said with a scrunched face.

  “I just assumed,” he said. “We didn’t really talk that much about what happened. I thought maybe you were still preoccupied with the Luke and Piper thing.”

  “They can have each other,” I said with furrowed brows. It wasn’t that it didn’t hurt anymore, it just wasn’t relevant in that moment. Ava was my number one issue, and I wasn’t going to rest until she was out of our life for good.

  “I don’t know how Ava found out about the ring,” he said. “She has her ways. I told you she’s a little nutty.”

  “A little?” I snorted.

  “Did you tell Alec about it?” he asked. “Alec tends to have a big mouth.”

  I instantly felt sick about spilling my guts to Alec earlier that day. I didn’t realize he had such a big mouth and knew so many people, but it only made sense given his line of work and his social aptitude. He had more people in his phone contacts than I’d ever met in my entire life. Alec knew everyone, and if he didn’t know someone, chances were he knew someone that did know them.

  “I did tell Alec,” I said.

  “Then maybe Alec told someone and it got back to Ava?” Hudson proposed. “There you go. There’s your answer.”

  I thought about my conversation with Alec earlier. I figured he would’ve told me if he’d spilled the beans to someone about the ring, but then again, maybe not. Like he said, people lied to get whatever they wanted, and it was in his best interest professionally not to screw things up with Hudson.

  “Why does it matter anyway?” Hudson asked, his eyes squinting as he tried to understand where I was coming from. “Does it change the meaning of the ring for you?”

  I didn’t want to tell him that I’d feared the worst. I was worried he was the one who had told Ava. I lowered my eyes, unable to meet his stare, as I imagined them lying in his hotel bed together and him laughing at how he’d given me a ring with some sort of cheesy symbol attached to it so I wouldn’t suspect a thing. I’d clearly been watching too many Lifetime movies lately.

  “I don’t know,” I said.

  “Okay, Brynn,” he said as he threw his napkin over his plate. He’d barely touched his food.

  He stood up to walk back inside.

  “Where are you going?” I asked.

  “Inside,” he said, annoyed at me. Though was probably more angry than anything else.

  I stood up and ran after him, catching him halfway down the hall towards his bedroom. He turned to face me, his face twisted into a disgusted glare. I’d never forget the look he gave me in a million years, and I never wanted to see that look ever again.

  “Hudson,” I said as I placed my hand over his beating heart. “I’m sorry.”

  He breathed hard through his nostrils as he stared down at me, his expression still hard and unforgiving.

  “Why do you fixate on these things?” he asked. “You take these little, stupid things and you obsess over them and nitpick and you don’t let them go until we have a fight about them.”

  “I know, I know,” I said as I continued trying to calm him down. He was right, but it still didn’t change the way I felt. I couldn’t ignore my feelings. “I’m sorry.”

  “I feel like you’re looking for an out,” he said. “You’re looking for a reason that this won’t work out. You’re dooming us from the start, Brynn.”

  I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He was right. I was so fixated on him cheating on me or us not working out, that I was already hurting our chances.

  “You’re right,” I said as I locked eyes with him. “You’re absolutely right. I just want this to work.”

  “Me too,” he said. “And it will work. But you have to stop this. Stop assuming the worst all the time.”

  “I know,” I said. I couldn’t promise not to get worked up anymore, but I knew I’d have to be better at putting on a happy face when things were bothering me. I didn’t want to fight
with him anymore. He always won.

  I reached down and interlaced my fingers in his, and his face began to soften. His anger began to dissipate right before me and his eyes became familiar again.

  “Let’s make things right again,” I cooed as I nuzzled into the crook of his neck and laid three delicate kisses onto his scruffy skin.