Starstruck - Book Four

by Gemma Brooks

  “No, not that I can think of,” she said with a fake smile. She tried to turn to go back inside.

  “Yes,” I said. “There was something you wanted to tell him. Something he should know.”

  Hudson sat his fork down and stopped chewing his breakfast. He turned to look at each of us, and I couldn’t help but notice Flor’s fingers trembling. I almost felt bad. Almost.

  “What is it, Flor? You know you can tell me anything,” he said.

  She stared at the ground, unable to look him in the eye, and opened her mouth to speak.

  “I-I think something’s burning,” she said as she ran inside the house, slamming the sliding door behind her.

  “What the heck is her problem?” Hudson turned to face me.

  I bit my lip. “Well, I wanted her to be the one to tell you.”

  “Tell me what?”

  “Last week, when I came home, she was on a phone call,” I said. “She didn’t hear me come in, so I heard some things…”

  “Okay, so…?” He didn’t see where this was going, and I absolutely hated to be the one to drop the bomb on him.

  “She was talking to Ava,” I said with a wince. “Telling her things about us.”

  Hudson scratched his chin as he took it in.

  “I confronted her and she admitted she’d been the one all along,” I said. “She’s been the one telling Ava about our whereabouts, giving her access to the house, telling her things about us. It’s been Flor all along.”

  Hudson raked his fingers through his sexy mess of bedhead, took a deep breathe, and exhaled slowly.

  “I really wanted her to be the one to tell you,” I said. “It should’ve come from her.”

  He wouldn’t look at me, and I hoped to God he believed me. Flor had been with him for a long time. I was sure the betrayal stung like hell.

  “Are you going to let her go?” I asked. I couldn’t imagine keeping her around if we couldn’t trust her with knowing our business anymore. Obviously Flor’s loyalty had a price and money talked.

  “I don’t know,” he heaved. “I need to let this sink in a bit.”

  “You don’t know?” I couldn’t believe he was considering keeping her on. “We can’t trust her, Hudson. All these issues with Ava? Flor was behind all of them. She was working with Ava to destroy us.”

  “But why would she do that?”

  “Why don’t you ask her?” I said. I crossed my arms.

  “I guess it doesn’t matter,” he said. “What’s done is done. I can’t have people like that in my house. On my payroll. The trust is gone.”

  He looked like his puppy had just run away, so I reached across the table and placed my hand over his.

  “Everything will be okay,” I said. “I have a feeling things are only going to get better the moment the mole is gone.”

  I shouldn’t have called her a mole, but there was no better word for her. She had committed professional suicide by selling out like that.

  “Didn’t you make Flor sign a non-disclosure agreement?” I wondered.

  “Yeah,” he said.

  “So are you going to do anything about that?”

  “I’m pretty sure she’s learned her lesson,” he said. “As long as nothing else comes out, I’ll leave her alone.”

  “That’s very kind of you.”

  In true Hudson fashion, his heart of gold shone bright through all the mucky muck. He had the power and authority to crush her like an ant, but he wasn’t that kind of person.

  He looked up at me and flashed a half smile. “Now, if I’d lost you completely because of all this, I might be singing a different tune.”

  CHAPTER 22

  I pulled into the circle drive of Mia Sterling’s house, iced caramel macchiatos for Alec and Mia in hand. I’d really enjoyed working with him, and meeting new people was so much fun it hardly felt like a job.

  Before I had time to ring the doorbell, the front door flew open and Mia Sterling stood before me, giant smile plastered across her face.

  “Hey!” she said. The way her face lit up at the sight of me made my entire day.

  “Hi, Mia,” I said as I handed her one of the drinks. “Alec said you like these, so I got you one.”

  “Oh, you’re too sweet. You didn’t have to do that!” she said as she graciously took it out of my hand. “Thank you!”

  She traipsed up the stairs to her dressing room with me following close behind. Alec had already been there and was unloading all of her garments. She’d sent us on a personal shopping trip the day before. Alec went a little overboard, but he assured me Mia wouldn’t mind. And if anything needed to be returned, well, that was my job now, he said.

  “So, Alec tells me you’re back together with Hudson,” Mia said. “How’s that going?”

  I’d meant to get a hold of her the day she gave me her number, but everything happened so fast with Hudson and by the time a day or two had gone by, part of me wondered if it was too late to contact her. A small part of me assumed she was just being nice, but now I was beginning to realize just how genuine Mia really was. I wanted to hug her.

  “We are officially back together,” I said. “It turns out we had a little mole in our midst.”

  “Oh, yeah?” Mia took a seat on the round, tufted ottoman that rested in the center of her dressing room, fully engaged and waiting for me to tell the story.

  “His housekeeper, Flor,” I said with an eye roll. “Ava had been paying her cash all along to tell her things. That’s how Ava knew where we were all the time, when we were home, when we were gone, when we were out on a date. That’s how she knew about the ring. Flor had told her everything.”

  Mia’s hand covered her full pout as her eyes widened and she shook her head in disbelief. “That’s seriously my worst nightmare.”

  Alec was being extra quiet.

  “So did he fire her?” Mia asked.

  “Yeah, he let her go,” I said. “It was so hard for him to do it, but it had to be done. That trust is gone now.”

  Mia shook her head again. “That’s really too bad, but at least you have your answers now.”

  “Yeah, the chaos should die a bit now that she’s out of the picture,” I said. “I don’t think she really liked me anyway.”

  “What?” Mia laughed. “That’s impossible. You’re, like, the sweetest girl ever.”

  Perhaps Flor was slightly jealous of my little Cinderella story. No girl-next-door gets swept away by some gorgeous actor and treated like a princess. It doesn’t happen. Not like that. But it happened to me. I’d never fully understand it, but I understood why people resented me for it.

  “Alec, why are you so quiet over there?” I asked. It wasn’t like him to mind his own business and not inject his two cents into the conversation.

  He shrugged, and I could sense something was on his mind.

  “Yeah, Alec, what’s up?” Mia asked.

  “What, were you on Ava’s payroll too?” I asked. I was one-hundred percent joking. Alec turned to look at me, and in an instant I knew.

  “One time,” he said. “Once. That’s it.”

  “Alec, what are you talking about?” I said with a nervous chuckle. He had to be kidding.

  “I didn’t get paid or anything,” he said. “She didn’t buy me out. And I hardly knew you.”

  “Alec, what did you tell her?” I took a step closer to him, my hands on my hips. In that space, he wasn’t my boss. He was my friend. The first friend I’d made in L.A. and my closest friend.

  “Remember that day in the boutique?” he asked. “When she came in with her friends and got in your face?”

  “Uh, yeah.”

  “I told her we were going to be there that day,” he said with an outward cringe. “I swear to you, Brynn, I didn’t know she was going to do what she did. She told me she just wanted to see you in person. She wanted to see what you looked like up close. She was just being nosy. I didn’t think she would set up this confrontation and call the paps and sell a stor
y to the tabloid.”

  “Oh, my lord,” Mia said as she sipped her iced coffee drink. “You just don’t know Ava that well, do you.”

  “She threatened my business,” he said. “She said she’d slander my name to everyone she knew if I didn’t tell her. Brynn, I’ve worked so hard to build up my business. Do you know how hard it is in this town to keep clients? There’s always someone younger and hotter coming around, threatening to be the next best stylist and when one client flocks to them so do the rest.”

  I completely understood, but it didn’t make it hurt any less.

  “It’s true,” Mia said. “Loyalty is rare around here.”

  She reached over and patted Alec on the shoulder.

  “I love my Alec though,” she said with a smile. She was trying to cheer him up. “You’ve styled me since I was knee high to a grasshopper.”

  She managed to crack a small smile from him.

  “Whatever,” he huffed. “It’s been, like, two years.”

  “Okay, but they’ve been the best two years ever,” Mia insisted.

  I stood in silence for a bit while I took it in and those two joked around. Clearly Alec was sorry, and Mia seemed to get it.

  “I’m sorry, Brynn,” he said as he stopped joking around for a bit. “Truly. It ate me up inside for the longest time.”

  “It’s okay,” I said. Underneath it all, I got it. And if Alec wasn’t such a good friend, he wouldn’t have given me a job or a place to live when I didn’t have anywhere to go. “Thanks for being honest.”

  The irony of the situation was not lost on me, and suddenly I felt guilty for pushing Hudson to fire Flor. But at least Alec was honest about what he’d done. Flor refused to even admit it to Hudson.

  “Oh, let me try this on,” Mia said as she held up a black, Herve Leger band aid dress. “I’ve been dying to squeeze my fat ass into one of these.”

  Mia lightened the mood, true to her infectious, happy self, and for that I was grateful.

  CHAPTER 23

  “What’s this?” I called out as I walked in the door after a long day of work. Alec had run me ragged that day, and I was beginning to wish I’d negotiated some kind of mileage reimbursement with him.

  A symphony of delicious dinner smells wafted my way, and over to the left was a candle lit dinner ready and waiting on the table.

  “Did you do this?” I asked Hudson as he stirred some sauce on the stove.

  He beamed ear to ear and flashed me a gorgeous smile.

  “You didn’t have to do this.” I kicked off my shoes and sat my bag on the counter. I walked over, stood on my toes, and kissed his scruffy cheek. “Thank you.”

  “Go, sit down,” he said as he nudged towards the dining table.

  As I took my seat, he rushed over with a glass of white wine and a plate full of roasted chicken, sautéed vegetables, and bow tie pasta with a cream sauce.

  “You made all this?” I asked. My mouth watered at the sight. He’d even sprinkled a little parsley on the edges of the plate. Adorable. “I didn’t know you even knew how to cook.”

  He took a seat next to me. “Dig in.”

  One bite turned into two, and then two turned into three. It was one of the most delicious meals I’d ever tasted.

  “This is so good, Hudson,” I raved. “Really. Very impressed.”

  “I hope you saved room for dessert,” he said. He was proud of his little spread, but I could tell he was trying to remain humble. “Tiramisu.”

  “Oh, God,” I moaned. “You’re the best.”

  “So,” he said between bites. “I have a little treat for you tomorrow.”

  “What’s that?” I was so spoiled.

  “We’re going to Hawaii for a few days,” he said.

  The flicker of the candles in his eyes and the soft lighting against his perfect face still made me weak in the knees, and I hoped it always would.

  “Hawaii? Are you serious?”

  “I wanted to take you to Fiji, but then I realized you don’t have a passport yet,” he said. “We really need to work on that.”

  “I’ve never needed one until I met you,” I reminded him. “What about work? I need to talk to Alec and see if I can get the time off.”

  “No need,” he said. “I’ve already handled it.”

  “You’re just too good to me.” I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face if I’d tried.

  “I just figured it’s time for us to get away from all the chaos and bullshit and start fresh. I want to get us back on track,” he said. “No distractions. Just us.”

  “Exactly the way it should be,” I said. “I love it.”

  “I love you,” he said. For the first time in a long time, he seemed at ease. Relaxed. At peace.

  With Flor out of the picture and Ava warned not to bother us anymore, we’d eliminated two of the biggest threats to our relationship. My new job had given me the sense of purpose and financial independence I’d been craving, and I couldn’t wait to get to know Mia a little more. Things were finally looking up. All the pieces were fitting together exactly the way they should’ve been all along.

  “I’ll always fight for you,” Hudson said with his hand cupping my face. He leaned in and kissed my lips. “Just know that. I’m never letting you go no matter what.”

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Gemma Brooks is a sucker for a good love story that’s peppered with plenty of drama. Writing since she was old enough to pick up a pen and graduating from college with a degree in English, Gemma’s hunger for crafting stories has always been nothing short of insatiable.

  When she’s not hiding behind her laptop feverishly typing up scene after scene like a mad woman, you can find her drinking tea lattes from a local coffee shop, shopping for a new perfume or lux candle, working on her tan, or searching for the perfect shade of red lipstick (which she still has yet to find).

  In the mood for something a little lighter? A little sweeter? A little longer? Gemma also writes new adult contemporary romance novels as Jessa Jeffries. Click here to view her catalog!

  For updates and information on Gemma’s release schedule, please “like” her page on Facebook or sign up for her mailing list. Serial installments will be released every 2-3 weeks!

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