Starstruck - Book Three

by Gemma Brooks

  I waved my finger at him to follow me as I dipped one toe into the warm pool water and stepped in. He slowly got up from his chair, taking another swig of his drink, and began undressing.

  I was waist deep in the water by the time he climbed in, and I swam over to the grotto, taking cover and waiting for him. I waited patiently and it felt like he was taking forever, until suddenly I felt his strong hands slip around my waist. He had snuck up behind me.

  “You scared me,” I said as I patted his chest.

  “Sorry,” he said as he nibbled at my neck.

  The soft water of his saltwater pool trickled around us and beaded down our skin as we couldn’t keep our hands off one another. My mouth waited, wanting and open, for his kiss. My body anticipated his hands and where they would go next.

  He scooped me up and held me against his hips as he hoisted me against the wall of the grotto. I could feel his member, hard and throbbing, and longed for him to be inside me once again.

  “I missed you so much, Brynn,” he whispered before reaching down and positioning himself.

  With one fell thrust, he was deep inside me. His hips moved slowly, deliberately as he took his sweet time with me. We had to make up for lost time, and that was just fine with me.

  The water lapped around us with every move as the waterfall splashed in the background and the dim lights of the pool set the ambiance.

  I rested my arms on his shoulders as he continued thrusting and plunging himself into me.

  “I love being this close to you,” he whispered. “You’re so addictive.”

  I said nothing as I smiled with sweet satisfaction at his words and enjoyed the sensation of riding him in the pool.

  I could tell he was getting close.

  “Just let go,” I whispered.

  A few hard thrusts and his body tensed and then relaxed as he released himself inside of me. He leaned against me, pinning me to the wall of the grotto, as we became undone, and I slid myself back to a standing position.

  “How was that for a welcome home surprise?” I asked.

  “Amazing,” he sighed, his hands still traveling the length of my body. We were done, for now, and he still couldn’t keep his hands off me.

  We swam back to the patio and wrapped ourselves in fluffy towels as we sat down to finish our drinks.

  He ran his fingers through his damp, dark hair as he stared at me in amazement.

  “I was thinking,” I said. “I should probably go back home at least once a month. You know, just to visit my mom and Piper and stuff. I haven’t been back in a few weeks. Would you care if I went next weekend?”

  “Of course not,” he said as he scrunched his face. “You can go home anytime you want. In fact, I’ll join you.”

  “Oh, you don’t have to come with,” I said. “Rock River is so boring.”

  “Brynn,” he said as he cocked his head. “I can’t be away from you again. Not this soon. And last time you went home, I almost lost you. I won’t let that happen again.”

  I laughed. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

  “I’m coming with you,” he insisted.

  “That’s fine,” I said. “I just don’t want you to be bored.”

  “With you? Never.”

  “You know you have nothing to worry about with me and Luke. Ever,” I said. “If that’s what this is about.”

  He instantly looked offended. “Who said anything about him?”

  “I thought that was what you meant,” I said. “Anyway he’s not a threat to you. To us.”

  “How do you know this? Have you been talking to him?” Hudson asked, his eyes almost flashing with jealousy and a hint of contained temper.

  “No,” I said. I wasn’t going to tell him that I sought Luke out at the bar last time I went home. Not in a million years. He would never understand. “Piper had just mentioned when she was here that Luke basically hates me.”

  “Why would you care about that?” Hudson asked. “Haven’t you moved on?”

  “Of course,” I said as I reached across the table and placed my hand on his. “You need to calm down.”

  Hudson was annoyed.

  “Clearly you’re taking this conversation in the wrong direction,” I said. “I was just trying to tell you that you have nothing to worry about whenever I go home.”

  “So Luke hates you,” he said, going back to the topic of Luke. “But do you hate Luke? Are there still feelings there?”

  I rolled my eyes and buried my face in my hands. “No.”

  Hudson was quiet, and I wasn’t sure that he entirely believed me. I wanted to ask him what was up with this sudden insecurity, and then I remembered what Alec had told me about celebrities needing constant love and attention and security. Hudson was no exception to that rule.

  “I have no feelings for Luke,” I told him. “I swear.”

  I wasn’t going to mention that Luke was my first love, my best friend, and a part of me would always love him. He wouldn’t understand. It would just take things to a whole new level.

  He glanced over at me, making eye contact once again but saying nothing. I stood up from my chair and climbed over into his lap, wrapping my arm around the back of his shoulders.

  “I’m with you,” I said. “I want to be with you.”

  I held up my right ring finger and showed him the canary yellow diamond ring he’d given me two weeks prior.

  “Remember?” I said with a smile. “We’re in this together. You and me. You’re mine and I’m yours.”

  His face lightened up a bit as he slipped his arms around my waist.

  “I’m still coming home with you,” he said.

  “That’s fine,” I said. “You can meet my mom.”

  He laughed a bit. “Okay.”

  “I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted,” I said as I stood up and led him by the hand back inside the house. Two weeks with him gone and I never got used to sleeping without him by my side. All I wanted to do was curl up in his arms, close my eyes, and drift off. Saturday was going to be a new day with a fresh start and something we both clearly needed.

  CHAPTER 10

  We arrived in Des Moines on a Friday afternoon and rented a car. I opted to drive, having missed my familiar Iowa roads once again. Mile after mile, hour after hour, we finally arrived in Rock River.

  My homecoming was bittersweet, not knowing what to expect. I’d left in such a hurry last time that I was almost afraid to show my face around some parts.

  “Do you care if we pop into the coffee shop first?” I asked Hudson. “I want to say hi to Piper and let her know I’m in town.”

  “We’re here for you,” he said as he kissed my hand. “We’ll do whatever you want. You just lead the way.”

  We pulled up to the shop and climbed out. Piper’s weekend in L.A. started out rough, but eventually we were able to get on the same page. We both missed each other, and we both wanted to have fun. When I took her back to the airport that Sunday, I felt like we were finally getting back on track. We were in a good place.

  As Hudson and I walked hand in hand into the coffee shop, the last thing I expected was to see Luke standing up at the counter talking to Piper. Even from across the room I could see the way her face lit up in his presence. His back was towards us, but he was leaning into her, resting on his elbows, like he didn’t have a care in the world, smiling big. He was clearly smitten. I’d never seen him act like that with anyone else before.

  I wanted to vomit, but I tried to compose myself.

  “Let’s go,” Hudson whispered in my ear. “Let’s just get out of here.”

  “No,” I said as I jerked my hand away from him and approached Luke and Piper. “Ahem.”

  Piper’s face fell as she turned towards me and backed away from Luke. Luke turned around, then spun right back around as soon as he saw me.

  “Piper, how could you?” I asked, my eyes pleading with her for an answer. I’d loved Luke for years. She knew that.

  “We’re jus
t talking,” she said, as she tried to play dumb.

  I shook my head. I didn’t buy it for one minute. The thought of Piper and Luke flirting and hanging out and becoming close had floated through my mind a time or two before, but I refused to believe she’d ever do that to me. It was sort of an unspoken rule that Luke was off limits to her. I’d cried on her shoulder countless times over the years when Luke had new girlfriends or asked other girls to dances or rebuffed my attempts to take our friendship to the next level.

  She untied her apron and flung it on the counter as she asked her coworker to cover for her.

  She came around the bar and walked up to me, her arms crossed.

  “Let’s go outside,” I said to her. I was going to demand answers.

  Hudson watched us carefully as we slipped out the back. I felt bad leaving him around Luke, but I knew he’d be civil.

  “What the hell, Piper?” I yelled at her the second we were outside. I searched for a hint of guilt or remorse on her face but found none.

  “It just sort of...evolved,” she said.

  “What evolved?” I asked. My eyes were burning hot and it took all the strength I had not to break down and cry.

  Piper sighed. “Luke and I have sort of had a thing for a while now.”

  My heart sank. “What are you talking about?”

  “It just sort of happened. I don’t know. I don’t know how it happened.” She studied my face.

  “You’re not making any sense,” I whimpered. “I’ve only been with Hudson not even a couple months. How long have you and Luke…?”

  I didn’t want to know, but I did.

  “A few months, at least,” she said as she bit her lip, stifling a smile. She couldn’t hide the victorious look that crossed her face. It was like Luke was a trophy she’d lusted after and finally wrangled out of my hands. “It was mostly physical at first.”

  The thought of Luke and Piper having sex flashed into my mind, and once again I felt sick to my stomach. It made no sense. They hated each other. They weren’t ever each other’s types.

  “We got close,” she said. “Especially after you rejected him.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I didn’t reject him and you know that.”

  She laughed. “Oh, so that’s why you ran off with Mr. Hollywood and left Luke in the dust.”

  “No. He had his chance and he waited until it was too late,” I said. “You of all people should know that.”

  I suddenly remembered that the guys were inside. I didn’t want to leave Hudson around Luke any longer than I had to, but I still needed to talk to Piper. There were still too many unanswered questions.

  The sting of betrayal left a bittersweet taste in my mouth.

  “I guess it is what it is, Brynn,” she said, arms crossed.

  I couldn’t believe my best friend since kindergarten had committed the ultimate betrayal and was standing before me with a smile on her face. She was happy. In fact, I’d never seen her so happy before.

  “Why did he cry at my apartment and why did he text me and tell me he loved me the day I left?” I asked. My hands were on my hips, and I refused to give her the satisfaction of seeing me cry.

  Piper shrugged as if she didn’t care that Luke did those things.

  My jaw dropped. “Is this for real? Are we really having this conversation right now? Is this really how it’s going to be?”

  “You can’t call dibs on people just because you like them, Brynn,” she said. “In high school, you obsessed over Luke just like all the other girls that wanted to be with him. Well, I wanted to be with him too. I just never told you because I was a good friend.”

  “I never knew that,” I said.

  “I’ve loved him since we were kids,” she sighed.

  I huffed. “You had a crush on him in sixth grade. I would hardly call that love.”

  “It was love,” she said as she nearly stomped her foot. “I always knew I could treat him better than you ever could. When you became obsessed with him in high school, I didn’t have the heart to tell you I felt the same way.”

  I had heard enough.

  “I’m done here,” I said to her as I spun around. “Glad you got what you wanted, Piper. Congratulations.”

  By the time I’d walked inside, Luke was gone and Hudson was just sitting at a table, sipping a coffee drink.

  “You okay?” he asked as he stood up.

  “No,” I said. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”

  He followed me out to my car where I refused to shed a single tear over those assholes, though I wasn’t sure how much longer I could fight it. I’d never felt so betrayed in my life before, and by the two people I least expected to ever hurt me.

  CHAPTER 11

  I managed to contain my emotions until the second I stepped foot into my apartment. I fell apart. I crumbled to the ground.

  “I don’t understand,” I wailed. I didn’t care that Hudson had never seen me so weak and vulnerable. I let loose.

  He crouched down and helped me up, leading me over to the sofa where he sat me down and wrapped his arms around me.

  “Piper said they’ve been hooking up for months,” I cried. “Since before I met you.”

  “That must really hurt,” he said.

  “How could they do that?” I cried. “Who does that to people they love?”

  The irony was not lost on me, and Hudson wisely chose not to answer.

  “I guess this is my karma,” I sniffed.

  “No,” he said. “They’re just assholes.”

  “I don’t belong here anymore,” I said. “Everything I thought I had, everyone I thought I knew, it’s all gone.”

  “I know you’re hurting,” he said. “But this is still your home. Your mom is still in town, right?”

  “Yeah,” I sniffed.

  “Then come back whenever you want and spend time with her,” he suggested. “Just ignore Luke and Piper. Be done with all of that. Move on.”

  “I don’t ever want to hear their names again,” I sobbed. “They’re dead to me.”

  “Okay, I won’t ever talk about Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum ever again,” he teased.

  He managed to get a short laugh out of me.

  “I guess I’m used to the constant lying and backstabbing,” he said. “It’s just how a lot of people are in my world. But I know this is new to you. I can’t imagine how bad it hurts.”

  I buried my face in his chest and breathed in his exotic, musky cologne. He was home to me now. Not Rock River.

  “Some people will do anything just to get what they want,” he added.

  “I’m just sick of fake people,” I said. “You’re the only person I can trust, Hudson.”

  “That’s partly why I was drawn to you,” he said. “You seemed so genuine. So trustworthy. You had that sweet, small town innocence about you. That’s rare where I come from.”

  I’d always wondered why he was so drawn to me, but after experiencing what I’d just experienced, it was all starting to make sense. Hudson didn’t want to hurt anymore. He just wanted to love and be with someone who was real. I could never blame him for that.

  My arms squeezed him even tighter. I was pretty sure I loved him, but I didn’t know how to say it. I hoped he knew it. I hoped he could feel it. I hoped he’d say it first.

  “So we have the whole rest of the day…” he said. “What do you want to do?”

  “I don’t know,” I said. I didn’t want to think about it. I thought I was going to be hanging out with you and Piper today. I didn’t think about anything else.”

  “Why don’t we go visit your mom?” he suggested. “We can spend time with her tonight and then tomorrow we’ll get on a plane first thing in the morning and go home.”

  I nodded and relaxed in the safe comfort of his arms. At least I could rest assured knowing that the last time I saw her, she was doing better. She wasn’t going to be an embarrassment to me. Her place wasn’t going to reek of dirty cat litter and stale beer. I would ju
st die if Hudson saw the way I’d grown up.

  “Why don’t you take a little nap?” he suggested as he ran his fingers through my long hair. “It’s been a long flight. A long day. A long afternoon. You’re probably drained.”

  I closed my eyes and tried to clear my mind as we settled in side-by-side on my sofa for a sweet afternoon nap. Hudson’s arms were where I belonged and his arms were where I’d stay.