Starstruck - Book Four (2 page)

“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.

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.

“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.”

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.

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.