Starstruck - Book Four by Gemma Brooks Read Free Book Online

of things last night. You were threatening to kill
yourself. I had to get you to calm down.”
     
    “But you admit you said it, right?” she said. She was
talking to him, but her eyes were on me. She wanted to see me hurt, but I
refused to let her. “Hudson, let’s just quit with the games. You know you and I
are going to end up together again eventually. Ship Miss Corn Fed Iowa back to
the farm she came from and let’s just get on with our life, mm-kay?”
     
    “Now, Ava, that’s just uncalled for,” Hudson said. He
finally jerked away from her and her drunk, limber arm fell into her lap.
“You’ve got to stop with all this.”
     
    Ava wasn’t about to throw in the white towel anytime soon.
His words were only making her want him even more. I could spot a girl who
loved a good challenge from a mile away.
     
    “You’re delusional if you think for one second that you and
I are ever getting back together,” he said. “I’m with Brynn. That’s who I want
to be with. Nothing you say or do will change that. Know that. Please.”
     
    Hudson was getting more and more agitated, and seeing him
defend me first hand was getting me a little turned on.
     
    “We have to go now,” he said as he stood up and reached for
my hand.
     
    Ava’s face fell at first and then twisted into a conniving
smile.
     
    “You’ll be back,” she snickered. “You always come back.”
     
    He led me outside as fast as he could.
     
    “I told you it was going to be pointless for you to talk to
her,” he sighed.
     
    “I at least wanted to try,” I replied. “She didn’t faze me.
I swear. She’s downright psychotic.”
     
    “She needs help,” he said. “A lot of help.”
     
    We pulled out of her driveway and sped as fast as possible
to the Pacific Coast Highway.
     
    “That was so freaking bizarre,” I mused as I stared out the
window at the ocean besides us. “All of it. Has she always been that dramatic?”
     
    “Not always,” he said.
     
    “I see,” I said. “So who dumped whom? Just out of
curiosity.”
     
    He bit his lip, as if he didn’t want to answer but he knew
he had to.
     
    “She dumped me actually,” he said. He almost seemed
embarrassed about it.
     
    “So you were holding onto crazy all that time?” I asked.
     
    “I was trying to help her get better,” he said. “I thought I
could bring the old Ava back. The Ava I first met. By the time I realized it
was a lost cause, she’d cheated on me with one of her co-stars and it was
over.”
     
    “And now you have me,” I said. I wanted to remind him that
he had moved on to greener pastures. I didn’t have an ounce of the kind of
crazy that Ava had in me.
     
    “Yes,” he said as he turned to me and smiled. He reached for
my hand and our fingers interlaced.
     
    Cozying deep into the smooth leather of the passenger seat,
I refused to let Ava have any more of my perfect day. I got to see my mom. I
saw Hudson stand up for me in front of Ava. And now I was watching the sunset
over the ocean. Ava didn’t get to steal any more of my day than she already
had.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

CHAPTER 9
 
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Saturday night Hudson made us reservations at a hot new
restaurant in town called Bianca y Rosa. It was some kind of Spanish-Italian
fusion cuisine, and he’d heard nothing but amazing things about the food but tables
were booked out for weeks in advance. Hudson, of course, pulled some strings
and got us in right away.
     
    I soaked for a solid hour in his big bathtub surrounded by
millions of subtly scented bubbles. I sipped champagne and listened to music
from my iPod. It had been far too long since Hudson and I had had a proper
date, and the past week had been rough on our relationship.
     
    I took my sweet time getting ready, slathering expensive
lotions and creams over every inch of my body. I wanted to be as smooth and
soft as possible when we made love that night. Just the thought of sex with him
got me hot with