Read Online Starstruck - Book Three by Gemma Brooks - Free Book Online Page A

minute.”
     
    Hudson, once again, came to my rescue. I squeezed his hand
to thank him.
     
    “Would you like something to drink, Hudson?” my mom offered.
“I have beer, wine, and water. I might have some milk? I’ll have to check.”
     
    I glanced up at him and nonchalantly shook my head no. She
just wanted an excuse to have a drink herself. She wasn’t going to run off to
the kitchen and crack a beer without offering one to her guest. Even in her
drunk state, she knew it wasn’t proper.
     
    “Thanks but no thanks,” he said. “We’ve got an early flight
to catch in the morning. I can’t be having too much fun tonight.”
     
    Her face looked disappointed but she nodded politely. She
was just itching for another drink and it was killing her.
     
    “We should probably get going,” I said, not wanting to stay
for another moment in her smelly house. She was probably counting down the
minutes until we were gone so she could have another drink.
     
    “Aw, so soon?” she pouted.
     
    “I’ll get a hold of you when we get back to L.A., Mom,” I
said as I stood up and gave her a hug. “Sorry we can’t stay longer.”
     
    She stood up and hugged each of us, lingering a bit too long
with Hudson. She treated him like family, which I’d appreciated, but she was
also very over the top.
     
    We left the house, and I sniffed my shirt the moment we got
back in my car.
     
    “What are you doing?” Hudson laughed.
     
    “You don’t think it reeked in there?” I asked.
     
    In his usual polite fashion, he didn’t answer.
     
    “You probably think I’m some low life scum now,” I said. “That’s
the house I grew up in. And that’s how we lived.”
     
    Hudson snickered. “Brynn, give me more credit than that. The
way your mother lives is not a reflection of who you are as a person. I’m not
with you for your background or where you come from or who your parents are.”
     
    I realized then just how irrational I was being about the whole
thing.
     
    “You’re an amazing person,” he said. “And I have a feeling
you had to do a lot of growing up early. You probably raised yourself. And you
know what? You did a damn fine job.”
     
    I took a deep breath. Hudson always knew exactly what to say
to make me feel better.
     
    “Your mom needs help,” he said. “I don’t she can get that
kind of help here in Rock River.”
     
    “Yeah, she does need help,” I huffed. “Try telling her that
though.”
     
    “What if I offered to treat her to a luxury rehab facility?”
he asked. “They’re all over California. They’re practically resorts. We could
lure her out there and get her the help she needs.”
     
    “She can’t afford that, Hudson,” I said. “It’s a nice
thought though.”
     
    “I don’t think you heard me correctly,” he said. “It’ll be
my treat. I’ll do this for her. For you really.”
     
    “What if it didn’t work?” I asked. “And you’d spent all that
money on her. I would feel awful. I couldn’t do that to you.”
     
    “I want to do this for you, Brynn,” he said as he took my
hand. “Let me do this for you.”
     
    “It’s too kind of you,” I said. “Can I think about it?”
     
    He seemed frustrated with me.
     
    “What’s there to think about?” he asked. “I want to do this
for you, and I want you to have the mom you deserve. She’s missing out on so
much of your life, and you’re missing out on so much of her life. It shouldn’t
be that way.”
     
    I knew I’d be stupid to turn down his offer.
     
    “Wouldn’t you like to have a little piece of home with you
in L.A.?” he asked.
     
    Part of me wondered if he was just trying to eliminate any need
for me to ever come back to Rock River. If my mom wasn’t here, I’d have no
reason at all to come home.
     
    “Let me do this, please,” he pleaded. “If not for you and
your mom, for my mom.”
     
    “What are you talking about?” I asked.
     
    “She died of a heroin overdose when I