Read Online Starstruck - Book Two by Gemma Brooks - Free Book Online

sooner. I just found out my flight was cancelled.”
     
    I was a horrible liar.
     
    “Your flight was cancelled?” he asked as he peered around at
the clear, blue sky above us.
     
    “Yep,” I said. I didn’t care to elaborate. “I’m sorry.
You’ll still be paid.”
     
    He tipped his hat and got back into the Town Car, driving
away. There it was. I’d made my decision. I was staying, and I wondered why it
felt so wrong all of a sudden.
     
    I went back in my apartment and changed into something more
comfortable. Pajamas, a fuzzy robe, and slippers were like one giant hug. I
heated up a frozen dinner and settled in front of the T.V. to watch a movie.
     
    I’d never felt so alone in my entire life, but I knew I was
the one responsible for it. I had caused it. I did the damage. I had to figure
out a way to make things right again, only I didn’t know what was right
anymore.
     
    Piper was right. I was too different now. She barely
recognized me and truthfully I barely recognized myself anymore. I’d gotten too
wrapped up in Hudson and his lifestyle and all the newness and excitement. I’d
forgotten my roots.
     
    My flight was supposed to land at LAX around seven that
evening. A driver was supposed to bring me to Hudson’s house. I still hadn’t
told him I wasn’t coming. It was approaching nine thirty, and I knew he’d be
calling any minute.
     
    Just as I suspected, my phone rang at nine thirty-four. It
was Hudson.
     
    “Brynn,” he said. “Where are you?”
     
    I hesitated and took a deep breath.
     
    “Rock River,” I said.
     
    “Are you joking right now?” he replied. There was both
confusion and anger in his voice. He was about to lose his cool, which he’d
never done. “I – I don’t know what to say. I guess I’m confused?”
     
    “We’re from two different worlds, you and me,” I said.
“After what happened Friday, regardless of what’s true and what’s false, I just
don’t know if I can handle that. I’m not used to that stuff. I don’t want
pictures of my boyfriend and random women all over the internet every time he
goes somewhere for work.”
     
    I’d never used the boyfriend word with him before. It just
slipped out.
     
    “You have to understand my world,” he said. “If you care
about me, you’d give us a chance. You’d at least try to understand it. You’d
try to look through all the bullshit and lies that the media spins, and you’d
see who I really am.”
     
    “I want to, Hudson,” I said as my voice trailed. “I really
do…”
     
    “No you don’t,” he huffed. “Either you believe me or you
don’t. And obviously you don’t. I don’t know what else I can say right now to
make you believe me when you don’t even want to.”
     
    He was right.
     
    “Did you bump into Luke or something? Is that what this is
all about?” he asked. He was sounding more and more like a jealous boyfriend
lately.
     
    “I saw him, but no, that’s not what this is about,” I said.
“That has nothing to do with this.”
     
    “Things were great two days ago,” he said. “Hadley and I are
just friends. We go way back. I know a lot of people, Brynn. What else can I
say to change how you feel?”
     
    I figured he’d have something brilliant to say. Something to
change my mind and make me want to see him again. But nothing he said made me
feel any better.
     
    Rumbling from a truck that could only belong to one person
startled me, and I glanced outside my window to see Luke’s rusty, red pickup
parked next to my car.
     
    What’s he doing here? I wondered. I wasn’t expecting him at
all.
     
    “Hudson,” I said. “I’m going to let you go.”
     
    “Wait,” he objected. “So that’s it? Just like that? It’s
over?”
     
    “I’ll talk to you tomorrow, okay?” I said. I wasn’t even
sure if I meant that. I just had to get him off the phone.
     
    I hung up with Hudson and waited for Luke to come to the
door. As soon as I heard his signature double