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

knock, my heart began to race.
     
    “Luke, hi,” I said as I pulled the door open. “Come in.”
     
    He stared at my lithe frame before settling down on my sofa.
He looked distraught, and I could tell he’d been doing some serious thinking.
     
    “Luke,” I said. “I don’t know why you’re here, but I just
want to say that I’m so sorry. I’m sorry I screwed up our friendship and what
might have been. I know I can never make it up to you. And I know things can
never be the way they were before. If I could go back in time and change
things, I would.”
     
    He stared up at me, his face contorted into some sort of pained
scowl I’d never seen on him before. A tingle ran down my spine, but it was out
of fear more than anything else.
     
    “I can hardly look at you,” he said through gritted teeth.
“I saw the light on in your apartment. I saw you were still in town, so I just
came by to tell you to leave me alone, Brynn.”
     
    “Wait, what?” I asked with an incredulous laugh.
     
    “Don’t come by the bar,” he said. “Don’t call me. Don’t ask
Piper about me.”
     
    Piper was such a traitor. I was going to have some words
with her.
     
    “Oh, okay,” I said, taken aback.
     
    “Look at you,” he said. “You’re a skeleton. You don’t look
anything like the Brynn I know. Just looking at you reminds me of him. It makes
me sick.”
     
    “I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m sorry you feel that way, but I’m
still me.”
     
    “I’m going to say this only once,” he said. “I don’t want
you in my life. You got that? You leave me alone from now on.”
     
    “Luke, you’re just saying that because you’re angry,” I
said, trying to soothe him. “You don’t mean it.”
     
    He stood up and let himself out. Within seconds, his red
truck was peeling out of my parking lot and rumbling down the street and over
the hill, back towards the farm.
     
    I sunk back into my sofa as I realized I would never be able
to make it up to Luke. He was gone for good. He was forever going to be out of
my life.  
     
    I wanted to call Piper, but I was learning that I couldn’t
trust her. It was almost like it was Piper and Luke against me, which was crazy
because growing up they couldn’t stand each other. I was the common thread that
held them together. Nothing was making sense anymore.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

CHAPTER 14
 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    The instant Luke left, I didn’t allow myself to cry.
Instead, I decided to go for a little drive. I passed my mom’s house and saw
that her living room lamp was on, so I stopped in hoping to catch her alone.
     
    She and Tom were snuggled up on the couch watching the ten
o’clock news. I could tell Tom was shocked to see me just walking in without
calling and so late, but I didn’t care. As far as I was concerned, it was still
my house. I lived there a lot longer than he did.
     
    “Brynn,” my mom said as she saw me walk in. “What’s wrong?”
     
    I wanted to cry. I wanted to let loose. But I couldn’t. Not
with Tom there.
     
    “Can I talk to you?” I asked. “Alone?”
     
    My eyes shuffled to Tom. I didn’t want to be rude, but I
needed my mom.
     
    Tom said nothing as he hoisted himself up and shuffled back
to the bedroom and shut the door. That was easy enough.
     
    “Come here,” she said as she patted the seat where Tom was
perched before. It was still warm from his body heat. “What’s going on? I
thought you were going back to California today?”
     
    It was a little strange going to my mom for advice. We
hadn’t been super close for years. She hadn’t been coherent for years. I had no
one else to talk to though. Piper was my best friend, but I was sure that
relationship was tarnished. I had several acquaintances, but no one I could
call if I needed something. They’d all start rumors anyway. The last thing I
needed was to have people selling stories to the tabloids about Hudson