Love United (Hollywood Series Book 3)

by Avery Michaels

  love

  UNITED

  Avery Michaels

  Copyright © 2016 Coastal Escape Publishing

  All rights reserved.

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  This book is a work of fiction. Names, character, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or use fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locals or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work, in whole or in part, in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

  Published by Coastal Escape Publishing

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  Acknowledgement

  I would like to first thank you for reading. Without you, I would still just be writing for fun. I truly appreciate every moment you took out of your day to read my book and I hope you come back for more. Thank you, sincerely.

  As always, I want to thank my family. I love y’all and wouldn’t know what to do without you guys. Nicholas, Aunt Linda & Unc John, GeeGee, Nana, thanks for helping with J-man so I could work. Heather, I really appreciate you and all that you do.

  Team Jayce, you’re all amazing. Mandy, I don’t think I could’ve asked for a better teacher. Everyone at MES and Milestones, y’all are fantastic. My co-workers, Annette and Christie and all of my student, I love you all.

  Special gratitude to my family members and friends who are in or have served in the military. Brian, who served 3 tours in The Middle East, I’m so proud to call you cousin. My uncle James “Darrell” who served in Vietnam and my Poppa who served in WWII. Countless other friends who served; some came back, some did not. You’re service is appreciated.

  My fab five: Should I say it again? You’re all the best.

  Thanks to all the girls of The Looney Bin. Jessi, Khailila. I love all of you amazing women!

  Beth, you keep your head up. You are loved. Tracy, welcome to our crazy family…Good luck!

  Thanks to James Gallini for his dedication to our cause. We appreciate your hard work.

  A special shout out to Tomi Warnick for walking me through this process. I really could not have done this without you, Devin and Ilse(Little Mouse). I also appreciate all the advice from author, Kate Allenton whose expertise and imagination have been invaluable. Thanks again to Coastal Escape Publishing.

  TABLE OF CONENTS

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  EPILOGUE

  Chapter 1

  “Come with us,” they’d said.

  “I don’t really think it’s my thing.” I spoke shyly with my hands clasped in front of me.

  “Maddie.” Logan Mason had called me by my nickname. I hadn’t been called that since I’d left my hometown, so to be called that by one of the biggest stars in Hollywood got my attention. “Maddie, come with us. Come on. For me?”

  I gave a slight smile and got in the limo with him.

  Logan was gorgeous. He was about my height, but he had the overall package with blond hair, blue eyes, and the whitest smile I’d ever seen. I hadn’t even had a hit song yet when he’d started coming to my shows. One night after a show, he’d stepped on stage and asked me out in front of the small crowd. He’d taken me out several times.

  We’d been dating for about a month during my stay in New York City when he, and high-profile celebrity couple, Jackson Jacobs and Lacy Waters, had shown up at one of my shows. They were going to an “exclusive” club and asked me to join them. I’d had no idea what I was getting myself into. Logan and I had barely kissed, just a peck once or twice. I wouldn’t have ever expected where he took me that night.

  The memories flooded back as I sat on the stage of the morning talk show. It was like having a flashback.

  “Logan, this doesn’t look like any nightclub I’ve ever been to,” I said as I assessed the large mansion we’d pulled up to.

  “It’s not like any club you’ve ever been to, Maddie, but trust me; it’s the best kind of club.”

  We got out, and he knocked on the door in this special way, as though it were some kind of secret knock. As it turned out, it was.

  “Mason, party of four,” he told the guy at the door. The guy welcomed us by holding out a basket full of cell phones. They dropped theirs in the pile. After an encouraging look from Logan, I followed suit.

  Logan ushered me into a room off of a long corridor and away from the other couple. It looked like a fancy locker room with wooden cabinets and a velvet sofa.

  “What is this?” I asked.

  “Do you trust me?” I nodded, not because I trusted him, but because I wanted to be his girlfriend, and I thought if I did what he asked, I would be. “Put this on,” he said, holding out a plush white robe.

  “What?” I took it from him, confused.

  “Just trust me, Maddie. Lighten up.” He walked behind a row of cabinets and came out moments later with a robe on. I was still holding mine. He kissed me softly, running his hand from my cheek down my neck to my shoulder, where he slid the strap of my sundress off. “This is going to be amazing, for both of us.”

  At that, apprehension flew out the window. I’d been wondering if he would ever make his move. We’d been seeing each other for a month, and he’d kissed me only a handful of times. This was what I’d been waiting for! I wanted him. Every woman wanted him, but I could have him. He was right in front of me.

  He stepped out of the room, sending me a gleaming grin. I immediately undressed and slipped into the robe. When I stepped out, I was met with another kiss right in the hallway. This one was more aggressive, passionate. It was more intense than any kiss he’d given me before.

  A security guard interrupted us. “Logan, man, I need to see her ID.”

  “I’m twenty-two,” I told him. Logan nodded to confirm. The guy looked at me intensely for a moment but took me at my word.

  “I’m about to show you a whole new world, Maddison. My world. Are you ready to join?”

  I nodded nervously. He took my hand, intertwining his fingers with mine, and led me down the corridor to a large set of double doors, which were guarded. I looked at him nervously, but he seemed completely at ease.

  “Relax, dollface. You’ll love it if you just let yourself.”

  When the doors opened, I stood there stupefied. He tugged my hand in vain.

  “Maddie, come on. Don’t be like that. Just try it. Come in and play. If you don’t like it, we’ll leave, okay?” I didn’t say anything. “I promise, you’ll like this if you let yourself,” he repeated.

  I stepped into the large open space. I had to admit that I was intrigued.

  “Let’s go have some fun,”
he said with a wink.

  “Miss Royce? Are you okay?” the talk show host said, pulling me from the memories.

  I lifted a mug of water to my lips, moistening my mouth before I spoke. “Yes, please continue.”

  “There is speculation that a sex tape has surfaced involving Logan Mason, several other well-known celebrities, and you. Do you have any comment on that?”

  I laughed. Audiences had always been captivated by my laugh. “No such tape exists because no such events took place. Logan Mason wishes, right?” I played with the audience. The girls all laughed.

  Since our brief fling four years before, Logan had fallen out of the spotlight while my singing career had skyrocketed. He was a has-been, and I was a still rising star. After the way he’d treated me, I wasn’t sad for him in the slightest. Oh sure, he was sorry now, but now, I didn’t care.

  “You know, if this so-called ‘orgy’ tape exists, the good-girl image that you’ve created will be trashed, don’t you, Roxy?”

  “You know, I don’t think I’ve ‘created’ any image, Leslie,” I told her with a little bite. “I just am who I am. Besides, like I said, there’s no tape. You know I hate to speak ill of my peers, but this is just another attempt for Logan to jump back into the spotlight.”

  She gave me a shocked look, raising her brows. “Wow, okay. Well, there you have it, folks. Straight from the horse’s mouth, as they say in Roxy Royce’s neck of the woods. There’s no sex tape.” She had turned from me and was talking to the audience. I was ushered off stage as she continued on about the rumor. I couldn’t believe she’d used the word orgy!

  I’d known, when I had agreed to the interview, that Leslie Li might ask about the rumor, but I wasn’t sure until she had. I honestly didn’t think she would be so brazen. I was there to talk about a benefit concert I was doing for the troops in the Middle East, and even agreed to discuss the recent breakup with my boyfriend of the past year. She’d asked me about those things first and then cut to the sex tape questions right before I was about to leave the stage. What a witch!

  I grabbed my cell phone. “Bo, that bitch brought it up!” I yelled at my assistant. “She even took a jab at my southern roots. Yeah, don’t book her again and spread the word. I want her blackballed!” I cut off the call before stepping into the awaiting studio-provided limousine. The driver wasn’t my usual guy, and I didn’t want to chance him overhearing my conversation.

  The driver didn’t ask where I was going. He’d already been given instructions. I was going straight back to my hotel because it had been a long morning, and I had an early flight the next day.

  I’d struggled with the decision to do the concert overseas. It was dangerous, and I was nervous, but with everything going on here, it was a good time for me to get away.

  My boyfriend and I had broken up because he’d slept with that little minx, Mimi Vines. The girl was eighteen and fresh out of rehab. I’d seen them in Central Park a week ago, walking hand-in-hand, and I ripped him a new one in front of everyone. That video was already streaming. Everyone was a cameraman these days. If I’d learned anything since I had achieved celebrity status, it was that I was always one public tantrum away from “trending.”

  I guess if I did have a “good girl” image, that little spectacle in the park had stained it. I didn’t mind being held to a high regard—in fact, it was endearing—but I was no different than any other twenty-six-year-old woman. I don’t know why the “good girl” thing had followed me from my hometown of Loblolly, Alabama, but when I went off on Grant in Central Park, social media lit up like a Christmas tree with how hostile I “had suddenly become.”

  Of course, Mimi got the sympathy vote because of her age and her “condition.” That condition being addiction, for which she had been miraculously cured. That was great for her, but it didn’t stop her from jumping the first man she laid eyes on.

  With all that being said, I didn’t blame her. I blamed Grant. He was the twenty-eight-year-old man who was screwing a teenager.

  I was so mad about the sex tape being brought up on the morning talk show that, when I got to the hotel, I hopped out before the driver had a chance to open my door. There were always fans around, but I wasn’t expecting to be bombarded. There were reporters from every outlet sticking their microphones in my face asking about the tape. Leslie Li had opened the door, and they all ran in, asses and elbows!

  Luckily, I kept a pair of black Chanel sunglasses in my quilted handbag. I put them on to hide my anger. I could smile all day, but I couldn’t hide the anger in my eyes. Whenever unsavory situations arose, I wore my glasses, smiled, and allowed my accent to present. It seemed to charm the un-charmable.

  I wish I could say this had been my first negative experience, but I’d had a couple minor run-ins with the paparazzi. Nothing of this magnitude though.

  When my charm didn’t faze them, I just ran into the hotel. I grabbed my phone again. “Bo, get somebody down here to handle this!”

  “Yeah, Rox, I’m on it. Just give me—”

  “I don’t want your excuses! I told you this was going to blow up! Just get it done!”

  I had a little temper sometimes, but this situation had magnified it times a million, because even though I did believe Logan had started that rumor to garner attention for himself, I also knew what we had done that night. If there really was a tape… I shook my head at the thought. I couldn’t even think of it.

  I went straight to bed when I got to my suite. It had been a long morning of being shuttled from makeup to hair to green room to stage. And I had a long flight planned for the next day, so I took a sleeping pill and went to bed.

  I lifted my eye mask around four the next morning when my alarm went off. I’d set it earlier than necessary because I didn’t like being rushed. I called for room service immediately before getting out of bed.

  I glanced in the mirror. My dark locks were a mess, my blue eyes surrounded by red webs from the over-the-counter sleeping pill I’d taken. I showered and had someone from the hotel come get my things. Bo had better have booked a private jet for this long trip. I hadn’t specified, so I really doubted he had. Bo was as sweet as pie, but as dumb as a box of rocks. It wasn’t stupidity so much as the boy didn’t have any walking-around sense. But he came recommended by a friend, and I’d already trained him, so I was trying to work with him.

  Bo should know by now that I enjoyed flying private. I had come to dislike commercial flights. I knew it was cliché, tacky, and spoiled, but it didn’t change the fact. I worked hard for my money. I wouldn’t be made to feel ashamed for using it as I pleased.

  Country music wasn’t an easy game to break into. I’d put my time in at the bars and nightclubs in Nashville, just like everyone else, then up to New York, but when I had made my way out to Hollywood to work the bar scene, I’d just gotten lucky. That was the only way I could describe my fame. I’d gotten picked up by a label. Since then, I had become a country/pop crossover. It hadn’t been intentional, but it was fine with me. I loved my fans no matter which genre of music they took me for.

  I’d already eaten and gotten dressed. I was just sitting around waiting on everyone else. That was the way it always was it seemed.

  My cell phone rang eighty bazillion times a day, but I only answered the ringtones that I had set, so when “Slim Shady” sounded out from my iPhone, I smiled.

  “What’s up, big bro?” I answered.

  “Maddie, I don’t think you should go—”

  “Maximus”—I spoke in a deep joking tone—“you worry too much.”

  “For real, it’s not a good time to be out of the country. There’s too much going on in the world.”

  “Max, there’s a lot going on here too. Don’t worry. People do this all the time. In fact, if you’re so worried, come with me.” I held the phone with my shoulder so I could adjust my eye makeup. I knew there would be photographers waiting outside. I didn’t want it to look like the sex tape rumor was getting to me.

&nbs
p; “I can’t,” he said, sounding a bit off. Max was usually fairly upbeat.

  “Why?”

  “I was going to wait and tell you in person but…” He paused dramatically.

  “What? Just tell me already,” I yelled, but he hesitated. He was starting to freak me out. I picked up my iPad and dialed him up on Facetime. “Click over,” I told him. I did this often, so he complied.

  When he answered, I saw him standing there with his girlfriend, Aimee. “We’re pregnant!” she yelled. Max’s smile was so wide it touched his eyes.

  “Oh my gosh, you guys! Congratulations!”

  “Congratulations to you too, Aunt Maddie!” She smiled. Tears flooded my eyes at the thought of having a little niece or nephew.

  “So blow off this trip and come celebrate with us,” Max added.

  “I wish I could, but that would be very unpatriotic of me. I can’t do it. Besides, I will only be gone a few days, and then we can all celebrate together, okay? Aimee, tell your family that they’re all invited. We’ll go wherever y’all want. This is the best news! I’m so happy for y’all!”

  I really was. I knew Max had meant to propose recently, but he hadn’t been able to afford the ring he wanted her to have. He was too proud to take my money for that. That, he’d said, was something he wanted to buy on his own. I understood and respected that. I told them I loved them and hung up, elated and overjoyed by the news.

  Hearing a knock on the door, I grabbed my purse and my small Chanel carry-on tote. When I opened the door, I expected to see Bo, but instead, Logan Mason stood in front of me.

  “Logan,” I said. I hadn’t seen him in a while, and he looked worse for the wear.

  “Hey there, Maddison, or is it Roxy now? I never understood why you changed it. Maddie is so cute.”

  “How did you find me?”

  “I have my ways.”