Love United (Hollywood Series Book 3)

by Avery Michaels

  “Wow, that’s a big cry. I hope you aren’t wasting all of those tears on me,” he joked. I didn’t say anything. Instead, I stepped back and wiped my face with my hands, still shuddering a bit. We stood in silence for a moment as I tried to reel it in. I didn’t cry that often, but when I did, I really cut loose.

  “Stay, Maddie. Stay with me.”

  “You should spend some time with your folks.”

  “Where is this coming from? I thought we would all spend some time together before I leave. This isn’t because of Emmy, is it? I promise I was going to tell you. I wasn’t hiding it. I just wasn’t sure that you and I were real until I woke up next to you this morning. You seemed like a mirage in the desert. But when I woke up next to you this morning, I knew. I knew I could tell her about you. I knew…” He trailed off, stepping closer to me again.

  “You knew what?” I asked, looking up into those eyes that had captured me at first glance.

  “You know what I knew,” he whispered before placing his lips on mine. “Now come back inside and eat breakfast with us common folk. Please, Maddie.” I felt myself wavering. He held my hand as the rest of me leaned toward the car. “I don’t want to miss a second with you.”

  I gave a reluctant nod, and he picked me up, twirling me around. “Why’d you have to go and cry like that? You trying to break me?” He laughed when he dropped me back to my feet.

  We walked back inside hand in hand. I really could feel that his mother wasn’t comfortable with my being her son’s girlfriend, but she wasn’t the type to make a scene. She was a lady.

  We sat at the table as the greasy, probably delicious, breakfast sandwiches were distributed. Janice and I exchanged knowing looks. She wouldn’t ruin his trip, and neither would I, but she would have a word with me in private, if such an opportunity arose. I got all of that from pursed lips and one raised brow. I understood. I gave a curt nod and bit into the scrumptious bacon, egg, and cheese on a bun.

  “Daddy,” Emmy said, “will Roxy Royce be married to you and the other boys, too, like Mommy?” I nearly spit out my food.

  Blake smiled and patted my knee under the table. “No, honey. Besides, that’s not polite table conversation. We’ve discussed this.”

  Emily looked down, scolded. “But she’s with the other boys, and she’s with you too. What’s the difference?”

  “She’s here with us. The stuff on television is pretend, Emmy.”

  “Really? Wow! I liked it when you pretended to beat that guy up. You nailed him! Boom! Pow!” she said to me, swinging her fists wildly.

  Blake laughed, looking at me. “Who did you nail?” I couldn’t help but notice the irony in the wording.

  “Oh, um…”

  “Logan Mason. She was really mad after they kissed yesterday so she kicked him right in the tallywacker!”

  “Emily!” Janice chastised the precocious child, who was oblivious to the damage she was doing.

  I dropped my head in my hands. I guess that was the wrong thing to do. Blake pushed back from the table, whispering, “Excuse me.” I heard his footsteps go toward the bedroom. Janice asked William to take Emily outside to swing.

  “You should go talk to him,” Janice said to me.

  “I don’t know what to say.”

  She began cleaning off the table. “Did you know that Emmy’s mom ran off with Blake’s best friend?” I nodded. “We haven’t seen her since.”

  “I didn’t know that. I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be sorry, honey, be different.”

  “I am different, Mrs. Westin. I didn’t do what everyone thinks I did. I promise you—”

  “Don’t promise me. Promise him.” She pointed to the bedroom. “Or don’t, but don’t do him like his ex. Just between the two of us, I don’t think he can take it again. Just tell him the truth.”

  “I tried. He didn’t want to hear it.”

  “I’m sure he does now,” she said before walking outside to join her little family. I watched out the window for a moment. A tiny part of me thought it would be better to run away than to possibly hurt Blake by telling him everything, because if I went in there, I was going to tell him everything.

  Chapter 15

  I walked into the bedroom to find Blake sitting on the edge of the bed with his elbows propped on his knees, hanging his head. The television was on, and the story about Logan, Trase, and me was wrapping up. He clicked the off button on the remote. Other than that, he was completely still.

  “I should’ve known better, right? Why would you want me? I’m just a regular guy. I was so stupid to come here expecting more than what we had in the desert.”

  I fell to my knees in front of him, placing my hands on his shoulders, trying to make him look at me. “I do want you. Blake, if you’ll just let me explain. I wanted to tell you everything the moment I saw your face, but you asked me not to, remember?”

  “Really, Maddie? You’re blaming me?”

  “No,” I yelled, rubbing my face. “Just let me tell you what happened, okay?”

  “A picture is worth a thousand words. I just saw plenty. I saw you kissing Logan Mason.”

  “No, he kissed me, so I kicked him in the nuts just like Emily said.”

  “Did you sleep with him, Maddie?”

  “Yeah, but—”

  “That’s all I need to know.”

  “Blake! I didn’t sleep with him recently. It was four years ago.”

  “But he’s courting you?”

  “No.”

  “He just came out of nowhere and kissed you? Sounds a little off to me.”

  “It is off! It’s a PR nightmare. He’s blackmailing me. He said he had a sex tape…”

  At that, he glared at me. “I asked you about that right off the bat. You said there wasn’t a tape.”

  “There isn’t!”

  “Then how could he blackmail you with something he doesn’t have?”

  “Will you just shut up and listen for a minute? I will tell you everything if you’ll just listen.”

  He shook his head. “No.”

  “No? What do you mean, no?”

  “It doesn’t matter what you say now. I won’t believe you. You slept with your assistant. He’s a married man.” I felt my jaw drop at the mention of the Trase scandal. He didn’t even ask me if it was true. He just assumed.

  “You took apart a family. How could you do that? After everything I told you about my ex and how she treated me. How could you leave me and run straight into the bed of a married man? I don’t even want to know about the pregnancy. That’s just…”

  “Well,” I interrupted, making my way to my feet, “I guess you have me all figured out. I’m just the whore of the south. I gave you the whole package, though. I usually don’t let my one-night stands introduce me to their kids. But, hey, at least we both got a good fuck out of it, huh?”

  “Yeah, I guess so,” he said, not quite yelling but getting loud.

  I went to walk out of the bedroom, but I had to say one thing before I left, because even though I was hurting and angry, I still cared. “Stay safe, Blake.”

  “Use condoms, Maddie,” he retorted as if he’d had the comeback locked and loaded.

  “You’re an asshole,” I said, slamming the bedroom door.

  Janice was standing in the living room. I was glad that Emily was still outside with her granddad. I didn’t think I could put on a happy face. Surprisingly, Janice reached out and took my hand just as Blake was walking out after me.

  “Okay, you two. Let’s not make any rash decisions.”

  “The only rash decision I’ve made in the past five years was allowing myself to feel this way for her, and I regret it already. I’m sorry for what I said, Maddie, but you need to go. I can’t have you around my daughter. You aren’t the kind of example I want to set for her.”

  That hurt.

  “You don’t even know what you’re talking about!” The tears began to flow again. Angry tears this time. “You’re just like eve
ryone else!” I stormed off toward the front door, but there was a knock from the outside. The sound prompted me to step back.

  Sensible Janice stepped forward and opened the door. She actually swooned. I thought she would faint.

  “Jackson?” I said, stepping to the door. “How did you find me?”

  “I didn’t”—he spoke hurriedly—“Mick Lennox did. I have someone following him because of the whole tape rumor, but he’s been following you. He’s setting you up, Rox. He’s at that little diner down the road, right now. He’s waiting on Logan. I’m glad I got here first.”

  “Logan? Logan is in New York.”

  “No, Roxy. Logan is on his way to this house right now.”

  “I don’t understand,” I told him. He wasn’t making any sense.

  “Mick called Logan and flew him down here yesterday. He knows he messed up with that ‘home wrecking’ story about Trase Williams. That Bo guy admitted that he’d made it up to get back at you for firing him. Have you really not been keeping up with this?” he asked. “Anyway, you know that Mick Lennox doesn’t like to be associated with the lowly gossip columnists. He wants a real story. So he flew Logan down here to confront you and your, ah…” He paused looking around me at Blake. “I guess he wants to see a big confrontation between Logan and your new boyfriend. You know Logan is going to ‘put on the Ritz’ for the press.”

  “Shit,” I mumbled, thinking of the little girl out back.

  “Come on, Rox, we have to get you out of here before he arrives. You can come stay with Katie and me for a few days.”

  I glanced back at Blake, overwhelmed with sadness at what had happened between us.

  “Maddie,” he called, taking two long strides to the doorway. I guess he’d overheard. Maybe Jackson Jacob’s word was better than mine. Either way, whoever said that words didn’t hurt was a liar, because Blake’s words had cut deep.

  “I have to go,” I told him.

  As soon as Jackson and I walked out, Logan Mason and Mick Lennox were walking up the front walkway accompanied by a cameraman hoisting a video camera up onto his shoulder.

  “Hey,” Blake called out. “This is private property.”

  Logan ignored him. He looked surprised to see Jackson. “Jax, man! Long time, no see.”

  “Not long enough. Get the fuck out of my face, you lowly piece of trash,” Jax told him.

  “Or what?” Logan taunted. “You want to punch me, don’t you? Do it,” he whispered. “I could get a big settlement out of Oscar-winning actor Jackson Jacobs.” I coached Jackson to stay calm as his fists tensed at his sides. “How’s that sweet wife of yours? Katie, is it?”

  “Jax, come on,” I said, positioning myself between them.

  Meanwhile, Lennox was walking backward talking into the camera. He was talking about the tape and something about a love triangle between Logan, Blake and me.

  I put my head down and started to walk toward the car, but Logan grabbed me.

  “Let go, Logan,” I snarled.

  “Baby, please!” he feigned. “I forgive you for everything. I forgive you for screwing around with soldier boy. Just come home.”

  “Let her go,” Jackson warned.

  “Or what?” Logan taunted.

  The next thing I knew, Logan came off his feet and landed on his back hard. Blake had come out of nowhere and hit him so hard that I actually saw a veneer fly out of Logan’s mouth. Janice pulled Blake back inside as Jackson ushered me to his car. I tossed the keys to my car on the hood, grabbed my bag, and left with Jax.

  Mick Lennox had chased us to the car on foot. He begged for an exclusive interview. Jackson was so smart. He recorded the whole thing with a voice recording application on his phone. He got it all. It was enough to take Lennox down for good. He’d promised to spin the press back my way in exchange for the interview. His career would be over when Jackson released the recording. He even admitted to paying Logan to come down here. Real journalists didn’t do that.

  Even though we’d never met, Katie hugged me when I walked into her home with her husband. She was so kind. And ecstatic. I wasn’t expecting her to be so happy about taking down Lennox. Apparently, he’d given them trouble as well.

  Jackson’s kids overwhelmed me. They wanted to play. I tried, I really did, but I think Jax and Katie could see that I was exhausted. They showed me to their guesthouse, where I called my brother, Max, to give him an update before crawling into bed.

  Chapter 16

  I cried myself to sleep over everything that had happened. I knew I had blown it with Blake, but he’d blown it with me too. The whole thing was a beautiful disaster.

  Katie and Jackson’s place was secluded and gated. No one could get in here. I felt safe but very, very alone. I didn’t take any calls from anyone for two days.

  When I got up on the third day, I knew I had to get over it and move on. I had a concert to prepare for in Nashville. Lovers broke up, and life went on.

  But Blake has been more than a lover…

  Regardless, I couldn’t stay here forever. Katie was so sweet, and their place was so nice I considered asking if I could buy a piece of land out here on their private lake, but I knew it was their thing. I had to find my own thing.

  I’d been binge-watching Netflix for days, so I turned on regular TV in attempts to prepare myself for the shitstorm that waited outside the gates of Jackson’s hideaway. I flipped through the channels to find the celebrity gossip network. Surprisingly enough, it wasn’t my face on the television I saw. It was Blake’s. He was being hauled off by military police. I immediately picked up the phone and called Jackson.

  “Relax, Rox, I’m on it.”

  “He got arrested?” I squealed.

  “Logan is pressing assault charges. He’s just trying to play us for money and limelight.”

  “He can have it! Jax, I can’t do this anymore. Find out what Logan wants. I will give it to him.”

  “It doesn’t work that way, Roxy. You can’t give him what he wants. He wants his career back. He wants fame. He wants happiness, but he won’t find it because people like Logan can never have enough to make themselves happy. Things don’t make people happy, and until he realizes that, he will be miserable. And as long as you give him any attention, he’s going to keep gunning for you.”

  “I don’t care! I can’t just leave Blake in some military jail! What if that were Katie?”

  “I told you; I’m working on it. I will call you as soon as I hear something. Sit tight, Roxy.”

  “Okay,” I told him, but I had no intention of doing any such thing. I snuck around the property and out the gates. I walked two miles to the nearest service station and called a cab. The cab company laughed. They said they didn’t serve this area, but when I offered them extra cash, they were suddenly available.

  While I waited an hour for them to arrive, I was making calls, trying to find Blake. Trase was already on the case. He had a military background, so as soon as he heard that Logan had pressed charges, he’d started looking for Blake. The trouble was, military jail wasn’t the same as regular jail. One couldn’t just go bail someone out.

  That meant I was back to square one. I had to convince Logan to drop the charges. As I stepped into the cab, I knew what had to be done, but first, I had to see Blake. He was still being held in Birmingham while the charges were being evaluated by his commanding officer. I knew he was just on a brief leave and he would be in big trouble for this.

  The cab ride over to the jail was nerve wracking. I had to apologize to Blake. I wondered if he would apologize too, or if he would still be angry about all of it.

  When I got to the jail, it was outside of visiting hours. I signed eighteen autographs and took seven photos before they led me to a small room where I waited for the man who had captured and broken my heart within a matter of days. It didn’t matter, though. If not for me, he wouldn’t be in this position.

  I was willing to cancel my concert and do what it took to make things right for h
im. I’d already called Ashley, my manager, while I was in the cab and told her to push the concert or cancel it. I didn’t care. She had a fit.

  I stood up as soon as Blake walked in. I wanted to run into his arms, but I didn’t.

  “What are you doing here, Maddie?”

  “I had to see you. Blake, I’m so sorry!”

  “Sorry for what? You didn’t do this. I did this.”

  “You wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for me.”

  “I made choices. Now I have to own them.”

  “Yeah, that sounds noble and all, but it’s bullshit. I’m not going to let you get in trouble for something that isn’t your fault. I’m going to fix it.”

  “Fix it how?”

  I stepped closer to him, touching his hand. I looked up into those sea-green eyes. “Just trust me.”

  “If you have to do anything for Logan Mason to fix it, then don’t. I don’t want him to ever lay his hands on you again, unless it’s your choice.” He stood there for a moment in silence. I stared at my feet. “Listen,” he said, “I know I jumped to conclusions. I know you didn’t do what they said. I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay,” I told him, hope rising within me.

  “No, it isn’t. I don’t know what I was thinking carrying on the way I did. Then I lost my temper and knocked that guy’s teeth out… Did you know that my daughter saw that?” I felt tears prickle at my already sore eyes. “I’m going to go back overseas to finish up my tour. You go start yours. It was crazy to think we could be together. We were doing fine before we met. We’ll be fine without each other again.”

  “Who are you trying to convince?”

  “Bye, Maddie,” he said, banging on the door. The guard let him out then escorted me out of the building.

  I wanted to call Logan and cut a deal so that Blake could walk out of there with me right away, but I didn’t. I didn’t think I had any more deals in me at the moment. I thought if I saw Logan, I would surely kill his ass. So instead of trying to force what I wanted, which was what had started all of this to begin with, I just didn’t. The charges against Blake were minor. He would go back and finish his tour like he said. There was no permanent damage done. Not to him anyway. My reputation was trashed, but Jackson Jacobs had a remedy for that.