by Twyla Turner
AWE-STRUCK
Published by Twyla Turner at Smashwords
Copyright © 2014 Twyla Turner
Cover illustration by Suzy Almblade
Copyright © 2014 Twyla Turner
https://www.suzyalmblade.com
To all of my friends and family who loved Sunny and Gabe and wanted their story to continue. The love and support I have gotten is appreciated beyond words.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Smashwords License Statement
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Table of Contents:
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Epilogue
Acknowledgements
About Twyla Turner
Other books by Twyla Turner
Connect with Twyla Turner
Prologue
I couldn’t have planned that better if I tried. Josiah thought as he watched the news coverage of Sunny Stone getting hit by a pickup truck, and actor Gabriel Wolf kneeling dejectedly over her prone body.
“They both are getting exactly what they fucking deserve. I hope the black bitch dies.” He said to himself scornfully.
The day that Gabe and Sunny had been loudly banging each other’s brains out in Gabe’s movie set trailer, Josiah had hidden behind the trailer and gleefully recorded the whole incident. He knew that when the time was right he could use the recording against them. And after they ruined his life, making it near impossible for him to get an acting gig outside of commercials, he was willing to go to any lengths to destroy them.
After the premiere of Gabe’s movie, where he had introduced Sunny as his new girlfriend, all sugary sweet together, making him sick; Josiah knew it was the perfect time to crush the couple. So he edited out Gabe passionately shouting Sunny’s name and sold the audio sex-tape to the highest bidder. And he knew it wouldn’t hurt to throw out a possible name of who the mystery girl on the tape could be. He’d chosen Sophia Morales, Gabe’s co-star in his last movie, who Josiah knew Gabe had fucked.
The results had been instantaneous. The media blew up with the sex-tape and Gabe’s supposed infidelity. And that was what had caused the paparazzi to mob Sunny and send her into the street in front of the truck. The press still wasn’t sure what her current condition was.
“If she doesn’t die, I’ll personally go to the hospital to choke the life outta the cock-tease myself.” Josiah said to the T.V., a sinister smile crossing his face.
Chapter 1
Gabe woke up Saturday morning, six days after Sunny’s accident, with the same searing pain in his chest that had dogged him for the past few days since Sunny had broken it off with him in the hospital. It was the worst pain that he’d ever experienced. It felt as if his heart had been sliced in half and then ripped out of his chest. Oh yeah, that’s because it was.
He rubbed his bare chest, where his heart pounded painfully. The back of his eyes burned from unshed tears that he refused to cry again. He had been holding them at bay since he’d left the hospital that heartbreaking morning. A perpetual lump was in his throat.
Kyle, his director on Redemption, the current movie he was in the middle of filming, told him to take a few days off. Gabe couldn’t have been more grateful. He knew that there was no way in hell that he could even concentrate on working, let alone pulling a decent performance out of his ass. His thoughts were constantly on Sunny.
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t stay away from her either. He had snuck into the hospital several times in the last couple of days. He told himself that he just needed to check with the nurses to make sure she was doing alright. But once he was there, if she was asleep, he’d go into her room and would secretly kiss her forehead and leave her flowers to brighten her dreary hospital room.
“Fuck this! If she thinks that she can walk away from me or that I could walk away from her so easily, she’s got another fucking thing coming.” He growled with conviction to the empty bedroom.
She was the love of his life. No one had ever gotten under his skin the way she did. She saw to the heart of him. Made him want to be a better man. He knew it was cliché, but it didn’t make it any less true. And he’d do anything for her. Even force her to see how wrong she was about being better off apart.
Gabe knew that he was the only one that could truly protect Sunny from the media. Yes, he was the one that had gotten her mixed up in this mess in the first place. But now that it was already done, he was the only one that could keep her safe. He had even gone so far as to hire bodyguards to stand outside of her hospital room, after he’d learned from the nurses on her floor that some of the paparazzi where trying to sneak in to take pictures of Sunny in her hospital bed. I’m sure she loved that…the paparazzi and the bodyguards. Just more reasons for her to believe we aren’t good for each other.
Just then his phone rang, dragging him out of his musings. He reached over to his nightstand to grab his cellphone. His heart started hammering when he saw it was Sunny’s best friend Alyssa.
“Hello.” He answered anxiously.
“Hey, Gabe. How are you?” Alyssa asked.
“Shitty. What’s going on?” Gabe cut right to the chase, not wanting to waste time on pleasantries, when he knew Alyssa had to be calling for a reason.
“So I know that Sunny broke it off with you. But she needs you. She needs your help. And I know she’ll never ask you. I also know that she still loves you, because she is absolutely miserable. So even though she’ll probably be pissed that I’m telling you, I’ll know she’ll get over it and thank me later.” Alyssa babbled nervously.
“What is it Alyssa? What does she need? I’ll help her with anything.” Gabe said getting impatient and sitting up straighter in bed.
“Well everything seems to be falling apart for her at once. First, with the accident and then with her bright idea to end it with you-“
“I don’t need a play-by-play of the worst twenty-four hours of my life Alyssa. Just say what’s wrong.” Gabe interrupted, getting more and more aggravated.
“Okay, sorry. Well, first she tried calling to get her job back and they said that her personal life was getting in the way of her performance, but since she’s still scheduled to work this week they said they’d pay her for her sick days, but that’s it. And then she called the management of our apartment building to ask if she could rescind her 30-day notice and stay in her studio. But they told her that because of all the drama and the other tenants’ complaints about the paparazzi camping out front, that she still had to be out of the apartment by the end of the month. And that’s in a couple of weeks. And it’s not like she is in any condition to move anywhere right now. Hell, she hasn’t even been released from the hospital yet!” Alyssa explained quickly, practically in one breath.
Gabe’s jaw flexed as he clenched his teeth together in fury. “Don’t worry about it Alyssa, I’ve got this. As soon as I get off the phone wit
h you, I’m calling movers to come get her things. She’ll be moved in here, at my place before the end of the day. Are you working today, because I’ll need your help to let the movers in?”
“I don’t go in to the bar until evening. Hell, I’ll go in late if I have to. Anything to help Sunny, she’s a wreck right now.” Alyssa said sadly.
Gabe’s heart bled for the suffering that Sunny was going through. But he knew that a lot of it was self-inflicted. She knew all she had to do was talk to him, let him back in, and all of this superficial shit would be over immediately. Though her physical pain from the accident was a tougher problem, if it was in his power, he’d make sure she was as comfortable as he could.
“Don’t worry Alyssa, she’ll be fine. I’ll make sure of it. Don’t tell her anything about the move. I don’t want her finding a way to get out of it. She’s being so stubborn about us.” Gabe grumbled in frustration.
“I know Gabe. I’m sorry. This must be killing you too. I can tell how much you care for her. But she loves you too much to let this carry on for much longer. If you do this…move her in with you, she’ll come around.” Alyssa consoled him.
Gabe ran a hand through his dark messy waves nervously. He could only hope that Alyssa was right. “Okay, I’m going to call the movers now. I’ll text you to let you know when they’ll be there. And then I’m going to the hospital to see when they’ll be releasing Sunny, so I can bring her home.”
~~~
“What do you mean she’s gone?!” Gabe yelled at the nurse, as he stood in the doorway of Sunny’s now empty hospital room.
“We released her, a couple of hours ago. And her parents came and took her home.” The nurse answered apprehensively at the murderous look Gabe was giving her.
“Took her home where? Here in Long Beach or to New Mexico?” Gabe growled, trying to keep his composure.
“I don’t know sir. They didn’t say.” The nurse backed away a few steps. As Gabe focused on grabbing his phone out of his jeans’ pocket, she ran off to escape his wrath.
Gabe called up Alyssa’s number on his cell. “Alyssa, what the fuck happened?! Sunny is gone, the nurse said her parents picked her up!” Gabe shouted into the phone.
“Gabe, I just got the call from Sunny right before you called me. She said she’s going to New Mexico with them for a little while to recuperate, and that it would be best to do it away from the media circus.” Alyssa explained.
“Fuck! I can read between the lines Alyssa. I’m sure that also means she wants to put distance between us.”
“Well she can’t put distance between you for too long. She’d have to be back in two weeks, to be out of the apartment anyway, as far as she knows.” Alyssa reasoned.
“Oh, she won’t be there even that long. I guarantee it.” Gabe said with determination as he strode out of the hospital. “The movers are there, right?” He asked.
“Yeah. They’re almost done actually.”
“I’m on my way home now, to meet them when they get there. And then I have a last minute trip that just came up.”
Gabe ended the call with Alyssa, and instantly searched through his contacts to find the number for the private airport that housed his jet, to schedule a flight to New Mexico.
~~~
Sunny had fallen into a depression so deep, she didn’t see a way out. Things had already been spiraling out of her control before the accident. But now her life had crashed and burned. With the plan to move in with her new boyfriend, famous movie star Gabriel Wolf, and quit her job to focus on her screenwriting career; she had put her notices in to her apartment and retail job. And now that the relationship was over, she was now homeless and unemployed. Not to mention temporarily crippled.
But Sunny’s busted head, broken arm and ruptured stomach, as well as her lack of finances and roof over her head was nothing in comparison to the loss of Gabe.
She knew it was her own fault. She was the one to make the choice to end it. But what else could she do, the media attention had finally reached a breaking point for her. Nearly getting killed for loving someone just wasn’t normal in her world. It scared the hell out of her. So instead of continuing, she had ripped her own heart out. It’s probably for the best anyway. How anyone like him could truly love and care for me for any real length of time is unfathomable. Better to end it now, than to wait around for him to get tired of me.
She hadn’t seen him in five days, and figured he was probably already back to his old life. Dating supermodels and fellow actresses, and making the masses swoon with his dark good looks. The only indication that he was still thinking about her were the two burly bodyguards stationed at her hospital room door. She knew he must have hired them after some of the nurses caught some paparazzi trying to sneak pictures of her. She guessed it was the least he could do, since all this was happening because of him. God, I sound so bitter. He was the best thing that’s ever happened to me and I was the one that ended it.
A commotion at the door drew Sunny out of her melancholy thoughts.
“She’s our daughter! I think I should be able to see my own flesh and blood.” Sunny heard her mother Donna Stone arguing with the two goons guarding the door.
“Guys, they’re my parents. Please let them pass.” Sunny piped up to end the confrontation, before it got out of hand.
Her mother was polite as long as you didn’t cross her. And they were well on their way to crossing her line. Her mother stepped past the men scowling, with Sunny’s dad Sam trailing behind. As soon as her mother saw her, she gasped loudly.
“Oh my God, Sunny! My poor baby! What did they do to you?!” Donna rushed over to her left side to grab her uninjured arm.
“I’m okay mom. I’m sure it looks worse than it really is.” Sunny tried to calm her mother down.
“Honey, we talked to the nurse at the nurses’ station, and they let us know all of your injuries. Which are pretty extensive. So we know it’s much worse than you’re making it out to be.” Donna scolded her daughter.
“Mom, please. I’m just not up for this right now.” Sunny just wanted to sleep and forget everything.
“Well you’re just going to have to deal with it for right now, because I have some words for you young lady.” Sunny just cringed as her mother continued. “I told you that dating someone of Gabriel Wolf’s status would be a hard road. But you didn’t listen. And not only did you not listen; you threw all caution to the wind. And now there are pictures, videos and God knows what else out there of you two. No wonder the paparazzi were all over you. You put yourself out there, not like the lady that I raised.” Donna finally stopped when Sam quietly put his hand on her shoulder, letting her know that she should let up.
But it was too late; the tears were already streaming down Sunny’s face. “You don’t think I don’t know that all my business is out there. And that maybe it was my fault that it is. I did get carried away. But that’s because I love him mom! More than I could’ve ever thought possible. He’s treated me better than any man that’s ever come into my life. But don’t worry, after all this I freaked out and ended it with him. Ended the best thing that’s ever happened to me. All in the hopes of saving my sanity, but without him I feel like I’m going crazy. And now, not only do I not have him, but I don’t have a job or a place to live anymore. So I mean no disrespect, but forgive me if I don’t really care about how you think I made a mistake dating him.” Sunny’s tirade ended on a sob.
Sunny had never in her life talked back to her parents, not if she valued her life. But this was not the week to give her a hard time. Her life and body in shambles, she couldn’t even eat. And she loved food; obviously, she wasn’t a size fourteen for nothing.
Shocked by Sunny’s outburst, Donna backed off and let Sam take the lead. “Sweetie, what do you mean you have no job or place to live?” Her dad asked his voice full of concern.
Sunny tiredly explained the plans that she and Gabe had come up with before the accident, under the disapproving eye of her mother.
But Donna wisely kept quiet in a chair in the corner.
“Honey, you don’t have to worry about any of that right now. You just need to concentrate on getting better. And the best place for you to do that is at home with your mom and me. The nurse said that they’re releasing you today. So you’re coming with us to Santa Fe. You can stay for a week and then we can come back with the SUV and rent a truck to get your things. You can live with us for as long as it takes for you to get back on your feet.”
Sam was in full repair mode now. Taking charge of her life, but at the moment she was grateful. She couldn’t even think straight, let alone try to figure out how to get her life back together. Though living with her parents again at thirty-four wasn’t exactly ideal. But at this point she had no choice.
So after she was cleared to leave, and surprisingly finding out that all her medical expenses had been paid for by Gabe, Sunny left with her parents to pick up a few things at her apartment, which was surrounded by the media. From there, after fighting their way through the paparazzi, they immediately went to the airport; her parents taking her miles away from the chaos and the love of her life.
Chapter 2
Gabe’s private jet landed at the municipal airport in Santa Fe, New Mexico a little after sundown. Alyssa had gotten Sunny’s parents’ address from Sunny and texted it to Gabe. As soon as he disembarked from the plane; he rented a car, entered the address into the GPS and headed straight for Sunny. He wanted to waste no time getting her back where she belonged. In my arms.
A short while later, Gabe pulled into the driveway of a cute, but modest Adobe-style two-story home in an equally adorable middle class neighborhood. He hadn’t told Sunny he was coming for fear that she’d reject him, so with a shaking hand he opened the door and stepped out of the car. He headed for the front door, leaving his overnight bag in the car, because for all he knew he wasn’t welcome and would be thrown out on his ass in just a few moments.