Smitten

by Brooks, Gemma

  “You don’t think Hudson told her, do you?” I asked.

  “Who the hell knows,” Alec said. At least he was being honest and not just spewing words to make me feel better, though part of me wished he would.

  Our server came to take our order, and just as promised, Alec ordered his stack of pancakes. I ordered a simple egg-white omelet with turkey sausage. I’d gained a couple pounds while we were back in Iowa, and I could feel it in the tightness of my jeans. Hudson had already done so much for me. I didn’t want to have to ask him for a whole new wardrobe once again. Plus the weight gain only added to the insecurities that were suddenly plaguing me in the wake of Ava-gate.

  “Look,” Alec said as his face turned into a stern expression. “I’m going to be brutally honest with you because I like you. And I’m pretty sure we’re friends now.”

  I laughed. “Duh.”

  “I know you’re just this sweet, naïve, innocent little country girl trying to get her bearings in this crazy world we live in out here,” he said. “But you’ve got to toughen up. And you’ve got to realize that people talk. They say a lot of crap. They make up shit. They say whatever they think is going to get them what they want. It’s just that simple, Brynn.”

  “I know,” I said.

  “No, I don’t think you do,” he sassed. “I’m not saying Hudson is some magical, fairytale prince, but you’ve got to be a little less naïve when it comes to him. I’m not trying to say he’s cheating on you. I’m not trying to say he’s a liar. I love the man myself. God-willing someday he might just swing my way. But you’ve got to understand the kind of power and influence he has and what that does to a man’s ego.”

  Alec was beginning to worry me. I had no idea where he was going with his little lecture. By the sounds of his rambling, the champagne bubbles must’ve gotten to his head already.

  “Celebrities don’t become celebrities because they love acting,” Alec said. “I don’t care what anyone tells you. There are some people who can get to the top based on talent alone but most of them don’t. They work dirty. They manipulate. They lie. They have this insane beast living inside them that they have to feed and manage, and money, fame, and fortune is the only thing it wants. One whiff of losing that, and they get a little crazy.”

  “Alec, you’re not making any sense,” I said, utterly confused. “That doesn’t sound like Hudson at all.”

  “I know,” he sighed. “I should cool it on the mimosa, huh?”

  “Just speak plain English, will you?” I begged. I wanted to know what he was getting at, particularly if he was trying to say Hudson was a liar.

  Alec sighed once more. “Okay, so basically, Hudson is a great guy. And if you ever tell him I said any of this, I will murder you by the way. I’m just saying you’ve only been together, what, two or three months? You hardly know him. Just be careful. I’m not saying he’d cheat on you. I’m not saying he hooked up with Ava when he was on location. I’m just saying you don’t know the truth. Only Ava and Hudson know what happened when they were filming. You can choose to believe Hudson or you can choose to believe Ava. Just don’t be naïve. That’s all I’m saying.”

  “Okay,” I said. “That makes more sense.”

  Though it didn’t make it any easier to hear.

  “I just don’t want to see my little Miss Iowa getting hurt, mm-kay?” he said with a smile. In a rare, tender moment, he reached across the table and patted my hand. “It’s tough out here. This crazy lifestyle we live. It’s not normal. None of it. But that’s why we love it.”

  He swigged back the rest of his mimosa before motioning to our server for a second glass. He had apparently changed his mind about slowing down.

  “What would you do if you were me?” I asked him.

  Our food had been delivered by then, but I had lost my appetite. As my omelet grew colder, I grew more and more disgusted by it. I forced myself to choke down a couple bites as that place was pricey and I didn’t want to waste Hudson’s money, but it was all I could do to keep from throwing them up.

  “I don’t know, sweetie,” he said with sympathetic eyes as he ate his pancakes in the most elegant way I’d ever seen anyone eat pancakes before. True to his stylish stylist ways, he could make anything look sexy. “Follow your heart.”

  “That’s so cheesy,” I said.

  “I know,” he laughed as he chewed his food. “It may or may not work out with you and Hudson. There’s no guarantee. Why don’t you just take it one day at a time and go from there.”

  “I guess that’s my only option,” I said.

  “Sorry I don’t have better advice for you, sweetie,” he said. “Such is life.”

  We finished our brunch and I picked up the tab. It was my invite after all and Hudson had given me my own personal credit card to use for whatever I saw fit.

  “That was nice,” Alec said as he kiss-kissed my cheek outside the restaurant and we said our goodbyes. “Sorry you’re feeling so out of sorts. That would freak me out too to see that someone had broken in – famous or not. And the things she said, well she was just probably trying to get under your skin.”

  “How do you think she got in?” I asked him, realizing we’d never gotten to that.

  “Beats me,” he said with raised eyebrows. “Maybe she figured out the code to his gate? Do you think Flor let her in?”

  “No, Flor is like his loyal guard dog,” I said. “Plus she wasn’t home last night.”

  “Not home when you got home. Who knows if she was there before you got home,” Alec said.

  “I really don’t think Flor would’ve let her in,” I said. I couldn’t see that at all.

  “Maybe she climbed the neighbor’s fence?” Alec proposed. “We could sit here and rack our brains all day, but the fact of the matter is it’s hot as balls out here and my feet are cooking on this sidewalk.”

  Leave it to Alec to lighten the mood as always. He managed to get a small smile out of me but nothing more. It still bugged me not knowing how Ava got in. We hadn’t searched the perimeter for signs of a break in. Hudson didn’t even seem worried about it either. At least he didn’t talk to me about it if he was worried. Maybe he didn’t want to upset me by getting all upset himself? That seemed like the Hudson way of handling things.

  “Okay, I’m just going to drop it for now,” I said. “I’ll let Hudson figure it out I guess.”

  “Good girl,” Alec smiled as he rubbed my arm. “Okay, I’ve got an appointment in a little bit with a client. Text me if you need anything, okay?”

  I nodded as I climbed into the white Mercedes convertible Hudson had insisted I adopt. It was one of the many cars in his fleet, and he claimed he never drove it enough. He said it was a gift from a producer, part of a contract or something, and he didn’t even like it so it was practically mine.

  I was still a little uncomfortable leaving the nestled neighborhoods of Brentwood, but I was forcing myself to break out of my comfort zone and explore the city more. Plus the car had navigation. I was almost guaranteed not to get lost.

  I left my brunch with Alec not feeling any better or worse about the whole Ava-gate situation, but there was nothing I could do about it. Alec wasn’t a sugar-coater. He told things as they were. And he was right. I needed to toughen up.

  CHAPTER 20

  I returned to Hudson’s place only to find him pumping iron in his state-of-the-art home gym. He was deep into his workout session with his trainer, and I happily took a seat to watch them work.

  Hudson’s body was, quite simply put, a work of art. I had no idea how he maintained it the way he did. He seemed to eat healthy most of the time, but occasionally we’d splurge on desserts or cupcakes or share one too many bottles of wine. I chalked it up to a combination of hard work in the gym and good genetics. That had to be it.

  As I watched his tan, rippled muscles ebb and flow throughout his upper torso, I couldn’t help but forget about all the chaos that had just happened the past few days. I forgot about Luke and
Piper. I forgot about Ava. All I wanted to do was jump his bones and feel him inside me. I wanted him to lay on top of me and look at me the way he always did, the way that made me melt and forget about everything but us. I needed that closeness, that closeness that made everything else melt away in an instant.

  “Hey,” he said as he noticed me sitting there. “I didn’t even see you there.”

  “We can take five,” his trainer said as he noticed Hudson was distracted by my presence.

  “I just got here,” I said.

  “How was brunch with Alec?” he asked as he wiped the sweat off his brow with a fluffy, white towel.

  “Good,” I said. I didn’t want to elaborate beyond that. He didn’t need to know that he was the main subject of our conversation.

  “Restaurant okay and everything?” he asked.

  “Yep,” I said. “We should go sometime. Great omelets.”

  “Okay,” he said as he studied my face. He could tell I wasn’t being myself. “You alright, Brynn? You seem a little off.”

  I shrugged. “We really didn’t talk about what happened last night.”

  Hudson seemed slightly annoyed that I was bringing up Ava and the break in right then and there. I knew he was busy. I knew the trainer was on the clock. I knew he needed to focus on his workout. But he’d asked, so I’d answered.

  “Can we talk about this later?” he said as he motioned towards his trainer who was standing in the corner with his hands on his narrow hips, watching the clock on the wall tick by.

  “Of course,” I said as I stood up to leave the room.

  I could feel him watching me walk away. I hated the tension between us. I wasn’t a drama queen. I cringed at the thought of coming across that way to him.

  I waited out in the family room, lounged and spread out across the cushy sofa. I grabbed an interior design magazine off his coffee table and mindlessly paged through it as I waited for him to finish his session.

  “Hey,” he said as he walked into the room a good half hour later. A towel was draped around the back of his neck and his torso was now covered up with a tank top that showcased his enormous biceps.

  “Hey,” I said as I sat up and made room for him next to me. “Have a good work out?”

  “Of course,” he said.

  “What are you training for now? Anything special?” I asked.

  “I’m negotiating a contract right now for an action movie,” he said. “Well, my manager is. I’m just trying to look the part in order to help my case a little.”

  “Ah, I see,” I said as I stared at his glistening guns. Hudson rarely talked about work and I hated asking. I didn’t want to take myself out of the girlfriend category and put myself into the obsessed fan category quite yet, though I was certainly both.

  “So brunch with Alec was good?” he asked. Again. He was clearly making small talk to avoid talking about Ava-gate.

  “Yeah,” I said. “He provided the entertainment as always.”

  “We need to get you some more friends,” Hudson said.

  “I agree,” I said. “It gets kind of lonely here sometimes.”

  “Hm,” Hudson said as he scratched the stubble around his chin. “I’ll introduce you to some more people. Maybe you’ll click with someone?”

  “Sure,” I said. Ava’s name was on the tip of my tongue and I couldn’t keep my mouth shut anymore. “So, about Ava and what happened last night.”

  Hudson stared at me, not showing an ounce of any emotion about it. To him, maybe it was Ava being up to her typical antics, but for me it was scary and unsettling.

  “How do you think she got in?” I asked him. “Did you search the property for signs of a break in?”

  Hudson laughed at the idea. “She didn’t break in, Brynn.”

  “So how the hell did she get in? Did Flor let her in?” I asked.

  “Flor was off all weekend. You know that,” he said. “Besides, she wouldn’t.”

  “Okay, so how?” I asked. I knew he could hear the worry in my voice.

  “She probably guessed the code on the driveway gate,” he said. “That’s all I can think of.”

  “There are thousands of different combinations,” I said. “How the hell would she guess 4211?”

  He sighed and bit his lip, stalling a bit before answering. “It was our anniversary. Kind of. The anniversary of the release date of the first movie we ever starred in together.”

  “Seriously?” I asked. “And why haven’t you changed it? Especially knowing how crazy she is?”

  “I didn’t think I had to,” he said. “I didn’t think she’d ever do something like that.”

  “Change it,” I said with a demand in my voice I’d never heard before.

  “Okay, okay,” he said, taken aback at my tone. “It’ll be changed. I promise. I have to call the security company and they have to come out, but it’ll get changed.”

  “Have you contacted the rehab facility yet for my mom?” I asked, changing the subject to a more worthwhile one.

  “I did,” he said, happy to change the topic. “They have an opening this weekend. I’ve booked your mom plane tickets. She’ll fly in Friday and we’ll take her straight there. You just need to call her and tell her what’s going on.”

  “We’ll need to send someone to pick her up from her house,” I said as I bit my fingernails. “I’m so worried she’ll oversleep and miss her flight.”

  “Brynn,” he said as he placed his hand on mine. “Stop worrying. It’ll all be fine. You need to stop taking care of her. You’re twenty-three. You don’t need to be her keeper.”

  I knew he spoke from experience, but it still didn’t make it any easier to believe.

  He stood up, leaned down to kiss my forehead and began to walk off.

  “I’ve got to take a shower,” he said. “Flor’s making us dinner tonight so don’t go anywhere after six, okay?”

  “Okay,” I replied. Not like I had plans anyway, but it was cute that he thought I did.

  I watched his fine ass strut back to his room and half thought about jumping in the shower with him, but I changed my mind. I was still feeling bugged by the Ava thing and Hudson’s flippant attitude about it. He should’ve been more concerned about it than he was, and I didn’t understand it.

  I picked up my phone and called my mom. I needed to hear a familiar voice.

  “Hey, mom,” I said when she finally answered. She sounded a little groggy and out of it. “Did I wake you?”

  “No,” she said. “I was just laying here on the couch watchin’ T.V.”

  “Good news,” I said in a sing-song voice. “Hudson booked your stay at the treatment center. They’re taking you on Friday, which means you’re flying out here Friday!”

  “Oh, that’s wonderful, sweetie,” she said. I wasn’t certain, but if I had to guess she had been drinking a little that afternoon.

  I’d brought up the idea to her in a phone call previously and half expected her to hang up on me at the mere mention of rehab, but she was surprisingly receptive to the idea. She nearly broke down into tears when I told her what Hudson had offered to do for her, for us really.

  “Were you able to get the accommodations at work and everything?” I asked. “Did you turn your FMLA paperwork into HR?”

  There I was, being my mother’s keeper once again.

  “Yes, Brynn,” my mom sighed, half annoyed at me. “Sure did.”

  “Okay, so I’m going to text you your flight information,” I said. “Hudson’s going to arrange for a driver to pick you up at seven in the morning on Friday. Your flight doesn’t leave until eleven, but you’ve got a two hour drive to Des Moines. Pack as much as you can in your suitcase. Don’t worry about overage fees. We’ll take care of that. You might be staying for several months. There’s no way to know.”

  “Brynn,” my mom stopped me. “I’m a big girl. I can figure this out.”

  “I know,” I said, though I wished she’d act like it more often.

  “I
t’ll be good to see you, honey,” she cooed into the phone. I wanted nothing more than a big bear hug from my mom in that moment. A gush of warmth washed over me as I thought about seeing her in a few short days. Friday couldn’t come soon enough.

  ***

  I waited out by the pool, legs hanging over the edge, for Hudson to come outside for dinner. Flor was busy in the kitchen whipping up something that smelled completely and utterly amazing, and my stomach was beginning to grumble.

  As soon as I heard the sliding door behind me, I whipped around to see Hudson emerge with a big smile on his face. He’d been in and out all afternoon since his work out, running errands and going to meetings. We really hadn’t spoken since our little chat about Ava, but we were both anxious to get things back on track between us.

  I stood up and dusted the dirt off my thighs before taking a seat next to him.

  “Why are you so smiley?” I asked.

  “Just excited to finally see you again today,” he said. “I missed you.”

  “You saw me earlier,” I replied, staring him down from the corner of my eye. He was up to something. I could feel it.

  He sat a long, black box on the table between our place settings.

  “Here,” he said as he nudged it closer to me. “Open it.”

  I propped the lid open only to reveal a canary yellow diamond tennis bracelet.

  “Hudson,” I breathed. The diamonds were on fire under the early evening sun.

  “It matches your ring,” he said.

  “You didn’t have to do this,” I said as I clutched my hand over my heart. “Really. You didn’t.”

  “I did,” he said. “I wanted to do something special for you.”

  “Every day is something special for me,” I said. “This life. The way you take care of me. It’s more than I ever could have dreamed of for myself. This is just too much.”

  “Here, why don’t you put it on?” he said as he grabbed it from the box and dangled it above my wrist. The yellow diamonds played perfectly off my summer tan, and the bracelet felt heavy and cool against my warm skin.