by Gemma Brooks
He tossed his head back as he savored the tiny sensations before ushering me back to his bedroom. We took our time disrobing, leaving a trail of clothing and undergarments down the hallway. By the time we arrived in his master suite, we were naked as the day we came and unable to keep our hands off each other. In the midst of all the chaos, it felt good knowing our passion was still as crazy as ever.
His warm, ripped body against my soft delicate skin was the best remedy for my busy mind. When we touched, the world around us stopped.
Hudson hoisted me up, and I wrapped my legs around his hips. He pressed me up against the wall as a hungry look overcame his face. It wasn’t going to be a tender little romp in the sack. He wanted to fuck me hard, and I wanted him to fuck me hard. I needed him inside me, deep inside me.
With one hand wrapped around my lower back and the other massaging my right breast, I clenched my legs around his hips and kissed his amazing mouth. I loved the way he tasted, and I loved the way he looked at me. When he touched me like that, I had no idea how I could ever doubt his intentions. There was no way anyone else could have what we had. I refused to believe it.
After a few seconds, he reached his hand down and positioned his throbbing cock at my entrance, pressing himself inside me with reckless abandon.
“Ah,” I sighed as it went in. It was just what I needed.
With my back pressed firmly against the wall and his hands at my hips, Hudson began thrusting his powerful hips back and forth. It wasn’t too fast or too slow, but it was just right.
Occasionally he’d trace the outline of my jaw with his finger before slipping a finger tip inside my mouth. I’d suck his finger tip for a bit before leaning forward and nibbling on his ear and digging my finger nails into the smooth skin of his back. He loved the mix of pleasure and pain. Every scratch and every nibble would always manage to elicit some kind of moan or groan from his gorgeous mouth.
The pressure of his pulsing cock against my swollen clit told me only one thing was just around the corner. I didn’t want to fight it. I wanted it to take over my entire being. I needed to ride the waves of pleasure. I needed the release.
He whispered into my ear. “Just let go.”
I never understood how he always seemed to read my mind, but I wasn’t about to try to figure it out. We were so in tune. That was all that mattered. And just as he instructed, I let go. I let the pulsing and the writhing and the pleasure wash over me as I clung for dear life onto his sweaty shoulders.
By the time we were both done, we were stuck together, melded into one. My hair was stuck to my face, and I pushed it back so I could get a good look at him. His lips twisted into an accomplished smile, and I knew we were headed back on track.
“Shower?” I offered.
He nodded, breathless, and followed me towards the bathroom.
CHAPTER 4
“Okay, I’m leaving,” Hudson said Wednesday morning as he kissed me and then jetted out the door for a meeting. “Can’t wait to see you tonight.”
Hudson had spent most of the week out and about, leaving me at home to come up with creative ways to fill my time. It was Wednesday. It was too soon to ask Alec to hang out again. I didn’t want him thinking was too lonely and pathetic.
Hudson was on another media blitz tour; something about reviving his career and doing some early promotional work for Heavenly Love 2. He’d mentioned a few local interviews for some entertainment shows, and I’d heard his radio interview that morning, but that was about all I knew. Again, I hated prying even though I was secretly his number one fan.
In a fit of mid-morning boredom, I switched on the TV and tuned it to a local entertainment channel. I wanted to see him in action. It admittedly turned me on to see this movie God on TV, the one who was crazy about me, the one I’d never thought I’d be with in a million years, do his thing. I could remember fantasizing about what it would be like to be with him, and somehow the stars aligned and my insanely unrealistic fantasy became a reality.
By some stroke of luck on my end, Hudson’s interview was just starting. He was sitting across from a teeny, tiny, tan and blonde anchor who seemed overly flirty and a little too excited to be in his presence. I immediately felt a small twinge of jealousy and then stuffed it deep down where I’d never find it again.
He’s with me, he’s with me, I chanted to myself. Calm down.
“So, Hudson,” the anchor said. “Everyone has been talking about the upcoming release of Heavenly Love 2, the sequel to the hit romantic comedy, Heavenly Love, which started you alongside the beautiful Miss Ava Fox.”
“Yes,” Hudson said as he clasped his hands in his lap and flashed his megawatt smile.
“So tell me what it was like filming this sequel,” she said. “I mean, people thought it was going to happen and then it was called off and then it was called back on.”
“We certainly had a lot of hoops to jump through. A lot of red tape,” he answered. “Sometimes these projects just have so many people involved and they don’t all see eye to eye. It takes a little time for them to come together, but we made it happen and the movie is coming out at the end of next month. We can’t wait.”
“Now, everyone knows that for a few years there, you and Ava Fox were the big ticket Hollywood couple,” the anchor said. “And then you broke up last year. We were all so sad.”
The anchor seemed so fake. I wanted to punch her, but I knew she was just doing her job.
“It seems like every move you’ve made the last few years was chronicled in the tabloids,” she continued. “Including your breakup with Ava.”
“Yeah,” Hudson said, maintaining that smile of his.
He’s just being professional, I reminded myself.
“Tell me what it was like working on set with her,” the anchor asked. “Was it awkward? Were there any lingering feelings? Any chance of a reconciliation?”
I could see in Hudson’s eyes that he hated the question, but he had to answer it. She’d put him on the spot. That bitch. And an ounce of research would’ve told her he had moved on with someone else. Lazy journalism, that’s what I called it.
“You know, Ava and I are still in touch,” he said. “We ended the relationship last year and we’re still very good friends. She was a big part of my life, and it was fun working with her, so yeah, we’re still friends. That’s that.”
I couldn’t watch another minute of his interview. He had just lied. I knew he had to be all political and professional, but it still stung to hear him say they were still a part of each other’s lives and he had fun working with her. A tiny part of me wondered who was being lied to…the anchor or me.
Don’t go there, I reminded myself. Don’t go to that place. You’re just going to get all worked up over nothing and he’s going to pick up on it and you’ll have another fight. Don’t do it.
“Brynn?” It was Hudson. He hadn’t been gone but five or ten minutes and he was already home. I didn’t even hear him come in.
“What are you doing back so soon?” I asked as I spun around, startled. “Shit, you scared me.”
“I left my phone…” he said. I could see by the look on his face that he knew I’d watched his interview. “I saw what you were watching.”
He sighed. He was so annoyed at me, I could tell.
“I like watching you in action,” I said as I tried to plaster a fake smile across my face. I didn’t want to start another fight, even if I was secretly ticked.
Hudson shook his head. He knew me too well. He knew exactly what I was doing.
“I don’t have time for this right now,” he said. “I’m running late.”
With that, he turned and left through the garage door.
CHAPTER 5
I hated that Hudson walked out like that. I hated that he caught me watching his interview red-handed. I just wanted things to go back the way they were. I wanted to rewind to just before he left when he kissed me goodbye and said he couldn’t wait to see me later that night.
/> I never would’ve flipped on the T.V. Well, I probably would have but I would have skipped right past his interview. Okay, maybe I wouldn’t have done that, but I would’ve kept more of an open mind. I should’ve been proud of him for just doing his job and staying professional. Had he told the interviewer the truth about things between he and Ava and how tense they were, it would’ve thrust him back into the spotlight. It would’ve thrust all of us back into the spotlight.
I’d been a little less pursued lately by the paparazzi. Ever since they found out who I was, posted a few salacious and embarrassing photographs, then realized I was a boring girl from the Midwest, things died down a bit. I didn’t want to go back to that, and Hudson was probably just protecting us by downplaying Ava’s psychotic antics and saying they were still friends.
I decided then and there that I wasn’t going to bring it up to him. He was a good man. A kind man. He had a huge heart. He didn’t owe me an explanation. He didn’t owe me anything. He’d already taken me under his wing and showed me a world beyond anything I’d ever imagined. He put my mother in treatment for crying out loud. Hudson was a good, good man. I needed to do nothing except love him.
With that revelation, I decided to do something special for him that evening. He was always doing special things for me. I never returned the favor. What do you do for a man who has the entire world on speed dial? He could have anything he wanted with the click of a button.
“Flor,” I called out from the sofa.
“Yes, Miss Brynn,” she said as she came from a hall bath, rubber gloves still covering her small but sturdy hands.
“I think I’m going to make dinner tonight for me and Hudson,” I said. “You can leave early today if you want.”
She studied me for a while before flashing a reserved smile and thanking me in Spanish. I could never tell what she was thinking, and I still wasn’t sure she even liked me.
The morning faded into afternoon, and as the sun began to set in the sky, I had still not heard from Hudson. I knew he was going to be in meetings all day, but I never asked when he’d be back. I just assumed he wouldn’t be gone all day.
I prepped the roast chicken in the kitchen, squeezing fresh lemon juice on it and covering it with sprigs of rosemary and thyme. I peeled potatoes and whipped them up with a little bit of sour cream, salt and pepper. I steamed some carrots with honey and salt. And lastly, I baked a frozen apple pie. I couldn’t do everything from scratch. I was only human.
The table was set and the candles were glowing soft and luminous. Six o’clock turned into seven and then eventually eight. I sent him a text message asking if he’d be home soon, but it went unanswered.
By nine thirty, I’d grown tired of waiting. I wrapped up the food, blew out the candles, and went to bed. It was so unlike Hudson to ignore me. In the month’s we’d been together, he’d never been out this late before with no explanation. I laid in bed, but I couldn’t sleep. I did nothing but toss and turn.
I couldn’t help but wonder if he was purposely avoiding me and making me worry since I’d upset him earlier. It took everything I had not to jump the gun and assume I’d sent him fleeing straight back into the lithe, skinny arms of Ava Fox.
I closed my eyes and counted to one hundred. I flipped to my stomach. I turned on my side. I read a few pages of a novel. I watched an episode of some reality show rerun. Nothing was working. My brain wouldn’t shut off.
By midnight, I forced myself to shut off the T.V. and relax. By one, Hudson came crawling in the door. Tiptoeing really. I pretended to sleep, eyes shut tight, as I heard him undress and felt him climb under the covers.
Normally when we slept, we spooned. He stayed on his side of the bed, not inching any closer than he had to. I felt him roll to his side, opposite me, and within seconds, his light breathing told me he was out cold.
CHAPTER 6
I’d just poured myself a bowl of cold cereal when my phone dinged. It was a text from Alec.
HAVE YOU HEARD?
That’s all it said and it was enough to make my stomach drop. I hastily typed back “no” as fast as my fingers would let me. What was he talking about?
“Alec, what are you talking about?” I had to call him. He was taking too long to reply.
“You didn’t hear it from me,” he prefaced it. I suddenly felt nauseous and pushed away my bowl of cereal.
“What?” I asked, voice full of dread.
“According to Gossipstalker.com, Ava Fox was committed to a mental health institute yesterday. Last night actually,” he said.
“Really,” I said, though I wasn’t asking. I knew it had to be true, and I knew that had to have explained where Hudson was and why he didn’t contact me.
“Why do you say it like that?” Alec said, totally catching my tone.
“I’ll tell you another time,” I said. “I have to go.”
Hudson came shuffling down the hall the moment I hung up. He walked right past me and opened the door to the refrigerator.
“Where were you last night?” I asked as our backs were towards each other.
He didn’t answer until I spun around in my chair to look at him. He seemed tired, exhausted really.
He poured himself a glass of orange juice before coming over and sitting next to me. I could tell this conversation wasn’t going to be pretty.
“I was with Ava last night,” he said. He lacked any kind of emotion. “She was threatening to harm herself yesterday. I was the only person she asked for. I had to go. I didn’t have a choice.”
“Oh,” I said. “A phone call or a text would’ve been nice.”
“Believe me,” he said as he looked me straight in the eyes. “I wanted to.”
“You couldn’t send a quick text on your way to be with her?” I asked.
“It all happened so fast,” he said. “I didn’t have time to think. I just had to act. I had to get there before she did anything rash. She was making all kinds of threats, and she told me she’d swallowed a bottle of pills. I was on the phone with the National Mental Health Crisis center getting tips on what to say to talk her down.”
He seemed stressed as he relived the previous nights’ events. As Hudson ran his fingers through his hair, my anger began to dissolve and turn into sympathy. Ava was a human, just like anyone else.
He was a good man, I reminded myself. He was only doing the right thing.
“She wouldn’t let me contact you,” he said. “The entire thing was just a power play with her. She loves having control over me and she knows my weak points.”
“But don’t you think you kind of allow it?” I said. “You allow her to manipulate her.”
“Maybe,” he said as he shook his head a little. “I don’t know. I just thought I was doing the right thing. She was in hysterics. She texted me a picture of the empty pill bottle.”
“Hudson,” I said flatly. “She’s an actress.”
He breathed in through flared nostrils. “I know that, Brynn.”
“So where did you leave things?” I asked. “Are you going to see her again? Did she con you into some sort of visitation arrangement?”
“Psh,” he said. “I finally called mobile crisis. She was taken by ambulance to a local hospital.”
“Sounds like that’s exactly where she belongs,” I said. The entire thing was sad really. She was so desperate to have Hudson back in her life that she was going to extreme measures now.
“Hey, now,” he said. “That’s a little harsh.”
“You’re too nice for your own good,” I said to him. “I need to know, are you going to see her again?”
“I don’t know,” he said. At least he was being honest, but his words stung. “Brynn, you know I love you and only you.”
I said nothing.
“You know that, right?” he reiterated. He reached over and placed his hand on top of mine, then brought it up to his lips and kissed it. “Let’s stop with the nonsense.”
“Okay,” I relented.
; “I think it’s going to be in the best interest of everyone involved if we can smooth things over with Ava,” he explained. “She’s having a hard time believing it’s really over between us, and I think the fact that I’ve fallen for a sweet, Midwestern girl who’s the complete opposite of her just drives her crazy.”
“Really?” I said, trying to hide the smile that was working its way across my lips. How could Ava Fox be jealous of little old me? I was a nobody.
“Oh, yeah,” he said. “She’s super jealous of you. Of us. She doesn’t understand why I’m not still pining for her.”