Star-Struck, Book 1

by Twyla Turner

  Oh, this guy wasn’t just a flirt he was a bit of an inconsiderate douche too, Sunny thought reevaluating her first impression of him. Gabe’s voice went from gentle warmth to cold steel, “I’d watch your fucking mouth, if I were you Josiah.”

  “Aw man! I was just messing around. I just came to tell you that cameras roll in fifteen.” Josiah raised his hands up defensively.

  “Thanks. Now get out.” Gabe’s voice was deceptively soft. Like the louder someone is the more they’re trying to overcompensate for false bravado, but the deadly calm and quiet voice said ‘ass-whooping’ for anyone who crosses me. And Josiah recognized it for what it was, and slowly backed out of the trailer like he was afraid to turn his back on Gabe. Sunny hoped that he never used that voice on her. Yikes!

  “I’m so sorry Sunny.” Gabe finally lifted his weight and warmth off of her. Leaving her feeling chilled.

  “Don’t apologize for that asshole.” Sunny grumbled, still needing to know what Gabe had been about to say.

  “Well I better hurry up and get you back to your car, so you can get to work.” He held out his hand to her, to pull her up from the bed.

  “Thank you for bringing me here. It was so exciting and lunch was great!” Sunny stood on her tiptoes and kissed him softly on the lips.

  “No problem. I liked having you here.” He smiled down at her. “Now scoot and skedaddle, little lady!” He playfully swatted her on the butt, making her jump and run to the door, giggling.

  ~~~

  When Gabe got back to the set from dropping Sunny off, he walked straight towards Josiah. Josiah saw him coming and again raised his hands defensively.

  “Hey man, no harm no foul! I’d probably be pissed off too if someone came barging into my trailer when I had a hot plump little chocolate number like that under me.” Josiah laughed.

  The laugh quickly died, when Gabe grabbed him by the scruff of his collar and nearly lifted him off of his feet. Gabe wanted to smash his face in so badly, but knew that Kyle and the producers would have his ass if he messed up Josiah’s face.

  “I don’t ever want to see you fucking near her again. Don’t talk to her, don’t even fucking look at her. Do you hear me, you little shit?!” Gabe felt hands wrap around his arms and shoulders, and vaguely registered calming voices in his ear. Finally he let Josiah go.

  “Fuck dude! You’re gonna act like a pussy-whipped little bitch over that girl?!” Josiah straightened his shirt indignantly.

  It took nearly every male crew member they had to stop Gabe from killing him.

  “Josiah, go back to your trailer. Gabe, go walk it off. Now!” Kyle yelled at them both.

  Gabe stormed off, not even sure of what direction he was headed in. He walked a few blocks, and then started back. Once on set, he went straight to his trailer, not quite ready to see Josiah yet.

  He sat on the couch and put his head in his hands. He hadn’t been that violently angry since he was a kid. Then, it had been over his hurt from being abandoned and unwanted. Now, it was because he was fiercely protective over the only person he had ever let into his heart, the only person who seemed to want him…the real him.

  Josiah was harmless; he had just gotten under his skin. But what would happen when someone did want to cause her harm? He would lose his shit!

  A knock sounded on the door, “Gabe? It’s Kyle.”

  “Come in.” Gabe sighed.

  “Hey Gabe, you alright?” Kyle looked at him with concern.

  “Yeah, I’m good. Sorry man, I didn’t mean to lose my shit like that.”

  “It’s okay. I heard what Josiah said, he was being dick. And to be honest, it’s nice to see you so happy. I’ve known you for a while. And I’ve never seen you act like that with a woman, or anyone for that matter. I’m glad she found you.”

  “Yeah, she’s amazing. The best person I’ve ever met.” His heart warmed thinking about Sunny’s smile.

  Kyle stood up and patted Gabe on the arm. “Then I’d say you’d better keep her close. Don’t be an idiot and let her go. Hell, I’ll kick your ass if you do. I think she’s been the reason for your great performances lately. I can’t risk losing that.” He winked at him. “Plus, she seems like a sweet girl. Everyone on the set loved her.” He walked to the door, “Take a few more minutes and then get your ass out there and take your anger out on Josiah in your scene with him. I need that shit on camera.” He chuckled as he let himself out of the trailer.

  He quietly thought about what Kyle had said. He knew it was good advice, all of it. So with that; Gabe stood up, took a deep breath, cracked his neck, and then headed out the door.

  ~~~

  The rest of the week passed slowly for Sunny. Waiting for the much anticipated weekend, was like watching paint dry. And what made it worse was the fact that she was busy, working every day up until Saturday and Gabe’s schedule was even more hectic. They were filming sixteen hour days and Gabe had no time to get away. So they were relegated to phone and text conversations. But there was one thing that could keep Sunny busy for at least one evening…shopping.

  She wasn’t a huge fan of shopping, especially when money was always tight. But she had yet to spend any of the bonus she received last month from work. And now she actually had something to shop for. A weekend full of Gabriel Wolf seemed like as good a reason as any to shop. The main items on the itinerary were: a fun flirty dress for Saturday night and she needed something jaw-dropping for underneath.

  It was Thursday evening, so that only left her a day and a half to find something. So Sunny of course recruited the help of Alyssa, who naturally ended up with more bags than Sunny did. Sunny had already gotten everything that she needed. She had found the perfect cocktail dress that her pink wedge heels would match perfectly with. And she found a sexy bra and panty set with pink details like the dress.

  Sunny knew that this weekend was going to change everything in their relationship. Sex was a huge step, but also an inevitable one…a foregone conclusion. So she had to be ready for it. She wasn’t going to get caught in some crazy flower print ‘Granny Panties’.

  As they walked through the mall Sunny spotted Barnes & Noble her favorite bookstore. She could get lost in there for hours. And the wall o’ journals tempted her every time.

  “Hey Alyssa, I want to go into the Barnes & Noble really quick.”

  “Don’t you have their e-reader? Why would you need to go in?”

  “Yes, but there’s nothing like the smell of books and I just feel smarter being in there.” Sunny stuck out her tongue at her friend.

  “Fine. I wanted to check out some of the magazines anyway.”

  They went in separate directions, Sunny towards the romance section and Alyssa to the newsstand. She went to the romance section out of habit, but for the first time she felt uninterested. Maybe it was because for the first time in a long time she actually had a romance of her own.

  Sunny had only walked away from Alyssa a minute ago, but she heard footsteps running and Alyssa calling her name.

  “I’m over here Alyssa. What’s wrong?” Sunny tried not to yell too loud in the quiet store.

  Alyssa flew around the corner with a couple of magazines clutched in her hands. “Sunny you’ve got to see this!”

  Sunny’s little insulated bubble of happiness popped the minute she looked at the covers of each magazine. Her stomach dropped as she saw several grainy pictures of herself and Gabe in different degrees of intimacy; hugging, kissing and holding hands on their first date. One magazine topped the rest with three clear pictures of them on Monday on the set of his current movie. The first picture was when they were sitting at the picnic table and he was comparing her to Jessica Rabbit. The second was him kissing her cheek. And the third was of them coming out of his trailer.

  The headlines read: GABRIEL WOLF’S NEW MAIN SQUEEZE! WHO’S GABRIEL’S NEW LUCKY LADY? DOES GABRIEL WOLF HAVE A NEW LADY? And the one to top them all: GABRIEL ADMITS- ‘I LIKE BIG BUTTS AND I CANNOT LIE!’

  The
last one finally brought the tears to her eyes that had been clogged in her throat since Alyssa first showed her the crap tabloids. Ha! Really fucking funny! Her hands started to shake uncontrollably and the magazines tumbled to the floor.

  “Aw, Sunny don’t cry!” Alyssa sat her in a wooden chair and dug through her purse for a tissue.

  “I…kn…knew it…wa…was coming.” Sunny choked out. “I just…wa…wanted…it to la…last longer.”

  “Just calm down sweetie. I’m gonna go to the Starbuck’s and get you something to drink. Maybe you should call Gabe; he knows how to handle this stuff.”

  “I can’t talk to him li…like…this!” Sunny wailed.

  “Here, give me your phone. I’ll call him for you.” Alyssa grabbed her phone and walked off to the coffee shop. Sunny was too distraught to care.

  A few moments later Alyssa came back with a bottle of water and a cookie to cheer Sunny up and some tissue to wipe her face. Sunny took the water and tissue gratefully, but ignored the cookie. If she ate anything right now she would totally barf.

  “Okay, I’m gonna take you home now.” Alyssa looked at her with concern as Sunny sobbed quietly.

  They walked out of the building, a few people looking on curiously. If they only knew.

  ~~~

  They were wrapping up filming for the day and Gabe had just walked into his trailer to check if he had any messages from Sunny when his phone started ringing, her name appearing on the screen.

  “Hey, Sweet Girl.” Gabe smiled into the phone.

  “Gabe, its Alyssa!” Hearing her friend’s voice instead of Sunny’s instantly sent him into panic mode.

  “What’s wrong?!”

  “Well we’re at the bookstore and I saw all these tabloids with you and Sunny’s pictures on them. She saw them, freaked out and is now bawling her eyes out.” Alyssa blurted it all into the phone quickly.

  “Fuck! I knew this was gonna happen. Fuck…fuck…FUCK!” He pulled his phone away and screamed in his trailer.

  “I didn’t know what to do, so I called you. I figured you’d know how to handle this kind of stuff. But I don’t think she’s able to talk on the phone at the moment.”

  “Get her home now, I’ll meet you there.” Gabe hung up the phone before she could respond, grabbed his jacket and keys and ran out the door.

  He knew that he was probably closer to her apartment than she was. So there was no need for him to rush like a maniac, but he did anyway. He had to be there when she got there.

  He parked on the street, got out of his truck and started pacing in front of her building. He was sure that people would think he was a stalker if they saw him pacing, but he couldn’t help it. He also didn’t doubt that there was some douchebag paparazzi lying in wait to get the perfect photo op, and he only made it worse hanging around outside her building. But he needed to know that she was okay and make sure that she knew this didn’t change anything between them.

  A little silver car pulled up then and Sunny and Alyssa got out of the car. His gut squeezed at Sunny’s dejected face. Her eyes were swollen and red and her cheeks still wet from recently shed tears. And the moment she saw him standing there, her bottom lip started to tremble and the dam broke again. His heart broke at her tears and not being able to stand it anymore he ran to her and scooped her up into his arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck in a death grip and sobbed into his shoulder.

  “Can you get the door for me?” He asked looking back at Alyssa.

  “Yeah, sure.” Alyssa walked ahead of them to open the door.

  Gabe walked in, but had no idea which way to go. “Baby, I need you to tell me where to go.”

  “This fl…floor, apartment one-oh-four.” She pointed in the direction he needed to go.

  “Okay, Sweet Girl, we’re here. I’m gonna put you down to get your keys.” Gabe said after he stopped in front of her door.

  Once he put her down, she searched through her purse herself for her keys. But once she got them out, her hands shook too hard to get it in the lock. He gently took them from her and opened the door. She walked in and switched on the light, as he followed her.

  Her apartment was a tiny studio. It was minimal, but with small feminine touches here and there to make the space her own. There were flower stencils on the walls, candles in random spots and a string of little white lights that had little paper lanterns on each one.

  Sunny sat on a futon that must have doubled as her bed, since he didn’t see an actual bed anywhere. She had so little, but asked for nothing. He’d give her the world if she’d let him.

  “Sunny-“

  “I’m sorry Gabe.” Sunny interrupted him. “I know I’m overreacting to all of this. It just took me by surprise.”

  He came over to sit next to her and pulled her into his arms. “Sweetie, it’s okay. This isn’t something that you’re used to.”

  “But I knew! I knew it was coming. Anyone you date is going to make headlines. I just didn’t expect to feel so…so violated.” She pulled away from him and started to wring her hands together.

  “I know, baby. It will just take some getting used to.”

  “I don’t know Gabe. There were like four or five of those magazines. And most were harmless, but one was just mean. And it’s only going to get worse. I just don’t think I can do this.” Her voice broke at the end of the sentence.

  No no no no no! He grabbed Sunny’s shoulders and forced her to turn and look at him. “Sunny please don’t do this! You’ve come to mean so much to me in such a short amount of time. I can’t imagine you not in my life. Just come away with me for the weekend. And if you feel the same after, I’ll let you go.” He knew that was a lie but he had to convince her to spend more time with him.

  She didn’t say anything for a while.

  “Please, Sunny.” Gabe begged one more time.

  “Okay.” She said so softly he barely heard her.

  “Thank you.” He pulled her to him, raining kisses all over her face until she actually started giggling.

  The sound was like music to his ears.

  ~~~

  Gabe had stayed a little while longer last night, making sure that she was truly okay. And then with a tender goodbye kiss, he left to let her get some sleep. She had called Alyssa to let her know that she was doing okay. Alyssa had her bags of new clothes for the weekend and would hold them for her till she got off work tonight. Sunny was glad that she only had one more day to get through.

  As Sunny drove into work, she thought about how much her life was probably about to change. There was no doubt in her mind that she had fallen in love with Gabe. Especially after the thought of ending it with him practically brought her to her knees. And she wanted, needed him in her life. But the question was would she be strong enough to handle the scrutiny? Maybe she could just avoid the magazines in the checkout lines at the grocery store, the articles online and shows like TMZ and Extra. Little did she know; avoiding speculation was going to be harder than she realized.

  She walked into work and noticed that several of her co-workers were staring at her. Once she got to the break room, she realized why people were staring. On the tables were a few of the tabloids that she had seen last night. She quickly grabbed them and shoved them onto one of the shelves out of sight. Just then, Becca and Santiago came barreling into the room and surrounded her.

  “Oh my God! You’re dating Gabriel Wolf?!” Santiago screamed.

  “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me!” Becca shrieked.

  “I didn’t say anything because of this very reason.” Sunny pointed at both of them. “I didn’t want to be bombarded with a billion questions and looked at differently. Plus, I had no idea if it was even gonna go anywhere.”

  “Well you can’t date a mega-star and not expect us to ask you questions!” Becca wined.

  “And by those pics, I’d definitely say things are just heating up.” Santiago said in a bitchy tone.

  It was like they hadn’t even heard her. “I nee
d to clock in and get to work guys. I’ll talk to you later.”

  “You better.”

  “We need more details. Stop holding out on us!”

  Sunny didn’t care who said what, she just kept walking. They were her friends, but not like Alyssa. They had big mouths and even bigger judgmental attitudes, with a higher probability of talking smack behind anyone’s back. Tomorrow can’t come quick enough.

  Chapter 9

  Finally Saturday had come and Sunny woke up feeling like it was Christmas morning. The rest of her day at work had been sheer torture; dodging her friends, finding work to keep busy in order to avoid everyone’s questions and just in general, being anxious about the coming weekend. Now that it was finally here, she was so excited she danced a little jig into her bathroom to start getting ready.

  The only thing that slightly tainted her feeling of joy was the plan that they had to devise last night in order to avoid the paparazzi and their intrusive cameras. Sunny and Gabe had come up with the plan and she had relayed it to Alyssa, who would help them pull it off.

  After taking her shower, where she had meticulously shaved every part of her body, she then buffed and lotioned her skin within an inch of its life. Now she was as soft and smooth as a baby’s bottom. Her hair freshly washed, she threw in some product and blow-dried her hair into a soft mass of wild corkscrew curls that fell around her shoulders. She bypassed makeup and just opted for some Burt’s Bees lip balm instead. She figured she’d get all dolled up later. Then she packed her overnight bag, checking it nervously three times before she was satisfied that she wasn’t forgetting anything. Then her phone rang with Alyssa’s assigned ringtone.

  “Hey!” Sunny answered.

  “Hello Agent Stone. Are you ready to begin your mission?” Alyssa said in some ridiculous imitation of a masculine voice.

  “Ha! Yeah I know all of this is stupid. But to avoid the paparazzi following us, pictures and more stories, we have to do this. But thank you for helping me.”