by Staci Hart
He shook his head, glanced at the ground, and ignored me. “She doesn’t know much about us, and I’d like to keep it that way.”
I laughed, a humorless sound. “I bet you would.”
“I didn’t mean to hurt you. I didn’t know … I didn’t know I could feel this way, and I didn’t set out to trick you. Deep down, you know that.”
It was my turn to shake my head, but I set my gaze over the balcony to the city. Because if I looked at him a second longer, I was going to break.
And he was not going to see me break.
“Fuck you, Dex. I hope she figures out what a fucking dog you are before it’s too late.”
A pause, long and pregnant. “We’ll go. We’ll leave the party so you don’t have to …” He drew a breath. “I’m sorry, Stell.”
I turned, wanting him to see the look of determination on my face. “Me too. Sorry I gave up what I wanted for you. Won’t make that mistake again.”
His chest rose. Fell. Stilled.
And then he turned to go.
Only then did I let go of the chain I’d bridled myself with. I turned on my heel, rushing to the balcony, gripping the metal rail with damp hands. A gust of wind whipped down the avenue, the draft blasting me in the face, lifting my hair. But it wasn’t strong enough to stop the gravity of my tears.
It’s for the best, I told my crumbling heart. It’s for the best.
I wondered if I repeated it enough times, would I believe it?
The door behind me opened with a creak, and several sets of footfalls rushed toward me.
“Stella?” Joss said, reaching me first. Then Z. Then Betty.
And I couldn’t answer. Because the moment I didn’t have to hold myself together, they were there.
Z held me against her chest, stroking my hair, cooing, “I’m gonna fucking kill him.”
Laughter broke through my tears.
“He’s gone,” Betty promised. “I flashed my switchblade, and he grabbed Elsie and ran like a coward.”
Again I laughed, partly because she was dressed as Pooh, and the thought of Pooh Bear chasing Dex up Fifth Avenue with a switchblade was more than I could handle.
Joss was Piglet. “I would have shanked him too, if Betty’d let me.”
And then we were all laughing. I straightened up, frowning when I saw the mess I’d made on Z’s chest. She was dressed up as Marilyn Monroe—Roman was Joe DiMaggio.
“Oh, Z. I fucked up your contouring,” I said, running a finger across her chest.
But she shrugged. “Worse things have happened. Like what he did to you.”
“What do you know?”
“Only that he was here with Elsie, and she was in your costume,” Joss said.
“I’ll shank her too,” Betty promised.
“No, don’t—she doesn’t know. He’s fooled her just like he fooled all of us.”
“Not me,” Z sassed.
“He moved in with her.”
Noise erupted from the three of them, and for a minute, I let them get it all out.
“I know,” I cut in. “You were all right, and I was wrong. I shouldn’t even be allowed to date. I’m the worst judge of character in the entire world.”
“Now, hang on just one second,” Z said, frowning. “I will concede that we were right because I very much enjoy being right, even though I wish I weren’t. But the only mistake you made was falling for the wrong guy.”
I looked at my shoes so I wouldn’t start crying again. But Z caught my chin and lifted it until our eyes met.
“You, Stella Spencer, were made for love. And someday, you will find a man who is honest.”
“Who respects you,” Betty added.
“Who will talk to you and listen.” Joss took my hand.
“And when that day comes, you’re going to know,” Z continued. “It’s going to hit you like a hurricane. Dex wasn’t a hurricane. Dex was barely rain.”
We chuckled softly.
“Dex wasn’t for you, and he never was. And now you know that for yourself, without a single doubt. But your guy is out there. He’s somewhere in this city, and I bet he’s thinking about you. So you take a minute. Feel your feels. Lick your wounds and mend your heart. Because now you’ve learned who gets put first—you. And the moment that sinks in is the moment you’ll get what you want.”
I swallowed back tears. “Promise?”
“I swear.”
In a breath, I was wrapped up by the people I loved most in the world. For a moment, I believed every word Z said with the power of a psychic looking into a crystal ball. I held onto that feeling, knowing I’d need it when the sky was gray.
“And now,” Z said, letting me go with a wicked smile on her face, “we are going to get very, very drunk and toast to you losing a solid hundred and sixty pounds of dead weight.”
With a long laugh and the hooking of our arms, we did just that.
Epilogue
Levi
I leaned back in my chair late that night, the lamp on my desk illuminating an island in the dark of my apartment.
I’d eked out the article on my laptop just before deadline, a culture piece for Vagabond magazine, where I was a staff writer. But that wasn’t what was on my screen.
When I opened my email to send it to my editor, I found a memo to the writers for Monday—a prompt, really.
The Bright Young Things.
The group of socialites and artists that the media had been hounding for months—Vagabond included—was the subject on everyone’s lips. And the editor in chief wanted us to take it a step further. How could we go bigger? How could we dig into the group in a way no one else had?
The easy answer was infiltration. But that wasn’t my area of interest. As print circulation declined across all media, we found ourselves needing to reinvent, to expand out of culture and into nation and worldwide news, which was where I wanted to be. I covered music and culture like all of us did. I’d been begging for a war correspondency for what felt like my entire employment, though I settled for local exposés, spending time undercover, giving a voice to victims of abuse, underage prostitution rings, homeless youths.
But we’d been tasked with brainstorming ways to crack open the Bright Young Things. So I opened up my browser, curious as to what I’d find.
The first search turned up a dozen pages of gossip columns. Recounts of parties, speculation about the members, who was dating whom, who said what, squabbles, that sort of thing. But the news slider up top held a long string of articles, accusing the disparaging youth of being all that was wrong with America. They reported the police commissioner’s seeming vendetta against them, the raids and an inflated sense of what they’d uncovered, which was largely nothing. And everyone wanted to know who Cecelia Beaton really was.
But what really caught my attention was the image search. I opened the page of photos, and the parties stretched down the page in a parade of glittering glamour.
Most of the images led to Instagram, so I moved there, searching the group’s hashtag. It was brilliant and opulent, a display of wealth and excess I found myself deeply averse to. But on closer inspection, there was another layer, one beneath the allure.
It was joy.
As I scrolled through row after row of photos and videos, one caught my eye, stopped me..
It was a hard flash shot of Stella Spencer at the White Party, the kickoff of the Bright Young Things that had grown into a momentous force. But it wasn’t the setting that struck me, nor was it her beauty. It was something about her smile, something in the unbridled pleasure behind her eyes, which were turned to someone out of frame.
She was radiant in her delight, a freedom so pronounced, so transparent, it momentarily stunned me.
I didn’t know that I’d ever felt so free. In a deep, silent part of my heart, I craved the feeling.
I scoffed aloud, snapping my computer closed with a hard roll of my eyes.
Go to bed, Levi, and quit pretending you’re sentimental.
With a long stretch and a hefty yawn, I took my own advice.
But the fleeting vision of Stella Spencer followed me all the way into sleep.
And I didn’t mind one little bit.
* * *
Click here to keep reading!
Thank you so much for reading Shooting Star!
Want to find out if Levi can mend Stella’s broken heart? Click here to read Star Bright! Will Stella get found out? Will the commissioner catch up to her? Will Dex just hurry up and go to hell already? Find out in Star Bright!
* * *
BLURB:
Gatsby meets Gossip Girl in this standalone contemporary romance where secret society parties and the thrill of the unknown tempt fate.
* * *
You are cordially invited to the party of the century.
There’s no greater thrill than in the moment a courier hands you the heavy invitation with those words etched on the front. Because you’ve just joined the most exclusive group in New York.
The Bright Young Things.
Lavish parties. Irreverent treasure hunts. Every event is a sparkling spectacle, stalked not only by the media, but by the law, who’s declared war. They’re out to ruin everyone’s good time, starting with uncovering the mysterious benefactor leading the group, thus answering the question on everyone’s lips.
Who is Cecelia Beaton?
And no one knows it’s me.
If society finds out the truth, my plans will unravel. And with one smoldering look from a stranger, my carefully ordered world catches fire.
Because he has secrets of his own, secrets that could bring down everything I’ve built.
But even the best kept secrets have a way of getting out.
Secrets and lies. Love and laughter. And two people with something to hide and everything to gain.
Welcome to the party.
Click here to read Star Bright!
* * *
I’d love to keep in touch, so come join us in my Facebook group, Read Your Hart Out, and get exclusive giveaways and sneak peeks of future books. And to be sure you don’t miss any releases, you can Sign up for the newsletter here!
Also by Staci Hart
CONTEMPORARY STANDALONES
* * *
Bright Young Things
Star Bright
Everyone wants to know who’s throwing the lavish parties, even the police commissioner, and no one knows it’s her … not even the reporter who’s been sneaking in to the parties and her heart.
* * *
Hidden Gem
Preorder for January 2021
* * *
The Bennet Brothers:
A spin on Pride & Prejudice
* * *
Coming Up Roses
Everyone hates something about their job, and she hates Luke Bennet. Because if she doesn’t,
she’ll fall in love with him.
* * *
Gilded Lily
This pristine wedding planner meets her match in an opposites attract, enemies to lovers comedy.
* * *
Mum’s the Word
A Bower’s not allowed to fall in love with a Bennet, but these forbidden lovers might not have a choice.
* * *
The Austens
Wasted Words (Inspired by Emma)
She’s just an adorkable, matchmaking book nerd who could never have a shot with her gorgeous best friend and roommate.
* * *
A Thousand Letters (Inspired by Persuasion)
Fate brings them together after seven years for a second chance they never thought they’d have in this lyrical story about love, loss, and moving on.
* * *
Love, Hannah (a spinoff of A Thousand Letters)
A story of finding love when all seems lost and finding home when you’re far away from everything you’ve known.
* * *
Love Notes (Inspired by Sense & Sensibility)
Annie wants to live while she can, as fully as she can, not knowing how deeply her heart could break.
* * *
Pride and Papercuts (Inspired by Pride and Prejudice)
PREORDER NOW! Coming fall 2020
* * *
The Red Lipstick Coalition
* * *
Piece of Work
Her cocky boss is out to ruin her internship, and maybe her heart, too.
* * *
Player
He’s just a player, so who better to teach her how to date? All she has to do is not fall in love with him.
* * *
Work in Progress
She never thought her first kiss would be on her wedding day. Rule number one: Don’t fall in love with her fake husband.
* * *
Well Suited
She's convinced love is nothing more than brain chemicals, and her baby daddy's determined to prove her wrong.
* * *
Bad Habits
With a Twist (Bad Habits 1)
A ballerina living out her fantasies about her high school crush realizes real love is right in front of her in this slow-burn friends-to-lovers romantic comedy.
* * *
Chaser (Bad Habits 2)
He’d trade his entire fortune for a real chance with his best friend’s little sister.
* * *
Last Call (Bad Habits 3)
All he’s ever wanted was a second chance, but she’ll resist him at every turn, no matter how much she misses him.
* * *
The Tonic Series
Tonic (Book 1)
The reality show she’s filming in his tattoo parlor is the last thing he wants, but if he can have her, he’ll be satisfied in this enemies-to-lovers-comedy.
* * *
Bad Penny (Book 2)
She knows she’s boy crazy, which is why she follows strict rules, but this hot nerd will do his best to convince her to break every single one.
* * *
The Hardcore Serials
Read for FREE!
Hardcore: Complete Collection
A parkour thief gets herself into trouble when she falls for the man who forces her to choose between
right and wrong.
* * *
HEARTS AND ARROWS
Greek mythology meets Gossip Girl in a contemporary paranormal series where love is the ultimate game and Aphrodite never loses.
* * *
Paper Fools (Book 1)
Shift (Book 2)
From Darkness (Book 3)
* * *
FREE bonus content! Click here!