Page 45 of All Stars Fall
“Lonely notices lonely,” I whispered.
“Yeah,” was all he said before waving his hand to our waiter. We were at one of Seaside’s brewery joints, it had killer food butsuddenly the few fries and conversation sat like a rock in my stomach.
I once again felt like I didn’t fit.
I wanted to.
It would be easy to like someone like Drew.
To fall for his easy smiles and smoldering eyes.
But it was wrong.
It felt wrong.
And Trevor’s hands felt right, his mess felt right. All the way down to the ketchup stains and the crazy looks his kids gave me whenever I asked them to help with anything.
“She did a number on him, you know.” Drew tossed a wad of cash on the table and stood. “His ex.”
“Who abandons three kids?” I wondered out loud as we walked out of the restaurant, his hand on the small of my back. He had flat-out refused to let me meet him there, so I walked over to the passenger side of his Range Rover and waited.
A few people held up their phones around us, but it wasn’t anything crazy. Then again, it wasn’t tourist season yet.
I couldn’t even imagine what they dealt with during the summertime if they were walking down the streets with all the normal humans who didn’t have pretty tattoos and gorgeous faces.
Drew opened my door for me and didn’t answer until we were in the car. And then he just shook his head and started the engine. “A very, very selfish person. And trust me when I say I know some of the worst. We’re from LA, it’s like the capital of consumerism and narcissists, but it’s—I don’t know, it’s worse than that. She actually made him believe she wanted that life, and the minute he gave her everything she wanted, it wasn’t enough. It’s like this switch flipped when she realized it wasn’t always going to be glamorous parties and Grammy awards.” Drew sighed. “The worst thing you can do when you’refamous…” He pulled up to a stoplight and turned his gaze toward me. “…is to date or marry someone in the same business, who feels the need to compete with you. I’d like to think they can’t help it, it’s a competitive business. But she had one or two hit movies, he’s had a career since he was thirteen that kept thriving. And he was willing to walk away from it when all she wanted was more, more, more.” The light turned green and he accelerated again. “The addiction isn’t in the first taste, Penelope, it’s in the justification that all you need is one, when you will always need more to replace what’s been consumed.”
I stared at him slack-jawed.
His lips turned up into a smile. “And the bad boy of the group just got deep. Sorry… sometimes I forget I’m supposed to be stupid.”
I laughed at that. “You’re not stupid.”
“No, I just like to hide my smarts behind my body, easier to get laid that way.”
“There you are.” I laughed.
He joined me, and then he was pulling up to my house. My tiny little beach house with the cute red door, painted white window boxes for flowers, and Jennifer standing in the middle of my lawn with her cell pressed to her ear and her hands in the air in frustration.
I was renting from Jennifer and her family. Since it was close to the coffee shop, it just made sense. But she’d never actually visited me or stood on my lawn at night looking crazed.
I got out of the SUV.
Drew followed me. Of course he did.
“Jennifer?”
She turned and then held up a hand. “Well, fix it! I have a tenant!”
She ended the call and gave me a frustrated look. “I’m so sorry, Penelope, one of the neighbors smelled smoke and calledthe fire department. There’s no fire, but the power outage earlier today apparently caused a whole bunch of craziness with the old wiring in the house. Old wiring that was supposed to be fixed last year. The electrical contractor claimed we had a few more years left, so we didn’t do anything and…” She looked ready to cry. “I’m so sorry, but it’s not safe right now. Is there any place you can stay for the next week or so?”
“Um…” Panic set in. Well, it wasn’t actuallysettingin, I was already in full-fledged panic mode. I didn’t want to ruin Dani and Linc’s time here. Though I knew they had a huge beach house, I just hated imposing on anyone.
Hated the idea that I’d be dependent again.
That I wouldn’t fit.
Why did I always feel like I was floating in limbo? Just waiting to be told this path, this one right here, take it!
