Page 13 of All Stars Fall
“Um…”
Bella looked up at me with her wide eyes and nodded her head like I should say yes, like it was the best idea ever to take a job with my junior high crush and try not to stare at him all day.
His life.
His family.
His kids.
My fresh start.
Hah, my fresh start did not include becoming a nanny to a rock star.
“Please?” Bella slid her hand into mine and squeezed. “I miss having my hair braided.”
That was all it took.
A little girl’s sticky hands, milk mustache, and a sad-looking braid, to say yes to a man who I could swear no human had ever said no to in his entire life.
And I knew in that moment. I was completely and utterly screwed.
CHAPTER FOUR
Trevor
I woke up the next morningto a pounding headache and Bella sitting on my chest asking for peanut butter pancakes. Something flew into my room. A ball? A spaceship? Who knew at this point?
And then crying.
All the crying.
“He hit me with the ball!” Bella wailed and wrapped her arms around my neck. I just laid there staring up at the ceiling wondering how I was messing it up so horribly. Josie had a lot of faults, but at least she’d been a good stay-at-home mom, until she couldn’t handle the fact that I was touring for an entire year, leaving her in the dust.
Her words, not mine.
She left me the night of the Grammys.
I got a Grammy, and she walked out of my life because she was jealous.
I saw it for what it was.
Knew several Hollywood couples who said the very reason they never dated or married someone in the same industry was because you were always competing for roles, fame, Instagram followers.
I held on to Bella until she stopped crying.
“All better?” I asked in my raspy sleep-filled voice. I’d at least gotten five hours last night. I needed to lay some more tracks. Each of the guys had taken a much-needed break and decided to drop a solo album.
Our manager was thrilled.
Our agent was swimming in money.
And since I owned my own studio back in Malibu and now one in Seaside, I’d known it would be easy to do too, except now I wasn’t so sure.
What was I supposed to do? Take the kids with me on tour? They’d done a few cities with me last year, but I didn’t want to take them out of school.
With a deep breath, I heaved Bella into the air and threw my feet over the side of the bed, landing on a few misplaced Legos that had my eyes watering and curse words screaming inside my head. There was a reason they weren’t allowed in my room. Legos.
“Daddy hurt?” Bella cupped my face.
