Page 35 of Hollywood Fairytale

Luke side-eyed his brother. “I wish it was that simple, but I have to eat healthy and workout. You don’t think I want to eat whatever I want when I want?”

“Hey,” I called to get his attention back to me. He was still feeling Ashlyn’s break in. “I wish I was as dedicated as you are, and I thought it was sweet that you bought the ingredients to make Mason’s pancakes along with everything else you’ve done for us. Thank you, Luke.” Leaning forward, I pressed a chaste kiss to his lips wishing that I could linger longer, but we had company and I knew how easy it was to get lost in him.

“Dude, I’m just giving you shit. You know that.”

“I was a little worried about what we’d eat,” I admitted to both of them. “While I admire your dedication, I’m not sure if I can eat that way one hundred percent of the time.” Wrapping my hands around my warm coffee cup, I stood and looked to Luke. “Can you help me with something upstairs?”

“Of course.” His answer was immediate as he took my hand and walked with me to the stairs. “What do you need help with?”

“Let’s go to the bedroom or your office. I want to talk to you.”

Tilting his head, his eyes scanned over me once before nodding.

Letting me lead, I brought us to the bedroom and sat on the side of the bed, bringing Luke down with me. He looked worried and I didn’t want him to think anything was wrong. I was sure his train of thought had gone to a bad place since I asked him up here. To help ease his mind, I crawled onto his lap, wrapped my arms around him, and rested my head on his shoulder.

Hugging me back, he kissed the side of my head and murmured. “Talk to me.”

“What are we going to do? We can’t stay here with the broken window and Ashlyn on the loose. It’s not safe.”

“I’ve got an idea. Pack up.”

16

Staring out the window,I watched for the first sign of water. I was beyond excited that Luke was taking us to a friend’s house in Malibu so that we could enjoy the beach and get away until the window was fixed, and the security system upgraded. They were out of town and offered the use of their house and private beach so that the paparazzi were less likely to find us.

The thought of seeing the ocean kept my mind off Ashlyn breaking in and what she might do if she wasn’t found. What had happened to make her so delusional? So obsessed? Shaking my head to rid my thoughts of her, I focused on the side of the road and my first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean in almost twenty years.

Reaching across the center console, Luke picked up my hand and brought it to his lips, kissing each fingertip. Speaking low enough that only I could hear him, he asked. “Are you okay over there?”

“Yeah, focusing on seeing the water. Finding the good in the crazy.”

“It shouldn’t be much longer. At least traffic isn’t as bad as it could be, otherwise it might take hours to get there.”

“Today, I don’t think I could handle being in the car for hours.” In all truth, I was starting to lose my battle with not thinking about earlier.

“I know, Alex, but I promise we’ll be there soon.”

A sudden thought came to me and I turned in my seat looking at Luke’s tense form. “You’re supposed to be shooting today. Don’t you need to go back?”

He shook his head then looked over at me with a slight smile that didn’t meet his eyes. “They gave me a couple of days off to handle everything and then I arranged for all of you to come to set with me for the rest of the week. My trailer’s nothing glamorous, but it does its job.”

I let my gaze travel over his rigid jaw that ticked every few minutes along with his death grip on the steering wheel. His eyes laser focused on the road. I had no idea how to get him to relax or if it was even possible after this morning.

“Would it be better for us to go home early? I don’t want to cause any problems for you.”

Furious eyes landed on me causing me to shrink back against the window as he yelled. “Are you fucking shitting me, right now?”

“Luke, calm down.” Leo scolded from the backseat where Mason stared wide eyed. It wasn’t that he’d never heard any swear words or yelling. He had. Plenty of times from me and his father, but what was startling was Luke had never once raised his voice in the amount of time I knew him. I understood that he was upset, and it was a normal reaction, but I didn’t want Mason to think Luke was anything like his father.

“I’m sorry.” He turned and locked eyes with Mason and gave him a sad smile. “I’m sorry, buddy. Please forgive me. I didn’t mean to scare you or yell.”

“It’s okay. I’m kind of used to it.” Mason answered back softly, eyes still wide.

“Well, you shouldn’t be. Neither of you should, and I’m so happy that you got away from that and chose to have me in your lives.” Lifting my hand, he placed a soft kiss against my knuckles and held it to his chest as he drove. “Again, I’m sorry andyouare not causing me any problems. None whatsoever. If you feel unsafe here then I won’t stop you from going home, but I don’t want you to leave.” His voice desperately pleaded with me as his sad eyes shifted back and forth from the road to me and back again.

Leaning over, I kissed his cheek and hugged him as best as I could in the car and spoke quietly only for him. “We’ll stay. I don’t want to leave you and I’m sorry, too.”

“You’ve got nothing to be sorry about, beautiful. I know you were just trying to help.”

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