All Stars Fall (Seaside Pictures #3.5)(26)

He was sexy but good. Heck, the guy did interviews while holding puppies.

“Can’t I just share a nice meal with a nice person?”

I almost choked on my fry. “You don’t know me.”

“And you don’t know me,” he countered with narrowed eyes.

I opened my mouth then shut it and glared.

“That’s why we have the food.” He spread his arms wide. “Calories are supposed to make it easier.”

“And yet…” I laughed and took another swig of beer.

“And yet, most people don’t even eat because they feel like puking.” He gulped and then looked away. “And it may have something to do with having to clean up my image for the next album.”

“That—” I pointed a fry at him. “—makes total sense.” I grinned. “Maybe you should start doing volunteer work.”

The guy visibly paled.

“Or not.” I snickered.

“Music.” He said the word like it was sexy. No, he said it like it was actually dripping with sex. “It’s all I need.”

“Until you wake up alone,” I whispered under my breath.

“Oh, sweetheart, I’m never alone.” He let out a laugh.

“I’m calling your bluff.”

His smile fell. “Don’t you scour the internet? See the magazines?”

“Yeah, but I don’t pay attention to that.” I leveled a serious stare on him. “And even if you do have some crazy fan girl in your bed every night, that doesn’t mean you’re never alone. You can be surrounded by millions of people, friends, family, fans—and still be lonely.”

I wasn’t sure where that came from.

Maybe the part inside of me that had always felt that way, like it didn’t quite fit, and that everyone else did back in Cunningham Falls.

Another reason to move to Seaside.

To find my place.

My destiny.

Drew was quiet as he stared down at his fries, and then he leaned back in his chair again, reached for his beer and downed it to the last drop. “Well, at least now I know why.”

“Why you’re lonely?” I asked, confused.

“Nah.” He flashed me a smile that seemed almost disappointed. “Why he likes you so much, why he’s so protective of you.”

“He barely knows me.” My mind flashed to the kiss, to the days spent with his kids getting to know him through them, dinners spent at his house. One week in, and I was ready to ask if I should just become their live-in nanny and pine after him for the rest of my life.

If that wasn’t crazy, I wasn’t sure what was.

“Maybe you should share more food with him,” Drew offered. “Wait, you’re already doing that. Don’t you make a killer pot roast?”

“Very funny.” I tilted my head at him, my eyes searching his expression. “I’m trying to figure out your angle here, and I keep coming up empty.”

“Maybe—” He gulped and licked his lips. “Maybe I just need a friend too.”

“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 but suddenly 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’re famous…” 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.”