Starburst (42 page)

“But
they are not promoting their personal life. Why is it their fault if some idiot
is prowling around the corner, waiting for them to slip?”

“It
just is, you know your boundaries before you ever sign a contract.”

“Has
she been offered any more opportunities?”

“She
gets scripts all the time and her agent wants her to, but she doesn’t want any
part of it. We were all shocked as hell when she did this one.”

“What
about you? Are you ever going to be done with acting?”

“I
don’t know, eventually, I guess. I am almost forty.”

“But
as long as it’s there, you’re going to do it, right?”

“Yes,
more than likely Kevin. It’s like an addiction to me. If I go to long without working
I start having with-draws.”

“Maybe
you just need something to preoccupy you,” he replied, and rolled over on top
of her and kissed her.

“Preoccupy
me baby,” she teased, but was more serious than not, and she parted her legs
for him.

He
made love to her again, and they finally fell asleep early in the morning.

Peyton
made coffee, and Kevin met her in the kitchen once he had showered and dressed
for work. He drove her to Kay’s and she told him that she would come by and see
him before she left.

Don
was up and gone to work as well, and her and Kay sat at the table and talked.

“I
don’t want you to leave Peyton,” Kay told her.

“I
will come back,” she promised, but didn’t know when, not until she found out
the details of this new movie. “I want to hear what happened with Don. Did you
guys talk?”

“Yeah
we talked and had sex,” she admitted.

“You
did not!” she exclaimed. Peyton had thought for sure that she would have him
out of there within minutes of everyone leaving them.

“I
did, and I may be an idiot Peyton, but I think I want him just as much as he
wants me.”

“I
don’t think you’re an idiot for that. I think he made a mistake, and he paid
for it long enough. Why are these guys so adamant about this boy’s home?” she
wondered.

“I
think because of what they have been through. Donnie lost his brother twelve
years ago to drugs, and if it weren’t for him and Kevin being here, when Trevas
went through it, I don’t know what I would have done, and Kevin’s son was into
drugs as well. Kevin has told me that even if they could only help one kid, it
would be worth it.”

“I
wish I would have met him under different circumstances.”

“I
think he wishes that too.”

Trevas
and Alley came over to tell her goodbye and then took off on Trevas’s
motorcycle because it was such a lovely day, plus they knew that they would be
back in LA, and see her in less than two weeks.

Peyton
packed her things and they left early enough to stop by the plant and say
goodbye to Kevin. Kay went to her office, and told her they had about half an
hour before they needed to leave.

Kevin
let her in, and she thought that he looked sad. He took her in his arms and
held her with his eyes closed for a long time before he let her go.

“Thanks
for the last couple of weeks Kevin,” she told him, and he only smiled. He
didn’t know how to reply, and didn’t really want a thank you for the time that
they had spent together.

“Will
you call me and let me know you made it home okay?” he asked.

“Yes,
I will do that,” Peyton told him, and took his hand and smiled a warm smile.
She didn’t use up her full thirty minutes with him, and wanted to get out of
there and away from him, right away. “Bye Kevin,” she said and pulled away from
him. He kept her hand until their arms were stretched to where their touch was
lost.

Kevin
grabbed her before she could open the door and kissed her with more emotion
than she could handle, and she pushed him away. He held onto her hand and
pulled her close one last time and kissed her just in front of her ear as he
whispered. “I love you Peyton.”

Peyton
didn’t reply, and opened the door and left without turning back. Kevin stood
and stared at the closed door with his hands in his pockets, filling more
heartache than he thought he ever had.

Peyton
opened Kay’s door without knocking. “Kay can we please go now?” she asked,
trying her best to control the tears. What the hell was happening to her? She
didn’t cry over a man, especially one that she had known for two weeks. It had
to be time for her period, that was why she was so emotional over it, she had
decided.

Kay
got up from her desk and hugged her, and it was the wrong thing to do. Peyton
lost the tear fight, and they freely flowed as she quietly sobbed to Kay’s
hair. “Yes we can go Peyton,” she told her rubbing her back and consoling her
friend, who she knew was in love and hurting over Kevin, whether she would
admit it or not.

Peyton sat quietly wearing her sunglasses, staring out
the window in first class. She ignored the stares and idle chatter about her as
she sat lost in her own thoughts.

She was not happy when she got off the plane at LAX
airport, and saw all of the cameras and paparazzi. They weren’t there for her,
and when Paula got to her she explained that Hailey Arlington, had just gotten
off of a plane there too and they were left over from her, and of course they
were ecstatic to be able to catch Peyton Paxton and get a two for one day.

Paula drove her home and explained more about the
movie, and where she would be spending most of her time shooting.

“Are you listening to me Peyton?” she had finally
asked after the third time of not getting a response from Peyton, who stared
out the window.”

“Uh?” she asked, turning to face her. “Sorry, I’m just
a little tired, and I need a shower,” she said which reminded her of her shower
the night before, and she shook her head trying to get herself to come out of
it.

She text Kevin and let him know that she was home and
promised to call later.

*****

Peyton wore a summer white pants suit with a light
pink satin shirt and matching pink stilettos. Craig Jenson stood as she was
escorted to his table. He took her hand and kissed her cheek.

“It is a pleasure to finally meet you,” he told her
once they were seated.

“Believe me Mr. Jenson, the pleasure is all mine.”

“Craig, please,” he replied, not wanting this to be a
stuffy formal meeting. He poured her a glass of wine, and she thanked him and
sipped it.

Craig Jenson sat and talked to her about the movie
that he wanted her to play. She would be playing with Ben Samuel, who she had
worked with in the past, and it was an action movie, which was her favorite.

Payton did feel a lot better after talking to Craig
Jenson, and was excited to get back to work, although it was going to be some time,
before they would actually start, at least she had something to look forward
to.  

She was home by seven and slipped her heels off at the
door. She opened the refrigerator and took out a bottle of chilled wine and
poured herself a glass. The humongous house was too empty and deathly quiet.
She walked over to the built-in stereo on the wall and turned the music up loud,
and the music filled every room. It was Alley’s music, and although it wasn’t
what she would normally listen to, she liked the sound of the pop singer and it
made her feel closer to Alley.

She walked out to the pool with her bottle of wine and
her glass and sat at the table alone. She looked at her phone and thought about
calling Kevin, and knew he would be home by now and changed her mind with a
deep sigh. She answered Fletchers call next, happy to have someone to talk to,
even if it was Fletcher.

“Made it home?” he asked.

“Yes, and I had dinner with Craig Jenson.”

“Really? I thought you wanted to take a break.”

“Come over Fletcher,” she said from out of the blue,
not wanting to be alone.

“Why?”

“Does it matter why? I just don’t like being in this
big empty house alone.”

“What’s going on with you? You always want to be
alone.”

“Are you coming or not?”

“Yeah, I will come over. Are we having sex?”

“No we are not having sex. Can’t you just come over
and keep me company for a while without wanting to have sex?”

“Yes but if I get a call from Susan, I am leaving.”

“Fine,” she replied. She didn’t care who Fletcher
slept with. She hadn’t thought about him in that way for years and wondered if
she ever did. Her thoughts were back on Kevin as she waited for Fletcher to
show up. She was pissed at herself for ever letting it go as far as it did, and
she knew she should have never had sex with him the first time. She knew there
was an attraction there that she had only felt one other time in her life, and
that was the man that caused the majority of her divorce with Fletcher.

“What the hell are you listening to?” Fletcher asked,
startling her from her thoughts as he walked out the sliding glass doors to the
pool. He had never knocked when he came over, and she quit yelling at him for
just walking in years ago, knowing she was wasting her breath.

She laughed a short laugh. “Alley,” she answered with
one word.

Peyton went in and got him a glass and poured him a
glass of wine as well.

“So what is this movie?” he asked, sipping his wine
and crossing one leg over the other.

“It’s a prison movie. ‘Corridor’ I’m playing a hard
ass inmate, in prison for murder.”

“What happened to taking a year off?”

Peyton shrugged her shoulders and gulped the last of
her wine. “I just need to do something, I can’t sit around here. And it’s even
worse with Alley being gone.”

“She lived in her room anyway,” Fletcher replied, not
buying it.

“She doesn’t stay in her room so much now that Trevas
is around, and besides even when she was in her room, at least I knew she was
here, and I didn’t feel so alone.”

Fletcher looked at her in a peculiar way as she poured
another glass of wine and emptied the bottle into her glass.

“What?” she asked.

“You getting drunk tonight?”

“I think I might already be just a little,” she said
truthfully.

“What’s going on with you Peyton?”

“What the hell are you talking about Fletcher?”

“I don’t know, but I can tell there is something up.”

“There is nothing up, but I do need you to do me a
favor.”

“What?” he asked.

“I need for you to kiss me.”

“Kiss you?”

“Yes, kiss me.”

“Why?”

“Just do it, will you?”

Fletcher sat up and leaned to her and shook his head,
wondering what the hell was up with her. He leaned to her and kissed her lips
quick but softly.

“Not like that. I mean really kiss me,” she demanded.

Fletcher still looked confused but did as he was told.
He placed one hand behind her neck, and she parted her lips as he explored her
mouth with his for a awful long time. It was enough to where he thought he
might be getting lucky with her after all, and felt it in his groin. He pulled
away slowly and tried to gaze at her, but she turned away.

“Hmm,” she said as though she was contemplating
something very serious.

“What?” he asked, not understanding what was
happening.

“Absolutely nothing,” she stated.

“Nothing?” he asked, with one word.

“Yeah, I felt absolutely nothing.”

“Oh, well thanks, my ego needed that.”

“I don’t mean it that way Fletcher. I think I am in
love,” she admitted, to him and wasn’t sure why, other than she just needed
someone to talk to and maybe talk her into her senses.

“With who?”

“One of Kay’s friends back in Utah.”

“Who is he?”

“A guy that she works with, his name is Kevin.”

“You’re in love with some hick from Utah?” he asked,
not believing that the Peyton Paxton he knew would fall for anything but a
famous hot movie star, half her age.

“He is not a hick,” she snapped, defending him. “He is
almost perfect,” she said and had the image of him imprinted in her mind.

“You have got to be kidding me,” he stated.

“What Fletch? You don’t think it is possible for me to
be in love with someone?” she asked with a bit of an attitude.

“No, I don’t, and with a, nobody to boot.”

“Fuck you Fletcher,” she spat out, and knew that it
was the alcohol talking, for one, and two Fletcher seemed to be the only one
that she had ever shown her true colors to.

“I’m just saying that Peyton Paxton doesn’t fall in
love, and Peyton Paxton, uses men to her advantage. You know as well as I do
that I am not lying.”

“You don’t know anything about my love life.”

“I know more than you think. I am in the same business
as you, remember? And people talk.”

“People lie,” she demanded, but knew that he did speak
the truth. She didn’t fall in love, and she did use men.

“Why do you think you are in love with the guy?”

Peyton got up and got another bottle of wine, and
handed it to him to open.

“I don’t know Fletch; this guy is nothing like anyone
I have ever been with. He is not a no-body, and he is a good man. He genially
cares about people, and I have never been with anyone that wasn’t as stuck up
and conceited as me.”

“So what Peyton, you going to move him here? I am sure
he doesn’t expect you to move there, I mean, you are the one with all of the
money.”

“You’re an arrogant ass. He would never move here, and
he has a good job there. He just bought an old school, and is converting it to
a boy’s home for troubled teens, so don’t even go there.”

“Go where?”

“Don’t tell me he just wants me for my money.”

“It’s probably true Peyton. Don’t be so naïve.”

“He does not want my money Fletch,” she assured him,
taking another gulp of her wine.

She was glad when Fletchers phone rang, and he had to
run off to insure that he would be getting laid. She didn’t want his company
anymore, and was ready to be alone.

Feeling more than enough from her one and half bottles
of wine, Peyton picked up her phone and dialed Kevin.

“I thought you were going to let me know you made it
home okay,” Kevin answered after he had been waiting for her call for hours.

“I sent you a text,” she replied.

“I don’t think you did,” he questioned. “I never got a
text from you.”

“Hang on let me look, I know I did,” she told him.
“Sorry, you’re right. It’s in my drafts, I must not have hit set, sued, send,”
she replied, trying to get the right word out.

“Are you drunk Ms. Peyton?” he asked, amused by her.

“Most definitely,” she replied, using Alley’s slang
vocabulary.

Kevin laughed. “Why are you drunk?”

“I drank too much wine,” she admitted smartly. “Why do
you think I am drunk?”

“Are you having a party?”

“Nope, just me. My ex-husband was here, but thank God
he left.”

“Does your ex come around often?” he asked in an
almost jealous tone.

“It depends on whether or not he is busy working, but
I invited him over tonight”

“You invited him over, but now you’re glad that he
left?”

“Yeah, I’m not making a lot of sense right now. I
invited him over because I didn’t want to be alone, but after about a half an
hour of being around him, I was kicking myself in the ass for inviting him. Why
aren’t you at the gym? It’s Friday night.”

“I am at the gym. I just walked outside so that I
could talk to you.”

“Is Alley and Trevas there?”

“No, Kay said they were locking themselves in the
cabin, and wouldn’t see her for a few days. Kay and Don are here though,” he
added, and she wished she was there as well.

“How is that going?”

“I think it is going very well, and they seem to be
very happy, acting like a couple of teenagers in love.”

Peyton smiled, happy for Kay. “I’m glad,”
now if I
was just that happy.

“How did the meeting go for the movie?”

“It went good, but we won’t actually start shooting
for about five more months.”

“Then you can come back to me for five months,” he
said, and wondered if that was stepping over the line, when she got quiet.

“Why don’t you come here Kevin?” she asked.

“I have to work, you don’t.”

“But Kay already told me that you have three weeks’
vacation coming.”

Kevin laughed. “She did, did she?”

“Yes and I really, really miss you,” she said, shaking
her head as she said it. What the hell was she doing? She knew this was never
going to be anything. Why did she keep tormenting herself?”

“How can you miss me? You left this morning.”

“I know… it’s probably the alcohol. I will let you go
play ball,” she told him, trying to convince herself that she should stop with
all of this, and move on and forget all about Kevin Montgomery.

“Can I call you when I get home?”

“Yes,” she replied, feeling sad all of a sudden once
again.

*****

Peyton went to bed around ten and flipped on her
laptop. She did an internet search on Alley and didn’t find anything new.
Speculations of her tattoo were still a big topic, her relationship with her
bodyguard, and she read an article from a tabloid site that talked about her
casual fashion and how awkward she seemed to be in dresses and heels. That one
was not a lie, she thought. Alley did hate to dress up, and she had been that
way ever since she was a little girl.

Kevin finally called at a quarter to eleven. “Are you
still up?” he asked.

“Kind of, I am in bed, but not sleeping yet. I didn’t
think you were going to call.”

“We ended up going out and drinking a couple of beers.
Are you sober now?”

“Yes, but I have a headache.”

“That is why I stick to the beer. People there
probably drink wine, I presume.”

“You presume wrong. I normally do drink beer, but I
didn’t have any.”

“I have a proposition for you Peyton,” Kevin said,
getting serious.

“A proposition?”

“Sort of, I guess you can call it that.”

“Yes?”

“I don’t think we should talk for a couple of weeks.
You have got my head so screwed up right now, and I need to not hear your
voice. Let’s go a couple of weeks without talking, and if you still want me to
come out there after that or I still want to come, I will take a weeks’
vacation and fly out.”

“You don’t want to talk to me?”

“No, don’t say it like that. I do want to talk to you,
but I want to talk to you every day. I want you to fall asleep in my bed and wake
up in my arms. I just know, and so do you, that is never going to happen.”