Starburst (24 page)

“I’m
not a Fletcher,” she demanded, and left to pull on a pair of sweats.

He
poured them both a cup of coffee and stared at her.

“What?”
she finally asked.

“James
Brazen uh?” he asked, amused.

“Shut
the hell up, you’re in my house remember?”

Trevas
laughed. “And the claws come out. Like mother like daughter,” he teased, and
she had to laugh at him.

“What
are you two doing today?” she asked, changing the subject.

“Whatever
Alley tells me I’m doing,” he joked, sort of.

“You’re
probably right. I need to go out of town for a couple of days. I need to know
what she is doing.”

“I
have to do an escort tonight for a dinner party,” he told her.

“Well
I guess she is going to have to go to her dads then.”

“You
really are going out of town?” He asked, thinking about her disturbing request
the day before.

“Yes,
I really do have to go. I would take her with me if she would go, but I know
she won’t.”

“You’re
right, she won’t,” Alley said walking up to Trevas and kissing him.

He
kissed her but shook his head at her audacity.

“I
will go to Trevas’s tonight,” she stated.

“I
have to work for a couple of hours tonight Alley. Go to your dads and if he
will let me, I will come and get you when I’m done.”

“No
I don’t need to go to my dad’s. I can stay home alone, I’m not six,” she
demanded, and both Peyton and Trevas looked at each other, not liking it. Yes, she
was an adult and was plenty old enough to stay by herself, but for some reason,
she seemed to find trouble when she was un-supervised. “Just go do your thing
and then come back here,” she requested.

“It
could be ten or eleven o’clock tonight before I’m done,” he explained.

“So,”
she said, getting irritated at the both of them.

“I
would rather you go to your dads Alley,” her mom gave her opinion.

Alley
twisted her mouth to the side, trying her best not to say what she wanted to
say. “I’m not going to my dad’s,” she demanded, and left them and went back to
her room.

“If
you promise you are going to come back here, I guess she can stay here. We are
going to eventually have to trust her,” Payton told Trevas after she was gone.

Trevas
gulped the last drink of his coffee. “I better go put the fire out,” he told
her and walked upstairs to Alley.

“I
don’t need a fucking babysitter Trevas,” she demanded as soon as he opened the
door.

“I
was just coming into tell you that I would try and get out of this thing
tonight, and bring us back Chinese and maybe a movie.”

“You
don’t have to get out of it because you don’t want me to be here alone. I’m fine
here Trevas. I’m not going to do anything stupid. Go do what you need to do and
come back tonight.”

Trevas
did go and stood at the outside entrance of the restaurant with paparazzi
waiting to pounce on his famous clients, trying to have a romantic date. He was
beginning to hate them as much as Alley did. He text her several times, and she
finally told him to stop because she was fine and was going to soak in a hot bubble
bath.

His
clients were done sooner than he expected. He went in as soon as he got the
text that they were ready to come out. He escorted them to the back seat of the
SUV, pushing the cameras out of their faces as he did. He drove them back to
the boy friend’s house and made sure they were safely indoors before pulling
out and leaving.

“Evans,”
Trevas answered Fletchers call, praying that Alley hadn’t left, and did
something stupid.

“Where
are you?” He wanted to know.

“On
my way back to Peyton’s, why?”

“Just
wanted to make sure my daughter wasn’t going to be left alone for too long. I
just tried to call her, and she didn’t answer.”

“She
was going to take a bath. I’m sure she’s fine.”

“Trevas,
why don’t you give up this security business and come and work for me full
time?”

“Doing
what?” he asked curious.

“I
think you know what, basically what you did for seven weeks. Keep my daughter
entertained and out of trouble. I hate to admit it, but I think you are good
for her.”

“I
think Alley would get pretty tired of me being with her twenty four seven,” he
explained.

“Well
I doubt that. For one, she is the one that called me earlier today begging me
to offer you a full time job so that you wouldn’t go out of town anymore, and
two, I don’t think she is going to tire of you anytime soon.”

“She
called you to get you to offer me a full time job?” he asked, and it kind of
pissed him off. Who did she think she was? He knew exactly who she was. She was
a spoiled little brat that got her way, her entire life. She knew that daddy
would give her what she wanted. He was going to show her that she didn’t always
get her way. He would leave for a few days, just to show her, she didn’t have
as much power as she thought she did.

“Yeah
she did, but I want you with us during filming anyway so you may as well do it
now.”

“I
will get back to you on that. I’m not sure I’m willing to let your little evil
princess dictate when and where I work.”

“I
will leave you to deal with that one,” Fletcher replied, not wanting to touch
that at all. “Text me and let me know that she is there and everything is
okay.”

“Sure,”
he said and hung up.

Alley
was sitting on the sofa with wet hair, wearing a baggy t-shirt and reading when
he came in.

“Text
your dad and tell him that I’m here, and you’re fine,” was the first words out
of his mouth.

“Hi,
it’s nice to see you too,” she told him sarcastically, retrieving her phone to
text her dad.

“I’m
going to take a shower,” he said and started upstairs.

“Are
you mad at me?” she asked, blocking him from the bottom step.

“I’m
trying real hard to be mad at you, but you are so damn cute, it’s not easy.”

“You
talked to my dad, didn’t you?”

Trevas
kissed her quickly. “I did, and we will talk about it after bit. I’m going to
grab a shower.”

“Did
you eat?” he asked, coming down in a pair of dark blue running pants with two
white stripes running down the outside of both legs and a white t-shirt.

“I
warmed up a bowl of soup. Did you eat?”

“No,
I’m starving. Will you eat something if I cook?”

“Yeah,
I will eat with you,” she told him and walked to the kitchen. “Don’t be mad at
me.” She walked into his arms, and he of course wrapped her in his.

“You
can’t demand your dad to give me a job because you don’t want me to work late
nights or be gone for a few days.”

“Yes
I can. I hate it when you’re not here.”

Trevas
wondered if she was too attached. Did he need to distance himself from her some?
 He knew it wouldn’t work. He was just as attached to her and couldn’t wait to
be with her, even when he was only gone for a couple of hours like tonight.

“When
do you leave for Australia?”

“When
do we leave?” she corrected him, not about to go without him. “We leave not
this weekend but the next,” she added.

“Let’s
go to the cabin next week,” Trevas requested.

“That
sounds awesome, but I’m not sure it will work for my dad. I think he has things
I have to do next week.”

“Well
find out, if I’m not allowed to work, we may as well get away from here before
our world is flipped upside down.”

“Let’s
hope it’s not,” she wished, kissing him and sat at the bar so that he could
cook.

“I
have a feeling we both might regret our decisions,” he stated as he separated
bacon to fry.

“Don’t
say that Trevas, it will be fine, and we will be finished in no time,” she
replied, trying to convince herself more than him. She knew what she was
getting into. She had been rushed to vehicles and vacant rooms many of times
with her mother, trying to get away from the fans and the cameras. She just
hoped that she didn’t become as popular as her mother and decided a long time
ago that she wouldn’t be as friendly and outgoing with the public as her mother,
hoping it would help.

“And
then what?” he asked, moving the bacon around with a fork, not looking at her.

Alley
stared at him intently. “I don’t know Trevas, you tell me and then what.”

Their
serious conversation was interrupted when Trevas’s phone rang on the bar in
front of Alley.

“It’s
your mom,” she said, looking down at it.

“Answer
it.”

“Hello
Kay. How are you?”

“I’m
good Alley. How are you doing? Are you ready for your big movie?”

Alley
groaned. “I guess, as ready as I will ever be. I still can’t believe I agreed
to this.”

“I’m
excited for you. You will do great, don’t worry about it.”

“I
know I will do great,” she said modestly. “That’s not what I’m worried about.
It’s the publicity that I don’t want.”

“I
think you have to take one with the other dear.”

“Yes
I know. I just hope it goes fast.”

“It
will. I’m coming there for a few days next week. We are going to do the auction
at my parents place next week, and I would love, love, love you forever if you
introduced me to your mother.”

Alley
laughed, “Okay, but only if you promise to love me forever.”

“Yes,”
she exclaimed excited, and Alley laughed again.

“Do
you want to talk to Trevas?” she asked and then saw Trevas shaking his head as
he cracked eggs. “Never mind he said he would call you back. He is busy
cooking.”

“Okay
tell him to clean his apartment, I’m staying on his couch for a few days.”

“Got
it,” she said and they said goodbye.

“We
are not going to the cabin,” Alley told Trevas, and he looked up puzzled.

“Why?”

“Your
mom is coming in. They are doing the auction at your grandparents next
Wednesday. Are you making breakfast?” she asked, watching him flip eggs.

“Oh
well, it was a thought anyway, and yes we are having breakfast for supper. Is
that okay?”

“No,”
she said with a serious face and he turned to look at her.

“Really?”
he asked, thinking, now what?”

Alley
laughed. “Yes breakfast sounds and smells really good. I just wanted to see if
you would make me something else if I said no.”

“What
do you think?”

“Hmm,
I guess it could go either way. If I was being an evil princess, as you say,
you would tell me to eat it, but if you really thought I didn’t want it, I
would say you would fix me whatever I wanted.”

“I
would say you are right on both accounts,” he smiled at her. “And I love the
shit out of you.”

Alley
laughed, and he sat her plate of fried eggs, bacon, hash browns and toast in
front of her.

“Do
you really expect me to eat all of this? Can I have some ketchup?”

Trevas
sat the ketchup in front of her. “Please tell me you want it for the potatoes
and you are not one of those people who eat it on their eggs.”

Alley
looked at him, and he knew she was going to dump it on her eggs, he just shook
his head as she did.

Trevas
and Alley were in bed pretty early and after arguing over the cooking channel
or MTV Alley turned it off and lay in his arms. He kissed her hair and pulled
her close to him. Her legs felt warm and soft on his as they entwined them
together.

“You
never answered my question earlier,” Alley asked, and although Trevas knew what
she was talking about he asked anyway.

“What
question is that?”

“The
one that you were going to tell me what we are doing after all of this is over.”

“I
can’t answer that. Can you? I don’t think it needs an answer. We don’t know
what is going to happen in nine months or a year from now.”

“I
want to move to Utah and buy a house there. With you,” she added.

“That
is an option but let’s not make any plans. I have to be able to find work and
you need to figure out what you want to do with your life.”

“What
do you mean what do I want to do with my life? I just told you what I wanted.”

“And
you think that you would be satisfied just moving to Utah and not working? I
mean what do you want to do? What have you thought about doing when you grew
up?”

“When
I was a kid I always wanted to be a mailman.”

Trevas
laughed, “You can be a mailman if you want.”

“I
have thought about being a writer and I have also thought about being an
English teacher, but I’m not sure my personality could handle that.”

“I
think that your personality would be an asset to you teaching English.”

“Well,
I guess you are right, and neither of us can answer that question yet, but I do
know that whatever we do, it will be together, right?”

“I
hope that too. Now stop talking and take your clothes off,” he teased.

“No,”
she answered, not moving her head from his chest to look at him.

“No?”

“Uh-uh.”

“You
do realize that I am trained to take you down don’t you?”

“But
that would be against my will.”

“Okay,”
Trevas said and moved her off of him, turning his back toward her. “If that’s
how you want it. I wouldn’t want to force you to do something that you didn’t
want to do.”

Alley
rolled over too, putting her back to him to the far side of the bed. “You know
you will crack before I do,” she accused, sounding very confident.

“We’ll
see, my evil princess.”

Alley
rolled to her back and tossed her shirt over his face from her side of the king
size bed. Trevas pulled it off and turned to look at her, and she smiled back
with an evil grin.

“I’m
still not cracking,” he promised, and watched her remove her skimpy panties
from under the covers and toss them to him as well.