Just for the Summer (Chasing Carolina #0.5) (19 page)

Chapter One

STANDING OUT ON MY PATIO
beside the pool, I stare up at the Hollywood sign that’s only a few hundred yards away from my home. It’s sad saying goodbye to this house. Savannah and I have made so many amazing memories here since we moved in two years ago. As soon as we graduated from college we rented this house in the Hollywood Hills. I decide I need one more picture before I walk out the door of this house forever. Grabbing my phone, I take a quick selfie with the Hollywood sign behind me and then pull up Twitter. I upload the pic, tagging Savannah and type,

@Savannah_Livingston Saying Goodbye 2 our bachelorette pad.

Gonna miss this house & all the memories we made here.

Stuffing my phone back into my purse, I take one more look around before walking out the front door and locking it. Climbing into my Jeep, I drive down the driveway and head to the closest Starbucks for a much needed caffeine boost. After spending the entire day with movers getting the house packed up, I am in desperate need of a pick me up.

I never thought in a million years I’d be moving out of Los Angeles. I travel all over the country for work but still always thought of L.A. as my home, and now to be saying goodbye, feels surreal. I was thinking about keeping the house but without Savannah paying half the rent, its way to expensive. I won’t be able to live in Galveston full-time because of my filming in Vancouver and work I have here in the city. I’ll be flying back and forth quite a bit so I plan on staying at my parents’ house in Beverly Hills whenever I’m in town.

But I’m excited for a change of scenery. I have lived in Los Angeles my entire life and I’m over the whole dating actors and models. They are so pretentious.

I told Savannah, since we’ve only had a few days together to visit lately, we’re going out as soon as I get back down there. We need to do some cowboy hunting for me. She has herself a sexy ass cowboy, her new boyfriend Kayden Knox, so now it’s my turn to get me one.

L.A. traffic is horrific right now. After sitting in traffic for thirty minutes, I’m finally able to park my Jeep alongside the curb. I fix my hair and makeup in the visor mirror before grabbing my purse and jumping out. The streets are buzzing with people everywhere. Starbucks is packed as I make my way inside.

Getting in line, I pull out my phone and scroll through Facebook to pass the time before I’m finally called up to place my order. After ordering my coffee flavored Frappuccino, I step off to the side and wait for it to be made. Of course being my usual clumsy self, I foolishly try to text and walk, and end up crashing against a tall hard body.
Looking up I mentally cringe.

Of all the males in the Los Angeles area, I have to run into Logan Sanders.

Kill me now please
.

“Whoa…Brooklyn.” He says reaching out and grabbing my arms.

Letting out a loud sigh I give him a fake smile, “Oh, so sorry about that.” Holding my phone up I tell him, “Texting and walking, seriously the most dangerous thing on the planet.”

Nodding he lets out a nervous laugh, “Sure is. So, how have you been?”

The last thing I want to do is have small talk with this douchebag.

Dropping my phone back into my purse, I grab my coffee that was just set on the counter. Turning back to Logan, I decide he’ll learn sooner or later, so maybe me telling him will finally get him to leave Savannah alone for good.

“I’ve been great. Super busy with filming and packing up our house. I actually just finished up about thirty minutes ago, so I stopped here for a coffee on the way to my parents’ house.”

Raising an eyebrow he gives me a questionable look, “Packing? Where are you moving to? Savannah’s moving, too?”

Shifting my weight onto my right foot, I take a sip of my coffee as I glance towards the exit. I just want to get as far away from this man as fast as I can, before I can’t resist the urge to knee him in the balls any longer.

“Yeah. Our landlord was letting us lease month by month since we’ve been there two years so, thankfully, he let us move. We are in need of a change of scenery. We’re both sick of the L.A. smog and the nonstop drama that comes with living here. So we’re moving into the beach house in Galveston.”

Logan’s face quickly goes from confused to angry.

Crossing his arms against his chest, he lowers his voice and glares down at me. “What a coincidence she decided to move to a town just outside Houston, where that Kayden Knox guy lives. I saw the photos of them after the Envy party. I’m guessing this has a lot to do with that guy and not just needing a change of scenery.”

This is the last place I want to be having this conversation. Nervously shifting my purse on my shoulder, I eye the people around us, praying no one is giving Logan any attention. He is seriously the worst fame whore of all time.

I glare straight back up at him, “You lost the right to know anything about Savannah the day you decided it was okay to bang any whore who walked into your office. Kayden is a hundred times the man you ever were and a stallion in the sack…” Spinning on my heels, I take a long sip from my coffee before flashing him a mega-watt smile, “Have a nice life Logan.” The sarcasm in my voice is evident, I can’t help but giggle at the look of fury on his face.

I just lost five minutes of my life I’ll never get back, but the look on Logan’s face when I told him about Kayden was so worth it. I’m glad I won’t have to run into his sorry ass every damn day now.

I now understand why Savannah wants to get the fuck out of this cesspool they call Hollywood.

My parents are out to dinner with some friends. So I have the entire house to myself and taking full advantage of it. I’m soaking in the hot tub enjoying a nice bottle of white wine while jamming out to my future husband, Jared Leto, and his band 30 Seconds To Mars.

The best band. Ever.

Savannah picks on me every time I tell her I can’t settle down because I’m saving myself for him, but hey, it could happen. With my head leaning back and my eyes closed, I’m getting lost in Jared’s amazing voice as he sings
Hurricane
when the song is cut off because I’m getting a call.

Sitting up and splashing water everywhere, I set my wine glass down and grab my phone. Looking at the screen, I see Reagan’s gorgeous face smiling back at me. I answer and immediately put him on speaker phone.

Soaking back into the water, I relish in the sensation of the jets on my back as I cheerfully answer in my best valley girl voice, “Reagan! What’s up love?”

“Hey! Nothing much, you busy?”

“Nope, just chillin’ in the hot tub.”

I hear Reagan speak to someone before I hear a car door slam and an engine roar to life. He must be just getting out of work.

“Sorry about that, just leaving the office. Well, I have some juicy deets for you and knew you’d want to be the first to know. Believe me, it’s pretty fucking juicy!”

Instantly, my interest is peeked. Sitting up, I climb onto my knees and kneel on the seat. Hovering over the edge of the hot tub closer to my phone, I grab my towel and dry my hands and face. “Ohh, I’m all ears. Do tell.”

Reagan lets out a low husky chuckle before speaking again, “You sure do love your gossip. Well let’s just say Savannah found a surprise visitor on her doorstep this afternoon and you’ll never believe who it was.”

He had me at gossip but now I’m all in with ‘surprise visitor.’ “You’re killing me Reagan! Who the hell visited Savannah today?”

“Logan.” Is all he says before bursting out laughing.

He’s laughing so hard into the phone and trying to continue but can’t get his words out. They just sound like gibberish to me.

All I keep hearing is Logan’s name.

What the hell?!

Logan flew to Texas? I just saw him earlier today.

Oh. Shit.

“Reagan!” I shout into the phone. I’m now going into full on freak-the-hell-out mode. “Pull yourself together and tell me what the fuck happened!”

I hear his laughter start to taper off as he gasps for air. “Sorry…sorry. It’s just, I can’t believe it and thinking about it again hit me all at once. I couldn’t control myself.”

Letting out a loud sigh, I grab my phone and climb out of the hot tub. Wrapping a towel around my body, I pad across the stone patio and plop down on an outdoor lounger. “Well now that you’re all good, can you tell me what the hell Logan was doing at the beach house and why the hell you’re laughing about it?”

“I guess you had a little run in with Logan today and spilled the beans about moving. So that asshole decided he was going to try and win Savannah back. He flew to Houston, then with a rental car drove to the beach house where he surprised Savannah. As we can imagine, she was pretty freaking pissed to find him on her doorstep.”

“That’s putting it lightly. I can picture steam pouring out of her ears when she realized it was that cheating piece of shit at her door. Seriously, Reagan! We just packed up all of our belongings to move to Galveston to get away from that douchebag and his never ending attempts to get back with her. Now he has the audacity to fly out there and harass her. I’m surprised Kayden didn’t beat his ass.”

I cannot believe this. What in the world would possess that man to fly down there? I don’t understand why he can’t just move the hell on. He is seriously mental. Logan cheats on Savannah for years but still thinks that there’s a chance for them to work things out. If he is smart, he’ll get his ass back on a plane and fly back to Los Angeles; he doesn’t know who he’s dealing with. Kayden Knox is 6’3” and solid muscle. Not to mention he’s from the South. Those country boys can whoop some ass. I’ve seen enough over the years with traveling to know pretty boy, Logan, is signing a death wish if he tries to go up against Kayden.

Reagan’s voice breaks me out of my thoughts, “Lucky for Logan, Kayden wasn’t there yet. And, believe me, I thought the same exact thing. Logan has lost his damn mind. But that’s not even the best part. He groveled at Savannah’s feet, begging her to come back to L.A. Even after she repeatedly told him no, and she’s starting fresh in Galveston. He continued to try and promise her the world if she’d give him another chance. I guess he spewed some shit at her about Kayden and she snapped...and I mean…
Snapped
.”

Oh no. Savannah is a firecracker. She looks tiny, adorable and innocent. But piss her off and she goes all Southern on your ass!

“Oh my God. Please tell me my best friend isn’t in need of someone to bail her out.” I ask Reagan nervously.

Laughing, Reagan tells me, “No. Not that I know of. But I’m surprised she isn’t being charged with assault. She busted Logan’s nose pretty good. I was freaking out when I saw online he was spotted at George Bush International. I thought maybe she had a lapse in judgment and took his sorry ass back. Thank God that was far from the truth.”

Oh. My. God! I am dying here. Now I’m the one laughing hysterically. She finally gave the King of Douchebags exactly what he deserved. Except, if it was me, I would’ve kept on going. To hell with stopping at one punch. I would’ve made sure his baby makers were officially out of business by the time I was through with him.

Taking deep breaths, I calm myself down as I press my hand over my abdomen to try and ease the cramp in my side from laughing so hard.

“She isn’t pissed at me is she?” I ask between breaths. “Since you know I’m the reason he knew where to find her.”

“No. She knows he would have come sooner rather than later with her and Kayden all over the news. You know Hollywood. They love a hot new couple and will talk about it until we’re all sick of hearing it.”