Breaking Stars (The Celebrity 2)

“Hell yes, it’ll work. Paige is a romantic at heart, and she’d never expect this from you. She knows that this will be a totally uncharacteristic thing for you to do, so she’ll fucking melt over it,” he added.

I nodded in agreement, praying this would be enough, then directed my gaze toward Quinn. “Why are you helping me?”

Her expression finally softened. “Because I love my best friend, and I know she wants to be with you, even if she doesn’t. She’s going through a lot of stuff right now, and she’s trying so hard to be strong in every aspect. I’m really proud of her, but this thing with you…I think she would regret it eventually if she let you walk away.”

I met her eyes and sighed. “I know that feeling all too well.”

Forgiveness

Paige

After seeing Tatum, I’d driven straight to my parents’ house. I was dying to tell my mom how he’d shown up unannounced, then ask for her advice.

My heart hurt and my head was confused. I didn’t know what the right thing to do was when it came to Tatum. I wanted to take him back into my life the second I saw him, but I knew I needed to stand up for myself when it came to him. It was hard as hell, but I had managed to survive it. Barely.

“I wish you hadn’t sent him away,” Mom said, practically pouting in her disappointment.

“Mom!”

She shrugged. “I’m just saying that it would have been nice to meet him.”

“You’re supposed to be on my side,” I complained as she wrapped her arms around me.

“Oh, honey, I am on your side. You can’t blame me for wanting to meet him.”

I let out a dramatic sigh and rolled my eyes. “Fine. I don’t blame you for wanting to meet Tatum, but I want you to tell me that I did the right thing.”

My phone started to ring with Quinn’s ringtone and I reached for it, my mom currently saved by my best friend.

“Hello?”

“Turn on Channel Seven right now.”

“What?” Nerves coursed through my body as what I assumed was more bad news about me being spread. “I can’t take any more bad press, Quinn.”

“Paige Lagertha Lockwood, turn on Channel Seven this instant before I hunt you down and hurt you!” she screamed into the phone before hanging up on me.

“Apparently we need to turn on Channel Seven,” I told Mom before looking around the living room for the remote. Pressing the power button, I switched the cable box to the right channel and felt the color drain my face immediately.

“Oh good Lord, is that him?” my mom asked as I all but fell back onto the couch.

Tatum looked stupid hot in his charcoal-gray suit as he sat across from Wendy Wong, a well-known entertainment reporter with golden skin and long dark hair.

“What is he doing?” I breathed out to no one in particular, knowing how uncomfortable he had to be.

I clicked the volume button up on the remote until I could hear him loud and clear, the drawl in his voice pinching my heart. I recognized the candles adorning the wall behind him, along with the other artwork that barely showed in the television frame. He was at Quinn’s house. Reaching for one of the couch pillows, I pulled it to my stomach and squeezed it against me.

Wendy: Would you care to clear up the rumors about you and Paige cheating long before Colin ever did?

Tatum: I didn’t even meet Paige until after she and Colin had broken up. He cheated on her, and not the other way around. Paige isn’t the type of person to do that, and I think you all know that. Colin, on the other hand, every time I see him, he gives me a new reason to dislike him.

Wendy: Is that why you hit him?

What? Tatum hit Colin? When had they even seen each other?

My mom turned to look at me, her mind clearly filled with the same questions as mine.

Tatum: I hit him because he said something horrible about Paige. He said things a guy should never say about a girl.