Gravity Happens (Forcing Gravity) (2 page)

But that wouldn’t be hard, because Jase was incredibly down-to-earth.
He’d grown up in a really stable family with parents who, although they had money, didn’t act like it. They were actually a lot like my dad. And although they’d supported their son’s desires to act at an early age, they made sure his fame didn’t go to his head.

They’d always treated him the same as they treated his
three sisters – Mia, Tara and Nora – never giving him the right to think he was better than anyone because of what he did and how the world viewed him. I actually loved his family since they were so normal, and aside from my dad, my family was anything but normal.

My dad
crossed the room to sit at the kitchen table with me. I stood, grabbed him a Sam Adams from the fridge and placed it in front of him.

“This boy is really worth all of that garbage?” he asked,
jerking his thumb toward the front yard.

“Yes, he is,” I
said firmly.

I really hoped he’d drop the attitude by the time Jase arrived. It would be a long
evening if he didn’t. But at least after tonight, I would have covered all my bases. My dad was the last person in my life to meet Jase. 

My
mother loved him, but that was because she was thrilled that I was dating a famous actor who she thought was hot. She’d been an A-list actress since pretty much right after I was born, and although I didn’t live with her while I was growing up, I spent every summer at her house in L.A. And because of that, I knew she loved fame more than she loved anything else. It was what drove her and my dad apart and what had kept her from having meaningful relationships with me or my little sister, Skylar.

There was always something more important than her family, be it a movie she was filming, her beauty treatments that kept her looking ten years younger than she really was, her workouts with her trainer
, or any number of social functions that showed she was still as relevant as ever in Hollywood.

She was definitely
not one of those actresses who fades into the background and becomes a more dignified representative of their craft, like Meryl Streep or Julia Roberts. No, she was like Demi Moore, dating men half her age and going places where she could see and be seen. And even though she’d been acting for close to twenty years, she was only thirty-seven, so she felt justified in living a youthful, carefree existence.

I
honestly didn’t have a lot in common with her. Fame was something that followed me, or rather it followed my boyfriend, and therefore me by default. I didn’t chase it. I was much more aligned with my dad’s camp that my life was really not fascinating enough to be recorded.

But here lat
ely, it seemed my life had gotten more interesting. There had been rumblings that Jase and I were on the outs, since we’d been spotted together so often in the past few months, but then for the past two weeks, he’d been going out alone or with his friends. And the press knew I was in Ft. Lauderdale.

So s
peculations arose that we were fighting, especially after a picture surfaced of Jase hugging an unknown female. She turned out to be his best friend, Freddie Ruiz’s sister Janelle, who I’d actually met several times, but the assumptions that he’d moved on from me to her, and countless other women, were out there.

It was like the press
couldn’t handle the fact that we were happy. They were just waiting for him to break up with me or cheat on me or do something scandalous. I wasn’t sure why no one had connected the dots that I’d just gone home for Christmas break, because that’s really all I’d done.

W
e both knew the paparazzi who were camped outside my dad’s house would have a field day when Jase showed up. I’d already warned him about them, and we had a plan to get him inside safely and unseen.

My phone beeped
then, pulling me back to the moment.

Leaving the airport now. See you soon.

I smiled goofily. I missed Jase, and I couldn’t wait to see him.

Ten minutes later
he texted me to let me know they were close, so I sent my dad out to open the garage door, and my heart started to pound. I didn’t think I’d been this excited to see anyone in a long time.

I could see the SUV with the blackened windows pull into the driveway and the paparazzi went nuts snapping pictures, but they only got the outside of the vehicle as it pulled inside and my dad closed the door after it. It was a carefully orchestrated arrival that Jase and I had planned out to minimize his exposure. It was annoying that we had to do it, but it was also a small price to pay for a little privacy.

As soon as the garage door closed, I was on my feet, bursting into the garage and practically knocking my dad over.

“Logan!” he said sternly, but I didn’t care.

“Sorry, Dad,” I said as I ran past him, right into Jase who was climbing out of the SUV.

I think I startled him when I wrapped my arms around him and shoved him back against the car
, but he recovered quickly and looked down at me with a big smile on his face.

“You missed me,” h
e said with  just a hint of awe in his voice.

Of course I missed him.
I looked up in to his bright green eyes and took a few seconds to drink in his features. Seeing them over the Internet was no comparison.

“So much,” I told him as I leaned up and kissed him, but he wouldn’t let me deepen it at all.

Which I guess was fine. My dad was watching, and he’d never seen me with a boy who wasn’t just a friend, so I honestly wasn’t sure how he would react. But I knew it would be hard to hide all the pent up urges I had since I was used to seeing Jase every day and spending the night in his bed on a regular basis. Now he was staying with us, in the guest room, right across the hall from me.

And it was going to be oh
, so tempting.

I figured
maybe I could sneak into his room after my dad fell asleep. His room was across the house, and he slept like the dead, but I wasn’t sure if Jase would go for it. He knew my dad was protective, and he wanted to make a good impression. Getting caught in a compromising position so my dad knew my virtue was no longer intact probably wasn’t the best way to do that.

Jase broke the kiss and untangled my arms from his waist as he looked up
, and I’m sure, saw my dad watching us. I turned and caught his gaze, took Jase’s hand and walked him over to my father, as the guy who I could only assume was Charlie, unloaded Jase’s bags from the back.

“Daddy, this is Jason Brady
,” I told my father proudly.

Jase immediately dropped my hand and stuck his out for my father to shake. “
Call me Jase,” he said. “It’s nice to meet you, sir.”

“Steve,” my dad said
, shaking his hand. “Call me Steve. I’m too young to be called sir.”

Jas
e grinned his seven-watt mega-movie star grin, and I hugged him around the waist.

“Okay, Steve
it is,” he said, then he turned to Charlie who was standing quietly behind us. I hadn’t even heard him walk up. He was so stealthy.

“You good, man?” Jase asked him, and Charlie nodded. He seemed like the strong, silent type.

Jase was staying with us, but Charlie was staying at a nearby hotel. I’d figured he’d want his bodyguard nearby, but Jase wasn’t concerned about anyone breaking into our house. I think he was still adjusting to having full time security, and although I knew he liked Charlie, I didn’t think he was overly thrilled with the idea of having him around twenty-four seven.

“Cool. So, this is m
y girlfriend, Logan,” Jase said, beaming slightly. “Logan, this is Charlie – my ‘protector’ for all intents and purposes.”

I smiled. That was my word – protector. And
Charlie was exactly that. He was huge – all big and muscly and assuming with really short blond hair. I couldn’t have picked anyone better to look out for Jase, and I was glad he’d finally broken down and hired someone. In the past he’d contracted out guys to guard him when he needed it, but in the past few months since
Radio Riot
and
The Mulvaneys
had done so well in the theaters, Jase’s popularity had risen tremendously, and it was hard for him to go anywhere without a bodyguard.

I’d learned that Charlie was
his go-to guy whenever he went to New York, and when he was thinking of hiring a bodyguard, Charlie’s name was at the top of the list. I knew Jase felt better hiring someone he knew and trusted as opposed to taking his chances with an unknown guy, and Charlie had been more than amendable to move to L.A. for the job.

“It’s nice to meet you, Charlie,” I said, as I hugged Jase tighter.

I actually hated the idea of him needing protection, but there were crazy photographers and crazier fans, and in general, crazy people who could potentially hurt him, so I was grateful for Charlie.

“You too, Logan. Jase talked my ear off about you the whole way out he
re,” he said, an almost-smirk creeping up on his face.

“Dude, not cool,” Jase chastised him playfully. Charlie just shrugged.

“You missed me, too,” I teased Jase, and he just smiled.

“Of course I did,
” he said and winked at me. Then he turned to Charlie. “Go on, man. I’m good here for tonight, but I think Logan and I are going to the beach tomorrow. She’s going to teach me to surf, so come back around ten?”

Charlie nodded. “I’ll be here.”

“Thanks, man,” Jase said, giving him one of those guy handshake/hug things.

I turned to Jase. “Come on inside. Let me show you where I grew up.”

He smiled down at me, and I immediately felt all gooey inside.

Chapter Two

Ethan

I closed my eyes and envisioned the girl on top of me with
curly blond hair and blue eyes as I let her send me into oblivion. And when she did, it was Logan’s name on my lips, but I bit down on my tongue so I wouldn’t actually call out her name. Lizzy would be pissed is she knew I was thinking about Logan while we had sex. Sure, we were just friends with benefits, but I knew she’d take offense to me using her to work through my inappropriate crush on my best friend.

Lizzy collapsed on top of me, and I let her, as both of us tried to catch our breath. There was a reason I called her whenever things got to be too much and I needed a release. Being with her was nothing short of spec
tacular. If only I was into her my life might not be so complicated.

It had been almost three months since I’d let Logan know how I felt about her, since I’d kissed her and she’d run. Then she’d chosen her movie star
, douchebag boyfriend over me, and it not only pissed me off, but it was a complete blow to my ego. I was better looking than Jason Brady, I was more fun to be around, and I knew Logan better than he ever could. Hell, she’d been my best friend for over ten years. He’d known her for, what, four months? That was some bullshit.

Lizzy made a sound like a cat stretching and rolled off of me. Then she looked at me.

“You are amazing, Ethan. Thanks for calling me,” she said before she pecked me on the cheek once and hopped off of my bed.

She started to put her clothes on, and I was glad
she was so cool about our arrangement. She never wanted to stay the night, which was totally good with me. I didn’t need anyone getting attached when I was so fucked up in the head.

When I’d initially told Logan how I felt about her, she
told me she thought I didn’t really want to be with her, that I just wanted a girlfriend. I just felt safe with her, that’s why I thought I had feelings for her. But I knew that wasn’t true. My feelings were real.

“See you later on this week?” Lizzie asked, her hand on my doorknob.

I put my hands behind my head and looked over at her. “Call me anytime.”

She grinned. “You know I will.”

Damn, she had one hell of a libido, and it suited my eighteen year-old sex drive just fine.

“Hey Garrett,” she murmured as she shut my door and stepped out into the hall.

A few seconds later there was a knock on my door. “You decent, bro?”

“No,” I yelled back to my brother.

That should have been obvious. He knew why Lizzie came over, and I was pretty sure he’d heard us. She wasn’t exactly quiet.

“Get decent. I’m coming in, and I don’t want to see your junk.”

I rolled my eyes and sat up, getting off the bed to walk into my bathroom. I disposed of the condom, yanked my boxers back on and yelled for him to come in.

Garrett wrinkled his nose when he walked in, and I knew my room smelled like sex. We’d gone a couple of rounds since I didn’t have class th
at afternoon and neither did Lizzie. I wasn’t even sure what time it was.

Instead of saying anything to my brother, I went over to the French doors and opened them wide, letting the California
ocean air flow through the room and air it out.