He took it but he didn't want to believe it. He had all this shit pulled so where the hell did this come from? In fact, he cashed in a rather huge favor to do that! So, to say he was pissed off would be an understatement
Maybe issues for him like this weren't huge. The stories he saw and read were just as much of his everyday upbringing as eating was, as seeing stars walking down the street. She was worried and had no reason to be. Hollywood was vicious, sure, but it was a story-a-day type of fame. They just needed the next big thing to latch onto and would forget about them. But he didn't think he could say that, not right now.
"Hey," he told her, walking over and cupping her cheek. "I will find out what happened here because I had all of this taken care of. You don't need to worry about it."
"But it had us on the cover with some nasty headline." He placed a finger over her lips and smiled.
"It did, and that's okay. It won't hurt either of us. It's a tabloid, trash that people step on and leave behind."
"Someone bought it."
"Probably," he told her, "because there were some other famous people on the cover and that story is way more scandalous than ours. I'm going to say no one even glanced at us. Really, JD, don't let this ruin our morning, okay?" He brushed her hair back, wanting to ease whatever fears were rising. She nodded but her eyes still told the truth of how much that bothered her.
He wanted to say they wouldn't be a story, that people wouldn't glance their way, but he couldn't. He couldn't lie like that to her and end up hurting her even more. Sure, she was okay with things he was starting to guess when it was a lot more behind closed doors, but he wasn't like that. He saw nothing wrong in being with her or dating her, and he had been like that for a while. If he was crazy enough to admit, he thought he had a mental fling with her the moment he wrapped up the book. He had read quite a few different stories, sure, but there was just something in the way she wrote that made you feel like you had entered her mind, and that wasn't something he found a lot of.
And after a week or two, he had picked the book up again and found new reasons to enjoy it, and new reasons to enjoy her. So, he did what any normal male would do, he stalked. Maybe it wasn't smart, but oh well. He had built an image up in his head and when rumorville started about the book becoming a movie, he had to jump at the opportunity. Not because he thought he could meet her, but because it was a character he loved and so badly wanted to play. He, like others in the field as well, was quite surprised to see a new release be brought to the big screen. That just wasn't something that was done.
"Thank you," she whispered before turning to head back to the room to change. He sighed to himself and took the magazine out again, flipping through the pages to see what could be said. Really, there wasn't much of anything. A picture of them leaving with a small ass caption, nothing to get up in arms about. He had to figure out a way to make her see that this was also part of Hollywood. Not really the nasty stories, but stories in general. Anyone who was famous and stepped out of their house for anything was bound to get put in a magazine, it's just how this world, this city worked.
He had pulled all the hate comments and pictures, this wasn't that though, so pieces like this slipped through. And because of that, he put his phone back away. He couldn't rage at his buddy because his buddy had done everything that was asked. With a mental sigh, Angel leaned against the wall and shut his eyes. He wasn't even sure they were dating yet, and their road was already filling up with dents and potholes, not a good sign. He heard the door open, and he turned around, his mouth dropping slightly at the look.
"Wow," was all he managed to stutter out. Sure, what a great way to sound like a mature man! She grinned at him and did a little twirl.
"Just wow, that's it?" He chuckled and walked over to her, taking her hand. No, wow didn't scratch the surface of how beautiful and stunning she looked. And this was just a simple summer-style dress, nothing fancy. God, he could picture her in a red-carpet dress, and the image he had made his mouth water.
"So much better than wow. You look beautiful, and it's a simple style." He grinned. The dress hugged her curves, and this woman did not look like the old woman she thought. She was forty, he knew that, but damn, she could easily pass for a woman in her young thirties, not that she would believe that. Maybe that's why a lot of people wouldn't talk about such a strong age-gap piece, she simply didn't look it.
"Thank you," she muttered, ducking her head with a sweet blush that tinged her cheeks and he swore there was never a more beautiful sight. He wondered, yet again in his poor damn mind, how that blush would look if it flushed her body. Personally, that wasn't something he couldn't wait to see, and he was quite determined to make sure he saw it, but to also make sure it was something he could achieve if it wasn't something she did.
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"Pull over." Angel glanced at Judith, frowning. Why was she demanding that? She seemed fine. She couldn't possibly be nervous. "Angel, up ahead, pull over."
"Okay, but why?" he asked as he turned into the store parking lot.
"Your mom said not to bring anything, but my mom would have my hide if I walked into someone's house empty-handed." With that, once he parked the car, she jumped out and ran inside. He wanted to chuckle, but he couldn't because he could understand that. His mom often said the same thing. He drummed on the steering wheel as he waited and after a few minutes, saw her walk out with a bag in one hand and a bouquet of flowers in the other. Oh, his mom was going to give him shit big time.
"Uh," he started as she climbed back in the car.
"What?" she asked, laying the flowers carefully on her lap.
"Mind if I give her the flowers?" He backed out of the spot, but he didn't miss the look she tossed him, and he couldn't blame her. It was an odd question, but that's not what that look meant. In fact, she seemed to find it hard not to laugh that that. "What?"
"Don't buy your mom flowers enough, do you? And she's probably going to rip you a new one for it?" He lifted a shoulder in a half-shrug, but she pegged him right. And once he didn't answer, she just laughed. "God, you're so much like Justin. Swear you two are just the same man brain."
"Why don't you talk more about your family?"
"Not sure. It's not like I'm trying to protect them or anything," she said, playing with the plastic wrapping on the flowers. "Just don't come up much." He glanced at her, not buying that excuse at all. There were plenty of times she could have mentioned something, especially since it seemed that there were common factors between his family and hers, but he thought it best not to make a comment on that. She wanted to keep things to herself for some reason. No, on second thought, knowing her and her feelings, he could guess why she wouldn't want to get into it, but it seemed like fate was telling her other things. In this case, he would just let fate do all the hard work.
"So, be ready for a loud bunch of people," he told her as he pulled down the street. "My family doesn't know how to stay quiet for very long. And at this point, I'm sure everyone knows about you, as my mother isn't the quiet kind." He glanced at her as he pulled along the house, and she checked it out.
"What a nice house, helped only some, huh?" He ducked his head, climbed out of the car, and walked around the front to open the door for her.
"You made it," his mom said as she walked out the door and down the pathway, a huge smile on her face. Angel made a vow that he needed to stop by and see his mom more. Not that she didn't know how he was or how the business was, but it wasn't an excuse to not see her. "Oh, you look beautiful tonight, Judith! And what pretty flowers, you didn't have to."
"What makes you think I got them?" Rosie took the bouquet and smiled as she slipped her arm around her son's waist.
"Because my son doesn't get me flowers unless it's Mother's Day, and only because I grilled him years ago about that." She gave him a squeeze, teasing him before walking over to Judith and linking her arm through Judith's. "You didn't have to get that though, nor the wine, but I thank you."
"I always told not to come emptyhanded," Judith told his mom, a smile on her face. He watched the two ladies and felt something twist inside. He rather liked watching these two and it might not be a good thing. For him, he had no problem getting in a relationship, even with her living somewhere in the middle of nowhere, but for her, he was thinking that she was sure she didn't want a lasting relationship, and given how much he was into her, he wasn't sure a fling would be a good thing.