A Beautiful Star (Beautiful Series, Book 5) Read Online Free PDF Page B

press is going to be there waiting for me. I just don’t want to be here being tricked into caring about a man who practices deception for a living.”
    I turn around and walk out, slamming the empty glass on the bar as I grab my bag and leave. I keep my head held high as I slam the door behind me, hoping to god that he doesn’t chase me out as I wait for the lift.
    But he doesn’t come out. He doesn’t call after me. He simply remains inside the hotel suite and I ride the lift down, feeling even surer that I reacted correctly. Jonathan Masters was just trying to bed me for sport. There was no real connection.
    Wiping at my eyes, I check my reflection in the mirrored elevator and hate that I’m feeling emotional over this. But more than that, I hate that he almost tricked me into believing him. I feel like such a dumb arse.
    The elevator doors ping open, and I’m released into the foyer of the hotel, the bright lights of the open modern floor plan causing me to squint slightly as I head straight for the door, thanking my lucky stars when I see a couple exiting a taxi outside.
    “Are you free?” I ask the cab driver, who nods and waits for me to slide into the backseat and rattle off an address, breathing a sigh of relief as he pulls away from the hotel, as I hope that I can put this whole incident behind me. The last thing I need in my life is regret over a man like Jonathan Masters. I’m just not that kind of girl.
    Not anymore.

Chapter 7
     
     
     
     
    “Shit,” I hiss, listening to Lisa’s voicemail greeting for what I think may be the thirtieth time. I know she’s going through a lot right now, and I just wish she’d talk to me so I know she got away safely.
    My mother knocks on my door. “Is everything alright, Sandra?”
    I chose to come and sleep at my parent’s house last night. Despite my bravado when I left the hotel, I was a little too nervous to spend the night alone at my place with a busted up window. Who knows what could have happened if I’d gone back there? Most likely, I would have woken up to paparazzi in my bedroom, photographing me drooling… not pretty.
    “Yeah, mum. Everything’s fine. I just can’t get a hold of Lisa.”
    She walks in and sits on the end of the bed I slept in until I moved out home. Everything in my childhood bedroom is exactly the same, from the band posters on the wall to the floral bedspread that covers the single bed.
    “Her picture is all over the paper, and I saw her on the morning show too. And, I saw you. They’re suggesting that you’re that movie guy’s ‘other woman’. People are reporting seeing you go into a hotel with him.”
    I drop my phone on the bed and lie back, covering my face with my hands. “Have they released my name?”
    “No. But it’s only a matter of time, I suppose. They know where you live. They’ll find out whose name is on the title or go through your mail…”
    “This is just brilliant,” I groan.
    “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I’m not trying to make it worse. I’m just being practical.”
    “I know, mum. I know. I just can’t believe that in trying to get my friend out of a mess, I’ve gotten myself into my own one.”
    “Is there anything I can do?” she asks, reaching out to pat my hair like I’m a child, and I let her, because she’s my mum and it feels nice.
    “Could you see my face?”
    “Not really,” she says slowly, and I wonder what she’s holding back, so I sit up really fast and grab my phone, bringing up an entertainment news site that is featuring all the pictures on their homepage as the story of the moment.
    “What do you mean ‘not really’? What’s wrong with the picture?” I flick through the article and quickly land on the photo I’m in. I’m standing there, wrapped in Jonathan’s arms as my face is all scrunched up. I look like I’m howling. It’s a horrible picture and the only saving grace is that my expression is so distorted that most people would have a hard time picking