Charmed by Chase

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Bex Shepard, Hollywood’s It Girl, disappears after drowning in scandal.

The headline had been flashing in her mind from the moment she’d read it. There’d been others, but this one in particular summed up her week of bad luck best. Everything that could possibly go wrong did. Each night was another disaster, and each morning, a new headline broadcasted it to the world. She’d barely managed to keep her head above water on the last round of tabloid articles then this one—shrewd in delivery with photos exposing her to anybody who knew how to search the internet.

It was a hellish week, and hiding in her Los Angeles penthouse, surrounded by paparazzi out to capture her next slip up that would no doubt lead to more scandal, wasn’t going to do. She couldn’t leave her building without those bloodsucking cameramen following her every move, from going to her early morning gym session to getting her glorious caffeine fix. Every step she took, they’d document, they’d haul questions at her, and the strength she prided herself on would diminish layer by layer until she broke.

That’s why she had to get as far away from L.A. as possible, and exactly why she was currently driving through the White Mountains of New Hampshire to a small town she’d never heard of.

Red Maple Falls seemed to be the perfect place to hide until the media storm blew over. A five-and-a-half-hour plane ride followed by a two-hour drive from the airport… it had been an excruciatingly long day, but once she reached her destination, she’d be far away from prying eyes, and could rest easy.

“Only a little longer, Willy,” she said to her one-eyed cat. Sprawled out on the seat, he didn’t even respond with a purr. The spoiled king was probably dreaming about food and getting into mischief, which he was notoriously good at. He was probably scheming up something new at that very moment.

She reached over and rubbed his soft white fur, and in response got a pathetic attempt at a tail wag.

Her phone rang, and she ignored it like she’d been doing since she landed. A text flashed on the screen from her best friend Calla Lily, but she wasn’t ready to speak to her. In time, maybe, but right now she had nothing to say.

The phone continued to ring, and she turned the volume of the radio up. She’d surely regret not answering later when her agent, publicist, and manager all finally tracked her down. Though, she hoped it wouldn’t be anytime soon, which was the main reason why she didn’t head back to her childhood home. Her parents didn’t need to be subjected to the spotlight, and truth be told, she didn’t want to be photographed coming and going out of the trailer she grew up in.

She had tried so hard to get her parents out of that park, but they were too damn proud for their own good. They wouldn’t budge, not even when she’d presented them with a deed to a house. They’d thanked her for the gesture, but refused. It had been a swift kick in the gut. All she wanted was for them to have a nice place to retire in, but her daddy still worked three jobs, and her momma—up until six months ago when her chronic pain became too much—worked sixty hours a week at the local diner.

Proud was an understatement. It wasn’t just that, either. She got out of the trailer park, moved to L.A., and became someone. How was she supposed to go back home after everything that had happened in the past week? Everyone in the park had rooted for her, believed in her, and supported her. The shame was too much to bear.

Thank heavens for her jewelry designer, Sarah, who had mentioned she lived in the middle of nowheresville. Sarah had always been a sweetheart, and when Bex had asked if she knew of a place nearby where Bex could stay and hide out for a while, Sarah happily offered up her fiancé’s vacant house.

It was small, Sarah had made sure to mention that more than once, but since Bex had grown up in a trailer, small didn’t bother her. It’d been awhile since she’d stayed anywhere other than her two-story penthouse in Los Angeles, and she was kind of looking forward to living in obscurity for a while—away from the intrusive paparazzi, and from her friends who she was starting to think weren’t really friends at all.

Her GPS had been cutting in and out since she turned onto this road, but it sprang back to life and told her to turn right. She put her blinker on, and once she found Basil Hills Farms, she moved over to Sarah’s directions since the house didn’t exactly have an official address.

Sarah’s fiancé had built the house on his parent’s property, though Sarah said it was far enough away from the main house to maintain her privacy. The backroad was nothing more than a dirt path, rutted and full of unexpected turns.

Willy popped his head up and glared at her with his one bright blue eye.

“Sorry, kitty, I wasn’t expecting to go off-roading. I would have rented an SUV if I had known.” She gripped the steering wheel and wondered if there was a place around where she could make the trade. The black convertible had seemed like a good idea at the airport. Now with her brown hair tossing around her face, and the car dipping in and out of ruts, she wasn’t so sure.

That was Bex’s problem though, everything seemed like a good idea initially, just like taking a nude selfie for her boyfriend at the time to help spice up their love life. How was she supposed to know her files would be hacked two years later, and that picture was now up for grabs to anyone who knew how to use a search engine?

There was a reason she had a body double. Her body was private, something she only shared with a man she loved, and now even that was taken away from her. Not to mention that the American Sweetheart image she portrayed was now nothing but a sham. She never wanted that image; it was thrust upon her by the media, but she embraced it and used it to her advantage. Unfortunately, it set expectations of her high, and with the string of scandals, she looked like nothing more than a lying train wreck.

How was she ever going to rise up from this?

She shook her head, forcing the thoughts away. “No!” she declared, jolting Willy to attention. He gave her a petulant glare before curling back up into a ball. “This isn’t the end of me,” she said, much quieter as not to disturb the temperamental king. “It will pass. Just like Daddy used to say, ‘Rise above the dark clouds and you will find the sunshine.’”

She glanced up for a moment, the sun basking her in late day rays, and smiled for the first time in what felt like forever. She found the sun; now she just had to find a way to keep it shining.

A tiny shed came into view, and Bex slowed down. “That can’t be the house,” she said to herself. She picked up her phone and scrolled to the picture Sarah had sent her, and held it up to the shed. It was identical. It just looked much bigger in the picture.

When Sarah had said tiny, she wasn’t kidding. The thing could be a jungle gym in her penthouse. Bex put the car in park and turned in her seat, taking Willy into her lap. She stroked his fluffy white fur, then picked him up, kissing his nose. “I guess this is home for the next couple of weeks. What do you think Willy?” She turned Willy to face the house, and he gave a weak purr. “I’ll take that as you love it. Let’s go inside, shall we?”

She slipped out of the driver side with Willy in her arms, and headed up the short staircase that led to a teeny porch—if that’s what you would even call it. A rocking chair sat to the right of the red door and a welcome mat sat at her feet, saying, ‘you have reached your destination.’ Bex laughed. Sarah’s fiancé was a popular travel blogger who’d travelled the world before coming back home and settling down. From what Bex knew about Cooper, this mat summed him up perfectly.

The door was unlocked just as Sarah had told her it would be, so Bex let herself and Willy in. She didn’t even need to do a spin to see the place in its entirety. A gray cushioned couch with black throw pillows sat to her left with a TV across from it, a mini fridge, and the tiniest of stoves in a kitchen area. A ladder led up to a loft, where there was a bed and possibly enough room for her to stand. At that moment, she was happy for being only five-foot-two.

“I thought the trailer was small,” she said, placing Willy down on the gray cushion. On the counter was a basket filled with toiletries and other necessities. Sarah was always prepared, and more than that, considerate. Bex admired that about her.

A piece of paper hung on the fridge with a bottle opener magnet. Bex walked over to it. An insignia of a tree with the words ‘Five Leaf Brewery’ adorned the handle of the bottle opener. She took the paper in her hand and smiled as she read.

Hi Bex,

Hope you found the place okay. Make yourself comfortable, and get settled in. Call me and we can grab a coffee. And don’t worry, you’re safe here. Paparazzi never travel this far north.

Sarah

P.S. the WiFi password is Cooperisawesome. Don’t ask.

Bex really wanted to meet Cooper. He seemed like he had a great sense of humor—a quality she liked best in people. She stuck the paper back on the fridge with the magnet and pulled out her phone. She typed in the WiFi password and sat down on the couch next to Willy.

She knew she was going to regret what she was about to do, but she couldn’t stop herself. She typed in the website for the most popular gossip blog and waited for it to load. Even with WiFi, the service was ridiculously slow.

The first post appeared, and her stomach twisted in knots. The dreaded pictures stared back at her, her most intimate parts covered with bright pink stars. At least the site had the decency to cover her up. Not exactly a noble quality since they could’ve refused to post the pictures at all, but she would take what she could get at this point.

The headline read just like the one that had been haunting her all day. Hollywood It Girl Disappears Amid Scandal. She skipped over the article, fully aware of what it would say, and scrolled down to the comment section.

She had no idea why she cared what people thought, but she did, and unfortunately the comment section brought out brutal honesty—or as her team liked to tell her, the worst in humanity.

The best thing would be to click out of the article, but the desire to know what people were saying about her was too strong to fight. It was a sick addiction that always left her depleted and broken, but she couldn’t seem to walk away from it.

With a deep breath, she read the first comment.

Hopefully she won’t be back. Overrated and looks like a frog.

A frog? She definitely did not look like a frog. At least she didn’t think she did. Maybe her lips were a little big and her eyes a little too far apart… but a frog? Really? That was a stretch.

She continued to scroll by all the comments that said things like they hoped she’d stay gone for good, and maybe she finally killed herself, and kept scrolling until one caught her eye. In between two nice comments defending her tooth and nail—thank heavens for decent human beings—was a comment that might as well have reached out and punched her in the gut.

Are you surprised? Look where she comes from. Trash will always be trash.

The only time she cried was when it was required of her on set, but this comment pushed the boundaries. She’d spent the past seven years pretending like her past didn’t exist, denying the place that she came from, and yet no matter how much distance she put between them, she could never completely get away. And maybe because of that, she felt horribly guilty for it.

Life hadn’t always been easy for her, but despite the situation, her parents had always tried their hardest. It wasn’t their fault all that got them was a double wide, and a station wagon that broke down every other day. People didn’t care that her dad worked three jobs just to pay the bills, or that her mom had waited tables ten hours a day, six days a week until she physically couldn’t anymore. All they cared about was the image, and to them that image of her childhood—no matter how much she denied it—was nothing more than trash.

The scandal, the comments, and the judgment was all on her, and her parents shouldn’t have to suffer because she chose to put her life in the limelight. Hopefully, the media didn’t show up at the trailer park. The last time that happened, her poor mother stuttered her way through a string of questions from a way too pushy investigative reporter.

Bex still remembered that phone call with her mom. She’d called to apologize because she’d been taken by surprise and hadn’t remembered what she’d said. She’d been afraid that she might’ve said the wrong thing.

The memory made her stomach clench. Her mom thought she had to apologize to her. If anyone should be apologizing it should be her. She was the reason their privacy had been invaded. She was the reason their pictures wound up on covers to sell more magazines.

Disgusted with the whole situation, she tossed her phone back in her bag, like she should have done originally, and pulled Willy into her lap. She stroked his fur before holding him up to face her. “You don’t think I look like a frog, do you?”

He purred in response, and she cuddled him against her. “That’s what I said.” She kissed the top of his soft head and pressed her cheek to his. “Don’t worry, boy. I’ll never judge you based on where you came from.”

Like Bex, Willy’s early life wasn’t glamorous, but that didn’t make him any less royal in her eyes. She hugged him close, then put him down. “I should get my bags. You be a good boy. I’ll be right back.”

She would have to find a place to buy a scratching post before he tore up Cooper’s couch cushions. She opened the door and headed outside, but just as she was about to pull the door shut, Willy shot past her like a rocket.

Bex spun from the door, eyes darting from left to right. What was going on? That cat didn’t move for anyone. Panic rose in her throat, but she forced it down. “Willy?” she called, and when his fluffy white body didn’t appear, she ran down the porch, scouring the surrounding area.

Acres of trees sat behind her, and god only knew what type of creature lurked between the brush and broken branches. The vision of large animals with big, sharp teeth ready to pounce on an innocent fluff ball conjured in her mind.

She went to walk, but fear paralyzed her in place. She couldn’t lose him. Not now, not ever. He was lazy and indifferent, but he was hers. He didn’t judge her like the rest of the world. He was her constant companion, always at her side when she needed him most.

A loud sound of ruffling leaves echoed around her as her eyes landed on a blur of white. She turned toward it, and her heart slammed against her chest.

“Willy no!” Bex cried, as she ran after the dumb cat who was in pursuit of a squirrel. They chased each other around the bottom of a tree trunk over and over. Willy got closer with each lap. He only needed one good leap to take the squirrel down.

Once again, ill prepared in a pair of designer heels, she stumbled before catching her balance. “Willy! Get back here you brat.” She ran—the best she could in four-inch heels—down the dirt path toward the chaos.

Oh god, what if he caught the poor, innocent creature? Bex stared at the tree at a total loss as to what she should do. What if he killed it? Or worse, left it for dead? She couldn’t bear the thought of an injured animal, no less one that she’d feel responsible for even if it was wild.

“Willy, get over here!” she shouted, but he was ignoring her as he attempted to pursue the squirrel. This was not something she was prepared to deal with. Back in L.A. someone was always around, willing to do whatever she asked. Most days she hated it, but occasionally it was convenient, and for the first time since she boarded the plane, she suddenly felt utterly alone and helpless.

Maybe she could call Sarah for help… maybe send someone who could tolerate blood and the death of a tiny animal…

Bile rose in her throat at the thought. A cloud of dirt kicked up around the two animals as Willy got closer. “Don’t you dare hurt that squirrel!” she yelled as she propelled herself at the two animals. She was definitely grateful for all those spin classes Calla made her take.

The squirrel and Willy came to a face off. Oh no. Her heart slammed against her chest as she finally got in reach of Willy. This could go either way. Bex tried sneaking up on her cat, but before she could make it, the squirrel zig-zagged around Willy, and Willy lunged. The cat that was too damn lazy to move when she wanted to sit down actually lunged. The squirrel’s tail whipped Willy in the face as it scurried up the tree.

“Oh thank god!” Bex said, resting her hands on her knees and taking in a much-needed breath. “Willy, you are not getting any catnip tonight.” She looked up, ready to meet his one eye glare, but he wasn’t there. “Damn it, Willy, where are you?” she called out as she spun around, scanning the area.

She heard a soft mewling and froze, trying to figure out where it was coming from. Her eyes darted around the wooded area, down the dirt path and toward a large expanse of farmland, but no sign of her one-eyed white Persian. This time a meow echoed in the air, and Bex looked up only to find Willy propped way up high on a tree branch.

Relief flooded her as his one blue eye met hers. She didn’t care how cute he was, he was in so much trouble.

“Get down from there,” she demanded, pointing to the ground, but he didn’t move. He meowed again, this time louder, making it perfectly clear that while he was able to get up there, he was not capable of getting back down.

Great. What was she supposed to do now?