Page 14 of Rescued by the Single Dad

Of course, he denied all of it.

She couldn’t trust him, though. However, as her assistant Inez pointed out when Brooke went to her complaining about Flynn, that Brooke had never really trusted Flynn. At least not fully. He knew nothing of her childhood or haunted past—unlike Inez who knew it all. Inez told her to end things with Flynn multiple times, but in some weird, twisted way, Brooke felt like she owed Flynn something.

She clung to the man she met when they were fledgling actors just trying to score a walk-on part or a commercial. She knew what kind of a man he used to be and held out, hoping he would become that man again.

“You owe him nothing,” Inez said on more than one occasion. “If anything, he owes you.”

Inez helped her see that the Flynn in her head and the one fucking about here in the real world were completely different people.

As hurtful as it’d been discovering him with Kendall in his trailer, she also took it as a blessing. A gift. An easy way out.

That didn’t mean it still didn’t sting. He lost interest in her—and he wasn’t the first boyfriend to do so. Other boys, not only in high school, but in her adult life all seemed to just lose interest in her and end it or cheat. She’d never broken up with someone before Flynn, and even that was a stretch, since his betrayal prompted the dissolution.

What was it about her that guys just grew bored of?

Inez said she was crazy to think things like that, but it was impossible not to.

Between the ages of fourteen and thirty-two she’d had six boyfriends, and all of them dumped her or cheated on her. There was a common denominator there, and it was Brooke.

Boyfriend number one: Dylan Pryde asked Britani Douglas to the junior high dance, even though he was dating Brooke. That was his way of telling her it was over. She cried for three days and skipped the dance.

Boyfriend number two: Kyle Wilson kissed Missy Lefebvre playing spin the bottle at a birthday party. Then they went into the closet for seven minutes in heaven. Brooke was right there and asked Kyle why. He just shrugged and said he was too young to commit to one girl. And that was that.

It was a pattern. Boys just grew bored of her and moved on.

She thought maybe it was because she was too clingy, so she tried being aloof. That didn’t seem to help. They thought she didn’t care enough and dumped her, claiming they needed a girl who was more attentive and “into them.”

She just couldn’t win.

She thought she’d finally broken the pattern with Flynn because for the first few years he was the antithesis of all her other boyfriends. He only had eyes for her and was nothing but encouraging.

Nothing good lasted , at least not for Brooke, and Flynn finally showed his true colors. That he was just like all the other guys she had dated. A coward and a cheat.

“You just haven’t found the right person, yet,” Inez said. “But they’re out there. I know it. You just need to stop picking duds who only want to ride your coattails to stardom.”

Brooke wasn’t sure she believed her assistant, but once she ended her relationship with Flynn—not even publicly, but secretively—things got weird. Flowers showed up in her trailer or on her doorstep—her favorites, Gerbera Daisies—and almost always on a Tuesday.

She had no idea who was sending them, but just figured it was a fan.

She often received flowers, gifts and mail from fans.

Then, she started to get more and more parts offered to her. More than she could keep up with. Actors who she thought would be much better suited for the part, and were bigger names than her, were getting injured or suddenly dropped out of the running. Maren Gagne, a blonde actor who looked very similar to Brooke, experienced a horrible car accident and was still undergoing physical therapy, so the director offered the part to Brooke. She was set to start filming the new movie in a few weeks.

It was rumored that the Fairmont planned to sign a big deal with Carol Warburton, another blonde actor who’d been in the industry for a lot longer than Brooke, but Carol was the victim of a freak home robbery, and she and her husband were killed. So the Fairmont offered the deal to Brooke.

Then there was a cameo spot in the next season of Crime Family: Los Angeles. And everyone thought it was going to go to Phoebe Watts, since she looked the part and was the director’s stepdaughter. But Phoebe had a terrible anaphylactic shock to peanuts and ended up dying in her home, even though according to her husband they had epi-pens everywhere. Again, they offered the part to Brooke, who agreed and shot the one-day cameo appearance—with a new director, since Levi Short was still grieving the loss of his stepdaughter.

All these events piled together were bizarre and freaky, and she couldn’t figure out what was happening. She’d discussed it with her assistant Inez, but Inez was quick to dismiss her fears and said that it was finally Brooke’s time to shine. That as tragic as the events were, the world was finally recognizing Brooke’s talent and giving her the roles she was meant for. Now that she was done with Flynn, Brooke’s star was only going to get brighter.

Was it all just a weird coincidence?

Or was it something more?

Maybe it’d been the same person who’d hurt Maren and killed Carol, and now they were after Brooke. Slowly taking out one blonde actor at a time. But then what about Phoebe? Was that just a horrible, coincidental accident?

“Ms. Barker?”

“Hmm?” She lifted her gaze to Clint’s.

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