“Me what?” Thornton snapped.
Star went to answer Thornton, but a cell phone rang. He wasn’t sure who it belonged to, and slowly he panned his head to the sound but stopped midway as something akin to deja vu came to him.
“Why does this feel so familiar?” he mumbled. He had been so confused that he hadn’t realized the phone had stopped ringing or that everyone was staring at him.
His gaze drew up to Thornton’s face, and it morphed from perfection to the gruesome image of the disfigured scene as Star had last seen him. His perfectly chiseled jaw and deep blue eyes that had captured Star's interest at first sight gave way to the bloody horror Star had caused. Star closed his eyes tightly, not wanting to see it. He wasn’t sure what was happening. He remembered going to jail for killing Thornton and then being killed in his cell. Star’s eyes widened, and he looked down, grabbing his chest, surprised when he didn’t see any blood on his shirt.
I was stabbed. I remember dying in prison. How can I be alive when I was killed? Fuck, fuck, fuck, nothing is making sense.
“Is everything all right?” someone asked, and Star turned his gaze to them and instantly recognized Courtney Spencer, a top executive of the Equi-Noxx talent and management agency. He was there the day Star signed his contract with the company.
Wait, if he’s here and Thornton is alive, could it be I…Star didn’t get to finish his thought, when Thornton spoke up.
“Yes, everything is fine,” he said to the Spencer guy, but his eyes were solely on Star. Thornton walked over to Star and reached for his arm, speaking through his clenched teeth. “Get up and stop acting like a fucking idiot. If you ruin this for me, you won’t like it.”
Star said nothing as he was led over to the table and shoved into a chair. He knew what Thornton was like when he was angry. However, the evil that lurked within Thornton hadn't emerged until later in their relationship. Star kept staring at the man, wondering if he was dreaming.
There’s no way I’m awake.If I am, there has to be a perfectly good explanation for why Thornton is alive.
“Why do you keep staring at me like that?” Thornton growled lowly. “Sign the fucking contract.”
Contract? What contract?
“The one we came here to sign. Why are you acting so shaky when you know what we came here to do?” Thornton furrowed his brows, seeming genuinely concerned for Star. “All you need to do is sign on the bottom line, and the deal is complete.”
He pointed to the desk, and Star followed Thornton’s arm to his pointer finger with his eyes, stopping when he saw the company logo for Equi-Noxx Entertainment. Star then read the first line.As an agreement made with…He stopped when he saw his name filled in on the line and wondered how it got there.
He lifted his gaze and looked at everyone in the room, from Courtney Spencer to Brock Fairchild, who was the company’s lawyer, and it hit him. Star pinched his legs and bit on his tongue to cut off his whimper. This wasn’t a dream, nor was he dead. He didn’t know how it happened, but somehow, he had gone back in time. He had never been religious nor believed in higher beings, but he was now grateful to whoever gave him a second chance. And he would not waste it.
Star looked at Thornton again and was grateful that the man was still alive, but he would not be a fool for him. He could honestly say that Thornton had never loved him. Star had thought they wanted the same thing, but they were both traveling on different paths. The first time Star signed the contract, he’d been excited, and he was so infatuated with Thornton. He wanted to be the man’s rock. But he ruined his life for a man who only saw him as usable.
Star closed his eyes again, took a deep breath, and pushed his chair back. He opened his eyes as he stood and faced his ex-lover. Star was going to do something he should have done when he walked in on Thornton having an affair.
“I can’t do this, I’m sorry,” Star said. Grabbing his phone, he stepped back from Thornton, who was about to grab his arm. “I’m not the one you want.” He wasn’t specific about what he meant, but he couldn’t be a part of Thornton’s life anymore.
Turning, Star hurried, trying to get out of the building as fast as he could. He felt stuffy, and his heart thumped loudly in his chest. It was so painful he thought he was going to die. He knew what was happening. Panic attacks like this occurred constantly over the seven years he was in jail. Once he was outside, he was about to take off running, but his arm was grabbed, and someone whirled him around. People passed and bumped into him, seeming to be uninterested in someone standing in their way.
“What the actual fuck, Star!” Thornton growled. His handsome face looked unnatural, as if possessed by an evil force.
“Let me go,” Star said, his voice trembling. His chest hurt, and his vision grew cloudy as fear took over his mind and body. “Please, let me go.”
“No, not until you tell me why. Why did you act like that in there? Why didn’t you sign the contract? You know how much I want to work for this company.”
“Let me go,” Star said, ignoring everything Thornton was saying. “Let me go!”
“I said not until you tell me,” Thornton yelled just as another voice spoke.
“You heard what he said.”
Star knew that voice. The person had been a constant friend to him for six years. He was even more confident about who the person was when they stepped to the side, and Star saw his hulking figure and his arresting brown eyes. Star did not know where he came from, but he was happy to see him.
Denton Sparks.
“Who the fuck are you?” Thornton asked as Star kept staring at his friend, who looked the same but was handsomely dressed in a dark blue suit with a crisp white shirt, the first button undone—a significant difference from the prison jumpsuit they both used to wear. Dent ignored Thornton’s question and focused his eyes on Star.
“Are you okay?”
Tears welled in Star’s eyes as he shook his head no, and just like the first time they met, Dent rescued him. He pushed Thornton to the side and pulled Star to him, who buried his face in the big man’s chest, letting his tears flow. Star’s body shook in fright, but being next to Dent calmed him, and he had to keep telling himself to breathe.
