Back To You

Chapter One

Benjamin Foster was tired.

It was more of an emotional drain than physical. These things never played out well in his line of work. He was certain it would only be a matter of time before his current drama would be mixed with the scandal that lingered above him like a dark, raging storm cloud.

Those actions weren't like him. They didn't represent who he was.

Things just looked bad. When things looked bad, people tended not to believe you.

A formal apology was slated for this week, but things had gotten a bit complicated. That press event was pushed, but PR assured him they'd get a handle on things.

Benjamin walked down the steps leading from the sleek mini aircraft and onto the awaiting carpet rolled out across the tarmac. Wiping the sweat from his brow, he pressed the black tinted sunglasses over his face as he inserted the Bluetooth chip into his ear. Message after message played to him from the cell phone in his hand, most too involved to deal with in the incessant heat of a Nashville afternoon. He made mental notes to call his agent, reconfirm that meeting with his lawyer and give his publicist hell for not burying this thing as she promised.

Then there was the final one, the number all too recognizable. His stomach twinged as he pressed "play", breath held in his chest as her voice came over the line; classically soft, sultry, and seductive as ever. It was the game she played to get her way, using the few things she knew would draw him back to her like a magnetic force.

"Hey, it's me. I uh—I heard what's happening and I was thinking about you. I know it must be really hard dealing with this news when you've been having so much bad press. Give me a call when you land. I'm here for you Benji."

Yeah, sure thing.

With a roll of his eyes, Benjamin deleted the message. No, there wasn't time for Ashlyn anymore, even if she had sent him dirty pictures of herself last week, clad in that set of lingerie that made her outshine even the most sultry swimsuit models.

It was a desperate act on her part, one he'd nearly succumbed to before jerking back to reality. Ashlyn was lonely. The other men that normally circled around her had discovered other bimbos and abandoned her for the month. Naturally, her game of 'lets see other people' once the bad press hit came to an abrupt end.

Under normal circumstances, Benjamin would have been stupid enough to take her back.

The thing was, he had no issues finding someone just like her to spend his evenings with, but he was tired of those women. They were all the same; smiled the same, spoke the same, laughed the same and mostly, had sex the same too. Benjamin wanted to find someone like those character girls in the rom-coms he was constantly cast in. Someone genuine who always said the right things.

But that was fiction. Women like Cadence Huckebee (the leading female role in Eternally, Yours) just didn't exist. Women wanted things from him, the money that came with his career, the fame of being showcased on his arm, the VIP status everywhere they went.

What they didn't want, or couldn't see enough to want, was him.

Benjamin wasn't always movie star Benji Foster.

At times, alone in his lavish Los Angeles home, he was just Benjamin. Boring Benjamin who liked ice cream, jigsaw puzzles. Netflix and his cat. That turned them all off. Once he'd taken a woman back to his place for the weekend, and upon introduction to Sydney, his Orange Tabby, she proceeded to laugh at him and call him an immature little boy.

He hadn't taken anyone back to his place since. Hotels were easier, no personality. He could be gone in the morning with no warning. At home, there was nowhere to hide from the naked beauties that laid beside him after a night of questionable judgment.

Benjamin eventually came to the end of the carpet where he met the awaiting limousine and hired driver.

"Afternoon," the driver spoke in the infamous southern twang that Benjamin had grown up around, then smiled at him. He was older, maybe fifties, but didn't look tired. He had wrinkles around his lips and eyes that proved he spent more time smiling and laughing than frowning. "You goin' to Leipers Fork, son?"

"Uh yeah," Benjamin pushed the shades down his nose and eyed the man, not without returning the kind smile. "That's right."

"Well hop on in. We'll be there--just lickety spit. Traffic's never bad this time ah' day."

The driver opened the door to the limousine with a welcoming, kind smile. Benjamin scoffed. He hadn't even been in town for half an hour and was already met with more hospitality than he ever found in Los Angeles or New York. People were just different in the south. Even when providing a service as annoying as driving someone around, it was done with a smile and a carefree attitude.

It had been too long. Ten years. Benjamin had forgotten what it was like to live life without constant burdens and stress. Those carefree feelings instilled in him were sacrificed, handed over to publicists, agents and studio executives once he scrawled the signature on his first movie deal. There was no turning back after that.

Relief washed over him as the cool synthetic air flowed through the limo, drying out the sweat on his skin and under his arms from the boiling August heat. The driver took a lot of backroads to get him to the final destination, most he recognized from his childhood and adolescent years.

Benjamin remembered his first car at sixteen, a Ford F-150 his father had once owned. He remembered speeding through the winding backroads with her, out to Shep's lookout point where the stars were mostly clear and the moon was always bright. It was easy to lose himself to her in those days, and he knew she lost herself in him.

Those nights were some he would always cherish.

That was Benjamin's genuine, the girl who knew him unlike anyone else. She would have done anything for him, moved anywhere, and put up with anything.

But temptations were too great, and Benjamin found himself turning his back on the person he loved most, for the sake of a career in Hollywood.

Now he was A-list. All those cornball movie rolls had finally started to pay off last year when he guest-starred on a television drama, playing a role that had received critical acclaim. Now important directors and producers were contacting his agent and his publicist. Scripts floated through his hands weekly and several of them were lined up for consideration over the coming months. They wanted him for Marvel, DC, and other billion-dollar film franchises.

Finally, his career was starting to pull together, completely.

Still, Benjamin was missing something. Companionship.

Love.

Her.

Stella had been his shot. His chance at having someone at his side who saw Benjamin instead of Benji. But he turned his back.

He didn't even say goodbye to her. He remembered that his phone rang for days on end. Voicemail after voicemail was left and quickly deleted. Benjamin shut her out.

He left her behind.

Ten years later and deep down, he knew it was the biggest mistake he had ever made, or would ever make.

Benjamin flipped through his phone, landing on the number inevitably, as he always did. He smiled, his finger hovering over her name. What he'd give to hear her voice today, amidst the colossal shit storm looming over him.

Then the phone buzzed to life, his publicist's name flashing across the screen, and Benjamin knew he wouldn't hear Stella's voice that day.

Or ever.