UNLIKE ANY OTHER
(Unexpected #1)
Cover Reveal and EXCLUSIVE Excerpt
AJ
The name AJ Colthurst may not have any meaning to the public eye, but it should, as I’m the daughter of two famous celebrities. Like any superstar, they crave privacy; so much of it, they built a house in the middle of nowhere for us children. As we grew older, we discovered the lies they built as a fort to protect us from the media, ended up causing emotional damage along the way.
I carry a portion of the guilt on my shoulders; the other part I discovered is the separation of my parents. Their unorthodox ways may have driven me bonkers, but knowing they are no longer together is unacceptable.
That’s why I decided to rattle their cage by reminding at least one of my parents of the past and the reason they belong together. They need to remember why their love is so perfect and why they have to fight to keep it alive. Even if it means I have to dredge up some of my own painful memories along the way.
Gabe
Back in the early eighties, I set myself to succeed in the financial world. The first step had been moving to New York City to become a stockbroker, but things didn’t work out the way I had hoped. Instead, I ended up making movies and by the end of the decade, Gabe Colt had become a famous name. The downside to my career of choice: the paparazzi. In order to protect my family and our privacy, I maintained my family away from the circus. It had been for their own good; a decision we had made before we started our family.
However, those past decisions ended up chasing my entire family away and now I’m trying to put the pieces back together along with my little girl.
“You don’t seem surprised to see me.”
“The bank called earlier to inform me that Miss Colthurst
spent twenty-five thousand dollars in one
swipe and to confirm that I authorized the transaction. You haven’t used your
card in a long time and suddenly you
spend thousands of dollars in just minutes.” We enter a large room with wall to
wall bookcases that span from the floor up to the ceiling. Behind a mahogany desk, there is a majestic panoramic window that
faces the ocean. A familiar setting, but I’m positive that I’ve never been here
before. Gabriel closes the door behind us and resumes the conversation.
“Logically, I had to find out what you were up to. I feared you’d been in the
hospital and with that pride you carry… you
wouldn’t call. That’s why I sent Mason to pick you up, I wanted him to make
sure you're alright. He was in the neighborhood.”
Well, he’s here, I’m here, might as well get the party
started.
“I wanted you to tell me that what the magazine published is
a lie.” I fight with the fist-sized knot in
my throat. “But I witnessed that it’s real: a wife, a kid… your first kid, the magazine highlighted that
part. Congratulations, I guess.”
I clean the dripping sarcasm from my mouth with the back of
my hand.
Those wrinkles around his blue eyes shrink even more. He
doesn’t look as young as he does on the cover of magazines. Late fifties look different in front of the cameras, in the
media, and, in general. With all the
makeup and Photoshop they apply, not many get to see the real face of Gabriel
Colt; only a few of us are lucky.
“Ah, that made you crawl outside your little hideout, I
see.” He closes his eyes and takes several breaths before opening them again.
“Life changed while you were gone, AJ. I don’t think you have the right to
burst into my house and make a scene.”
“Your house?” I try to grab the edge of the desk to keep
myself from getting caught in the rapids
I’m swimming against at the moment. What happened to: “What’s yours is ours?”
“So, I take it you’re
not here to apologize?” he dodges my question.
“This house looks a lot like the
house in Baja—also looks like home,” I take a few steps and scan the
room—avoiding his question.
Two can play the same game. I learned from the best—him.
The answer is simple. Hell,
no, I’m not asking him to forgive me. Not when he’s proving that I was right.
He lied for a long time. Or, that he only cares about his image and what the
rest of the world thinks of him.
“Eight rooms upstairs, I bet. The biggest facing the ocean
and it’s right above this library, isn’t it? You never brought us here.”
Babbling, faking anger that’s keeping me
standing in one piece without shedding a tear. “Can I ask you a question?
Actually, just a few things and after that, I swear I’ll disappear forever since
that is what you want.”
I cough a couple of times masking the shakiness of my voice.
Gabriel sets his hands on his hips and stares at me before he lets a breath
out. I take that as a ‘yes’ or a ‘go
ahead you poor kid, let’s give this one last time before I start my new
family’.
“What were we for you?”
About Claudia Burgoa
Born on the mystical day of October 30th in the not so mystical lands
of Mexico City, Claudia grew up with a childhood that resembled a
caffeine-injected soap opera. Seventeen years ago she ventured to the
lands of her techie husband—a.k.a. the U.S.—with their offspring to
start a new adventure.She now lives in Colorado working as a CFO for a small IT company, managing her household filled with three confused dogs, said nerd husband, two daughters wrought with fandoms and a son who thinks he’s the boss of the house. To survive she works continually to find purpose for the voices flitting through her head, plus she consumes high quantities of chocolate to keep the last threads of sanity intact.
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