Stars in Your Eyes(53)

Phillip sips his drink. “I broke up with my boyfriend a few months ago,” he says. I wish Logan were here. He would’ve smirked and met my eye. Not everyone can be as amazing at flirting as Gray is, apparently.

“Oh,” I say. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Thank you. It was a little hard for us, I think, with me coming all the way to Los Angeles, and him staying in London. We decided we weren’t fit for a long-distance relationship.”

I’ve gotten the sense that Phillip’s been flirting with me on and off all night. He slowed down once Julie told him that Gray was my boyfriend. He said he didn’t usually keep up with the tabloids and social media, so he didn’t know, but I’m not sure if I believe him.

“You mentioned Logan was your ride home,” Phil says. “Do you need a lift?”

He’s still smiling, but his eyes are luring, too. I’m pretty sure it’s a silent invitation.

I hesitate. “No, thank you,” I say. “I should probably get an Uber or something.”

He laughs. “Your driver will be excited to find Matthew Cole sitting in his backseat.”

Shit. How do I always manage to forget that I’m a celebrity? “Right.” I laugh a little with him. “I think I still have the number for the car service that takes me to set.”

I pull out my phone to check. I have twenty missed messages. Most are from Emma. I frown. “Excuse me,” I tell Phil. “Sorry, my sister’s trying to get in touch.”

Phillip nods. “No worries.”

I step away, pressing the dial button and putting the phone to my ear. Emma picks up on the first ring. “Mattie,” she says. “Where’ve you been?”

“At an industry event. What’s going on?” I ask. The panic in her voice is scaring me. “Is everything okay?”

“The news. Have you looked at the news yet?”

She tells me to hang up, to go to social media and look at the trending topics right away. It’s an emergency. I frown, telling myself she’s probably just being dramatic, but my heart speeds up as I think about Gray, leaving the party by himself…He’d been drinking. Did he get into an accident? Is he hurt? I should’ve stopped him, but before I could take a step in his direction, he was already out the door. I open the Twitter app, and I don’t need to see any of the trending topics, because I’ve been tagged hundreds of times already. People ask, over and over again: What do you think of this? Are you going to say anything?

Briggs Stevenson is tagged a lot, too. He usually plays minor roles on TV shows, but he’s famous enough that I recognize him immediately. He’s posted a video. The still frame has him bloodied and bruised. I frown as I walk across the floor, to the balcony. I can feel people’s stares following me. Gossip has probably already spread here, too. I put the video to my ear.

Briggs’s voice is hoarse. “I just left the home of Logan Gray, where I was physically assaulted. Gray had been drinking. He attacked me. Look at my face. Look at my fucking face.”

I turn the video off. My hands are shaking. Would Logan really do something like that?

“Mattie?”

I spin around. Julie walks onto the balcony behind me, phone also in her hand. She looks tentative. “Did you see?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you okay?”

I look back at the screen. “I’m not sure. I—I think I need to go see Logan.”

She hesitates. “Maybe that’s not the best idea. If he’s already attacked someone, then…”

I shake my head. “I don’t know. I just need to hear what happened from him.”

She still seems uncertain, but she nods. “Okay. I can drive you.”

We’re quiet on the ride over. I can’t stop scrolling through the comments—hundreds of thousands of comments, building with every minute. Most people are calling for Logan to be arrested. He could be, technically, if he’s really assaulted someone. It wouldn’t have been his first time, either. There’ve been multiple videos of him getting into fights with strangers. But this—it really looks like someone put this Briggs Stevenson’s face through a meat shredder. Like Logan was trying to kill him.

Julie pulls up to his apartment building after I’ve given her the address. I’m not expecting her to get out of the car with me.

“I’m not letting you go up there by yourself,” she says.

We walk into the building together, Julie gripping my hand. By the time we’ve reached Logan’s apartment, I’m sweating and feel faint. I knock on the door. “Logan?”

He doesn’t answer. There’re some shuffling sounds.

“Logan,” I call. “Please open up.”

The door cracks open. Logan is on the other side. His face is pale. His gaze skims from me to Julie. “Didn’t realize I was hosting the afterparty.”

I push open the door further. The place is a mess. It’s like he just trashed it. Bottles everywhere. Drugs on the central table. Enough for him to overdose and kill himself. Julie makes a sound of disgust to my left.

“What the hell happened?” I ask him.

He rubs his face with stress. I can’t tell if he’s sober or high. “I beat the crap out of Briggs.”

Julie speaks. “You do realize that’s assault, right?”