Texas Pride (Texas Pride #1)

Chapter 1

“Austin! Austin! Over here!” The deafening roars of Austin Grainger’s name sounded from every direction as he made his way up the theoretical red carpet of the Kodak Theater in sunny California.

With a slight lift of his hand, he waved while inclining his head in the general direction of the screams without cracking a smile.

Austin worked hard to keep his sneered frown from showing the disgust resonating deep inside his soul.

Nothing more than years of training had him extending a hand down to his date’s lower back to gently guide her to the first interview stop along the way to the front doors.

The sooner they made it through the line of national media, the closer he got to the end of this evening.

The event’s itinerary was set in stone. It was the same dog and pony show at every one of these award ceremonies.

Austin had done this for years, too many years, and it never ever changed.

There were several media stops along the route to the front doors of the theater.

Each one required them to step in a certain spot and pose prettily in what felt like an incredibly awkward position that somehow magically looked like a normal stance in the printed picture.

Then, the cameras blinded the eyes with thousands and thousands of flashes before they gave a meaningless, uninformative, random interview.

Once all the ridiculous questions had been asked and answered, they did it over again until they made it inside the darkened front doors of the theater and out of the public’s ever focused eye.

Tonight, Austin’s date, who also played the critical role of his assistant and future wife, ate up the cameras.

The pair of them were considered the “it” couple of the evening.

A role they’d easily held for more years than he could count.

No matter how angry or antisocial he became, they were the couple everyone wanted to interview, and the paparazzi stalked to photograph.

She played her part with the grace and ease of a trained actress, readily overcompensating for his increasingly disagreeable disposition which technically was exactly what he paid her to do.

He let that thought slide by as they stepped up to their first interview.

“Austin, Cara, good to see you again! Cara, you look lovely. Who are you wearing tonight?” Ryan Palmer of Entertainment Television asked.

They were only allotted two minutes at each interview, and Ryan made the most of it by immediately hurling questions their way as the cameras panned into their faces.

“I’m wearing Vera Wang. She designed this especially for me. What do you think, do I look all right?” Cara linked her arm with Austin’s, turning her charming smile in Ryan’s direction.

“You look stunning, but that’s nothing new,” Ryan said with a good-natured Texas-size grin that he instantly toned down when he faced Austin.

“This could be back-to-back Oscars for you tonight, Austin, which would put you in a category very few actors have ever achieved. How does that feel?” Ryan angled the microphone to catch Austin’s response.

Austin watched Ryan with a distant mild interest, not paying any attention to the question.

But he almost cracked his first smile of the evening.

Ryan stood five feet nothing tall, and compared to Austin’s six-foot two-inch frame, he had to really lift the microphone to reach Austin’s face.

Out of nothing more than morbid curiosity, Austin cast his gaze down to see Ryan stood on a step stool and was reaching on his tiptoes trying to make them appear closer in height.

“I’m happy with the decision,” Austin finally replied after an extended pause. He gave in to the chuckle he’d been holding back, and hoped his response came close to answering the question.

“You still plan the extended sabbatical after tonight’s ceremony?” Ryan asked.

Austin focused on the way Ryan jerked his hand back and forth between their lips, trying to get in all the questions he could during the short interview. For some reason, the movement tickled his funny bone and provided a bit of comic relief to his hardened heart.

“Yes, I am,” he said, again not giving anything back in his response while resisting the urge to lift his hand and mimic Ryan in the universal hand gesture of jacking off.

It was in that moment, with all the fans surrounding him, all the movie stars gathered on the red carpet and all the cameras capturing everything that Austin realized he’d made the right decision to leave behind the extreme celebrity world of Hollywood.

The event was airing on national prime-time television and he couldn’t help but think about jacking off!

Damn if this wasn’t some major boring bullshit.

If they would just come up with something new to ask, something relevant to anything happening in the world, it would be bearable, but they didn’t.

He’d answered all these same questions hundreds of times in the press circuits.

Hell, a trained monkey could answer their questions.

It was either lift his hand and pretend to jerk off or make a gun out of his forefinger and thumb to shoot himself in the head.

Both would be appropriate responses to this prick’s questions.

“I’ve heard some speculations on your impending departure, saying it’s the wrong time, that it’ll destroy your career.

You’re the favorite tonight, and if you win, it’ll be a clean sweep.

You’ll have won every major best actor award given this year.

Do you think it’ll all still be here waiting for you when you come back?

” Ryan quickly shoved the microphone back in his face.

The question pissed Austin off. He didn’t even do the moody contemplation he’d done for years.

Instead, he raised an irritated eyebrow ready to tell Ryan exactly what he could do with the microphone.

“Wrap. We need to move on.” Seth Walker, Austin’s agent, came from out of nowhere and ended the interview.

“Ryan, my honey here’s giving me time to spread my wings in this acting world.

We’re so diverse in our investment holdings, Austin’s going to run the business side for a while, freeing me to give it a go.

He’s truly one of the most special men alive.

I’m lucky to have him,” Cara cut in, clearly seeing the direction Austin planned to take the interview.

She said it all with her sweet smile in place.

She was worth every dime he paid her. With that, Seth whisked them away to the next interview stop.

It was all very much like lather, rinse, and repeat.

Cara took over the interviews, staying on point and letting Austin center into himself where he liked to be the most. He watched the last few steps to the theater’s front doors much as an outsider looking in, a very unimpressed observer while Cara was regal in her role of arm candy at his side.

She was long, blonde, and thin, matching him on every level.

Tonight, her hair was swept off her face and her gown was long and flowed around her slender frame.

She looked classically elegant and had the rare ability of looking at home and comfortable in this made-up world of glitz and glamour.

Maybe that was because she was at home here; she fit perfectly in this world.

Now, at the end of his career, Austin was incredibly grateful he’d found her. No way could he have done any of this without her. He prayed he’d set her up for success when he left it all behind. She deserved to have everything she wanted if she kept it all in perspective.

“This way.” A theater staff member held open a door leading them inside.

Without a backward glance, Austin guided Cara inside and walked in after her.

The doors closed behind them, effectively shutting out the noise and constant flash of the cameras.

Relief coursed through his veins as he ignored the opulence of the theater’s entry.

This was it, his last time to go through this charade, because what the mini sabbatical really meant was an early retirement.

One he couldn’t wait to begin. T minus eight hours and the chains of this excessive celebrity lifestyle would be forever broken. Good riddance!

=?=

“Friends in Low Places” by Garth Brooks blared from an old jukebox in the only bar in a sixty-mile radius of Cedarville, Texas.

Kitt Kelly sat on his barstool, his well-worn boots anchored on the first rail of the stool, and his cowboy hat pushed back on his head.

He took a deep swig from the longneck Bud Light he held in his hand.

His pool stick rested between his legs, and he watched his lifelong best friend, Jimmy Latham, walk the pool table calculating his next shot.

“Kitt, you need another?” a dainty little waitress asked. In a small town everybody knew everybody, and he nodded at his little sister’s best friend, handing over the now empty beer bottle.

“One more, then that’s it. I gotta get goin’,” Kitt said in his cultured Texas accent.

“Sure thing. I talked to Kylie today. It’s a real good thing you did for her, Kitt.”

“Nah, it wasn’t me. Kylie earned her way into that school and got a good scholarship to go with it all on her own. I didn’t do anything.” He cut his eyes back to the pool table, hoping she’d pick up the subtle hint he didn’t want any part of this conversation.

“Whatever! She told me what you did and I totally wish you were my brother! I’ll be right back with your beer.” She turned on her heel and headed back to the bar, throwing the last comment over her shoulder.