Starstruck: Episode One, Somewhere to Call Home, New Edition: Starstruck, #1

By R T Green

Some people will tell you they have fairies at the bottom of their garden… Mia and Becca have little aliens at the bottom of theirs!

The Starstruck series tells the story of Mia, Becca, and the six little people who change their lives. It's a contemporary fairytale with a kick, something a little different, and very much for adults only!

Check out the full Starstruck story on the rtgreen website.

But how did it all start? This is episode 1: Somewhere to call Home –

 

Mia Haines is twenty-five, and living a life that's going precisely to plan. A senior technician at Starstruck Technologies in London, her career-dominated world is just where she expects it to be. Fate and the unpredictable have no place in Mia's existence.

Or perhaps that should be 'had'.

Five years ago, on her final evening at Cambridge University, she helps out Becca Wright. Beautiful and sexy, she is everything Mia believes she could never be. The uncrowned queen of Cambridge, everyone wants to be seen with Becca, and she appears to milk it for all it is worth. But on this night, fate takes a hand. Even though for Mia, such unpredictable things don't exist.

Unable to cope with what happens between them, she walks away. They will not meet again for five years.

One year ago, and back on her carefully-planned life-schedule, Mia buys her first home, blissfully unaware the house already has six tenants living there in secret. Now, one year later, as she wakes on a sunny Saturday morning, she's still blissfully unaware that fate and the unpredictable are about to turn her weekend, and her world, inside out... 

Starstruck does contain scenes of a sexual nature.

Enjoy!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wise Owl
• Release date: Apr 22, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201299415

R T Green

The RTG mission in life is simple... to not be like everyone else! ‘Going Green’ has taken on a new meaning, in the book world at least. Whilst we applaud the original meaning (ebooks are a perfect way to promote that) we also try to present a different angle to it. The tendency these days is that if you don’t look and read like everyone else, you don’t sell books. Maybe there’s some truth in that, but we simply don’t do it. The RTG books have been described as a ‘breath of fresh literary air’, and, by those discovering us for the first time, ‘unexpectedly good’. We know many readers prefer the same-old same old, and that’s fine. It’s just not what you get from the RTG stable. Those who know about such things said it would take five years to become a proficient author... I scoffed at that. They were wise. It took six. It’s one reason why even today we remodel existing books, and will always do so. Right from the early years the stories were always good, but were put into words less well than they could have been! These days we have several series and a few standalones, the hit Daisy series most popular amongst them. In everything we do, the same provisos apply – Never the same book twice. If we can’t think up a good story, it doesn’t get written. The RTG brand is about exciting and twisty plots, a fast pace which doesn’t waste words, and endearing (sometimes slightly crazy) characters. We can never please everyone, but it works for us, and, it seems, for those who appreciate our work. Enjoy! Richard, Ann and the RTG crew

Book preview

STARSTRUCK

EPISODE 1

Somewhere to Call Home

R  T  GREEN

CONTENTS

AN INTRODUCTION TO STARSTRUCK

Chapter 1

Five Years Ago

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Three Weeks Later

Chapter 8

Three Years Ago

Chapter 9

Two Years Ago

Chapter 10

One Year Ago

Chapter 11

Nine months later, present day, Saturday morning

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Somewhere Secret, that Night

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Six Hours Earlier...

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

Chapter 49

Chapter 50

Chapter 51

Chapter 52

Chapter 53

‘The Disappearance of Becca’

Here’s a very short taster...

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The RTG Brand

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Other books...

The Starstruck Series -

Starstruck: The Prequel

(Time to say Goodbye)

Starstruck 2: The Disappearance of Becca

Starstruck 3: The Rock

Starstruck 4: Ghosts, Ghouls and Evil Spirits

Starstruck: The Combo – books 1-3

The Raven Series –

Raven: No Angel!

Raven: Unstoppable

Raven: Black Rose

Raven: The Combo – books 1-3

The Daisy Morrow Series:

The first one – The Root of All Evil

The second one – The Strange Case of the Exploding Dolly-trolley

The third one – A Very Unexpected African Adventure

The fourth one - Pirates of Great Yarmouth: Curse of the Crimson Heart

The fifth One – The terrifying Tale of the Homesick Scarecrow

The sixth one – Call of Duty: The Wiltingham Enigma

The seventh one – Christmas in the Manor Born

The eighth one: The Shanghai Shadow

The ninth one – Some Like It Tepid

The tenth one – Waltzing Matilda

The eleventh one – The Wiltingham Incident

The twelfth one – The Pointing Finger

The thirteenth one – Here Comes Santa Claus!

The fourteenth one – The Witch of Scraggy Bottom

The fifteenth one – The Coronation Complication

The Throwback Prequel: When Daisy Met Aidan

The Box Set – books 1-3

The Second Box Set – books 4-6 plus the Prequel

The Third box set – books 7-9

The Sandie Shaw series:

Book 1 – Murder at the Green Mill

Book 2 – Christmas in Chicago is Murder

Book 3 – An American in Windsor

Book 4 – Springtime in Chicago

Book 5 – Murder on the Miami Express

Book 6 – The Family

Book 7 – Murder Most Olympic

Book 8 – Two Sisters, One Ghost

Book 9 – The Sergeant, the Flapper and a Crossword

The Mega Box Set – books 1 - 6

––––––––

Red Mist –

Season 1

Episode 1: Falling

Episode 2: Phoenix

Episode 3: Jealousy

Episode 4: Fearless

Season 2

Episode 5: Phantom

Episode 6: Desperation

Episode 7: Unbreakable

Episode 8: Evermore

When Billionaires Collide

Somewhere Only She Knows

Timeless

Ballistic

Cry of an Angel

The Hand of Time

Elsie: Mean Street

Wisp

––––––––

Copyright © 2023 R T Green

All rights reserved.

AN INTRODUCTION TO STARSTRUCK

Some people will tell you they have fairies at the bottom of their garden...

Mia and Becca have little aliens at the bottom of theirs!

Once upon a time in London...

OK, MAYBE NOT. ONCE upon a right here, right now might be more appropriate. Our fairytale is very much of the technological age, but still contains all the elements of the tales from a bygone time.

We’ve written the Starstruck series as a contemporary fairytale with a kick... and strictly for adults only! Those of you who read us will know we like the unexpected. Starstruck sure fits that description!

Mia and Becca’s fraught and emotional love story is blended with a big dose of adventure and fast-paced action, most of it brought about by six little people who come from a place far, far away...

What we now call fairytales were originally written a very long time ago, in darker ages when things we now look upon as shocking were considered perfectly acceptable. In more recent times, the tales were sanitised and watered down to make them suitable for children, the original scripts far too gruesome and horrific to be told to youngsters.

But full of blood and gore and sexual depravity as they were, they were penned to send a message. The innocent girl treated badly, the beautiful queen banished from her lands, evil ogres who never thought twice about committing heinous acts, wolves in sheep’s clothing, handsome princes who expected nothing less than to own the fairest in the land...

Sound familiar? Of course, many of our favourite stories are modern versions of very old tales. But with Starstruck, we’ve tried to do something a little more outside the box, and bring these traditional elements into a modern, urban setting. We’ve avoided the blood and gore, but most of the other fairytale elements are there.

‘Somewhere to Call Home’ is the first episode of the Starstruck series.

Each episode can be read as a stand-alone book, but they are chronological, telling the story of Mia, Becca, and the six little people who changed their lives forever. So to get the full ‘Starstruck’ experience, it’s perhaps best to read them in order!

The Prequel is available too. ‘Time to Say Goodbye’ is a shorter novella, and goes back to tell the tragic story of why the Voyagers had to leave their home, and how they only just escaped with their lives.

Please let us know what you think of the series, and as always...

Enjoy!

Richard, Ann, and the RTG crew

Chapter 1

Five Years Ago

SHE ALMOST DIDN’T GO. The red dress that showed every tiny contour, and possessed a side-split exposing far too much upper thigh, had been shoehorned on five minutes ago. And shoehorned off four minutes ago.

Wearing anything underneath it was a no-no. She might as well have grabbed a marker pen and sketched the outline of her panties onto the dress. So three minutes ago they came off too, and two minutes ago the dress was cling-filming her skin for the second time.

One minute ago she threw the red horror onto the bed in disgust, and slumped down next to it, shaking her head in faux dismay. The dress that mocked underwear and had a much-too-risky design had just given her the perfect excuse.

Mia had nothing to wear.

Still trying to decide if she should feel frustration at forking out an extortionate amount for a dress she’d never wear, or manic relief that she now had a get-out-of-jail-free card, a gentle tap on the door wrenched her back to the there-and-then.

‘Who is it?’

‘Who the heck do you think?’

‘Jamie? What happened to texting thirty minutes before you got here?’

He didn’t seem to want to reply to that. She threw the offending panties back on and opened the door. He looked her almost-nakedness up and down, and then let out the stupid but infectious grin she’d come to love so much.

‘All ready then, I see,’ he said, stepping into the dorm room and closing the door.

‘What?’

‘Will confess sweetie, I never thought the minimalist look would be your thing.’

‘Funny guy. Unlike you, I see.’

The grin never faded. He gave her a twirl, followed by a curtsey. ‘You like?’

‘Let me find my sunglasses, and I’ll let you know.’

His long jacket was sparkly pink. Very sparkly. It seemed to give off its own light, blinding everything around it. Underneath the glow Mia could just about make out electric-blue pants, set low on the hip and quite possibly sprayed on. Pink boot-style trainers matched the jacket perfectly, just without the glow. The white t-shirt was Lady Gaga. His already-blonde hair had been dyed a couple of shades blonder, and spiked upwards like golden stalagmites.

He was the gayest man she’d ever known. And the best friend a girl could possibly have.

‘I can’t go. I’ve nothing to wear.’

Still his grin didn’t fade, even when he somehow managed to let out a tut-tut sound. He walked over to the bed. ‘And now you have the answer to your question.’

‘What question?’

‘Why I didn’t text. If I had you’d have had time to wimp out.’

‘Crafty bitch. But your plan didn’t work. I’m not going.’

‘Darling...’ He lifted up the devil-dress. ‘So we spent six hours choosing this, and all for nothing. I can feel tears welling up...’

‘It wasn’t six hours, so quit with the drama queen crap. More like six minutes... it was the first one we saw.’

‘It would have been six hours if I’d had my way. Better put it on quick though, hun... taxi won’t wait forever.’

‘Are you listening to me?’

‘Not really. I’m too upset. All the blood, sweat and tears for nothing...’

‘Jamie! Your non-existent blood sweat and tears ended up choosing a dress that even shows up the pimple on my left butt cheek. And I can’t exactly go commando with that insane side-split.’

‘You think I don’t know that?’

‘Huh?’

‘Well, not the butt pimple bit... which I doubt exists... but when you tried it on I could see every little contour, if you get my drift.’

‘So why did you let me buy it then?’

‘Because unlike you, I cover every eventuality. Literally, if I may say,’

‘Now you’ve lost me.’

‘Darl...’ He reached into his jacket pocket. ‘I’ve not been your best friend... well, your only friend... for two years without discovering the manic paranoia you have for social interaction, which would lead you to desperately seek the slightest excuse to avoid tonight. So here, put this on.’

He handed her the tiniest g-string she’d ever seen. ‘Seriously? It... it doesn’t even exist.’

He grinned. ‘It’s designed for dresses like yours. See... just enough to cover your lady-bits, and the strap is super-thin and has no seams, so it’s invisible.’

‘It’ll snap when I bend over.’

‘Oh please... just put it on. For me?’

‘You are a bitch.’

‘Sure I am. A bitch who knows you too well. Two minutes Cinders, and you shall go to the ball.’

Chapter 2

MIA GROANED TO HERSELF as the taxi drew up outside the biggest, loudest nightclub in Cambridge. Of all the places they could have chosen for the end-of-year bash, Sparks represented everything she perceived as hell on Earth.

The thousand or so people milling around outside weren’t helping. In reality it was only thirty, but as her panic levels flew off the scale it might as well have been a million.

Every one of them was more beautiful, confident and sexy than she was.

She groaned to herself, so she thought. Maybe a tiny petrified sound had inadvertently slipped out, or perhaps Jamie really did know her too well, but he looked at her in a sympathetic kind of way and wrapped a hand around hers.

‘You ready for this, Cinders?’

‘No.’

‘Course you are. Look at you... Cinderella in the killer dress, ready for the kiss from the prince to bring you back to life.’

‘You’re mixing your fairy tales, Jamie.’

‘Sweetie, I am a fairy tale. And right now so are you. Kinda wishing I swung both ways.’

‘No you’re not.’

He grinned. ‘Maybe not. But if I did...’

The grin worked its magic. Mia let out a giggle, and slapped his electric-blue thigh. ‘Sometimes I think you’re my prince charming anyway.’

He puckered his lips. ‘Fair enough, if you insist. But no tongues, ok?’

She giggled again, and reached for the clutch bag on the seat next to her. ‘Guess I’d better step through the gates of hell while I’ve got a smile on my face.’

‘Bout time. Chomping at the bit here, sweetie. Let’s go find you a sexy hunk... and maybe me too.’

‘Jamie? What about Tom?’

He let out a Hollywood-style sigh. ‘He’s so... annoyingly boring.’

‘But he’s lovely.’

‘Darl... lovely can only tickle your fancy for so long. Imagine being me two days ago... he took me to Nando’s wearing white socks and a dark grey jacket!’

‘Horror.’

‘I know.’ His eyes glazed over, staring into nothing as he recalled the incredibly painful experience. Until his brain tuned into the sarcasm. ‘Guess I’m whinging to the wrong person about that particular tragedy.’

‘Guess you are. But clothes don’t maketh the man, Jamie.’

‘Seriously? Oh my dear, have you got a lot to learn. But you see, the grey jacket was a sign from above. A sign of a grey man. A very grey man... in every way, if you understand me.’

‘Ok, enough information. We going to hell or what?’

He leapt out of the cab like his electric pants were giving him electric shocks. ‘And there’s me thinking I’d have to wrench you out of that cab kicking and screaming.’

She slipped an arm into his as they crossed the road. ‘That I’d like to see. Jamie the dominatrix.’

He paused, raised his eyes to the clear starry sky of a July evening. ‘Hmm... maybe corporate finance isn’t the best career choice after all. Got me thinking now.’

‘You’re terrible. And talking of thinking, don’t even think about sneaky matchmaking schemes tonight, ok? I’m here under duress, so if some nerdy creep asks me for a dance and I see your stupid grinning face in the background, I will have my retribution. Do you understand me?’

‘Oh dear,’ he sighed as they joined the back of the queue. ‘Poor Cinders, twenty years old and never been kissed. Someone’s got to take charge of your non-existent libido, darling.’

‘You have been warned. Third strike and it’s the ball clamps.’

Hell was every bit as hellish as Mia envisaged. The huge space was a pounding mess of strobe lights and thumping sound that seemed to jangle every synapse to pulp. This time it really felt like a thousand people were filling every bit of available space.

Every one of them seemed happy to be there.

Standing as close as she could get to the far wall, a Malibu cocktail in one hand and the white knuckles of the other gripping the clutch bag like her life depended on it, she almost felt overdressed. The long cling-film dress consisted of far more fabric than most girls were wearing, but then again, displaying most of the gorgeous bits they owned didn’t seem to bother them too much.

A wave of unexpected sadness wafted through her. Jamie truly did care, making sure she’d chosen something that covered up most of her, knowing if he’d tried to get her into something more revealing she’d never have gone at all.

And he was making the hell just about bearable. Watching him performing made her smile, most of the time. He was in Jamie heaven, and wringing every drop out of it. In fairness he was hard to miss, the strobes bouncing off the pink jacket as he gyrated around the dance floor, doing a very good impression of a disco ball.

Twice he grabbed her, and dragged her out into the open like the dominatrix he was becoming, forcing her to dance with him, and now and again pointing and shouting in her ear, ‘What about him?’

Thankfully the threat of ball clamps seemed to have worked. They’d been there two hours, it was just gone midnight, and he’d actually asked what she thought each time he’d spotted a potential suitor.

He didn’t really need to work so hard. The dress was having the undesired effect. She’d lost count of the number of times a guy had asked her to dance. And each time she’d searched for Jamie’s grinning face, but it was nowhere to be seen.

If the guys who’d approached her had been persuaded to do it by her best friend, she couldn’t tell. Even so, she said no to every one of them.

It didn’t help that she couldn’t quite work out why anyone would want to dance with her.

A few of the girls she’d come to know on her course came and said hi. They all seemed to be with someone, looked a little surprised she was actually there, and soon drifted away. She spent much of the time people-watching, when she wasn’t Jamie-watching. Almost everyone she recognised from uni was there, making the most of finally being able to let out the pent-up stress at the end of the academic year.

Becca was there too. Of course she was. The girl everyone wanted to be seen with, she wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to make sure through the long summer recess they didn’t forget who was the queen of Cambridge.

She looked stunning, without even appearing to try. She always looked stunning. They’d never spoken a single word to each other in the two years on campus, and yet somehow Mia knew exactly who she was.

Some girls just seem to have that effect.

She watched her on the dance floor. A tiny black dress that couldn’t have been any tinier, or any simpler, hugged her perfect shape. Her black hair, cut into a shoulder bob, looked even shinier than it did in the days she’d spotted her on campus. She’d done nothing different to it for the night. She didn’t need to.

Dark brown eyes smouldered sexiness and confidence to anyone brave enough to look into them. Simple, elegant silver rings adorned three of the fingers on each hand. Everything about her was understated, and yet somehow combined to make the most powerful statement in the room.

Mia watched, mesmerized, as she danced in the centre of the floor, surrounded by her girlfriends like the lead singer in a world-famous girl band. She was beautiful, elegant, moving with an easy grace as understated as the rest of her, drawing in the gazes of those who watched, unable to look away.

Like a dark angel she flowed in perfect sync with the music, always unhurried, one step blending with the next in seamless perfection, her slender arms drifting through the pulsing air like raven’s wings, tracing circles and spirals like she was creating a priceless work of art.

Finally Mia looked away, a stab of envy piercing through her heart. She didn’t want to be the girl everyone adored, but for a reason she couldn’t explain, right then she wished she was.

She fought her way to the bar, and bought another Malibu. The fourth. Hardly a big drinker, she sank it quickly, and then grabbed the fifth. The incessant beat, the constantly flashing lights and the alcohol were having an effect, and as she headed back to the far wall things got a little spinny.

Thankfully there was a bit of vacant wall to lean against, so she went back to people-watching, sipping the drink a little slower this time. She caught herself smiling, and tried to wipe it away but it didn’t seem to want to go.

Maybe hell wasn’t so bad after all.

Ten minutes later Jamie bounced up, still looking as fresh as a daisy. He wasn’t alone. She’d noticed him dancing with the guy a little earlier, and it was looking like he’d found his replacement for grey Tom.

‘Hey, hun,’ he grinned. ‘Been looking for you. Say hello to the sexiest man in the place... next to me of course.’

The guy held out a slender hand. ‘Hi, I’m Toby.’ She took it, and looked him over. Tall and very slender, his long honey-blonde hair was tied back in a simple ponytail. A white jacket covered a plain black t-shirt, hanging loose over black shorts. His trainers were pink. Just not as pink as Jamie’s.

‘You guys running in the Race for Life?’ she grinned.

‘Funny girl.’ Jamie stuck his face close to hers, grinned the cheeky grin as he looked her over. ‘You’re actually pissed!’ he exclaimed, like it was the shock of the century.

‘Maybe a little.’

‘Wow... go you. Hell not so bad after all then, sweetie?’

‘When in Rome...’

‘Good girl. Listen...’ he glanced to Toby, looking like he was reluctant to say what Mia knew he was about to. She cut short his awkwardness.