I pick up another rock and throw it. I should probably call Morgan or something, if only to bother her about fast-tracking Mylo’s test results. Maybe even to ask for advice, but…
Morgan and I are polar opposites. Well, as much as two female alphas can be. I already know what she’d say. She’d tell me to suck it up and get over it, which I’m already trying to do.
Lana’s going to be furious when she can’t find me. She’ll try to hide it, but I can always tell.
I don’t know how to explain to her that sometimes, to stay, I need to prove to myself that Icouldrun away. That I’m not actually trapped. The consequences would follow me, sure, but it’s not the first time that’s happened.
I could change jobs. There’s always becoming a pro surfer, or beach combing and making art from the shells, or finally getting my boating license. I could sell jet skis or real estate, or write a tell-all memoir about every Hollywood creep I’ve ever worked with, burning all the bridges for the hell of it.
My muscles slowly relax.
I understand why Mylo thinks I can do whatever I want. I can and do—mostly by making sure I don’t want the thingsI can’t have. Focus on the bright side, make sure everyone’s having a good time, don’t rock the wrong boat.
I get one, maybe two episodes like this before even someone like Lana will wonder,maybe things would be easier with a different star.
Meanwhile, male stars get passes not just for quirks, but for full-on crimes.
Just because I’m an alpha doesn’t mean all the challenges of being a woman in Hollywood suddenly vanish. That’s actually what Morgan and I first bonded over: getting drunk while ranting and raging about all the glass walls around us.
I smile to myself as I chuck another stone. There are plenty of people who would kill to seetheMorgan Hunter that drunk. I might’ve challenged her to a drinking contest she didnotwin.
Maybe my insomnia’s cured itself and I’ll sleep fine tonight—alone. Only one way to know, and there’s no sense stressing over something that hasn’t happened yet.
Still… as the breeze kicks into a gust, sending the waves frothing, my mind goes oddly quiet. It’s like clouds drift over a once-blue sky, turning air and water to cold, somber grey.
I want to throw myself into the ocean and just… float. Let the frigid water drag me back into my body.
But Hair and Makeup would kill me. Not to mention Wardrobe.
I lean back on the boulder and stare up at the sky. Maybe for my next job I’ll just become a kite and let the wind carry me wherever…
“Christine?” It’s Mylo’s voice, and I jolt upright, twisting toward him.
Mylo stands at the base of the boulder, scent hidden by the cold air flowing in from the ocean.
I prop my knee up and lean against it. “I told you to call me Tee.”
“Yeah, I’m not gonna do that. Lana wants you.”
Maybe you can’t run away.I force a breath past that sandbag weight. “I’m sure she does.”
He hooks a thumb over his shoulder, pointing back toward set. “Do you… want me to go get her? Or…”
I shrug, turning to the waves and keeping an ear angled his way. “I don’t care what you do.”
Mylo scoffs. “If you want to slack off, princess, that’s on you.” His footsteps shuffle along the sand. Then pause.
A wave crashes against the boulder, hissing its retreat.
A gull caws overhead.
I don’t move.
His shuffling resumes.
I remain alone on the shore.
CHAPTER
