Page 10 of Undone By The Mountain Daddies

I finish the tea and throw on a fresh robe, heading out of my hotel room. A gentle piano melody welcomes me back into the spa. I find the heated infinity pool outside, unbelt my rope and slip into warmth.

Mineral water envelops me and I inhale the essential oils all around, feeling cleansed by lavender and the smell of pine from the nearby forest. I sink gratefully into a state of bliss for a moment. It’s nice to be alone without others around, taking photos of me. They almost always get the wrong angles.

Of course, the joys of enjoying something alone are short-lived when you’re Sienna Lane. Even way up here in the mountains, I can’t catch a break.

Two women join me in the pool, and although they’re far enough away for it not to feel awkward, my skin prickles as soon as they open their mouths and start talking about me.

“That’s her,” whispers one to the other.

Aside from the sloshing water as they move around in the pool, all I hear is them. And my own heartbeat thumping like crazy in my chest.

“What happened to her?”

“I don’t know. She must be going through a rough patch.”

“Her acting was atrocious.”

“Agreed. Apart from when she was begging for Christopher to go faster.”

The women start giggling.

I keep my gaze fixated on the valley below, hoping that they’ll go away. It’s obvious that they think they’re talking low enough that I can’t hear them.

I’m so stupid for thinking that I could actually catch a break up here and go unrecognized for even a small amount of time.

“Every actor in Hollywood has their time,” one of them says. “They go after fame, let it go to their head, until they eventually lose it. It’s so insufferable. Even when they’re playing a character on screen, you can’t separate the art from the artist.”

“There is no art,” says the other. “Not anymore.”

“What the hell are those shoes, Sienna?” mocks one of the brattiest girls in my class.

“Cut her some slack!” adds another. “She doesn’t have parents. That’s why all her clothes are thrifted.”

“Like that totally adds up. Didn’t they leave you any money behind?”

My heart rattles, my throat closing up.

“Sienna?”

I walk away, too numb to speak, to do anything but lock myself away in the bathroom stall and cry.

The empty feeling in my chest has to go away. It can’t be this way forever.

One day I’ll show them what I’m made of.

I hear the click of a camera and jump out of the pool.

I quickly return to my hotel room. Fuck this. How the hell am I supposed to relax when everyone’s seen the new movie and agrees that I’m the biggest flop ever?

And to top it all off, people still think I’m in love with Holden. Which is absolutely true. But my acting skills are supposed to be good enough to hide that.

Locking the door behind me, I crash on my bed. My hair is sopping wet, dripping all over Egyptian cotton sheets that are now soaked, but I couldn’t give a damn about anything else other than my life being over.

I could fly somewhere remote, disappear from society for a while, but it’s hard to do that when flying makes me so anxious I vomit. Literally.

My mom died in a plane crash, and anytime I get on a plane, I can’t stop thinking about it.

Flying is out of the equation, unless completely necessary…