Page 111 of Undone By The Mountain Daddies

“Here you go, Sienna.”

“Thanks.” I take the juice from the server, and she smiles at me and walks away.

Guilt floods through me. Looking back, I should’ve waited until morning to leave the cabin. But I lose total control over my body when none of them have shirts on and they’re standing inches away from me.

Guilt and sadness wash over me. I hit reply and start typing out a sentence, rewriting and deleting, unable to find the perfect words. In the end, I settle for trust me, but the glass door swings open before I can hit send.

Holden Gray in the flesh.

He waves to the woman at the front as he enters, then beelines toward me. The good thing about this place is the staff. They mind their own business and don’t try to sneak pictures of you without your permission. Holden and I are safe.

He sits down opposite me and just stares at me.

“So?” I hold out my hands because he still hasn’t said anything after a full thirty seconds. “Are you gonna talk, or are you more interested in having a staring competition?”

“You look good,” he says, raising his voice at the end. Like he’s confused.

“And you look…” I note the heavy bags under his eyes. “Like you need more sleep.”

“As I said on the phone, I’m worried about you, Sienna.”

So much that he’s losing sleep over it?

“Cut the bullshit, Holden. Tell me what I need to do to turn things around.”

“Have those men been drugging you?”

I narrow my eyes at him and shake my head. “That’s completely ridiculous, Holden.”

“Right…” he sighs, rubbing at his perfectly stubbled jaw. “If I’m honest, Sienna, things aren’t looking good for you. But there’s a way we can earn back people’s respect.”

That two-letter word again. We.

Damnit, I hate the way my heart skips a beat. My body remembers the effect he used to have on me. Hope, followed by paralyzing despair.

It was the most agonizing pain I’d ever felt. But I kept allowing myself to feel it, over and over. As soon as the pieces of my broken heart were welded together again, Holden would do something to shatter me.

Each message reply, each sidelong glance he would give me on set, fused those pieces back together one at a time until I was whole again.

And then the process would start over.

He’d raise my spirits higher, bring me closer to where I wanted to be. And then he’d hurt me. The fall felt more catastrophic each time, and it’d take twice as long to repair.

I’d stare into his eyes and feel myself falling for his charm. That’s all my body had known how to do. For years.

But like this conversation, I’d get trapped in a cycle with Holden. Round and round I’d go, grasping at every last breadcrumb. Living for the dopamine rush of being worth his time again.

And the second I move on and stop paying attention to him, he’d want me again.

“Let’s get back together.”

I bat my lashes, blinking myself back into reality. Did he really just say that?

I lean in a little bit closer. “What?”

“You heard what I said.”

I take a deep breath, in through the nose, out through the mouth. I will not lose my shit in this coffee shop. “Holden.” I look him dead in the eye. “You. Are. Engaged.”