Chapter 62: LANNA

Lanna

I can't believe it. I just can't.

I had the big record deal, I had music video and 2 albums. I had producers and my own designers, I had song writters and private jets, I had everything. Yet, that under aged street trash gets a job at that low budget Male Entertainment bar and she blows my record company away. Forget about the fame and fortune that Lanna brought them, there is a new chick down to that sleeze joint who knows how to take her clothes off good.

I rolled my eyes, reeling my hook in from the river. "Whore."

Night after night, I would be forced by my manager to go and watch her. Here I was, 21 years old, watching this little 19 year old and trying to take tips from her. I tried, I tried so damn hard to do whatever the hell it was that she did, but it was damn impossible because once I thought I would have her stupid little tricks down path, she would do something new and make everybody go in awe. She was too dirty, way too erotic. I can't do that, I'm too pure. But of course she had no problem being sexy, screwing that bartender every single night.

Of course the record deal cut me. Why wouldn't they? Why would they keep me around if they had "Baby"? Sex sells apparently, and man, did she have the sex part down path.

I watched as she walked into the café, and she left again with a little container, soup probably. She kept her head high, lost in her own little world.

How could Mollie Davis be "Baby"? Just look at her, her face is raw and plain, her clothes is horrid, her hair is just hidden away under a bandana, she barely leaves her farm, she don't look sexy. There is not one thing about Mollie Davis that would make anybody say "She is definitely a stripper".

No, she just looked like a down to earth girl who is trying to scratch the surface by milking cows and planting vegetables.

I scoffed, turning back to the river again.

I knew, I knew that red dress seemed familiar. I knew I seen it before, and those eyes. I remember her wearing green contacts all the time, but I also remember the day when the owner of the club handed her the contacts for the first time. I was there next to her. It was the same night that she was wearing that dress. The club boss said "Wear these, so my customers don't feel like they're staring into the eyes of the devil. It's bad enough half of them is here cheating on their wives anyway."

Mollie only sighed, but she put them in anyway. I never seen her real eyes, but I know now that they are the deepest set of black eyes, so black you can barely tell the difference from the iris to the pupil.

And how she did my make up, "Baby" told me the exact same thing two years ago. She would always tell me to make my eyes look bigger by only lining the top. But my producers didn't want that. "Baby" lined her eyes all around, so I had to as well.

Why did she leave Paisley?

Why did she turn down my multi billion dollar record deal?

And more importantly, why in the hell did she end up staying here in Wears Valley? She could be the most famous person in this world.

I'm going there tonight to find out.

Mollie

I ached from head to toe. I can't bend over without cringing, my thighs are like two 1000 pound boards, I can't decide if my arms feel like jelly or if they are bricks weighing me down.

But even worst, my hands. I cringed as I lifted the bag of ice off my hands, revealing the blood oozing, popping, dead fleshy, blistery craters digging their way to my bones.

"Ugh, my god." I mumbled, peeling some soggy skin away from a wound. "This is disgusting."

I went to the first aid kit, looking for polysporin or something. All that is there are band aids and alcohol swabs. I considered disinfecting the wounds with the alcohol, but I quickly changed my mind when I thought about the terrible irritation it would cause. "I'd rather be shot in the stomach than put alcohol on them."

I slumped down into my sofa, with my palms opened wide to the ceiling. It stung when the air touched them, but it absolutely killed when they touched anything else.

"Looks like I'm here for the rest of the night." I yawned.

I'm okay with that. I'm beat. I'm the tiredest I have ever been since I started working on this farm. There is just so much that has to be done in the spring. Rice has to be planted. Vegetables have to be watered, which I was not thinking about when I decided to plant sixteen sections. That's probably the dumbest thing I ever did yet. Lumber has to be cut up to do renovations. The fences for my animals have to be expanded. My animals are getting so muddy outside in the dirt so I have to wash them even more.

I got all the rice down, and I got half of the fence expanded. Of course I did the watering and tended to the animals. That's everyday shit.

But I'm just friggin exhausted. I want to eat food, I want to crawl into bed with Vaughn there to wrap his arms around me, I want to lie in the hot sunshine, and I want to drink smoothies.

But my hands are too tender to make food. Vaughn won't be here for two more days, I don't have enough time in the day to lie down, and I don't know how to make smoothies.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

Sudden knocking made my heart stop quickly. I must have been dozing off.

I tried my hardest to throw my legs over the side of the couch to stand, but my legs were locked.

"Ugh, tomorrow's work will be the death of me." I sighed, giving up. "JUST COME IN!" I yelled to the door. It's probably just Julia anyway.

The door opened. "Oh my god, is that blood?" I heard a girly voice gush. Not Julia's voice.

Lanna. Oh no.

"Uh." I jumped up. My legs tried to go against it, but my will to be nice to her was too strong. "Yeah it is. It's been a hard week."

She screwed up her face as she took a seat across from me. "No offence," she said too strongly to be kind, "you look like you were dragged through a knot hole."

I chuckled. "I'm too afraid to look in a mirror."

"Your hands look gruesome. Did you put anything on them?"

I shook my head. "No, there is nothing here."

We both went quiet. My leg was jittery, just jumping up and down regardless how much it hurt. My nervousness for the conversation coming up was numbing any pain I had in my body.

Lanna stared at me thoroughly, as if seeing me for the first time again. It's weird, sitting here with her like this. The last person I would expect to be here when I washed up in Wears Valley. The last person I would want here.

"So, ask me whatever it is you're thinking." I mumbled nervously, afraid of what exactly she would consider asking me. But I was just desperate to get it over with.

Her hazel eyes squinted in suspicion. "I don't know where to start."

I just looked ahead, waiting. I don't care what she asks. I won't lie. I'll tell her everything. She knows most of it anyway.

The best I can do is be honest to the person who could ruin my life completely.

"Well, first," she started, "what happened to you and Paisley?"

I chuckled, relieved that was the first question. "We never were official. We knew we were only friends and that sometime we would have to go our separate ways."

"Friends with benefits," she bluntly stated.

I nodded uncomfortably. "Yes."

She snickered. "Does Vaughn know that?"

"No one does," I answered stiffly. "And I don't plan on it either."

"He would be so pleased," she muttered.

"Okay, Lanna." I breathed impatiently. "What exactly are you trying to prove with that attitude? I came here minding my own business. I did no harm to anybody."

"Ha." She rolled her eyes. "You ruined my life, if that counts for anything."

"I didn't intend on that."