Page 7 of The Actor: Harrison

He nods. “Are you interested?”

I shrug and grin at him, then push away from the bar counter I’m leaning on.

“Where are you going?” He frowns at me.

“To give my agent a reason to be pissed off with me.”

“Isn’t that the norm?” He laughs and I wink at him while I make my way to Sienna.

I walk across the room without moving my eyes from hers. I pay no attention to people who try to stop me to chat or whatever they want. She’s my only target and her eyes are growing wider and wider as I get closer to her. When I’m at arm’s reach, she takes a step back as her friend giggles. I wink at the blond and then turn my full attention to Sienna who studies me with a mixture of suspicion and annoyance.

“Hello, there,” I purr with my signature charming smile spreading across my lips.

I know, I’m playing dirty, but I want to know this woman and the movie she’s working on. I don’t leave anything to chance. I’m not here to play fair, I’m here to show the world what I can do, and she’s my chance.

“What do you want?” she asks harshly and I’m a bit taken aback. My smile wavers a bit, but I force it back in place.

Her friend is full on giggling by now, trying—and failing—to hide it behind her hand. Sienna glares at her too. I’m almost glad I’m not the only one on the receiving end of her fury.

“Just trying to be friendly.” I keep my pleasant tone, but my nervousness is gripping my stomach. I’m worried it will show, sooner or later.

“I don’t have time for small talk with Hollywood sellouts like you,” she blurts out and her friend gasps in response.

“Sienna!” she scolds.

The blow is so low it takes me a few moments to process what she said and answer her hostile insult. “Wow. You don’t even know me.” I drop my sweet tone and charming smile.

“Isn’t it true that you get paid millions to take off your shirt and star in movies?” she asks with venom in her tone.

The punch to the gut takes my breath away. I know what they think about me in the industry, but nobody has ever been so blatantly honest and brutal in saying it to my face.

“I won a fucking Oscar for best actor.” I can’t hide the disbelief and rising temper in my voice.

We’ve never spoken before this moment and I don’t know what her problem is, but I don’t deserve this treatment. Maybe she’s pissed off because this is a shitty day for her, but I don’t care.

“A long time ago. Why haven’t you won anything else since?” She raises her eyebrow as her friend blurts out a “Jesus Christ” under her breath.

“Why? Have you won anything with your work?” I spit back. I’m done getting insulted by someone I don’t even know.

“Plenty of awards,” she scoffs.

“And yet here you are, begging for money because you can’t pull off your next movie. Isn’t it ironic that you’re begging from the Hollywood elite, where you clearly don’t fit in?” I fight back with maybe more harshness than necessary, but I’m done with her.

The fury on her face is so strong I’m almost sure she’s going to punch me in the face, but I don’t give her a chance to reply. I turn around and march back to Aaron who’s looking at me with confusion. When I reach him, I’m fuming.

“Well, that was fast!” He studies me.

“That was an unbelievably long time in her presence, if you ask me,” I spit angrily and regret it as soon as his eyebrows shoot up in surprise.

“What did she say to piss you off?”

I summarize our conversation and the more I repeat it, the angrier I get and the more surprised Aaron is.

“Wow, that was quite a ride.” He glances over at her, frowning.

“Tell me about it. Sadly, it’s no different from what people say about me behind my back in this industry, but she was spitting it in my face like she wanted to hurt me. I don’t even know her!”

“Not everyone in this industry thinks that about you. A lot of people appreciate your talent. The weird thing is she wasn’t so rude when I met her. She blurts out a lot of stuff when she gets nervous, I got that too, but she was never that harsh. Distrustful of this industry, sure, but never mean or rude.” He seems to study her from afar to figure out what happened.

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