Page 1 of Stuck with my Mountain Daddies

Prologue

RILEY

The rooftop glittered,all golden light and designer excess, like someone had bottled an Instagram filter and poured it over the skyline.

LA stretched beneath me, sprawling and indifferent, a city that loved you until it didn’t.

But tonight?

Tonight, it loved me.

“Babe, hold the flute higher. Light hits better that way.”

I adjusted my grip on the delicate stem of my glass as Carmen, my stylist slash occasional photographer, tilted her phone for another Boomerang.

The caption wrote itself:Champagne kisses and six-figure wishes.

Because that’s what this was… the moment I had worked, posted, and strategically networked for.

My pending sponsorship deal wasn’t just money. It was status.

Credibility.

The difference between being a passing internet girl and becoming abrand.

The rooftop was a fever dream of influencers, executives, and Hollywood-adjacent types who all spoke in hashtags and PR soundbites.

The theme wasDecadence and Debauchery. Not exactly suitable for Halloween, moreGatsby, but make it content, but hey, that was LA.

I had chosen my outfit accordingly: a beaded, barely-there flapper dress that screamed Old Hollywood while whisperingI’m hot and I know it,with dark curls and even darker smoky eyes.

And then, just what I needed—an aesthetic disruption to my carefully curated feed. Ava Sinclair slinked into my periphery.

Or staggered a little.

She’d definitely been enjoying the free drinks a little too much.

“Riley! Babe! You lookinsanetonight!” She air-kissed both of my cheeks, her gloss barely grazing my skin. “Like, actually illegal. But in a good way.”

I smiled, the kind I used for photos and people I didn’t trust. “Ava, stop. You’re making me blush.”

“No, seriously. It’s like, who even knew small-town girls could pull off big-league couture?” She laughed, all perfect white teeth and subtle malice. “Sucha glow up.”

I ignored the jab because rule number one of surviving in this world? Never let them see you flinch. “Well, some of us had to glow up. Others had good surgeons.”

Her smile tightened, just for a second, before she tossed her hair and took a sip of her drink. “Oh my god,stop. You’re so bad. But like, iconic bad. Hey, where’s Jasper?”

She pivoted effortlessly, not even waiting for me to answer the question about my dreaded ex, who,of course,wasn’t here, before draping an arm around me as her boyfriend, Tyler—an actor in the way that a guy with one IMDb credit is an actor—joined us. “So, tell me everything. The deal. The contract. Thebag.”

I shrugged, casual but calculated. “Major health and wellness brand. Multi-year. Six figures. You know, a little something to keep the lights on.”

Ava blinked.

Once.

Twice.

And then she let out the kind of laugh that belonged in a podcast ad for teeth whitening strips. “Shut. Up. That’s insane!”

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