AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Thank you,” Nate said. “But with all due respect, there are a few things I want to clear up. One, Kris doesn’t need anyone ‘looking after’ her. I supported her and cared for her because I love her, but she would’ve done just fine on her own. Two, we may be from different worlds, but judging from what I heard yesterday, I’m not the only one in this room who’s learned firsthand that love doesn’t give a rat’s ass—excuse my language—about where you live, or how much money you have, or whether youthinksomeone is well-suited. Plus, it’d be boring as shit—again, excuse my language—to be with someone who’s exactly like you. Finally, while I appreciate and am humbled by your quasi-approval of our relationship, please believe me when I say there isn’t jack shit you could do, say, or offer me that would keep me away from Kris. You’re not ‘allowing’ us to do anything. It’s our decision whether we want to be together. Hers and mine. I willalwaysstand by her side, so unless she tires of me one day, I’m here to stay.” Nate shrugged. “I’d say sorry, but I promised myself I wouldn’t lie anymore.”
A stunned silence filled the kitchen.
Nate was sure the other man would clock him in the face, but then Roger did something that shocked him even more than a sucker punch in the eye—he laughed. Loud and hard, like it was the first time he’d laughed in years.
“You’ve got balls, kid,” Roger said when his amusement died down. “Which is good, because Carreras don’t respect people without balls. But let me be clear—this is a one-time occurrence. Speak to me like that again and I’ll have my guy fix that pretty face of yours.”
Roger sounded more like a mafia don than a respected businessman, but Nate supposed there wasn’t a huge difference between corporate bosses and mob bosses in the dog-eat-dog world of capitalism.
He one hundred percent believed Roger had a “guy” and that said guy ran all manners of unsavory errands for his employer.
“Understood.”
Nate wasn’t a pushover, but he wasn’t an idiot, either.
His phone lit up with yet another call from Marty. He’d put it on silent, but the flashing screen was almost as annoying as Smash Mouth’s “All Star”—the ringtone his cousin/agent had programmed for just his calls—played on repeat.
“Are you going to get that?” Roger raised his eyebrows. “Your phone has been going off nonstop since I stepped into the kitchen.”
Even though Nate didn’t have the energy to deal with Marty, he took Roger’s advice. It was best to get the call over with so he could go back to worrying about how Kris’s conversation with Gemma was going.
“Thank God!” Marty yelled when Nate picked up. “Where the hell have you been? I’ve beencallingandcallingandcalling—”
“Sorry.” Nate interrupted the other man’s litany of “callings.” “I was busy.”
He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, hyperaware of Roger’s presence a mere five feet away, though Kris’s father appeared engrossed in his own phone. He was frowning and tapping on that thing like it could predict stock prices for the next fifty years with one hundred percent accuracy.
“Doing what?” Marty demanded. “Never mind. It’s not important. What is important is what I’m about to tell you. Are you ready? Are you sitting down? Are you—”
Nate released a weary sigh. “Just tell me.”
“Fine.” A dramatic pause, during which Nate could feel his patience stretching thin. “You’re on the shortlist for the Scott West film!”
Nate’s eardrums rang from the volume of his agent’s—because Marty was acting as his agent right now, not his cousin—excited yell. It was so loud it bled into the air surrounding Nate and caused Roger to look up.
“Did you hear me?” Marty sounded breathless. “You are on the motherfuckin’ shortlist for a motherfuckin’ Scott West film. You and three other guys. All relative unknowns, because this is West we’re talking about. I’ve seen the other guys’ reels—they ain’t that good. You’re much better, and I’m not just saying that because you’re my cousin. You have a real shot at getting this, and then it’s fucking A-list, no-more-auditions-needed, cover-of-Vanity Fairtime, baby! Your callback is in one week, and…”
While Marty rambled on, alternating between logistics and wild dreams of the future, Nate struggled to catch his breath. He felt like he’d paddled out to sea on a calm day, only to get swept up in an unexpected tidal wave.
He’d auditioned for the Scott West film a few days ago, but he hadn’t expected much. He definitely hadn’t expected to be shortlisted this quickly—or at all.
Holy fucking shit.
The import of the situation sank in. Nate’s chances of starring in a Scott West film had gone from one in a million to one in four. He had a twenty-five percent chance of getting everything he’d ever wanted. Career-wise, at least.
After a lifetime of looking up at the stars, he was finally close enough to almost touch them.
“Almost” wasn’t the same as “certainly,” but it was a helluva lot better than anything Nate had achieved so far.
He was vaguely aware that Roger had disappeared in the past ten minutes, but Nate didn’t question where the other man went. He didn’t do much except stand in dumbfounded silence, his heart racing, his palms sweating, and his mind whirling with a million thoughts and ideas and to-do items.
Kris.
Of all the people in the world, Nate wanted to share the news with her first, but she had enough going on right now.
Nate paced in a small circle while Marty doled out dubious advice with a few gems mixed in. “…West himself will be there. Wear gray—it’s his favorite color. I don’t know why, because gray is depressing as hell, but any bit helps…”
He’d thought this summer would be like any other. Boy, had he been wrong.
First, he’d met Kris, and now this. His possible big break, which he learned about in the kitchen of the man who’d tried to pay him $50,000 to break up with his daughter. The same daughter who’d just found out her mother wasn’t really her mother and that herrealmother was her aunt—long presumed dead—who’d had an affair with her father.
A laugh broke out of Nate’s chest at the absurdity of it all.
Somehow, when he wasn’t looking, his life had turned into a movie.
