Read Under the Lights for Free Online

Stressed. The other guys are distracted by the waitress, so I lean in. “Dude, what’s wrong with you?”
    He grabs the vodka I hadn’t realized I was still holding and tosses it back. “Nothing. I’m fine.” He’s lying; it doesn’t take a PhD to guess he’s not taking Ally’s leaving as well as he wants to be. “How was the audition?”
    â€œShitty.” The bottle’s nearing empty, and the waitress is busy making out with Hudson. “Hey, Hill, you guys got any more booze?”
    He looks up from his phone. “We had Patrón… somewhere. Might be under Hudson.”
    Hudson reaches under what’s a little too close to his ass for comfort and pulls out a bottle without breaking mouth-to-mouth suction. I wipe the whole thing off on the corner of his shirt before uncapping it to pour shots for Liam and me.
    â€œSorry, man,” he says with a frown. “Got any more lined up?”
    We clink shots and toss ‘em back. “Not yet. Going down to Miami for an Aspen shoot this weekend. Having dinner with Holly when I get back. And I have to figure out this shit with my parents.”
    His eyebrows shoot up. “You’ve been talking to your parents? About
what
?”
    I forget how seriously Ally takes the whole discretion part of client privilege. “My mom got canned,” I mutter, taking a swig straight from the tequila bottle. “Now she wants to do some reality shit so she can pretend she was ever relevant.”
    Liam barks out a laugh. “Your family. In a reality show. Seriously? And your dad is cool with this?”
    â€œMy dad was paying attention for approximately five seconds of the conversation. Anyway, he’s not the one that network gives a shit about. Lucky me.”
    â€œI don’t get it. Just say no.”
    â€œShe’s blackmailing me with my house.” Man, talking about this shit is really ruining the buzz I’ve spent all day building. “Fuck this.” I yank Royce away from the waitress. “Hey,” I say to her. “Is Gia working tonight?”
    â€œYou mean Gina?” she asks, wiping her mouth.
    â€œYeah. Yeah, Gina. Right. She here?” I need a serious distraction, and the bottled variety just isn’t cutting it right now.
    â€œI think she’s around. I’ll check. Can I get you boys anything else?”
    Liam holds up the empty vodka bottle. “Another one of these, please.”
    â€œHey, is that Scott Lassiter?” Jeremy asks, keeping his voice low. We all look up, and see that it is indeed. Lassiter’s the fastest-rising young director in Hollywood right now, but he’s also picky and neurotic as balls. Getting an audition with him is next to impossible. The other guys all sit up a little straighter, like that’ll suddenly give them a shot in hell of getting noticed.
    â€œAny of you guys auditioning for his Iraq movie?” Royce asks.
    Jeremy snorts. “My agent’s been trying to get a meeting with him for months. No luck. He’s such a dick.”
    â€œWhat about you, Chester?”
    Royce’s mouth is curved up just enough for me to know he’s actively trying to be an asshole right now; he knows there’s no chance Holly could score me an audition. Lassiter’s impossible enough, and Holly’s a junior agent. If I could’ve gone with anyone else—and I mean,
anyone
—after getting dropped by Calvin, I probably would have.
    â€œThere’s not a single hot chick in that movie,” I say flatly. “No chance I’m going to sweat my balls off in the desert for that shit.”
    â€œThe asshole doesn’t even return my agent’s calls,” mutters Paz. “Self-righteous prick.”
    â€œPaz, you’ve got like nine inches to grow in every fucking direction—including your dick—before you can play a soldier,” says Royce. “I’m perfect for that