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shit.”
    â€œYou’d look like an
actual
dick in a uniform,” Paz shoots back. “But Holloway…fuck, man, you’d be perfect. You auditioning?”
    Liam doesn’t get a chance to answer, because suddenly, the man himself is standing before us.
    â€œMr. Lassiter.” Jeremy jumps up, sticking out his hand like an overeager tool. “Jeremy Hill. I’m a big fan.”
    Lassiter looks at Jeremy’s hand, ignores it, glances around at all of us. His gaze settles on Liam. “You. You look familiar. Who are you?”
    â€œLiam Holloway.” I swear, the way he says it, you’d think he was about to tack a “Sir” on the end. He really
is
kinda perfect to play a soldier, all respectful and disciplined and shit. “I was in James Gallagher’s last movie,
The History of Us
.”
Sir.
    â€œOh yeah. Fuckin’ Jim. That movie was all right. Who’s your agent?”
    â€œEvan Cooper, Sir.”
    I knew it.
    The rest of us laugh, and so does Lassiter, but he’s not walking away. “Lift up your shirt.”
    Liam’s so stunned, he doesn’t even respond. Fortunately, I have no such problem with my reaction time, and at least one of us recognizes this for the opportunity it is. I yank up Liam’s shirt as far as I can, revealing his eight-pack to the entirety of Circuit.
    Half the fucking club stops and whistles, and I grin as some girl calls out “Nice body!” from the front.
    â€œI’m inclined to agree,” Lassiter says wryly. “Here,
Sir.
Tell Evan Cooper to give me a call.” He hands over a card, gives Liam’s abs another quick glance, then walks off toward the bar.
    Liam whirls around to see us all gaping at him. “Did that shit seriously just happen?” he asks me.
    â€œThat shit
seriously
just happened,” I confirm, giving him a bro-five that nearly breaks my palm in two. “Scott fucking
Lassiter
! That’s a Fourth of July movie, man!”
    Just like that, the goofy, bewildered smile on his face falls. “Right. A Fourth of July movie. Which means filming starts soon.”
    â€œSo?” asks Paz.
    â€œSo it overlaps with
Daylight Falls
,” he says miserably.
    Which means there’s no chance in hell he’ll be able to do it.
    He sighs and drops back down to his seat. I don’t really know what to say him now—none of us do—but it doesn’t matter. He pulls out his phone, and I know we’ve lost him to Ally for the night.

    â€œChester, this place looks absurd,” Liam observes as he walks around the pool area, taking in the last few weeks’ worth of planning. “Hasn’t Ally told you a million times, no fire?”
    â€œShe said no fire
works
. Or fire dancers. She’s never said anything about setting the hot tub on fire.” I watch one of the burlesque dancers touch up another’s makeup, and I wonder how badly it’ll stain my pillowcase later.
    â€œAnd don’t you think a Gray’s Papaya cart is a little excessive? I didn’t even know they
had
carts.”
    â€œIt’s vintage.” I was particularly proud of that find. “And this party’s for
your
girlfriend. You’d think you’d be a little more appreciative. Especially since you insisted on being painfully boring for your birthday. Which, by the way, if you think you’re getting away with for your twenty-first…”
    He rolls his eyes. “Don’t worry—you’ve already made it plenty clear that next year we’ll be acting out the
Grand Theft Auto
edition of your choice.”
    â€œExcellent.” We head over to the bar and help ourselves to a couple of bottles of Stella while the guys set up. “How’d the Lassiter audition go?”
    â€œNot sure.” He takes a long drink, and I realize this might be the first time Liam’s actually looked nervous over a movie role. Even last year, when