Page 50 of Cocky Bastard

“Hello, is that Jude? It’s Jenny Hall.”

“Jenny? Hey, yeah, it’s Jude,” I said, fumbling with my phone and nearly dropping it on the floor in stunned disbelief. “Nice to hear from you. Are you well?”

“Doing better now,” she said slyly. “I’ve spoken to some bigwig or other at the production company this afternoon and they’ve finally agreed that you’re the best choice for Llewelyn. So if you still want it, and frankly I wouldn’t blame you if you said no, the part is yours.”

“Are you serious?” It felt like my heart was in my mouth while nausea churned my stomach, like the worst case of sea sickness I’d ever experienced despite being on dry land.

“Deadly. I wouldn’t be ringing if I wasn’t. I’m not the sort to pull pranks, especially not about things like this,” she said. “If you need some time to think about it, then do. I’ll need an answer by Monday, though. Then Henry can finally drop this ridiculous crusade of his. His loyalty does him credit, but it has made him exceedingly difficult to deal with.” She chuckled dryly. “I shall be dreading opening my emails for years to come. Although I must say his verbiage is highly amusing. I’ve never seen so many creative insults in my life.”

I laughed because I could honestly believe that of Henry, especially if he was bored.

“I don’t need time to think. I’ll do it,” I said, giddy relief rushing through me. It was like waking up on Christmas Day as a kid and seeing a stocking full of presents at the end of my bed. “Thank you. Seriously, Jenny, I’m so grateful I don’t even know where to start.”

“It’s quite all right. You deserve it.”

“Thank you. This means everything.”

“You’re welcome,” she said and I got the sense that Jenny wasn’t particularly fond of people being overly emotional at her. “Now, we’ll get that paperwork going again and speak to Miles. The filming dates have been pushed back because of all this and because Henry’s been dragged off to reshoots, so we’re looking at sometime in the spring next year. They tried to get me to agree to film over the winter, but the whole thing as written is set in the summer, and I’m not spending half the budget on them creating a digital rose garden when I can get a real one by waiting six months.”

I highly doubted that anyone except Jenny could get away with making those demands, but Jenny hadn’t spent the last thirty-odd years of her career working her way up the ladder to let anyone tell her what to do.

“That all sounds great,” I said. “Just let me know when and where I need to be and I’ll be there.”

“Wonderful! I’m sure we’ll speak again soon or it’ll be another member of the team. You know what these things are like—read-throughs, fittings, rehearsals, etc. Lots to schedule. I’m glad you’re on board, though. It wouldn’t have been the same without you.”

I smiled, my heart rate finally starting to slow as my chest filled with warmth at the sincerity of her words. “Thank you.”

“And if you could drop Henry a message, I’d be very grateful. I’ll tell him myself, but I’m not sure if he’ll believe me.”

“I will do.” I’d leave Henry a voice note, mostly so he’d stop whatever war of attrition he’d started against the studio. Although at some point I’d have to get all the details because I really wanted to know what he’d done.

“Excellent, I’ll speak to you soon.” Jenny said goodbye and hung up, leaving me staring at some random spot on the kitchen wall in shock as I tried to process everything.

I had the part back.

I was going to be Llewelyn.

And I could do it without giving up my relationship or changing who I was. I could be out, proud, and in love with a porn star, my beloved cocky bastard, and still act. And yeah, maybe they wouldn’t give us more than one season and maybe this whole thing would come back to bite us in the ass later, but I didn’t care.

Right now, I had the role, I had Austin, and I didn’t have to choose between my relationship and my career. And that was all I’d ever wanted.

“I’m home,” Austin called, the front door thudding shut behind him. I heard the rustle of shopping bags and the sound of him kicking his trainers off. “Babe? Where are you?”

“In here,” I said, my voice hoarse. I’d been staring at the wall with my mouth open and now my tongue and throat were dry.

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah.” I turned my head as he walked into the kitchen, putting the bags on the side. He was staring at me with concern, his eyebrow twitching in the way it always did when he was worried and trying to hide it. “It’s amazing.”

“Did something happen?”

“I just got a call. From Jenny. She offered me the part back. The studio caved. They want me to be Llewelyn.”

There was a beat of silence and I watched my words sink into Austin’s mind, the realisation dawning slowly on his face. “Are you serious?”

I nodded, tears pricking the edge of my eyes and making my vision start to blur. “Yeah.”

Austin’s cheer rang in my ears as he rushed over to me, pulling me out of my chair and into his arms, squeezing me tightly. “Fucking A! I knew it! I fucking knew it! You’re too good to let go!”

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