Page 16 of Cocky Bastard

“Yes, here.”

The speaker looked around my age, with bright red glasses and a patterned shirt, and was standing by another door I hadn’t noticed. “Hi, would you like to follow me, please?” I practically leapt to my feet as I followed him out into another short corridor. “I’m Freddie, assistant to Melanie Law, the casting director.”

“Jude,” I said. “Nice to meet you.”

“You too.” He smiled and opened another door. “We’re just in this studio here.”

I stepped inside, taking in the darkly painted walls, wooden floors, bright overhead lighting, and heavy curtains hung over the windows. It was very like every other studio I’d been in, only somehow fancier. Like someone had taken a basic studio and decided to throw an unnecessarily large amount of money at it.

There was a little bit of furniture in the middle of the room, which gave it the feeling of a Regency drawing room, and on the far side of the room, a camera was set up next to a table that had two women sitting behind it. I tried not to do a double take when I realised who they were. It wasn’t just Melanie Law, who I knew by reputation alone, but in the seat next to her was the legendary television writer and producer, Jenny Hall.

Miles had told me that Jenny was the showrunner forLlewelynbut I hadn’t expected to see her here. It was very rare for any of the creative team behind a production to sit in on early auditions, and surely someone like Jenny Hall had better things to do with her day.

Melanie and Jenny looked up from their notes and smiled at me. Jenny’s expression looked warmer, but there was a hard glint in her bright blue eyes and I knew I was already being assessed. “Hi,” Melanie said. “You must be Jude. I’m MelanieLaw, the casting director forLlewelyn, and this is Jenny Hall, our—”

“He doesn’t need a long list of my roles,” Jenny said with a wave of her hand. A few colourful bangles jingled on her wrist. “You can just say I’m the creative brain of this endeavour and leave it at that. It’s nice to meet you, Jude.”

“Nice to meet you too,” I said, feeling my nerves settle slightly. “Thanks for having me today.”

“Good, good,” Jenny said. “Shall we get started then? I’ll let Melanie explain since she’s the one in charge today. Mel, if I am taking over, please feel free to tell me. And Freddie, could you grab Mr. Kane a chair and some water, please. We’re going to have a little chat first and then we’ll get you doing some reading for us. How does that sound?”

I grinned because that all sounded perfect. And despite her fearsome reputation, I thought I’d get on quite well with Jenny. She seemed very no-nonsense, and I appreciated that. I liked her style too, with her ruffled shirt, colourful jewellery, and long grey hair pulled up into a loose bun—which looked like it was secured with an old pencil.

The power she radiated felt relaxed, not forced, like she knew who she was and what she was capable of, and she expected me to respect that but the choice was mine. It was different from the music industry executives I’d dealt with for most of my youth, in their sharp power suits and desperate need to rule by fear lest their income drop by more than one percent.

“That all sounds great, thanks. I’m looking forward to it.”

“Excellent. Anything to add, Mel?”

Melanie shook her head, looking vaguely amused by Jenny’s statement. “Not for now. I think you’ve said it all.”

“Oh blast, and I said I wouldn’t take over. You really must cut me off, Mel, or we’ll be here all day.”

I took the seat that Freddie offered me and sipped at the glass of water he’d put on the table. I hadn’t been expecting much of an in-depth chat, but given the location and who was here, I didn’t know why I was surprised that this audition was turning into one of the most unusual ones I’d been on.

“So,” Melanie said. “We just wanted to start with a few questions and some information about the show and Llewelyn—don’t worry, it’s not like a formal interview. We’re just interested to see where your thoughts are and get to know you a little better. I know Miles sent you some details over, so hopefully you’ve had a chance to read everything.”

“Yes,” I said eagerly, reaching down to my bag, which I’d put beside my chair, and pulling out a notebook where I’d scribbled some thoughts over the past few days. They were mostly personal notes, but it would help me remember all the things I wanted to talk about because I didn’t want to miss anything. “Do you want me to start with my thoughts on the overall story or Llewelyn? Because I think he and I have a lot in common.”

The pair of them grinned at me and I saw the glint in Jenny’s eyes soften into something that looked like appreciation.

I glanced down at my notes and took a steadying breath, then launched into my talking points and let my excitement sweep me away.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Austin

“Who’s Kane?”Theo asked, kneeling behind me on the bed and peering over my shoulder to read my messages. “Is he your boyfriend?”

“What? No! And stop reading my messages, brat!” I gently pushed him onto the mattress, shaking my head as he laughed. The baby-faced blond brat was my scene partner for today and despite his nosy, demanding, and interfering tendencies, he was one of the sweetest men I’d ever met. We’d been working together for a couple of years now, and our initial connection had quickly forged into a strong friendship.

But that still didn’t mean I wanted him reading my messages to Kane.

“He’s definitelysomething,” Theo said with a pointed smirk as he stretched out in the middle of the bed, his skimpy lace lingerie leaving nothing to the imagination. “And can we get Chinese later instead of pizza, please?” He batted his eyelashes prettily at me and I sighed. Saying no to Theo was fucking impossible.

“Fine, we’ll get Chinese,” I said as I went back to messaging Kane, hoping to take his mind off his impending audition. It had been obvious how much he wanted the role when he’d first mentioned it because he’d never told me about any of his auditions before. There’d been a longing, desperate note in his voice too that I could still hear if I closed my eyes and focused hard enough.

It was that longing which had finally forced me to get off my ass and steal his number to surprise him.

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