Page 5 of Shotgun Daddy
It went well. It went real well.
No mistakes, no slips, and delivered with feeling.
Please let Timo feel the same…
And without much more waiting to do, Timo sat up from his chair and began to clap. Reece did his best to keep his cool and not give too much away, but inside his heart was racing and the adrenalin was pumping all over his body. He was well aware that Timo had a reputation as being difficult to impress, but at the same time he had also heard through the actor grapevine that when he applauded an audition it almost certainly meant one thing and one thing only.
“T-t-t-t-thank you, Timo,” Reece said, struggling to keep his feelings in check as Timo finally brought his applause to a conclusion and walked up onto the stage next to him.
Timo was in his early thirties and had a strong, lean body that made him seem more like a leading man actor than a theater director. There was no doubting that Timo was attractive, but there was an edge to him too. Reece had heard a few stories about how demanding Timo could be, and while this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing it did mean that Reece had been on his guard from the second he stepped int the theater that morning.
“So, you’ll have gathered that I was impressed,” Timo said, flashing a smile that Reece found hard to read. “If you’ll give us a moment, please.”
Timo gestured to his two assistants and the pair of them left without a whisper. Suddenly, it was just Reece and Timo. And while Reece was still fueled by the positive vibes of nailing the audition, he felt a very clear vibe shift in the room – and it wasn’t necessarily for the better either.
“Thank you,” Reece replied, taking a step back as Timo moved closer to him. “I really wanted to give it my best. It’s a great script. You’re a great writer.”
“Tell me something I don’t know,” Timo said, a hint of sarcasm in his voice as he placed his hand on Reece’s shoulder and applied just enough pressure to ensure that it would be awkward if he tried to move away once more. “Now. You know that I dug that reading. It was good.Verygood.”
All of a sudden, Reece felt very uneasy with what was happening. There was a look in Timo’s eyes that told Reece all he needed to know. Despite desperately not wanting it to be the case, it was clear that Timo was about to offer the part to Reece, but only if certain conditions were met. And just as Reece expected, Timo soon made those conditions clear…
“I want to spend some time with you first,” Thomspon continued, either unaware or not bothered by how obviously uncomfortable Reece was. “Chemistry is important between cast members. But more than anything, there has to be chemistry between a director and his leading man. Right?”
“Timo, I’m not comfortable with this,” Reece said, his voice quiet and a sinking feeling coming over him.
“Hush. Don’t be so naïve,” Timo laughed, mockingly. “You and me. We’d have fun, I can promise you that. And if we have fun on this play, then you can bet your bottom dollar we’ll have fun on whatever project I take on next too. Play the game, honey.”
Reece had heard enough. He yanked his shoulder back from Timo and rushed over toward his bag and metal water bottle. As desperate as Reece was to make it as an actor, there were some lines that he was simply not going to cross. Sure, Timo was handsome, but under zero circumstances was Reece going to let him act like a sleazeball and attempt to use his position of power to get him to sleep with him.
“I see,” Timo said, irritated as he stood with his arms across his chest. “Well, guess what? I don’t think you’re quite right for this part. And you know that I’ve got contacts in the theater world who certainly won’t appreciate the news that there’s a new boy in town who acts like a stuck-up snob during auditions. That’s right. You got it. Oh, and while we’re being all honest and open with one another, I should say that my contacts outside of work are pretty damn serious, so don’t even think about running your damn mouth. Got it?”
Reece hated Timo and how he was behaving with such impunity. It was a horrible thing for him to do to try and intimidate him, and after his experiences in LA, Reece was determined not to allow himself to feel small again.
“You know what, Timo,” Reece said, stopping at the exit door. “You can go fuck yourself!”
With that, Reece turned and slammed the door.
He might have had a tear forming and starting to roll down one cheek, but Reece was happy to have taken a stand against Timo, even if there would be consequences later.
And as he pushed past the two shocked looking assistants on his way out, all Reece could think about was getting as far away from the theater as he possibly could. With a shift at the coffee shop due to start soon, Reece actually felt a sense of relief that he would have a busy, bustling environment to sink into for the next few hours – and even making flat whites for demanding customers was preferable to being treated the way that Timo Taylor had just treated him.
But the thing with serving coffee was that along with all the regular customers, there would usually always be at least one curveball new customer thrown in for good measure…
Mocha Madness was as busy as ever and Reece was totally there for it. He might have had his worst ever audition experience, but Reece was ultimately proud for how he stood up for himself and refused to take any crap from Timo. And with a seemingly endless supply of customers to serve at Mocha Madness, Reece was too busy to think about things anyway.
The recriminations could wait, now it was all about providing the lattes, Americanos, and espressos to the city’s caffeine connoisseurs.
And speaking of which, Reece looked up from his flat white coffee art and saw two very friendly faces staring back at him…
“You guys!” Reece smiled, seeing both Benjamin and Kyan grinning back at him as he handed the finished coffee over to one of the servers to take to the soon to be happy customer. “I wasn’t expecting to see you two.”
“Well we didn’t hear from you after the audition so wanted to come on down and find out how it went,” Benjamin smiled.
“If it went well, we were going to buy you a cake,” Kyan giggled. “And if it went badly… we were going to buy you a cake also.”
The three friends burst into laughter.
They might have been Littles, but there was no denying that their appetite for a good chocolate cake would have matchedeven the hungriest Daddy in town. Reece and his two besties had bonded over their love of cake from the very first time they met and it had now become something of a tradition that they would chow down on a moist, fresh, and super-sweet cake in good times or bad.
