Page 1 of Directing You
Chapter 1
Reid
Noah Tripp,best friend and terrible influence, dragged me into the dark club, where jazz music crooned around us in a low but pulsing beat that I could feel in the depths of my soul. A few of our other friends followed closely behind, but since Noah planned the night andIwas the man of the evening, we were leading the way…even though I didn’t have a clue where the hell we were or what we were doing.
It wasn’t often I found myself south of Houston Street in my amazing city of New York. There were only two reasons I knew of for coming all the way down here—shopping and dim sum. But based on this club, with its red velvet curtains and patronage of scantily clad women and men dressed in leather, I didn’t think we were out for soup dumplings tonight.
We walked up to the ticketing area, and Noah wrapped his arm around my neck. “Hey,” he said, smiling at the woman seated on the other side of the table.
“Name?” she asked, completely disinterested in the fact that she had a group of very well-known celebrities standing in front of her. Two from the hit teen vampire show and one Tony Award-winning actor from the Broadway musical I most recently directed. They were all highly recognizable. Me on the other hand? Not so much. Directors didn’t take a bow at the end of each performance. Our faces weren’t plastered all over posters and commercials—especially live theater directors. Not that I wanted it any other way. I got the best of both worlds—rubbing elbows with A-list celebrities at red-carpet events while still being able to go grocery shopping in peace. I couldn’t say the same for poor Noah.
“Noah Tripp,” he answered, biting his bottom lip and leaning an elbow on her table. “I called to reserve a front table earlier today.” He had a smooth way with women… Hell, not just women. Everyone. That boy could talk his way out of a speeding ticket if he was going eighty miles per hour in a school zone while getting a blow job.
“Oh, right. Yes, of course.” The girl’s disinterest immediately morphed into what could only be described as pure lust. The switch was so drastic, so abrupt, that shemusthave known who Noah was and been a fan. “Right this way,” she said, crossing from around the table and leading us through a sea of people sitting and watching the stage.
An almost naked woman with tassels hanging from her nipples danced and writhed, making the tassels helicopter from her jiggling breasts. “The night before my school’s integrity clause begins, and you thought a titty bar was the proper place to take me?” I said, leaning into Noah.
James leaned forward, gesturing to the stage. “What better place to say goodbye to the dark side for a semester?”
Noah rolled his eyes and, placing his hand on James’s forehead, shoved him back into his seat. “First of all, this is a burlesque show, not a titty bar. Big difference.”
My brows creased as I sat back and folded my arms. “How’s that?”
Noah gestured to the stage. “Burlesque is an art. They make their own costumes, choreograph their dances, have nom de plumes—”
“Pretty sure you just described strippers too.”
Noah smiled, shaking his head. “You’ll see. Just watch.”
A server came over, wearing what looked like a mash-up of a roaring 1920s flapper dress and something goth you’d find at Hot Topic, to take our drink orders as the tassel chick on stage finished up swirling her boobs around. “I’m gonna need a vodka soda,” I said. “Make it a double, sincethey’repaying tonight.”
Noah winked at me. “That’s the spirit.”
“The only spirit I’ll have is in a tall glass on the rocks. Once midnight hits, the semester has officially begun, and I need to get out of here like Cinderella at the ball.”
“Oh, come on,” James said. “They’re notthatstrict, are they?”
I lifted my brow, pausing for effect. “It’s academia. A private university. If I had to guess, I’d say they’re very serious.”
Noah sighed, “I know you said no strippers…”
“And yet here we are,” I grumbled. I hated that I was in my early thirties, wildly successful, and still no one took what I said seriously. Unless I was directing them on stage… then I was fucking Yoda to them. Otherwise, it was like I was invisible.
“But,” Noah continued, “I think you’ll really appreciate this if you open your mind. Some of these girls are really talented. Like…maybe even good enough to be dancers in your next show.”
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. If there was one thing New York City wasn’t hurting for, it was more undiscovered talent. The city was crawling with it. Like cabs. All you needed to do was stick out a hand, and twenty aspiring actors would flock to you.
And yes, maybe I was a little jaded—but, frankly, I was tired of being the one in charge of finding that talent.
The waitress dropped off a tray of drinks to our table, and I wrapped my hand around the already sweating glass, catching the ice-cold droplets of water against my knuckles. Noah narrowed his eyes at me. “Dude, why did you take this interim teaching job if you’re not interested in scouting the talent of new students?” he asked, practically reading my thoughts.
I lifted my glass to my lips and drained half of it far faster than I intended. I could lie. Ishouldlie. But Noah would see right through that. Even though he was ten years my junior, he was an intuitive little fucker. “Because Faith booked a national tour, and in order to take the gig, she needed to find a sub to teach her class this semester. Either I fill in for her or she won’t have a teaching job when she returns.”
James and Simon groaned, and Noah’s mouth went slack, staring at me agape. “Faith, your ex-fiancé? As in, the ex who cheated on you with your best friend, who also happened to be the star of the show you were directing them both in, and then married him instead of you?ThatFaith?”
I winced but nodded as the table grew silent. “Did I not mention that before?”
Simon leaned into Noah. “You owe me fifty bucks.”
