Follow My Lead: A Joy Universe Novel

by Louisa Masters

  It’s probably foolish, but I’m more reassured by Jason’s feeling than I could be by anything else.

  ***

  The after-party is epic. I’m trying to keep my wits about me and not get too caught up in the high of a great show, because I’m working still, but it’s hard. Everyone is happy. There’s a lot of excitement, from the cast, the crew, the VIPs…. Opening night was a success and everyone knows it. We’re still technically waiting for the reviews, but the smug little smirks and sparkling eyes of the critics who finally joined the party seem to be a good sign. My parents are here somewhere and managed not to embarrass me too much when they came to tell me I’m now their favorite son because they’re at a party with Michael Douglas and Chris Evans. They’re now in deep discussion with Mr. Douglas himself—about what, I’m not sure I want to know.

  “Dimi.”

  I turn and immediately stand up straighter and pull myself together. It’s them. The bosses. Not the director of JU, who is nominally my boss but is so self-absorbed he possibly doesn’t know who I am—although I did see him around earlier. No, these are the bosses, the CEO and CFO of Joy Incorporated, our parent company. The nephews of the founder, Edwin Joy.

  The ones who cast the deciding vote to give me this job.

  Suddenly, I doubt everything about my life, beginning with the suit I chose to wear tonight and ending with every decision I made for this show.

  Seth Holder offers his hand. “Congratulations.” He’s smiling widely, and I shake his hand with a sense of relief.

  Malcolm Joy claps me on the back. “Derek was right about you,” he declares. “You’ve done a great job.”

  I’m almost dizzy with the compliments, but still manage to caution, “The reviews aren’t in yet.”

  “Maybe not,” Seth concedes, “but you still managed to sell out the first three weeks. And based on this evening, I don’t think the reviews will be bad.”

  “Everyone’s worked really hard,” I boast, because they have, and they totally deserve the recognition. “Have you spoken to Jason yet?” I look around for him. We once again agreed to work the room separately, and I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ll seize on any excuse to spend a few minutes with him.

  I spot him across the room, pretty much cornered by Rick the dick. Derek and Brice are there, and both have these shell-shocked looks on their faces. What the hell is going on?

  “Good evening, gentlemen.”

  I force myself to smile at Mitch Craig, who’s smiling expansively, and stop myself from demanding he take his lover in hand. Fortunately, he seems more interested in schmoozing with Seth and Malcolm than me, so I let them charm him while I try to look attentive and not like I’m glaring across the room.

  “…and so I’m feeling quite smug,” Mitch is saying, almost grinning, but Seth’s smile seems to be a little set, and he’s shooting glances toward me. Fuck, what did I miss? “Not only did I get to see the birth of what will be a wonderful theater company”—oooh, that’s good!—“I got to reunite a couple who are so clearly meant to be together.”

  Wait.

  What?

  I open my mouth, then close it again, because what do I say? He might be talking about someone else. He probably is.

  Malcolm clears his throat. “You seem to be in possession of insider information,” he says, seemingly jovially. “The last I knew, Rick and Jason had separated some time ago and Rick was happily married.”

  Oh fuck me.

  Mitch Craig shakes his head. “Oh no,” he assured Malcolm, while Seth edges closer to me, and oh my God, does this mean my bosses know Jase and I are together? The gossip has reached all the way to California? “Rick and I have been friends for years”—is that true? Wouldn’t Jason have mentioned it?—“and when he left Reynolds because he realized he still loved Jason and moved back to town, I of course let him stay with me while he planned how to woo Jase back. This opportunity was just too perfect!”

  I’m completely speechless.

  Across the room, Jason is saying something to the dick. Brice has lost his stunned expression and looks like he’s ready to beat something into dust. And Derek… looks taller than usual? And broader. Kind of threatening, really. He’s not smiling. That’s a big deal—Derek smiles a lot.

  Mitch is still burbling on, although he seems to be talking about the show now. “…inexperienced cast, of course, but it’s really only apparent because Trav Jones is there for contrast. They’ll grow into their talent. I think it’s very likely that some future big names will get their start here…”

  “Excuse us,” Seth murmurs as Malcolm nods along, “I see someone I want Dimi to talk to.”

  Mitch waves and smiles in acknowledgment as he continues talking, and Seth takes firm hold of my arm and draws me in the wrong direction. Can’t he see I need to storm over and…

  Cause a scene? At the after-party of our opening night?

  Jase would kill me. And then, when I calmed down, I’d resurrect myself so I could kill myself.

  “We’re just going to wander around so it doesn’t look like there’s anything interesting going on,” Seth tells me. Apparently the man is not only a brilliant CFO, but also a mind reader. “It looks like everything is under control anyway.”

  “We’ve been very careful not to let it interfere with work,” I mumble, because… well, because it’s that or start cursing Rick the dick.

  “I think tonight is testament to that,” Seth says drily. “Relax, Dimi. You’ve done a brilliant job, and as long as that continues, nobody cares that you and Jason are dating. Mal and I got in on the pool this time,” he adds smugly, and I feel like my brain might just explode.

  “Pool?” So it’s not just gossip that’s reached California. At least the betting couldn’t have been very interesting. We went from just colleagues to together pretty much overnight. There was no flirting in the office.

  He snickers. Snickers! Dignified older men who are CFOs of global corporations aren’t supposed to snicker. It’s just wrong somehow.

  “You disappointed me,” he admits. “I thought you’d move on him a lot sooner.”

  I.

  What.

  “Your endorsement of him on the short list you sent us was… enthusiastic. I got a feeling then. When I heard the rumor that Derek had a pool going”—I’m going to kill Derek, mentor or not—“I decided not to miss out this time.”

  I have to just leave that alone for now. There’s too much else going on, especially the fact that Rick the dick is trying to steal my boyfriend in what should be my moment of triumph.

  Every second it takes to casually wend our way across the room is torture.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Jason

  You remember the time when you were a kid eating an ice-cream cone and the ice cream fell off the cone? You had that glorious moment of pure joy and enjoyment, and then it was stolen from you.

  That’s how I feel right now.

  Today was supposed to be the culmination of me rebuilding myself. A professional success to top off all my personal successes lately. And it was going so well. Despite the shadow that Rick’s presence cast, I had a great wake-up this morning next to the love of my life, got to enjoy a couple hours with my best friends, and directed a wonderful performance this evening. This party was supposed to be about me and Dimi accepting accolades and building hype for future performances and seasons. I know Dimi’s been stressed about his probation, but tonight should have put all those worries to rest. I’ve been looking forward to snatching a few private moments with him somewhere, then going home and fucking until we’re both unconscious… and starting a new day tomorrow. With him. Here. Working together and being together in all aspects of our life.

  Instead, I’m standing with Brice and Derek on either side like guards as Rick ruins the whole damn week for me.

  “…
know you feel the same. Us being apart was necessary so we could grow and realize how much we were meant to be together. Really, it catapulted us to the next phase of our relationship. I know you have commitments here, but that’s fine. We can see out your contract. The quieter lifestyle will give us the chance to solidify our feelings before we go back to New York and pick up our lives.”

  Yep. The bastard who told me I was a drain on his being, who wished he’d never met me because I’d sucked the fun out of his life, who told me I was a person destined to go through life alone, but was lucky that my career success meant I would always be surrounded by people… that guy is declaring his love for me and planning our future together.

  No, thanks.

  I can sense that Brice’s surprise is wearing off and that he’ll soon have a few things to say. On my other side, Derek is… looming? I don’t know, but he seems scary all of a sudden. Either of them is about to cause a scene, and the absolute last thing I want right now is to steal the spotlight of the evening from the Joy Village Theater Company and our brilliant opening night. Even if I have a bone-deep urge to punch Rick right in his stupid face and then loudly declare that I wouldn’t even look at him if he and I were the last living organisms on the planet.

  Instead, I say quietly, “I don’t think this is the place to discuss this.”

  “I don’t care who hears,” he says with an earnestness that really doesn’t fit him. “Everyone will know everything soon anyway. When Mitch agreed to help me win you back, I promised him an exclusive interview about our story.”

  Click.

  Suddenly, this makes a lot more sense. Maybe Rick has fooled himself into thinking he actually gives a shit about me and that he wants a relationship, but the real reason he’s here is to salvage his reputation. Being known far and wide as a cuckolded husband has to grate on his ego. A sympathetic article about his reunion with an ex-long-term-boyfriend, hinting that the marriage was over by his choice before that humiliating moment in the tabloids, would go a long way to fix things—in his mind, anyway.

  “I didn’t know Mitch wrote anything but critical reviews,” I say casually. “But I’d still prefer to do this another time, somewhere quieter.” Like never and nowhere. If I go out of my way to avoid him for the rest of the weekend, is he going to do something insane like make a public declaration in one of the parks and have it uploaded to YouTube? It wouldn’t surprise me.

  He looks like he’s going to argue, maybe make a scene, and I’m calculating how fast security would be able to get him out when two men join us. One is Dimi, wearing a blandly pleasant expression that anyone who doesn’t know him would think is genuine but, in reality, barely masks the rage boiling beneath. The other man is one of my ultimate bosses, Seth Holder. I’ve never actually met him in person, but we had a brief Skype meeting when I expressed serious interest in JU’s offer. He and his cousin, the CEO, wanted me to understand how critical this venture is for them right now.

  “Seth, Dimi,” I say. “Have you met Rick Henessy? And Seth, this is a very good friend of mine, Brice Lang.”

  Seth’s arrival seems to be the perfect distraction. Rick gives Dimi a disdainful glare, then turns his brightest, most charming smile on Seth. He’s done work for Joy Inc. before—that was what initially put him in contact with Reynolds—but I’m not sure if he actually met anybody on the business side of things.

  Seth finishes greeting Brice and turns to Rick. “I know you from somewhere, don’t I?” he says, giving him a measuring look. “Have you worked for Joy Inc. before?”

  Rick lights up, but I’m immediately suspicious. Seth might run—and own substantial shares in—one of the largest entertainment companies in the world, but he can’t act for shit. If he were auditioning for me, he’d already be halfway home to cry in his beer.

  While my ex-boyfriend and current pain in the ass reminds Seth about the movie he consulted on and waxes lyrical about how wonderful it was to work for Joy Inc., I raise an eyebrow at Dimi. Does he know what’s going on? How could he? But why else would he be so angry? Has something else gone wrong? Surely we couldn’t be that unlucky.

  Oh hell, have some early reviews come in—bad ones?

  I’m really starting to worry when Dimi shifts closer to me and subtly squeezes my arm. I meet his gaze, and he shakes his head ever so slightly.

  Okay.

  Whatever it is, he doesn’t want me to worry about it.

  I’m going to anyway, but maybe a little less. If it were something really devastating, he’d tell me.

  I’ve tuned out the conversation going on beside me, so when Seth says, “You don’t mind, do you, Jason?” it takes me a second to zone back in.

  And I have no idea what he’s asking.

  The group has shifted a little, and Derek is standing beside and a little behind Rick, opposite me. He widens his eyes and nods emphatically.

  “I don’t mind at all.” I try not to trip over my tongue in my haste to say the words. Dare I hope that Seth is going to get rid of Rick?

  I think that must be it, because Rick looks torn. “I’d really love to, Seth, but Jason and I were in the middle of a really important conversation—”

  “We can finish that later,” I cut in hastily. “Tomorrow. When I can give you my full attention.” When I can hide and have security remove you without having a roomful of press look on.

  “This isn’t an opportunity to pass up,” Derek adds, clapping Rick firmly on the shoulder. Very firmly, I’d guess from the way Rick winces and shifts away. “How often do you get the opportunity to discuss future projects with Seth Holder?”

  Oh. Seth really is saving the day. I mean, I don’t think the CFO of Joy Inc. would usually discuss future projects with a costume designer. I give him a grateful smile. “That’s definitely not something you can say no to, Rick, and I really should be working tonight anyway. There’ll be plenty of time for us to talk.” Or not.

  With that vague sort-of promise from me, he lets his excitement take over and wanders off with Seth, who I now really need to get a gift for. Something amazing. I wonder if he needs a kidney?

  As soon as they’re out of earshot, I turn to Dimi. “We have a problem.”

  “You have no idea,” he says grimly, and then tells me what Mitch Craig told him, Seth, and Malcolm. Because having the big bosses know that my life is a soap opera that could bring negative press to their company is just what I always wanted.

  “Fuck.” It’s Derek who swears. “Seth’s not going to be able to distract him for too long. He might be satisfied to wait for tonight, but what about tomorrow?”

  Rubbing my temples, I mention my fears that Rick will make some kind of public scene if I try to ignore him.

  Surprisingly, it’s Brice who’s the voice of reason. “Let’s get through tonight before we worry about tomorrow. I’m sure between us we can find a way to have him running all over the complex looking for you until most of the opening night dignitaries have left. After that… well, he can still make a public spectacle of himself, but there’ll be less chance of it being attached to the show and the company.”

  “That sounds like a plan,” Dimi declares. “Jase? If we can hold him off until around four tomorrow, there should only be a few stragglers left. Then you can tell him to fuck off and it will be over.” He freezes. “Ah… that is, if you want him to fuck off.”

  What? Where did that come from? Is he maybe having second thoughts about us? Is my life too dramatic for him?

  No, that’s bullshit. We’re both letting Rick get to us, the asshole.

  “I love you.”

  Er. I did not mean to blurt that out. Especially not in front of Brice, Derek, and some guy I’ve never met before who just walked over and is now watching us with unconcealed delight.

  Dimi opens and closes his mouth.

  Shit.

  “I’m sorry, I…. You don
’t have to—”

  “Thank Christ, because I love you too.” He lunges toward me, but Derek grabs him almost before he begins the movement and yanks him back.

  “Rick’s facing this way,” he hisses. “After everything we just went through to avoid a scene tonight, you cannot set him off by kissing Jason!”

  “Sneak off and find a supply closet later,” the stranger suggests, eyes dancing. “I’m Grant, by the way.” He offers me his hand. “Congratulations—on the show and on being in love.”

  “Uh, thanks?” I shake his hand as Derek says, “Don’t worry, Jase, Grant is one of the other ADs, and he’s a good guy who knows when to keep his trap shut.”

  Grant grins. “Trap will officially be kept shut,” he promises. “But first you have to spill all the secrets.”

  Brice starts to explain, and as all the attention focuses on him, I feel a hand close around my wrist. I glance at Dimi, and he tilts his head toward the door.

  I grin.

  Then we slip away to find that supply closet.

  It’s not that easy, of course, because we’re in a hotel and all the supply closets are either in the staff areas or locked. You’d think this wouldn’t be an issue, since we’re both technically staff, but we don’t have access to the staff areas of the hotels. Why would we? We work in the Village.

  From the way Dimi swears when his key card doesn’t work, you’d think it was the end of the world. “I forgot they would have changed my clearance,” he grumbles.

  “You used to be able to go into the staff-only parts of the hotel?” I don’t know why I’m asking. I mean, who cares?

  “This is one of Derek’s hotels. I used to have full access to anywhere in Derek’s district.” He pouts. “This new job had to have a downside, I guess.”

  I look around. “We’re both intelligent men. There’s got to be a solution.”