Page 8 of Best Supporting Actor

Christ, Pete really wasn’t going to let this go. “I figured he thinks Thorne is his father. He blames him for his mother’s death.”

Pete said nothing, but he gave a mysterious sort of smile and looked up at the ceiling, seeming to consider that as he tapped on the table with his fingertips. “Yes,” he said at last, his tone considering. “Yes, that’s… I see that could work.”

Tag wasn’t sure how to reply to that, so he stayed silent. At last, Pete seemed to break out of his train of thought and returned his gaze to Tag.

“Well, I just wanted to say good job,” Pete said, offering an uncharacteristic quirk of a smile. “And I really hopeBow Streetgets picked up. If it does, maybe we can see about expanding Bishop’s role.”

Tag resisted the urge to jump up and punch the air in gleeful triumph, but he couldn’t do anything about his grin, which was so wide it hurt. “Thanks,” he said. “That means a lot.”

Pete nodded, which Tag took as a dismissal. He began to get to his feet but paused when Pete held up his hand.

“Before you go,” Pete said. “Look, this is a bit of a long shot, but… do you have any other work coming up next year? Late spring, summer?”

Tag sank back down. “Um, well, I have a regular gig in a coffee shop.”

Pete chuckled. “Acting work, I mean.”

“Oh.” Tag’s face heated. Feeling foolish, he quickly added, “No, nothing, um… just auditions, you know. When they come up.” Shit. He sounded like a total loser.

“Okay, well, are you up for auditioning for a play?”

Tag sat up straighter, his heart pounding. “I—what?—yes.I mean, yes, I would absolutely love to—” He broke off. “Sorry, I’m—this is unexpected and—” He broke off again. Fuck, he sounded incoherent.

“I know,” Pete said gently. “Look, here’s the thing. The daughter of a good friend of mine has written a play that’s going to run at a small arts festival in York this summer. It’s about Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen.” Tag probably looked puzzled because Pete paused and added, “The World War One poets?”

“Right,” Tag said, flushing again and feeling like an idiot.

“They’ve got someone in mind for the Sassoon role, but they’re going to be auditioning for the Owen part.” He paused. “I think it might be right up your street. If you’re interested, I could probably swing you an audition. I can’t promise anything, but…”

“Oh my God,” Tag breathed. “That would be—that would be fuckingamazing,Pete!”

Pete chuckled again. “Okay, well, fair warning, the money isn’t great, and you’ll probably have to give up that coffee shop gig you mentioned, but the exposure could be great for you. Tim’s pulling in some favours, and it looks like they’ve got a big-name lined up for the Sassoon role.”

“Really? Who?”

“If you really want to know…”

“Yeah?” Tag said eagerly.

Pete grinned. “You’ll have to land the role.”

CHAPTERTWO

Jay

Two days later

Cold, crisp, and clear. Low winter sunshine glinting off the ice and the sounds of laughter and music rising into the unusually frosty London sky.

Jay Warren couldn’t have asked for better weather for his skating date with Mason.

“Let’s get a pic with the Christmas tree,” Mason said, grabbing his arm and dragging him over to the forty-foot masterpiece set amid the glorious neoclassical courtyard of Somerset House, its lights sparkling even in broad daylight.

Happy to indulge him, Jay let himself be led towards the tree and pressed his face against Mason’s while Mason fiddled with his phone, looking for the right angle to get the huge tree behind them into shot.

“Smile!”

Jay smiled, as directed, eyes hidden behind his sunglasses. That was another benefit of the cold, clear weather: he could keep his sunglasses on and his hat pulled low without looking like a loser. As much as Mason wanted to be seen, Jay preferred to avoid unwanted attention. Especially when he was on a date. Not that this was arealdate, but it was still private time—not like when he went to industry events with Mason and did the whole red carpet thing. Those dates kept his agent on-side; she thought his relationship allergy damaged his castability as a ‘sensitive leading man’, so she was happy that he appeared to be involved with Mason. These private dates, though, were more about giving Mason content for his Instagram account, and, maybe, pissing off Tag O’Rourke, who was still being ridiculously competitive about scoring more likes than Jay.