Behind The Curtain (The Velvet Series Book 1) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Copyright © 2018 Fiction Dream Publishing

  All rights Reserved

  www.FictionDream.com

  ISBN-13: 978-1985113725

  ISBN-10: 1985113724

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter One

  Alright. Okay. Game face on. Nothing was going to throw me off my stride today. Not even Hollywood superstars out here slumming it with people like me.

  I looked at myself in the mirror one more time, and flipped my bangs from one side to the other nervously. I just couldn’t seem to decide how I wanted to look today. As if it mattered – I hadn’t been hired to stand up on that stage, just to make sure that the people who did knew what the heck they were doing. I needed to pull myself together, get out there, and introduce myself to the cast and crew. But for now, I just needed a minute or two more to get my head together and make sure I wouldn’t be walking out there the burbling idiot that I felt in my head right now. I planted my hands on the dressing table, focusing on the old-fashioned bulb lighting that was strung around the mirror, and heaved in a deep breath. Alright. Okay. Game face on.

  I guess part of my nervousness came from the fact that I was still sure that someone was going to walk in here and tell me that this had all been some crazy mistake and that I should just see myself out without too much of a fuss. I knew that I had been gaining momentum in my career the last year or so, but this – being asked to bring to life the newest thing Allan Ardew had produced – this was beyond anything I’d imagined even in my craziest dreams. He was the kind of name in this industry that could make you if you played your cards right. I could already recite the names of every stage director who’d worked on one of his productions who’d gone on to win awards or land bigger things, and I wondered if, after this, I would be part of that list as well. I still couldn’t believe this was happening. I’d read his new play in one night, as soon as I had heard that the theatre had some interest in getting me in to direct, and I fell in love with it – the rich, deep story of a woman bowed by the pressures that life had forced on to her and finally escaping from beneath their weight, and the effect that had on everyone around her. I felt that it had to be some kind of fate that this story had ended up on my desk. And who was I to turn down fate?

  Because I had worked so hard to get where I was but I had fucked up so many times in the process, disappointed so many people, let down my family to get here. And they weren’t shy about letting me know it, either (but then, show me a family who wasn’t). When I’d quit my fantastically comfortable job in the financial sector a year ago to pursue a love that I had all but put behind me by then, they all thought I was crazy. Hell, maybe I was a little crazy – it was right after I found out that Johnathan was cheating on me, and I was out in the world on my own and with no dead weight of a fiancé to support anymore. So what did I do? I cast my mind back to the last time that I’d been truly happy working on something, and dredged up the drama society in university where I’d put together productions that had received some critical acclaim. So I walked out of that stupid job, and into this stupid one instead, blagging my way to assistant directing spots on the basis of what I’d done in college and then graduating my way to full-blown directorial positions before I knew it. It had been a manic year – six plays in total, making it literally impossible for me to have a life outside the walls of whatever theatre I was working with for the time being – but now it had come to this.

  Allan Ardew, picking me personally, after coming to my production of Death of a Salesman. A classic, he’d called it, and he had reached out to me personally when I’d taken the job. I still couldn’t believe it. Today would have been the best day of my career were it not for the fact that I knew I was going to have to walk out of this old-timey dressing room in a few moments and find myself faced with the last person I’d ever wanted to work with.

  Luke Bell. That was a name that seemed to echo around the box office. It was the only reason someone like him would be here, surely, to bring in the crowds of people who wouldn’t give a shit about this high-literature play unless their dumbass action hero was in it. I didn’t know what on Earth he thought he was doing here, but as soon as he’d expressed an interest in joining the production they had pretty much overruled me, booted the actor I’d been so confident in, and brought him in instead. Even Ardew had thought it was a great idea, a chance to bring his play to a wider audience, the kind that might otherwise have skipped out on his magnum opus.

  But Bell had probably never so much as been to the theatre before. He was the kind of guy you slapped up on billboards across the city, a gun in one hand and a woman hanging from his other. I had gone through his filmography – what little of it there was that existed outside that godawful action franchise that he seemed so attached to – and there were flickers of genuine talent there, once in a while, but I didn’t want to have to go digging for them through his overzealous overacting and his ridiculous line delivery. They couldn’t really expect me to bring this play, this delicate, beautiful play, to life with that man in the leading role, could they? He was a sledgehammer were I needed a scalpel. Not to mention all the personal-life drama he had already dumped on my set – when I had arrived that morning, there were a dozen photographers hanging outside the door to this place, and a few of them called out to me to ask if I’d heard anything about his latest fling with whatever model he was purported to be dating at the moment. I pressed my lips together and ignored them, hoping that they would lose interest eventually. I had a feeling that my prayers weren’t going to be answered that easily.

  Fuck it. I couldn’t hide out in this dressing room all day long. I had to go out there and get started on work, once and for all, no matter how nervous I was, no matter how sure I was that I was going to fuck this up. I needed to get down to business, movie star or no movie star, and make sure this thing came together as best it possibly could. I raked my fingers through my hair once more, my heart leaping up in my chest, and adjusted my shirt to make sure none of the buttons were gapping. I looked as good as I ever would. I wasn’t sure why I was so caught up in exactly what I looked like today, but I was trying not to overthink it – it probably had something to do with not looking one bit like the long-haired, large-chested, generally-perfect women who hung off Luke Bell’s arm on the posters for that film series he was in. Not that it mattered. I wasn’t here to be his leading lady – I was here to make sure he got the job done.

  I marched down the long corridor to the area we’d designated for rehearsals, and heard a buzz of activity as I approached; I grinned, slowing for a moment, loving this brief second the most. This second where the production could be anything at all that I wanted it to be. It was so damn exciting. But then I remembered that I had already left them waiting long enough and hurried my pace once more, exiting the corridor and finding myself face-to-face with the gang of people who were going to help me bring this thing to life. They all looked up as I walked in, and there was even a smattering of applause as the mor
e brown-nosed amongst them saw the opportunity to get on my good side. I held up my hand, and they eased off.

  “Hi,” I introduced myself, trying to sound as confident as I thought I should. “Uh, I’m Holly Holmes, as most of you already know…”

  I looked around, finding myself greeted with mostly familiar faces. I liked to work with the same people over again if I could. It just made that whole process of worrying if they were going to fuck up the lights at some crucial moment that much easier to forget about and besides, I liked to reward good work with repeat hires. But there were a handful of faces in there that I had never seen in person before – Michelle Lee, the leading woman, was standing with her hands planted on her hips and an excited smile on her face as she eyed me from across the room. There were three or four house staff who I had never scene before, people hired by the theatre to work on the show with me. And then, of course, there was…

  My heart caught in my throat when I saw him for the first time. Maybe that was ridiculous, but I had never shared a room with a real, bonafide celebrity before – yeah, sure, I had hung out with people who were huge as far as this industry was concerned, people who I looked up to and respected, but Luke Bell was the kind of person who only existed in movie theatres and billboard posters that I rolled my eyes at on my way to work every morning. Seeing him there was something else entirely and I found the words that I had been planning to say stuck in my throat. He looked a little different than the last time I’d watched a movie with him in, although perhaps that was because he wasn’t slathered in make-up and lit by studio lights. He was wearing a light black t-shirt and jeans, his hair cut short, nearly shaved to his head. There was a light smattering of stubble across his jaw, and he looked thinner than usual. Less the ridiculously huge action star and more something…else. His eyes were the brightest blue I’d ever seen and they seemed to flash at me across the room as he waited for me to continue. And that, of course, if when I realized that I was just standing there in the middle of the floor gawping at him like an idiot. I dragged my eyes away and tried to focus them on something, anything else, anything that would allow me to keep talking without making such an ass of myself.

  “I don’t want to waste any time,” I continued, my voice a little croakier than it had been before. “As you know, we’ve only got a few months to get this all together. If you could set up blocking for our first scene, we can get started.”

  The group peeled off as people went to set up our makeshift stage for the first round of rehearsals and I let out a long breath I didn’t realize I had been holding. It was okay; I was just stressed out because it was my first day and because I was dealing with the kind of guy I’d never so much as thought about being in a room with before. But I needed to be a professional about this, and that involved not letting all my stupid fears and nerves get to me. I had met Michelle before – she nodded at me as I passed her by, finishing the last sip of her coffee and checking her make-up in a small handheld mirror – but I had yet to introduce myself to Luke. I made my way towards him, plastering what I hoped passed for a confident smile on my face, and came to a halt in front of him. He hadn’t taken his eyes off me once as I’d started towards him, and I had to admit there was something about being under the heat of his gaze like that that was already addictive.

  “Hi,” I greeted him, my voice an attempt at brisk and professional. “I’m Holly Holmes, the director.”

  “Yeah, I’m acquainted with your work,” he cocked an eyebrow, reaching out a hand; it took me a moment to realize that he wanted to shake my hand, and I blinked down at his outstretched fingers for a moment before it clicked what he was doing. I took it, a little too firmly, and as soon as our fingers touched I felt this jolt of electricity pass from his skin to mine. I withdrew my hand quickly, not sure what I had just felt. Probably some static from the old-ass lighting system in this place.

  “You are?” I replied, sounding more surprised than I’d intended. He laughed – it was a sweet sound, to my surprise, not at my expense.

  “Did you really think I’d have fought so hard to get a spot in this thing if I didn’t think you were worth working with?” He remarked, his eyes flashing with something that I couldn’t quite figure out. Was he mocking me? I couldn’t tell. And I was supposed to be good at reading people.

  “Yeah, well, I assumed it was Ardew who got you interested,” I shrugged. “He’s what got me into this.”

  “What, you’re telling me you haven’t always wanted to work with grandstanding star of stage and screen Luke Bell?” He declared loudly, as though he couldn’t imagine anyone not wanting to pick up a job with him. I stared at him, hoping my expression conveyed an icy impassiveness, and not the sweaty-palmed nerves that were actually lancing through my system at the moment.

  “Star of screen, for the time being,” I corrected him. “Let’s see how you do on this set before we get ahead of ourselves, huh?”

  He cocked his head at me, and a grin spread out across his face. I could see a couple of the women around us, a few of the extras, shooting looks in his direction, perhaps hoping that he might notice them, but he didn’t pull his gaze away from me, not for a moment, not for a second. And there was something about being the centre of his attention that was…distracting. Confusing. I would have to learn to get over it if the two of us were going to work together, because I couldn’t find myself swooning every time he shot a look at me if I wanted this to go well.

  “You should keep that up,” he remarked, and I noticed his gaze flicker up and down my body. I had worn something pointedly dressed-down, just a shirt and a pair of jeans, but in that moment I wished I’d gone full-out red-carpet. Just being in his presence felt a little surreal and I had a feeling that he knew that. It was seriously annoying me.

  “Keep what up?” I demanded, and I realized that the irritation had showed through on my voice. I did my best to compose myself. He hadn’t done anything wrong – yet – and I wasn’t going to let myself get all caught up in my own fluttering thoughts this soon.

  “Busting my ass,” he shrugged. “Probably a good idea, since you know what you’re doing and I don’t have a clue.”

  “Uh, I guess,” I replied, not sure what to respond to that. I wanted to come across as obviously and easily in-control, but I was having trouble keeping myself together in his presence. And the way he was talking to me, flattering me, letting me know that he liked my work…he didn’t have to do that. He had already gotten the part. Maybe he just wanted to watch me squirm a little. He must have been aware of the kind of effect he had on people like me, on normal people like me who had never so much as thought about meeting someone as huge a he was before this moment.

  “Can you do something to deal with the photographers outside?” I finally managed. “They’re getting in the way of the entrance to the theatre.”

  “I’ll have my bodyguards take care of them,” he nodded seriously and my eyes widened.

  “You have bodyguards?” I asked. Seriously? I glanced around the room, expecting to see a half-dozen discreetly armed men littering the doorways.

  “No,” he snorted with amusement. “I don’t think there’s anyone out here trying to finish me off, right?”

  “Oh, right, yeah,” I dropped my head, feeling dumb for believing him.

  “I’ll just go out there and tell them to fuck off,” he shrugged cheerfully, as though it was that easy for him. I wondered, briefly, if there was something between that model and him. I knew that tabloid reporting was far from reliable, but they couldn’t have plucked it out of nowhere, could they? I suddenly felt this irritating little zing of jealousy at the thought of that woman with him, even though I would never have wanted a dude like Luke. He was just too sharp around the edges, too cocky, too…

  My tongue felt heavy in my head, like I was having trouble getting it to work the way I wanted it too. I had never found myself literally tongue-tied in the prese
nce of anyone before, but Luke Bell had my head spinning and my feet feeling as though they weren’t even touching the ground.

  I rolled my eyes internally, annoyed at myself for falling for his crap. I mean, this dude was probably used to women just falling at his feet wherever he went. I wasn’t going to get caught up in that, not for anything, not for the life of me. He probably treated every woman he met the exact same way, like a potential target, because he knew that with those looks and that status he could more or less get with any person he wanted to. Well, not me. At least, that’s what I told myself.

  “Ms Holmes?” A voice came from behind me, and thankfully pulled me from my little reverie, the one where I just stared at his eyes and wondered how they could feasibly be that blue in real life.

  “Huh?” I half-turned, gaze still on him, mouth open in a way that my mother would have described as “looking to catch flies”.

  “Uh, we’re ready to start rehearsals,” The man who had called my name explained. “Whenever you are.”

  “Oh, right, yeah, great,” I nodded. “And, uh, by the way, just call me Holly.”

  “Sure thing,” He replied, and he gave me a strange look. Was I being that obvious? I glanced back at Luke, who was still looking at me, that cocky grin still plastered all over his face.

  “Holly, huh?” He remarked, and his eyes flickered with something again, something impenetrable and infuriating and impossible to look away from. “Good to meet you.”

  “You too,” I muttered, and ducked my head down to make my way over to the stand-in set they had just put together to start directing for the first time on this job. Luke Bell was just my actor, and I was going to be damned sure that neither of us forgot it in future.

  Chapter Two

  Two weeks in, and I was starting to feel the heat. But it wasn’t between me and Luke – no, it was between Luke and Michelle.