Page 82 of Play Room Actor

Kilian was standing there, smoking with Sebastian and Jacob, blowing smoke into the air and laughing at something Sebastian had said. He dragged on the cigarette like a chain smoker, though it looked completely out of place in his hand. His smile was genuine and did a good job of masking the nervous habit he had with his hand again—where he ran his thumb up and down, bending each finger one by one.

I hesitated, wondering if this was the right moment to apologize to him. Just then, I felt my phone vibrate in my back pocket and checked my messages.

“Open House tonight starting at 7 – Livio.”

That one sentence had a magical effect, wiping everything in my brain into a thick fog. Like I was hypnotized, I shoved the phone back into my pocket and left the theater.

Tonight, I wanted to be the guy with a raging hard-on, melting away in lust and desire for one entire night.

24

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Kilian

“Well, fine, I’m an asshole,” I said with a laugh. “But he wasn’t exactly nice either.”

“It’s still up to you to apologize,” Sebastian suggested.

“For what?”

“Seriously, dude. You hit the guy, and judging by the way he reacted … I thought you two got along well. At my wedding party, it looked like you were a couple.”

“He told me to stay away from him.”

“As if you’d ever listen to something like that,” Jacob commented with a laugh.

“Tell me,” Sebastian said, nudging me with his shoulder, “is something going on between you two?”

“He ignored me all day.”

“Then you didn’t see the way he was looking at you when you were busy,” Jacob said dryly.

Shaking my head, I crushed the cigarette in the ashtray. For God’s sake! I didn’t even know what was going on between us.

Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw a shadow—inside, in the hallway—and turned my head, but it was already gone.

“Was that Dominic just now?” I asked, gesturing toward the open window.

“No idea,” Sebastian replied with a shrug. “Could’ve been.”

“See you later,” I said and quickly chased after the ghost.

I knew Dominic was still in the costume fitting and planned to catch up with him right after my smoke break. If he didn’t want to talk to me anymore, fine. But did he really think I would just go along with that kind of crap?

The guy dumped me as if we were a couple.

He called me crazy, even though he was the one acting totally irrational.

Did I hold that against him? No!

I was just shocked at the effect this Livio guy seemed to have on him. That kind of thing wasn’t normal anymore.

I hurried down the hallway toward the stairs. When I got there, I saw Dominic just as he was leaving the theater through the main entrance. A performance was about to start, and wine was already being served to the audience in the foyer. I couldn’t very well shout through the entire lobby. So, I ran down the stairs and followed him outside onto the street. Unfortunately, I only managed to see Dominic board a bus and drive away.

Fuck!

Now what?