Page 65 of Cleats and Pumps

I blushed a bit and smiled. “Thanks, I appreciate it.”

“Are you still doing freelance work?” he asked before I could disappear out the door, especially since all the bragging was causing me to feel embarrassed.

“Yes, I am. why?”

Orion shrugged. “Anton tells me you’re here hoping to find inspiration to write. Why don’t you write something up and send it to me? Can I see your phone?” he asked.

I opened my phone, and he added his number.

After that, I quickly excused myself, not sure if I should be excited or skeptical. I really needed a job, and I doubted a new magazine I had never heard of would be able to afford full-time writers, but since I was broke and unemployed I wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth.

I ran back to the flat, the entire time thinking about what I was going to write. I probably shouldn’t do another piece on Amos—my last four published articles had been about him. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t write about the choreography of the dancers, and what it took physically for them to perform their routines.

I’d need to do more research, of course, since I knew absolutely nothing about the process. Maybe find a few gay dancers to feature. Yeah, I was liking where this was going. I could write this like I was writing a sports piece. Just… about dancers instead.

Would there be interest? I had no idea, but one thing I’d learned was that people were interested in good writing they could relate to. If I could convince a bunch of sports enthusiasts to get into the stats of whatever sports thing was happening atthe time, I was confident I could do the same for the arts world. At least, I hoped I could.

48

Amos

Sixwhirlwindmonthshadpassed since Anton Wagner had offered me the part of Alec— six fantastic, intense, and amazing months. Not only did I love performing, love rehearsing, and the rigors that went with it, I also had Tommy by my side almost every night.

Anton had also introduced me to the writer, apparently his lover, Linc, who wroteAlec in Wanderlust. What a freaking wild ride that had led to this musical! The story included a mysterious fortune-telling drag queen, a twink who blew the writer off, and wild dreams which Linc had basically written down and then made into the storyline. There was little I didn’t love about Linc’s story,Alec in Wanderlust, or my part in it.

Tommy had dropped the ball just a few days earlier, announcing that he was going back to Texas. “I have to go deal with the chaos that is my former colleague.”

“So, they got him?” I asked.

“Yep, the team your brother hired lured him back to Texas by pretending to be an ultra-conservative hate group. They played him by saying they were going to use the book to discredit you.”

“Josiah hadn’t told me,” I said, feeling left out of the loop.

Tommy chuckled. “You’ve been putting in twelve-hour days with rehearsal. When, exactly, did you expect him to do that?”

I nodded. “Okay, that’s fair. What’re you going to do?”

“Get my damned laptop back and make sure the SOB gets what’s coming to him.”

“Good. At least one of us is getting justice.”

Tommy smiled sadly at me.

The league had started getting nasty. Although we couldn’t prove it yet, they had even leaked some information with lots of innuendo about me to the press. There were always wild rumors going around about football players in the NFL.

Someone said they were accosted by me, insinuating that I’d sexually assaulted her while we were at a bar at an away game. I definitely haven’t sexually done anything with a woman, so that hadn’t happened. Another had accused me of stealing money from them when I’d been a new player on the team. That one was more complicated as it involved an actual fan whom the team had brought in for a “spend a day with the players” sort of thing.

I had met the person once, hadn’t liked them at all, and then avoided them like the plague. In both cases, either most or the entire team had been with me while I was supposedly with these people. The allegations were bullshit, and unless the players lied, which I didn’t put past some of them now, I would be easily exonerated of those charges. That wasn’t the point though. Even my attorney had said he believed the team was throwing everything they had at me, hoping it allowed them to deny the reason they let me go was because I was a dress-wearing gay man.

“So, well, I’ll miss you. You’ll be back for my first show though, right?”

Tommy’s eyes grew big. “Amos, nothing would keep me away. Like, I’ll crawl back to New York if I have to. I will be in thataudience on opening night. Besides, Mr. Wagner gave me the best seat in the house.”

“How is it you’ve sidled up to my producer?” I asked, using my most Southern accent with the old Texas saying.

Tommy chuckled. “Well, likely because I’ve sent his buddy atProudesttwo articles about the performance and have promised to do one about opening night.”

“Oh, you’re bribing him?”

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