Under the Lights Read Online Free PDF Page B

can let yourself get disowned.”
    I shake my head and watch her leave before going down to the gym. One more hour of masochism seems just about right for this day.

    The audition sucks. It’s obvious from the second casting sees me that they have zero expectations, and they’re right to. I can’t pretend I think the stupid, derivative shit I’ve spent the afternoon memorizing deserves any effort, so I don’t give it any. And then I leave.
    I know the first thing I’m gonna see when I check my phone after sliding into the backseat of Ronen’s Escalade is a text from Ally asking how the audition went, and of course she proves me right. I don’t have the patience to deal with her now, and I know that early night’s sleep isn’t happening, either. I need to get out—blow off some steam with the guys and get a good drink and a warm body or three. It’s still early, though, so I text Wyatt instead and tell him to get TamTam—his favorite bong—ready because I’ll be there in twenty.
    It takes forty, thanks to traffic, but not long at all from there for me to get completely blitzed. This is exactly what I need to clear my head after the shitshow combo of the audition and my mother’s insanity. By the time I pull out my phone to check the time, it’s already ten and definitely time to get out of this house.
    I still don’t feel like going home, though, so I text a few of the guys, including Liam, even though he never wants to go out. He’s the first to text back, and surprises the hell out of me by asking when and where. Guess he’s not spending the night with Ally, for once. I tell him to pick me up from Wyatt’s, and we go to Circuit, which has a comfy VIP section and very accommodating waitresses.
    When we walk up to the roped-off section, Royce Hudson, Jeremy Hill, and Paz—don’t even know if that’s his first name or last—are already there. Royce is sucking a cherry out of a redheaded waitress’s belly button, but when he sees us, he whips his head up. “Look who the fuck is finally good enough to come out with his boys!” he yells out, nearly choking on the cherry. “What’sa matter, Holloway? That girl dump your ass?”
    Liam snorts. “Hudson, I almost forgot how charming you are when you’re drunk.” We each fist-bump Royce hello, then do the same with Jeremy and Paz. The waitress sits up slowly, sizing us up and smiling slowly as she does, then slides off the table like water and eases out of the section to make room.
    â€œHey, you chased away our entertainment,” says Royce, nodding toward the waitress.
    â€œI didn’t tell her to go,” I say with a shrug, grabbing the nearest open bottle and taking a drink without bothering to check its contents.
    â€œYeah, but Holloway fucking radiates ‘taken.’ Bitches don’t wanna be around that.”
    â€œPretty sure what they don’t want is to be called ‘bitches,’ actually,” says Liam. I roll my eyes and take another drink. Whatever brand of vodka it is, it’s pretty smooth going down. “Plus, plenty of ’em don’t give a shit if you’re taken. Trust.”
    He sounds so damn bitter—getting hit on pisses Liam off even more than it used to now that he’s with Ally—and Paz snorts. “Poor Holloway. You getting too much ass? Boo fucking hoo.”
    â€œOh, shut up.”
    I let them bicker like little kids and scan the club to see if the hot waitress who blew me in the bathroom last time we were here is around. I don’t see her, but the waitress who was giving Royce her cherry when we walked in returns, carrying neon-green shots that are apparently on the house. She drapes herself back over Royce and we toast to I don’t even know what before drinking them down.
    I glance at Liam as we toss the empty glasses back on her tray. He still looks pissed.