by Ally Blue
Riptide Publishing
PO Box 1537
Burnsville, NC 28714
www.riptidepublishing.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. All person(s) depicted on the cover are model(s) used for illustrative purposes only.
No Small Parts
Copyright © 2016 by Ally Blue
Cover art: L.C. Chase, lcchase.com/design.htm
Editors: Delphine Dryden, May Peterson
Layout: L.C. Chase, lcchase.com/design.htm
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher, and where permitted by law. Reviewers may quote brief passages in a review. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Riptide Publishing at the mailing address above, at Riptidepublishing.com, or at [email protected].
ISBN: 978-1-62649-501-2
First edition
December, 2016
Also available in paperback:
ISBN: 978-1-62649-502-9
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Nat Horn is almost living the dream. His part as a werewolf extra on the hit show Wolf’s Landing has somehow turned into a regular role. Beautiful rising star Solari Praveen has taken an interest in him. He’s even making enough money to think about getting out of Bluewater Bay someday. Except his retired dad’s dependence on pain medications seems to be getting worse, and Nat’s the only one around to take care of him.
When Nat learns that Solari’s interest isn’t romantic, his disappointment is surprisingly short-lived, because in getting to know her, he also got to know her assistant, Rafael. And Rafael turns out to be the kind of friend—and potential boyfriend—Nat never dared to dream about.
Distracted by his astonishing new life, new friends, and new possibilities, Nat lets his guard down, and suddenly his life goes careening out of control. Racked by guilt, he tries to push his new friends away, but the bonds he’s formed are already too strong. In fact, they’re strong enough to pull him forward, into the future he’s been longing for—but to get there, he’ll have to let go of the past.
For Sarah, who invited me into the Bluewater Bay universe. Thank you. :)
About No Small Parts
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Dear Reader
Also by Ally Blue
About the Author
More like this
“Nat. Wake up.”
Nathaniel brushed a vague hand at whatever dream person was bugging him. “Go ’way.”
“You’re already late. You have to get up.”
Wait. He knew that voice. Low, scratchy, nervous.
So. Not a dream.
Odds were he wasn’t actually late, but he couldn’t avoid dealing with his dad when he got insistent.
Nat forced himself upright, hauled his eyelids open, and squinted at the ancient clock radio on his bedside table. The skull sticker he’d stuck on the table’s peeling paint in high school glared back at him with its one remaining eye socket. “Christ, Dad. It’s only seven thirty in the morning.”
“You said you had to be on set at six thirty. You’re an hour late already.” Jerome Horn nudged Nat’s chest with a thin, trembling finger. “They’re going to fire you, and then where will we be?”
“I have to be there at 6:30 p.m. It’s a night shoot. Like last night. Remember? I didn’t get home till three in the morning? Which was four and a half hours ago?”
Realization dawned on his father’s face, followed by a flood of guilt, and Nat wished he’d kept his mouth shut. He knew his dad had a hard time remembering his Wolf’s Landing shooting schedule, in spite of the paper stuck on the rust-spotted fridge with Wolf’s Landing magnets. Hell, Nat had trouble himself sometimes. He’d worked nights before. But his part-time werewolf gig on Bluewater Bay’s wildly popular TV series had him going from indoor daytime set shoots to midnight forest shoots and back again. It was crazy and sometimes exhausting.
Worth it, he thought, picturing the barely controlled chaos that somehow created weekly magic.
The money was nothing to sneeze at either, considering the sporadic nature of the work and how little other income he had.
Nat’s father edged toward the door. “Sorry. You go on back to sleep.”
God, he wanted to, but . . . “What’re you gonna do?”
“Me? Oh, don’t worry about your old dad. I’ll keep myself occupied.”
Last time his dad said that, Nat had found him curled up in agony on the hall floor, where he’d fallen after getting a bad muscle spasm while trying to fix the broken hinge on his bedroom door. No way was Nat letting that happen again.
“Naw, I think I’m gonna get up and make breakfast.” Nat kicked the covers aside, stood, and stretched. “You want some scrambled eggs?”
“I’m not really hungry.”
“C’mon, Dad. You know you can’t take your Flexeril on an empty stomach.” Nat glanced sideways at his father as they left the bedroom and started across the squeaky old floor to the kitchen. Food or no food didn’t really matter with Flexeril, but sometimes this was the only way Nat could get his dad to eat. The logging accident four years ago had robbed him of his appetite as well as his health. “I can make pancakes if you’d rather have that.”
A rare spark of interest lit the elder Horn’s eyes. “I do love pancakes.”
“I know.” Nat rubbed a hand between his father’s shoulder blades. Gently, so the touch wouldn’t trigger any of the muscle spasms that had plagued him since the accident. “Go lie down on the couch. I’ll bring you your pancakes on the TV tray, okay?”
“All right.” His dad smiled. “Thanks, son.”
“Sure.”
His father shuffled off to the sagging old sofa, and Nat went to the kitchen to gather supplies for a pancake breakfast. He got out the eggs, milk, and pancake mix, found a bowl in the top cabinet, then wrestled the pancake turner out of the drawer that wouldn’t ever stay on track. Jesus, this kitchen was falling apart. Probably because it was older than him and his dad put together. Nothing worked anymore.
“Nat?”
“Hmm?”
“You heard from Abby lately?”
He planted both palms on the counter and clenched his teeth until the usual surge of anger pa
ssed. He’d never blamed his sister for running off with her boyfriend all those years ago. She and their dad had never gotten along, mostly because he’d always subtly discouraged her dreams. Implied that her place was here in Bluewater Bay looking after her family, not out in the world making something of herself. Nat had been thirteen when she left, old enough that he’d understood her side of things. Old enough that he’d also understood all the ways their father treated him differently than he treated Abby.
Then the accident had happened, and she hadn’t come back. Not even for a little while, to help him get situated. She’d sent money, which he’d needed and resented. But she’d left Nat to deal with it. She’d gone on with her awesome life in New York, while Nat had left behind his tiny Port Angeles apartment with the gorgeous mountain view and the lawn-maintenance job he’d enjoyed to move back home and become his father’s caretaker.
No, he didn’t blame Abby for leaving. But he’d never forgiven her for not coming back.
Sometimes she’d email him. Occasionally he’d email her back. But they would never be as close as they’d been as children. Her staying away lay between them like the Grand Canyon.
“Nat?”
He closed his eyes. Breathed deep. Blew it out and opened his eyes again. “I got an email the other day, yeah. She’s expanding the shop, and Colin got a showing at some super popular gallery.”
His father let out a gravelly laugh. “Well, I’m glad for ’em, though I don’t understand why people buy that modern art. The way I see it, if it’s something I could’ve painted, it ain’t art, you know?”
Nat kept his own opinions behind his teeth. He didn’t want to think about Colin and his ugly fucking paintings, or how happy he and Abby were and how great their life was. The bitterness might drown him.
Turning his thoughts to Wolf’s Landing instead, he took the crappy store-brand coffee out of the cabinet and focused on brewing a pot.
“Cut! Perfect.” The director, Anna, flashed her wide grin around at the Wolf’s Landing cast and crew. “All right, people, that’s a wrap. Great job, everybody.”
The silence surrounding the take broke into talk and laughter as the actors drifted toward the makeup trailers in the parking area down the road, while the crew started breaking down the set. They’d been out in the forest for more than six hours, shooting the last bit of a particularly dramatic episode, and it was now nearly one in the morning. Everybody was anxious to put another late Friday shoot behind them and get some sleep.
Everyone but Nat. Tired as he was, he didn’t want to leave. Not yet.
He loved the woods. Loved the quiet of it, the wet-earth smell of it, the way the branches always dripped water down the back of his neck even if it hadn’t rained lately. Night was the best time to be out here, especially when the moon was full and the sky was clear. Ever since he was a kid, he’d loved stretching out in the damp mulch under the trees and gazing up at the stars glittering between the leaves.
Of course, these days he had a brighter star to watch.
He ducked his head and pretended to be busy on his phone when Solari Praveen hurried by, her stride quick and determined like it always was. She was so close he caught a whiff of her perfume as she passed. Something softly spicy, like vanilla and cloves. He lifted his gaze to watch her go up to Anna and start talking, gesturing with her hands. She was a tiny thing, probably a foot shorter than him, everything about her small and delicate, yet she projected power and fierceness with every movement. Her thick black hair flowed and shimmered in the moonlight, the ends brushing the curve of her waist. Simply looking at her made his heart pound so hard it hurt.
He stood there, knees shaking and pulse thumping at the base of his throat, trying to get his shit together before she could turn around and spot him. Sure, he wanted her to notice him, only he didn’t. At least, not like this, all sweaty and nervous and tongue-tied. If she so much as glanced his way right now, he’d probably faint or piss his pants. And wouldn’t that make a great impression?
At least she’s a woman. You don’t have to be so careful if you get together.
He stifled a snicker. Yeah, like that was gonna happen.
“Hey, Horn Dog.”
Startled, Nat spun around too fast and almost tripped. He glared at his friend Suzanne, who laughed. “It’s not funny, Suz.”
“It kind of is.” She peered over his shoulder, hands in her jeans pockets. “You still crushing on Stargirl?”
That was none of her damn business, so he didn’t answer. “Don’t call me that. I hate it.”
Her smile twisted, turning sharp. “I’ll trade you. Don’t call me Fag Hag, I won’t call you Horn Dog.”
He wrinkled his nose. Or at least, tried to. The werewolf prosthetics got in the way. “Fine. But if you don’t want me to call you that, you have got to stop trying to set me up with guys.”
She tilted her head sideways, making her look like a puppy on account of her two high-set ponytails. “Huh? But I did so good last time. You and Lem dated for, like, six months. That’s a record for you.”
It was. And for a while, it had been great. Then Lem had started getting more serious than Nat was comfortable with. When he’d said so, Lem had called him emotionally unavailable, Nat had countered with “Fuck you,” and their sort-of relationship had slammed head-on into the breakup wall.
Of course, his father’s constant nagging at Nat to Stop with the gay stuff, why can’t you find a woman since you ain’t particular, hadn’t helped. Might have even given the relationship car a nudge downhill. But Nat didn’t blame his dad. Especially since cutting ties with Lem had been more of a relief than a heartbreak.
Not that he was telling Suz any of that.
He cast a cautious glance around at the dwindling crowd. Anna caught his eye for a brief second and raised her eyebrows at him, as if to ask if all was well. He waved and smiled, then edged closer to Suz and dropped his voice. “I don’t want everyone here to know I’m bi, that’s all.”
Suz narrowed her eyes. “Since when have you been in the closet?”
“I’m not. I just don’t want everybody knowing. You know?”
“Uh-huh. You like your privacy. I get it.”
They’d been friends long enough that he knew she did, in spite of her teasing tone. “And I hate ‘Horn Dog’ even more now than I did in high school, so, c’mon. Please?”
“Yeah, okay.” She held out her hand. “Shake.”
He shook. They smiled at each other, and he felt better.
He plopped down onto a mossy tree trunk. Suz settled herself beside him. They sat and watched in silence as the crew hauled away the lights, the generators, the cameras, and the bits of set that took the forest from its usual verdant beauty into something otherworldly. Solari walked beside Anna, keeping pace with the taller woman’s longer stride and talking nonstop, her hands in constant motion.
Solari’s assistant sidled up to her and handed her a large mug of something that sent steam curling into the chilly night air. He caught Nat’s eye and smiled. Nat nodded back, feeling like he’d been spotlighted. Why did the guy smile at him?
Suz grinned. “Are you flirting?”
“What? No. Being friendly, is all. I mean, he smiled at me, so . . .” He watched the assistant—what the hell was the guy’s name, anyway?—accept Solari’s distracted thanks with a nod, then hurry away again to do whatever assistants to TV stars did all day. He glanced Nat’s way again. Favored him with another smile. He had dimples. “He’s cute, though.”
Suz cut him a sly look. “He’s gay, you know.”
Jesus Christ. Nat resisted the urge to hide his face in his hands. “So?”
“So, you should talk to him.”
He almost laughed. Cute Assistant Guy might be a mere flunky, but he was still so far out of Nat’s league it was stupid. “Yeah, no. I don’t think so.”
“Suit yourself.” Suz took his hand and squeezed. “So. When’re you gonna make your move?”
�
�What’d I just say?”
“On Solari, moron.”
“Oh.” The very idea gave him hives. “Never. I’ll admire from afar until I get over it.”
Suz snorted. “Way to go there, champ.”
“Shut up.” He watched, heart aching, as the woman he longed for said goodnight to Anna with a wave and a dazzling smile, then headed for the trailers in the parking area, where taking off her makeup wouldn’t involve anything more than some cold cream. “She’d laugh in my face.”
“No, she wouldn’t.”
Impossible hope rose in Nat’s heart, threaded through with pure terror. He stomped it down, because, come on. “You can’t tell me she’d actually go out with me.”
“How the hell do I know? But she’s way too nice to laugh at you.”
“Wait, you know her?” There went that crazy, scary hope again. He told himself to stop it.
Suz shook her head. “Naw, not really. I’ve met her, though, when I got sent over to help out with makeup to the stars that one time. She was super nice to me. And everybody else always says she’s really cool and down-to-earth.”
He was still turning that over in his head, wondering what to do with it, when Anna walked over, hands in her jacket pockets. “Hi, Nat. Suz.”
They both scrambled to their feet. “Hi, Anna.” Nat still felt weird calling the director by her first name, but she insisted, and everyone else did it, so he did too. “What’s up?”
“I’d like to talk to you about something, Nat.” Anna smiled at Suz. “Could you excuse us for a minute?”
Suz nodded. “Sure. I should be getting to the makeup trailer, anyway. See you in a few, Nat.”
“Yeah, see you.”
She jogged off, casting him a wide-eyed glance over her shoulder.
He swallowed, his throat dry from the adrenaline rush. “So, Anna. What did you need to talk about?” Fear had his pulse thumping way too fast. He’d never get rich at this job, but right now it was the main reason he managed to keep food on the table. His part-time job with his uncle’s charter boat didn’t pay much. If Anna fired him, he didn’t know what he was going to do.
