Dance Around It (Strip in the City, Book 1)

21 • Catching Feelings

"Then beat him where it counts, West," Maren damn near shouted at me, poking me in the chest with a finger. "Get the part. That's all that matters."

I drew in a deep breath, trying to calm myself down. Maren didn't want me to drag Patrick out here even though I believed I should. If I wanted to be the kind of man that advocated for women, I needed to respect their wishes.

Her gaze fell away from my face, and her voice lost some of its strength. "My mother would be furious if you get role over Patrick, and seeing your name on the playbill is all the vindication I need."

The pain in her eyes and her voice drew me a half-step closer. I realized this was the second time she brought up her mother, and I didn't understand why. There was more to this story than Patrick.

"Why would your mother be furious?"

Maren toyed with the end of her long braid before responding. "My mother is Eleanor Mitchell, and she owns the biggest, most well-known talent agency on Broadway. That's why."

I scrubbed my hand across my face, feeling like an idiot. Maren Mitchell? Mitchell Enterprise? It should have been plain as day.

"But that doesn't explain why she'd be furious if she lost one audition, especially to her daughter's company."

I thought she looked sadder than I'd ever seen her look before. It made me want to destroy whatever was causing her this much pain.

"I used to work at Mitchell Enterprise as my mother's protégé. It was the role she'd groomed me to fill since birth. But I'm not the daughter she hoped for. I'm..."

Maren's voice trailed off, but I recognized the pain and hurt etched on her face all too well. The suffering that came with not living up to your parent's expectations.

"A disappointment," I said, finishing the sentence.

My father had told me the same thing, pointing to my older—more successful—brothers and sister as proof it was me and not him who was wrong.

Maren nodded. "Exactly. To her, I am a disappointment."

She only looked sad for a moment before the sadness turned into anger.

"My mom fired me because she didn't 'approve' of the way I was living my life or of me in general. And now, to add insult to injury, she wants my business to fail. She poached Patrick and all my clients the night we met, ensuring my tiny, not-at-all-threatening-to-her-empire agency folds by the end of the year." She shook her head, lips pressed into a firm line. "But we're not going to let that happen. We're going to get you this role and prove that we're just as worthy as anyone else to be on Broadway. Regardless of what my mother says. She can hate me all she wants, but she isn't going to ruin our dreams."

Maren shoved a sweaty piece of hair that had fallen out of her braid behind her ear, and I noticed her hand was trembling.

I had no idea Maren was going through so much with her mother. And the fact that she had tied her success so tightly to mine made me feel even more responsible.