Out of Focus

By A.L. Lester

Alex has never quite believed he's good enough. Not as a person and not as a lighting technician. He hates that however hard he tries he can’t get his boss, Luke, to like him. In the two years he’s been in the job it’s become a Thing with him and he’s got a huge crush on the man. He needs to move on for his own sanity and his career and he’s just about to accept a job at a bigger theatre when one of the volunteers he’s bedded and dumped pushes him off a ladder.

Luke likes Alex a lot and has done since the day he walked through the door of Theatre Fawr two years ago. He doesn’t date his staff though, or do casual, and Alex is the epitome of casual. So Luke keeps his distance despite Alex’s constant flirting.

Will Alex’s injury give Alex and Luke the push they need to open up to each other? Or will Luke’s inadvertent discovery that Alex has a secret job offer push them further apart?

• Language: English
• Publisher: JMS Books LLC
• Release date: Mar 29, 2022
• ISBN: 9781685500870

A.L. Lester

Writer of queer, paranormal, historical, romantic suspense. Lives in the South West of England with Mr AL and two children. Likes gardening but doesn't really have time or energy. Not musical. Doesn't much like telly. Non-binary. Chronically disabled. Has tedious fits.Instagram, tiktok, fb: CogentHippoMastodon: @[e-mail]

Book preview

Out of Focus

By A.L. Lester

Published by JMS Books LLC at Smashwords

Visit jms-books.com for more information.

Copyright 2022 A.L. Lester

ISBN 9781685500870

* * * *

Cover Design: A.L. Lester

Image(s) used under a Standard Royalty-Free License.

All rights reserved.

WARNING: This book is not transferable. It is for your own personal use. If it is sold, shared, or given away, it is an infringement of the copyright of this work and violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

No portion of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher, with the exception of brief excerpts used for the purposes of review.

This book is for ADULT AUDIENCES ONLY. It may contain sexually explicit scenes and graphic language which might be considered offensive by some readers. Please store your files where they cannot be accessed by minors.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are solely the product of the author’s imagination and/or are used fictitiously, though reference may be made to actual historical events or existing locations. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Published in the United States of America.

* * * *

For everyone who ever showed me how to plug in a lamp. None of you feature in this, alive or dead, although if theatres could read, one or two of them might recognize themselves.

* * * *

Out of Focus

By A. L. Lester

Part 1: Alex

Chapter 1

There was a horrible moment of swinging uncertainty and then the ladders rocked back into place with a thump. Alex breathed out with relief as he clutched the top rung and thanked his lucky stars…falling from this high up on fourteen-rung Zarges wouldn’t be great.

He glanced down at Ben, who should have been footing them for him, but he wasn’t where he should be. He was around the side of the ladders, trying to steady them, lit green in the glow of the lamp Alex was trying to focus. Then Alex winced. Instead of settling back into place, the ladders swung pendulously in the opposite direction, over Ben’s head. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. Shit. Alex was going down with them.

He managed to shout Below! as he continued to tip toward the stage and the large papier-mâché frogs scattered about the floor; and then shut his eyes and tried to relax as the ground rose sickeningly toward him in what felt like slow motion. He was aware of someone shouting and a lot of turmoil below him and then time sped up to normal again when he hit the deck.

His breath was knocked out of him as he landed and he gasped, trying to get his lungs working again. It was only when he managed to draw in a horrible, hoarse, rasping breath that he became aware of the pain. He hurt all over. He was pinned under the ladders, although they were made of light aluminium and he could shove them off if he tried.

He began to do exactly that and someone…Anais, the stage manager?…said, No, no, stay still, Alex. Just stay still for me a moment. We’ll get them off you.

Hurts, he managed to gasp between rough, painful breaths.

He could hear someone else saying, Yes, yes, I’m calling them. I’m on hold…Oh! Yes, this is the Theatr Fach. We need an ambulance. Someone’s fallen off a ladder. About fifteen feet. Yeah. Yeah I’ll hold.

I’m fine, he managed to say, struggling to sit up and push the ladders off. I’m fine, really. Don’t call an ambulance!

"Stay put, Alex! Anais said, hand in the middle of his chest to keep him where he was, calling over her shoulder, Can I get some help with these ladders, please!"

He put his weight on his wrist to push himself up and past her and couldn’t stifle a shout of surprised pain. He subsided back onto the floor, shocked.

Someone was moving the ladders…On three, a voice said…One…two…three! and they went up and off his hips. Oh. That had been why he couldn’t sit up properly. He tried again, but his body wasn’t doing what he wanted.

Yeah, he’s conscious, Martin was saying into the phone. He came over and knelt beside him. Trying to get up, but he banged his head pretty hard when he went down. He put his hand on Alex’s shoulder. Stay still, Alex mate. There’s an ambulance on its way. Just to check you out, yeah? His Aussie accent was thick with concern. I’ll stay on the line, sure, he said. About an hour? Jesus. Yeah, okay. We could take him over to A and E instead, I guess? There was a pause. Alex could hear quacking from the phone. No, no, okay, yeah, I’ll keep him still. No worries. Yeah, yeah, no bleeding that I can see.

Alex zoned out a bit then. He felt a bit dizzy and sick and the all-over pain was coalescing into throbbing in his head and his wrist and his hip even when he stayed still. He shut his eyes.

Where’s Luke? he heard someone say.

Luke was the production manager,