Page 45 of The CEO I Hate

What the hell happened to the puppies?

Gah!

Frustration surged through me as Finn pretended to flag down the wait staff. “Hi, yes, can we get one in-denial pizza over here please?”

“Don’t think I’m above beating you up,” I warned.

Finn smirked. “I’d like to see you try.”

“So would I, actually,” Connor said. “It’s been a while since we’ve had a good old-fashioned brawl.”

“Ha!” Finn laughed. “I think the last time was over who could borrow Mom’s car for date night. God, that was forever ago.” He wiggled his eyebrows at me. “But we had some good times in the old Chevy, didn’t we? Or, at least I know I did.”

Connor flicked a garlic knot at him. “Too good of a time, because by the time it was my turn, car dates were banned.”

Finn smirked.

“I don’t know why I take either of your calls,” I muttered.

“Because we bring sunshine to your boring, all-work-no-play life,” Finn said. “Seriously, man, you need to get out more.”

“I get out plenty,” I lied. Okay, maybe I wasn’t exactly the life of the party, but that was because I had better things to do. I’d never liked parties that much anyway. Why waste time on pointless socializing when you could be getting work done?

“And you should not be giving anyone advice,” I said, “considering recent events.” A sex scandal with the lead actress of his hit franchise—another great example of why it was smart to steer clear of dating people who worked for you.

“Okay, yeah, but it’s not like Mia’s making headlines anywhere,” Connor pointed out. “She’s a writer. It’s as lowkey as you can get in terms of dating in the industry.”

“I’m not trying to be lowkey. And we’renotdating,” I said.

“But you want to be,” Finn countered.

“What I want doesn’t matter because I’ve already told her it’s never gonna happen. Jake would kill me. He’s already told me to stay away. Or worse, he wouldn’t kill me.”

“I’m not following,” Connor said. “How would that be worse?”

“It would be worse if it set him back in his recovery. He needs to focus on getting better after this most recent surgery and getting through physical therapy. If he’s stressed out about what’s going on with me and Mia, it could really hurt him. And if he pushes me away, I won’t be able to help him anymore.”

“And God forbid you not be able to butt in and decide for everyone else what they need,” Finn said, not quite under his breath. I stiffened.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing,” Connor said, giving Finn a glare. “It meant nothing,right?”

Finn rolled his eyes but nodded. “Right. It meant nothing…Just that sometimes you get alittletoo invested in the idea that you need to jump in and fix problems for people. But we know your heart’s always in the right place. And I’m sure Mia will be very impressed by your self-sacrifice for her brother’s sake,” Finn concluded.

“Impressed” wasn’t exactly the word I’d use. I knew how she felt, what she wanted…I just couldn’t give it to her. Not if I wanted to do right by Jake. I glowered, fingers drumming impatiently on the edge of the table. Where the hell was the waitress to take our orders?

“That vein in your forehead is getting scary,” Connor said.

“Might blow,” Finn agreed.

“I wouldn’t be that lucky,” I muttered.

“Okay, okay,” Finn said. “We’ll let you wallow about Mia on your own time. How are things going withEnd in Fire?”

That, I was happy to talk about since things were progressing very well—though I was careful to keep Mia out of it even though a lot of that progress was thanks to her. The last thing I needed was for them to double down on the Mia of it all. I was trying to wipe her from my thoughts, not ink her into my brain like a tattoo.

“We actually just had the first table read of season two, and the cast loved the new script. Everyone’s really excited about what we’ve got in the works for the season.”