Page 5 of Resist

“This won’t take long,” I reassured them. “I know you’re all exhausted. I just want to introduce myself then you’re all free to head back to the hotel.”

The backward-talking twin stopped in front of me and raised my hand to his mouth, his lips warm as they pressed my skin. “My long lost love, you are.”

He had to be Noah, definitely Noah.

Removing my hand from his grip, I said, “Try ‘your long lost nightmare’,” then wiped it on the corner of his hoodie before turning my back to him and picking up my iPad from the stage.

“Slick,” Matt snapped. “Take a seat and have some respect.”

“Thank you, Matthew, but I can fight my own battles.” I turned back around to face them. “Okay, are we all here?”

Lucas burst through the door and jogged to the tables, his duffle bag crashing to the floor at his feet. “What did I miss?”

“In future, Lucas, please be on time when I hold a meeting,” I snapped.

The smile on Corinne’s face disappeared.

“Right, as I said, this won’t take long … provided I’m not interrupted any further.” I flared my eyes at Lucas, and his brows pinched in response. He didn’t argue though, instead taking a seat and shrugging at Josh.

“I’m Helena. I recently bought Wild Nights Revue, and I’ll be joining you during the remainder of your national tour.”

“Share my room, you can,” Noah murmured.

“Fire your arse, I will.” This time, I shot the obnoxious twin my heated stare.

He shut his mouth.

“As I was saying, I’ll be keeping a close eye on where improvements can be made and problems can be fixed.”

“But there aren’t any problems,” Brad said.

I gave him a conceited smile. “There arealwaysproblems; starting with your opening act.”

Raising my iPad, I tapped the screen to where I’d made notes.

Josh straightened. “What’s wrong with it?” His voice was hard and defensive.

“It’s not strong enough,” I replied, not bothering to make eye contact with him.

He scoffed.

“You’re the main choreographer, right?”

“I am.”

“Do you think that perhaps you’re biting off more than you can chew?” I glanced up from my screen to gauge his reaction.

Josh’s eye twitched before the corner of his mouth curved into an arrogant grin. “I can bite and chew more than think.”

Corinne’s eyes widened, and her cheeks flushed pink. I tried not to smile at his smartarse remark because, despite his amusing retort, I couldn’t lower my guard by condoning his subordination.

Hugging my iPad to my chest, I pushed off from the stage I was leaning on and stepped toward him, my eyes locked with his, my gaze unwavering. “I’m sure you can, Josh, but let’s see how you go in the coming weeks. I expect you to spend more time choreographing and dancing than being the media clown you have been in the past.”

The colour from his face vanished apart from a red glow that burned in his scalding eyes.

“Look,” I said, softening my tone before he exploded before me. “You’re good, Josh,very good …my best performer on stage in fact. But let’s face it: offstage, you’re a danger to us all. Any publicity isnotgood publicity, so please remember that going forward.”

The skin covering Josh’s knuckles turned white as he gripped Corinne’s chair, so I left him to ponder my advice, or more so my request, and continued my meeting.