Page 21 of The CEO I Hate (The Lockhart Brothers #1)

LIAM

“ C an I get you a drink while you wait for the rest of your party?”

I sent the waitress away with a grumbled “water” as I glared down at my phone, scrolling through Mia’s latest update of Heart and Hustle .

Miles featured heavily in this latest issue, standing around and scowling like it was his full-time job.

He was somehow even more obnoxious than normal, and I knew this was Mia’s way of getting back at me for the other night.

My knuckles turned white from gripping my phone so hard.

“Either someone set the studio on fire or you’re reading about Miles again,” Finn said as he walked in, Connor right behind him.

I stuffed my phone away as my brothers took their seats.

I’d flown to San Francisco today—it was Connor’s turn to pick the restaurant—only too happy to escape the office for a while.

He’d chosen the Ember Oven, a small wood-fired pizza place in the Marina District.

It smelled great, but all I actually cared about was that there was no danger of running into Mia here .

And God, had that become a real danger lately!

“Just work stuff,” I muttered.

“You sure?” Connor teased. “Because doesn’t the webcomic always update on Wednesdays?”

“Oh, it’s definitely Miles,” Finn said, reaching across the table to poke at me. “That vein in his forehead is throbbing. What’s the kid getting up to this time?”

I gritted my teeth. I had no patience for their teasing.

Not when Mia had already worn the last of my patience away.

Did she not understand that this was what was best for both of us?

For Jake? I’d put a stop to things before they could take off because it was the right thing to do. Why did that make me the bad guy?

“Man,” Finn laughed, picking up the menu. “You let that girl get so far under your skin.”

If he only knew.

“What I can’t figure out is why you hired her if she causes you this much frustration,” Connor said.

Good fucking question. Because right now I was regretting ever letting her in that interview room.

“I was doing a favor for Jake,” I grunted. “It was only ever supposed to be an interview, but then Mia was the best candidate we’d seen.” That was the part I hadn’t planned for.

“So you’re saying it’s only about the company?” Finn asked.

I nodded. “She was the best option to save the show.”

The show was crucial to the success of VeriTV, and VeriTV was and would always be what came first for me.

The money I made from the business was what let me take care of my family. Buy Mom a new house and send her enough money every month that she could focus on her interests instead of having to work. Give my brothers the seed capital they needed to start their own businesses and reach success.

VeriTV made everything possible, so protecting VeriTV was priority number one…even above my own sanity, which had been crumbling away bit by bit the longer I had to work in close proximity to Mia.

“That’s the only reason you hired her?” Connor said.

“Of course it’s the only damn reason!” I growled.

“Not because she draws a cute little cartoon of you every week?” Finn said. “Which we all know you’re not-so-secretly obsessed with.”

“Miles isn’t featured every week. And anyway, I’m only obsessed with how inaccurate it is.”

“Looked in a mirror lately?” Finn said. “Because that scowl is on point. Mia knows what she’s doing.”

I glared at him. Sometimes I had to remind myself that I did, in fact, love my brothers. Right now, I didn’t know why, but I did. A waitress brought us over water and a basket of garlic knots.

“Anyway, she must be an amazing writer, because that’s the only reason you—Mr. I Don’t Have Time for Love—would let yourself spend more than five seconds with a woman you can’t bear to look away from,” Finn said.

My jaw shot open in protest and my brother continued. “Don’t even try to deny it! We both saw the way you were looking at her in Sharkies. You couldn’t peel your eyes off her ass. Not that I blame you.”

“You’re walking on very thin ice,” I said through my teeth.

Finn pretended to fan himself with the menu. “Sounding a little hot and bothered there, Liam.”

Connor cracked one of his rare-since-his-divorce-started smiles.

“Both of you shut the hell up,” I snapped, which was a mistake .

“Shut up?” Finn howled. “Got him!”

Since we were boys, they’d both taken it as a challenge to push me to the point where I’d finally snap and tell them both to shut up. Back in the day, they had a scorecard. When one of them hit a certain number, the other one had to buy the winner something. Apparently, old habits die hard.

“I knew it!” Finn continued, slapping the table. “I can sense these things, and you, my friend, have it bad for Mia.”

Connor snickered as my pulse hammered in my throat. Was I that damn easy to read? Were the words I Want Mia Collins stamped across my forehead?

“Tell me I’m wrong,” Finn continued.

“It’s strictly a professional working relationship,” I snapped back at him.

“ Professional ,” Finn and Connor echoed together. “Oooo!”

“Honestly,” I grumbled under my breath, trying to ignore them both by holding my menu in front of my face. It didn’t work. they were still laughing like hyenas, and I could no more block out that sound than I could stop myself from thinking about Mia sliding into my lap at the Scarlet Parlor.

I’d wanted so badly to kiss her again. Hell, I’d wanted to do a lot more than just kiss her, and that thought alone was enough to wake my body up in dangerous ways.

Quick! Think of sad puppies. Poor, homeless, hungry puppies. Puppies who needed my help. Puppies Mia would definitely cuddle while looking at me with those big brown eyes. She’d pout, and I’d run my thumb across her lip before tasting that…

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’re not dating,” 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 a little too 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 with End 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.”

“Well, that’s an improvement on the whole Lyle drama,” Connor said. “For a while there, I thought you might have to take a big hiatus to sort it out.”

I winced. “I don’t know if the show would have recovered from that.”

“Exactly,” Connor said. “Bad for business.”

I nodded. “But even the number crunchers seemed pleased. I mean, they wanted more fire, but that’s a fairly easy ask considering what the show is about.”

“Who doesn’t want more fire?” Finn said. “That’s all we do in Run ‘n’ Gun . Fire. Explosions. People eat that up.”

Finn’s Run ‘n’ Gun movie franchise had been a massive international success. Frankly, I didn’t know how many more ways there were to make a car chase feel fresh, but somehow Hart of Gold Productions managed it.

“We’ve upped the budget for season two, and we’ve just brought on a new VFX company, so as long as the storylines continue to be compelling, I think we can make the audience happy,” I said.

Despite all the good news, saying it out loud left a sour taste in my mouth. Part of me was still waiting for the other shoe to drop. In this business, nothing ran smoothly for long.

Just try to enjoy the lull , I told myself. Get on with the side projects. If you don’t get too invested in any one thing, you’ll always have something to fall back on .

“The one-year anniversary of Jake’s injury is coming up,” I said.

Connor made a face. “How d’you think that’s gonna go?”

“Poorly,” Finn muttered. “You heard Mia at the restaurant. ‘One day at a time.’ It’s the same thing we used to say about Mom when things were up and down.”

I sighed. He wasn’t wrong. Jake had perked up a bit after learning Mia had gotten the writing job, but since then, he’d sunk back into that pit of frustration and despair.

“I’ve actually been thinking about sending Jake and Gabrielle on a luxury vacation so they’ll be away from here when the anniversary hits.

Well…more than thinking about it. Plans are in motion. ”

“Really?” Finn said.

“I just think it would be good for the two of them to get away from all the stress they’ve been dealing with. That way, instead of focusing on the date and what happened, they can have a chance to relax and reset. You know, get on the same page with things.”

“The same page with what?” Connor asked.

“I don’t know…They’re in a rut of some kind.” And I figured the best cure for that was shaking up the environment a little. Thankfully, I could afford to do that in a way that would accommodate Jake’s needs while still providing a luxury experience.

Finn settled me with a look, one eyebrow arched into his hairline.

“What?”

“Nothing, I’m just surprised you’re putting in all this effort to help Jake and Gabrielle work things out. Aren’t you the one always saying relationships are a waste of time? ”

“They are,” I agreed. Love was a distraction from responsibilities. A distraction I couldn’t afford, given everything else I had on my plate. I needed to protect the business and my mom and my brothers and the people who depended on VeriTV for their livelihoods.

“But I think Jake could really use a distraction right now. He needs something in his life that makes him feel good instead of frustrated.”

“Yeah?” Finn said, wearing a cocky smirk that was already making me want to punch him. “And since you claim you get out ‘plenty,’ does that mean you’ve found someone to help you work out your frustrations ?”

“Go flag down the waitress so we can order already,” I grumbled.

“Subject change noted,” Connor said.

I huffed in response, but my thoughts immediately drifted to the same fantasy I’d been using to work out my frustrations with my right hand: Mia wrapped up in that tight little corset at the burlesque club.

It didn’t matter how many times I dealt with that frustration.

Relieving the tension did nothing to help get my attraction under control. If anything, it was getting worse.