Page 4 of The CEO I Hate (The Lockhart Brothers #1)

LIAM

“ S peak of the devil,” I muttered under my breath.

“Dude, what’s going on?” Mia asked, talking a mile a minute. “I just ran into Gabrielle downstairs. She’s pissed at you. And she told me to let myself in.”

“Don’t you always let yourself in now that you have a key?

” Jake asked. His voice still sounded strained, but some of the stiffness left his posture.

He was and had always been a marshmallow for the baby sister who was born when he was ten years old.

The prime age to become a super-protective big brother.

“It’s for emergencies,” Mia said. “They were having a sale on frozen pizza, so I stocked you up.”

Jake snorted, but there was only the slightest hint of amusement in it. “Your definition of an emergency and mine are very different.”

Mia walked further into the apartment, dropping the bags on the kitchen counter, freezing the moment she saw me. Her nose wrinkled like she’d just smelled something bad. “Oh, you’re here. ”

“What did you do yesterday?” I accused. “Run straight to your brother and whine about me hurting your feelings?”

“What are you two arguing about now?” Jake asked, frowning as he slouched against the arm of his wheelchair.

Mia crossed her arms against her chest, huffing a deep breath. “I didn’t say anything about the coffee shop!”

“Obviously you did!” I tried not to notice the way her shirt clung to her. For the millionth time, I told myself not to notice those forbidden curves.

It didn’t matter that she’d grown up into a very attractive woman.

She was still Jake’s baby sister, and I knew all too well how much Jake hated each and every one of the guys Mia had dated.

No way would I be added to that list—especially not now, when Jake was struggling and needed his best friend by his side.

Holding to that resolve would be a hell of a lot easier if Mia didn’t look so good.

It was all the skin on display in those damn tank tops she liked to wear.

And the way she tied those unruly curls up on the top of her head, exposing that long, slender neck.

And the way her eyelashes fluttered at me from behind those dark-framed glasses she wore when she was working.

Sometimes I just wanted to pull them off and drag her to me and?—

Jesus, what the hell was wrong with me?

I wasn’t going to think of her that way. It would be wrong. Jake had made that clear the one and only time he’d caught me looking her way. And, besides, this was Mia. Annoying, infuriating, lives-to-get-under-my-skin Mia.

“Contrary to your belief,” Mia snapped. “My entire day didn’t revolve around you and the coffee shop.”

“Seriously, what the hell are you two talking about?” Jake asked again, clearly done with the back-and-forth .

“No, it probably also consisted of drawing Miles’s alternative milk options,” I snarked back. I’d forever be annoyed she’d written me into her damn webcomic. That she’d twisted me into a smug, emotionally constipated caricature. That she’d made me the joke. And the worst part?

That I’d let her.

“Careful, Smiles,” Mia sang. “That vein in your forehead is starting to throb. We wouldn’t want it to burst.” She tilted her head. “Actually…”

I scowled at her. “You’d just love that.”

She shrugged.

“Just know that my cause of death would be extreme annoyance. When they put my gravestone in the ground, it’ll say finally at peace .”

Mia huffed, whirled around on her heel, and stormed back toward the door. “You have such questionable taste in friends,” she snapped at Jake. “I’ll come back and see you later when the asshole has left the building!”

She slammed the door on her way out.

“That was heated, even for you two.” Jake twisted in his wheelchair, giving me a pointed look. “You gonna tell me what the hell it was about? Or should I just continue to make up scenarios in my head?”

Huh. Maybe Mia really hadn’t said anything about yesterday.

Now I was even more annoyed. But there was no way Jake would let me off the hook until he got the full story, so I slumped down on the couch cushion and relayed yesterday’s coffee shop incident: me accidentally cutting in line, Mia’s reaction, our snarky fight, the fact that the barista was completely unreasonable .

Jake started laughing as I finished up, which in any other circumstances would have been a welcomed sound.

Damn it, it was still welcome, even if he was laughing at me. Anything to get him sounding like himself again.

“Serves you right,” he said.

“Are you kidding me?”

He shrugged. “That’s what you get for picking on my baby sister. I’m surprised she didn’t dump her latte on your head.”

“I wasn’t picking on her. I didn’t even know it was her at first.”

“And when you did?”

“We had a…lively conversation,” I said.

“Lively, my ass.” His tone shifted, mocking me slightly. “Obviously you were too busy scowling at your phone to pay attention to your surroundings.”

“Hey, I do not need you two ganging up on me.”

“No wonder she calls you Smiles,” Jake said.

“I hate that nickname.”

“Suits you.”

“In what universe?”

“The one where you act like a douche in a coffee shop.” My jaw dropped at this utter betrayal, and Jake laughed again. I struggled to suppress a smile in response.

“Okay, I agree it wasn’t my finest moment, but I had a lot on my mind yesterday. I told you—work has gone sideways, and I’m trying to hold the pieces together. ”

Jake inclined his head. “You haven’t updated me.”

That was true. It had been so busy, I hadn’t even had a chance to text him about the drama yet. “The writers’ room for End in Fire has basically imploded.”

“Wait, what?”

End in Fire was VeriTV’s first scripted drama, a major departure from the reality TV shows our streaming service was known for.

When the pitch landed on my desk three years ago—a mystery show about a firehouse set in two different time periods—I’d connected with the material immediately because of Jake.

The first season had dropped six months ago and was a massive hit.

“My showrunner—Lyle—got into a screaming match with legal when they were negotiating his contract for season two. He stormed out a week ago and refused to come back.”

“Did you offer him more money?”

“Of course I did. I even dangled a co-producer credit in front of him. He said it was a matter of principle.”

Jake frowned. “What kind of principle?”

“Damned if I know. The only principle that seems to matter to him is being able to play god, with everyone bowing down to him.” To that end, Lyle Clemmens had packed the writers’ room with a pack of wide-eyed newbies.

They didn’t lack talent, but they were easy for him to manipulate, falling in line with all of his decisions and never questioning him or pushing back.

“Now the writers’ room has to start from scratch on season two, and it’s a goddamn disaster.” Season one had ended on a dramatic cliffhanger that had its legion of fans clamoring for answers. But only Lyle knew what he’d had in mind and he wasn’t sharing.

“Does that mean you’re scrapping season two? ”

“God, no! It has to happen. The company will take a massive hit in subscribers if we announce it’s canceled.

But I’m stuck. I was too focused on the production side of things for season one.

I left the writers’ room alone, which meant I hadn’t realized how much Lyle was keeping everyone in the dark. ”

Jake raised an eyebrow. “So, replace him?”

“I have. Paula’s the new showrunner.”

“Paula from Miami Beach ?”

I nodded. “But she’s only worked in reality TV. I need a head writer, someone with fresh ideas to salvage season two. We’ve been slogging through interviews, but no one’s even come close to impressing Paula.”

Jake perked up so fast he almost toppled out of his wheelchair. “Dude, come on!”

“What?”

“You know what you have to do.”

I stared at him blankly.

His face was lit up with a spark brighter than I had seen from him in months. “Interview Mia for the job!”

The words hit me like a gut punch.

No.

Absolutely not.

My stomach turned, every instinct screaming that this was a terrible idea. “Jake…I don’t know if?—”

“She’s a huge fan of the show! And she has like a million theories on season two. I should know; I’ve had to listen to them for the better part of the last six months. Not to mention, she knows the ins and outs of the firefighting world thanks to me.”

That was true.

“And we both know she’s a great storyteller. Everybody loves Heart and Hustle .”

I grumbled under my breath.

Jake shot me a pointed look, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips, his enthusiasm only growing. “Even though you whine about how Miles is portrayed, we both know you have the notifications set on your phone to know every time the comic updates.”

“That’s only so I can monitor all the ways in which your sister is trying to slander my character.”

Jake threw his head back and laughed. “Man, you’re addicted to the series. Just admit it.”

Lies and more lies. And I was horrified at the idea of bringing Mia in for an interview for End in Fire . God, it would be the coffee shop incident all over again. I could already feel my blood pressure rising.

“Come on!” Jake urged, still pressing. “At least give her a shot. If Paula says she’s not a good fit, then that’s fine.”

Would it be fine? I wanted to say but I bit my tongue.

“Think of it this way,” Jake said, his words softer but still filled with a surprising intensity. “It can be your way of making peace after yesterday.”

I swallowed down the word “no,” letting the weight of Jake’s request sink in. This was the most enthusiastic and engaged I’d seen Jake in months. His face glowed as he waited for my answer, and I realized how much this meant to him.

I didn’t want to dampen the first real enthusiasm he’d shown in ages. It was encouraging that he could still pull himself together to show up for the people he loved, even if I’d like to see him get better at showing up for himself.

I sighed, running a hand through my hair. Maybe, if I gave Mia a chance, this would be a step in that direction for Jake. Something to pull him out of his funk.

“All right, fine,” I grumbled. “I’ll give her an interview, but I’m not promising anything more than that. Paula is ruthless, so don’t get your hopes up.”

Jake’s face broke into an impossibly wide smile. “Yes! That’s all I need, man. I swear you’re gonna see. She’s perfect for the job!”

Yeah, the perfect choice to drive me up the wall.