Page 43 of The CEO I Hate (The Lockhart Brothers #1)

The corner of Jake’s mouth twitched, but he fought off the smile, doing his best not to show me anything that looked like warmth or friendship. But I took it as a win. And maybe I needed to take a cue from Jake and get my own life back on track.

VeriTV was about to start post-production on season two of End in Fire . Our other, ongoing reality shows were doing great, and we were in the early stages of putting together three more scripted shows. Our subscriber numbers were looking great.

The family was holding their own—Connor’s divorce proceedings were still an unholy mess, but he was coping, and Mom seemed to have gotten past her anniversary slump.

And now knowing that even Jake was making positive progress…

Everything in my life was as sorted as it could possibly be. But I was still so damn unhappy.

And that’s the part I needed to work on.

As if the universe had set out to torture me, the door burst open, and Mia walked in, decked out in a slew of brightly colored resistance bands.

“I come bearing new accessories,” she announced with a flourish before catching sight of me and halting in her tracks.

“Oh.” The word took the wind out of her .

Ash bolted upright from his spot and made a beeline for her. His tail wagged like crazy as he crashed into her legs with all the subtlety of a wrecking ball.

“Hey, buddy,” Mia said softly, bending down to ruffle his ears. Her voice wobbled a little, like she hadn’t been expecting to need comfort but was grateful for it anyway. I watched her bury her face in his fur for a second. And…that hurt more than I wanted to admit.

I swallowed hard. “Hi, Mia.”

“I see we had the same idea about helping Jake with his therapy.” Her smile was strained. “But if you’ve got this, I’ll just go.”

I opened my mouth to say something, but I didn’t know what to say.

I couldn’t stop staring at her, partially because I’d missed her like crazy, but also because the way she had draped those resistance bands over her shoulders reminded me of how she’d held Sophie’s feather boa at the Scarlet Parlor when she’d done her dance for me in the dressing room.

Our eyes met briefly, and part of me wondered if she was remembering that moment too.

Jake cleared his throat, cutting through the tension that coiled around us.

Mia managed a real smile for him, and I tried not to feel jealous.

“I’ll see you later,” she promised Jake, and even I couldn’t deny I was jealous of that.

I had no right to be, but I couldn’t help it.

I wanted her to look at me like she used to.

Like even just the sight of me could brighten her day.

Or at least, that’s what I’d always felt when I’d looked at her that way.

Mia dropped the resistance bands by the couch and left without another word, giving Ash a gentle pat on the head and closing the door behind her.

Ash trotted after her but stopped just short of the door, staring at it like he didn’t understand why it hadn’t opened again.

My eyes stayed on that space even when she’d finally disappeared, like I was trying to commit that last image of her to memory.

Jake shoved me. Hard . “Nah, man. You’re not allowed to stare at my sister like that unless she’s your girlfriend.”

My eyebrows arched in surprise. “I’d have thought you’d say I wasn’t allowed to stare at her at all…Or even have her as my girlfriend,” I added.

Jake rolled his eyes.

“Wasn’t that what we’ve been fighting about?” I asked. “The fact that I went behind your back and dated your baby sister when she was supposed to be off-limits?”

“No,” he said, poking me hard in the chest, “we’ve been fighting about you treating Mia like shit.

I’ve long since had it pounded into my head that I have no say over who Mia does or doesn’t date.

But I’m still her big brother, and what I want for her is to be happy, with someone who appreciates how amazing she is and who makes her feel loved. ”

Oh .

“If you’d actually managed to pull that off, I’d have been fine with it. Except for the part where you hooked up with her in my bathroom, because that’s just gross. Have some standards, man.”

Wait, what ? He would have been fine with it? I never had to sneak around with Mia and hide it from Jake in the first place? My brain was going to explode out of my ears.

“But you didn’t pull that off,” Jake continued pointedly.

He looked me in the eye, not even sounding angry or threatening anymore, just completely sure of his words.

“So now you need to leave her the hell alone. She deserves a guy who loves her more than anything in the world, and if that’s not you, then stay out of her way. ”

My thoughts were spinning, but I heard him loud and clear: You already screwed this up once .

I started to tell him I understood, that I’d learned my lesson and I’d give her a wide berth, despite how much it hurt me to think that.

But before I could, we were interrupted by a knock on the door. I stood to answer it.

I flung open the door and Gabrielle blinked back at me.

“Hey, Liam.”