Page 8 of The CEO I Hate

“Just know that my cause of death would be extreme annoyance. When they put my gravestone in the ground, it’ll sayfinally 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 wasstillwelcome, 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.

“Ihatethat 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 forEnd in Firehas basically imploded.”

“Wait, what?”

End in Firewas 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.

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