Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 103931 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 520(@200wpm)___ 416(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103931 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 520(@200wpm)___ 416(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
“Yep. Not that I have a choice,” Brad mutters, continuing to entwine the pieces together horrifically.
“Okay, then. Brad, why don’t you go first,” Mallory fires back.
Brad’s eyes go wide, but he brushes it off just as fast. We all know what’s at stake.
“No. I don’t think I will—”
“Fine, I will,” Teagan snaps. “Want to know what makes me pissed . . . off? Condescending behavior.”
“You know what ticks me off?” Brad fires back.
“Nope, but I have a feeling it’s me,” Teagan taunts, throwing her palm leaves to the ground.
“As a matter of fact, it’s not.”
Teagan’s lips form a straight line, and her nose scrunches. “Oh. Umm, then what does?”
“Crazy-ass directors who make me sit around building palm nets is what ticks me off.” He lifts his haphazard net as evidence.
Teagan nods. “I have to agree.”
“Come on, guys, let’s be serious,” Mallory says. “The sooner we get you two working in sync, the faster this whole thing can be done.” She looks at Teagan. “On to the next project.” Then she looks at Brad. “No more net building.”
“You have something better to contribute? Why don’t you go first?” I say, tired of Mallory’s holier-than-thou act.
“Fine, I will. When people assume.” She throws her own net. “When people think they know everything about you but are too stubborn to find out the truth.”
My eyes narrow in on her petite frame before lifting to her eyes. “Well, what makes me ticked is when things come easily to someone when the rest of us have to work for it.”
She throws her dainty hands up into the air. “Again, why do you assume? You don’t know anything.”
“Are we missing something here?” Brad asks.
We both turn toward him and shout, “No!” simultaneously.
“You have something to say? Something so profound that I don’t know?” I continue, wanting to goad her into snapping.
I want her to show me her cards. All of them. Let her one and only client see how deranged she is.
“Umm, Brad . . .” Teagan’s voice sounds like a dull whisper against my building rage. “Why don’t we let them hash this out, and we can go over there and play this game as our characters?”
Mallory and I are in the middle of a showdown as they move away from where we are sitting on the beach.
“Let’s do this once and for all,” she practically spits.
I motion for her to begin. “Have at it.”
“You have this expectation of what you think, and I hate to break it to you, but it’s far from true.”
“So . . . it’s a coincidence that you were there the night I landed Stefan, and then you so happened to put your client up for the same movie?”
“Yes.” She lasers me with a glare. “It was a role that was perfect for her.”
“I find that hard to believe.”
“Then don’t believe it. It’s no skin off my nose. I was invited to that party. I didn’t come there to eavesdrop on someone I didn’t even know.”
“That’s it? That’s the big misunderstanding?”
I’m so sick and tired of the lies and half-truths. If she would just be honest. She was there to find Teagan a role, and my idea fell right into her lap at the moment my finger left her pussy.
“What’s more for me to say? The fact that Teagan’s mom brought Twisted Lily up to Teagan has nothing to do with me. If you must know, I didn’t even know she was auditioning.”
“How is that possible? You’re her agent.”
“Have you met her mother? She’s a tyrant.”
She’s got me there. The woman’s a lunatic.
“Teagan has the right to audition for whatever role she wants. You were the one who gave her the part!”
“Because your father made a call to the director. It was taken out of my hands.”
She gasps, eyes wide before clouding over. My eyebrows tilt inward as I watch the range of emotion sweep across her face.
Shock.
Confusion.
Anger.
“He didn’t,” she whisper-yells.
“He did.” I laugh darkly. “You get what you want, princess. Daddy makes a call and fucks us all over because he’s the king.”
A strangled sob gets smothered by her hands.
She isn’t wrong; Teagan can audition, just like everyone else. I wouldn’t have given a shit if she had shown up. It’s the fact that Thomas Reynolds went around me and right to the director to ensure his daughter’s one and only client got the role of a lifetime.
“I don’t work with my dad. I’ve never worked with my dad. I will never work with him. I had no idea he did that, and if I had, I would’ve tried to talk Teagan out of it.”
“Right,” I snap, rolling my eyes. I shake my head and then nod. “No wonder you only have one client.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“Come on, princess, I figured even for you, that’s obvious.” I lift my hand to stop her tirade. “Your father plans to show the world just how up-and-coming you are by showcasing with one client how on top you are. He’s pulling the strings so you can slink to his agency and dominate even more. Taking money out of my pocket and every other hardworking agent in the industry.”