Chapter Five #3
Miles ran a hand through his hair. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you, it can’t be accessible to just anyone.”
“Why not?” Evan retorted. “Anyone who can read can follow a recipe.”
“It’s not all about following a recipe,” Miles countered. “Or else we’d just be publishing recipes online, and not filming videos. There’s technique that you can’t teach through words.”
“Then teach,” Evan challenged, dark eyes spiking with temper across the table. “Or . . . is that something you aren’t capable of?”
“What I’m trying to fucking tell you is that I don’t care about people learning how to bake,” Miles said, all too aware that even though he was trying to listen, trying to understand, he was beginning to lose the control over his temper.
It was funny, even Xander had never provoked it the way Evan did.
Until this job, Miles would have insisted he didn’t even have a real temper.
“Then what do you want to do?” Evan questioned, still even and calm.
“I want to bake what I want to bake,” Miles said testily.
“Why can’t we do both? It’s not that great of a restriction, showcasing one technique each episode. And it’s not like you didn’t have restrictions at Terroir.”
“Yeah, well there’s a reason I’m not working there anymore,” Miles mumbled.
“So, if I asked you what you wanted, you’d tell me you want to make videos that don’t do anything except look pretty and impressive. Bolster your ego, so to speak.”
Miles had never thought of it that way before, but put the way Evan did, he certainly sounded like a petty egomaniac. It wasn’t an attractive look, and they both knew it.
They both knew Evan was going to win this round.
And really, Miles justified to himself, Evan was sort of right. There was a small restriction on each episode, but there wasn’t any reason he couldn’t go a little wild and crazy. And maybe the wilder and the crazier he went, he might pay back Evan for painting him into this corner.
“No,” Miles said. “That’s not really me.” He could tell from Evan’s face that he was definitely not convinced of that. “We’ll try it your way.”
It didn’t sting as much he’d expected, saying those words, but Evan’s smug face still needed something—a punch maybe? But that wasn’t right either, Miles thought as Evan started taking notes. No, something else, something to surprise him.
It shouldn’t have surprised him when the thought of kissing Evan popped into his head.
Evan already had an ass he admired—which unfortunately they were both aware of now—but nothing would probably drive Mr. Bow Ties up the creek more than something messy and complicated, which was what all sexual relationships were, as far as Miles was concerned.
Definitely worth considering, Miles thought.
Miles landed on the couch with a heavy oof.
It had been an extremely long day and he was exhausted but he still dragged out his phone from his back pocket.
He felt a pulse of shame when he noticed that he hadn’t texted Gina since telling her with many emojis and exclamations that he was moving to LA.
Of course, she hadn’t texted or called him either, but she was in college.
He’d never been but he had a feeling you were so tired when you finally hit your bed, regular correspondence was basically impossible.
His fingers hesitated over the keys. Finally, he typed out a quick, you free to talk? and sent it.
He was so tired, it was a genuine worry that he might fall asleep before she replied, but instead, the phone rang almost immediately, jerking him awake.
“Big brother,” Gina crowed on the other end of the phone. Miles switched it over to speaker and laid the phone on his chest. “Long time no talk.”
“How is your philosophy class? Did it improve at all?”
She laughed, and he couldn’t believe how much better he felt, just hearing her voice and her high-pitched giggle. Something tight in his chest loosened.
“No, not really.” She paused. “What’s up?”
Miles felt a little bad about not talking to her for three weeks and then dumping his horrible situation on her, asking for her advice, but he couldn’t go to Xander or Wyatt.
Kian would look at him uncomprehendingly.
There was only one person he always felt he could go to, and she was listening right now.
“I think I fucked up, Gee.”
“Do you think it was a mistake to move to LA?” she asked quietly.
“No. Yes. I don’t know. That’s not exactly it. LA was the right choice, I don’t think I shouldn’t have come. But everything after I showed up. That’s the problem.”
She sighed, sounding like she’d been around the block a hundred times and knew the score. “Who is he?”
“How do you know it’s a he?” Miles squawked. “It could be the job. It could be my boss.”
“No. Definitely not. Because one, you’re ridiculously good at your job—crazy intimidating good, if I’m being honest—so there’s no way it’s the job.
Two, you already told me your boss was Reed Ryan, and he didn’t ever strike me as an asshole you couldn’t get along with. I mean, you get along with Xander.”
Miles regretted introducing his sister to Xander for so many reasons.
“Did Xander tell you about his crush on Reed? Is that how you know about him?”
Miles could feel her disapproval radiating through the phone line. Even her silences could say a hundred words. He’d always envied that about her. He knew he tended to be both too open and not open enough; charming but opaque.
“Don’t you remember when he was on Kitchen Wars?
” Gina asked, referring to a reality TV show that Miles vaguely remembered and definitely hadn’t watched.
The name probably only sounded familiar because Xander had likely DVRed it and then had refused to delete it. Especially if Reed had starred in it.
“No?”
“Right,” Gina said with amusement, “I always forget that it’s Xander who has a crush on Reed, not you.”
“Thankfully not. Considering he’s now my boss,” Miles retorted.
He really hoped he had distracted her from the topic at hand—the mysterious he she had already correctly identified—by the topic change.
He’d initially wanted to ask her advice, but now that he was talking to her, he realized he didn’t know what he would even ask her.
Besides, talking to her had already made him feel better, like none of this was truly permanently fucked, and he could still salvage it.
He loved his little sister a whole damn lot.
“So, who is he?” she persisted, and Miles groaned out loud.
“You’re not very good at subtle,” Gina pointed out with a laugh. “I can always see you changing the subject from a mile away. So who is he?”
“He’s my producer,” Miles reluctantly admitted.
“And?”
“And I was stupid.” Miles didn’t really want to detail every way he’d messed up with Evan, but knowing Gina, she’d drag it out of him.
“Big bro,” Gina said patiently, “you’re stupid about a hundred times a day. Did you hit on him? You hit on him, didn’t you. Like five seconds after meeting him.”
He couldn’t exactly blame Gina for coming to that conclusion, because if he hadn’t been so on edge when arriving at Five Points, he probably would have taken one look at Evan and done exactly that.
But he’d been scared and worried and apprehensive, and so afraid those would show, he’d done the exact opposite.
“Not exactly,” Miles hedged. “I sort of insulted him. And then kept insulting him.”
He could tell Gina was speechless because there was a long, loaded silence.
“Who are you and what have you done with my brother?” Gina finally asked.
“He was afraid he was out of his depth and acted like an idiot,” Miles said.
“Then he should apologize,” Gina reprimanded, sounding so much like their mom, Miles had to do a double take.
“Yeah, he didn’t do that,” Miles said.
“So, he should start there,” Gina said. “And then he should definitely stop referring to himself in the third person, because that makes him sound even weirder than he already is.”
“Noted,” Miles said with a laugh. He definitely felt lighter. He wasn’t sure how he could even begin to apologize to Evan for what he’d said, but he knew Gina’s advice was sound. It was Gina. It couldn’t be anything else.
“Good,” Gina said.
“How is that guy in your philosophy class?” Miles asked.
Gina groaned. Miles couldn’t help but think that the sound they had both made when confronted with their nemeses—Miles with Evan, and Gina with Philosophy Class Guy—were eerily similar.
That could be because they were related, or it could be for an entirely different reason.
“Believe me, I feel you,” Miles said.
“How can you want to kiss someone and kill them all in the same breath?” Gina demanded to know.
“I really don’t know. When I figure it out, I’ll get back to you.” He paused. “And no kissing! I like to think of you as one of those nuns in the Sound of Music.”
He could hear the force of Gina’s eye roll over the phone. “You’re an idiot,” she said. But there was so much love in her voice, he squeezed his eyes shut against the sudden wave of emotion.
“I miss you, Gee,” he said. “We need to figure out a way to hang out. Soon.”
“Soon,” she promised. “But I’ve got a midterm to study for, so I’d better go.”
“Good luck on your test,” he said.
“Thank you.” She hesitated. “And, Miles?”
“Yeah?”
“Just fucking apologize.”
Miles knew it would be so much smarter to just listen to his sister, but he already knew he wouldn’t. The only way he intended to apologize, after the way Evan had manipulated and blackmailed him today, would be if he could leverage it as a way to control the producer.
After all, he’d never admitted to being a smart man, only a driven, determined one.