Torque by Gillian Archer (have you read this book .txt) 📗

I stomped back inside—my earlier lightness long forgotten.

My aggravation didn’t lessen when we huddled around the conference call twenty minutes later.

“There’s nothing you can do about it, unless you want to execute your right to terminate the show.” Evan Stanton’s voice blared from the speaker phone in the middle of the conference table. “And even that’s not an easy choice to make. Ending the show comes with a huge cancellation fee. I’m afraid they got you by the short hairs, gentlemen.”

I huffed in annoyance. What was the point in having a lawyer when he couldn’t find a loophole for you? “That’s bullshit. They get to weigh in on personnel decisions? And there’s seriously nothing we can do?”

Evan sighed. “Remember that clause I told you guys we needed to tighten up? The one about the network having final approval over the product? I hate to tell you I told you so, but…”

I narrowed my eyes at Austin. He’d been so adamant at the time that we shouldn’t make waves. Just sign the contract they put in front of us. It’d taken a lot of lecturing to get them to even agree to hiring an attorney. A lot of good it’d done us. We hadn’t done anything Evan had recommended.

“Thanks, Evan. We’ll let you know if we need anything.” Austin tapped the end call button. “I still say it’s not that big of a deal. So we hire a receptionist. What’s the problem?”

“The problem is that this is a family business. They’re supposed to be doing a fly on the wall kinda reality show. Not telling us where to stand and what to say. I’m not a fucking actor. This isn’t what I signed up for.”

“Overreact much?” Dylan laughed from his chair on the other side of the room. “I think some fresh blood around here would be nice. I’m sick of staring at your ugly mugs all day.”

“You’d have to show up to work for that to be true.” I retorted. “And I take that to mean you’re fine with flirting and maybe even hooking up with the new hire?”

“What the fuck?” Dylan reared back with a disgusted curl to his lip.

“That’s the kinda shit you miss out on when you disappear for fucking days at a time.” I sneered. “Now you understand what’s at stake here?”

“You’re exaggerating, Nate.” Ryan shook his head even as a tired expression stole over his features. “You guys don’t have the sleep with the girl.”

“Did James say, or did he not say that it’d be good for the show if we flirted with the new hire? That we needed something to add some spice to our boring-as-fuck show.”

Ryan tilted his head in acknowledgement.

I crossed my arms over my chest. “James made a point to name me and Dylan as the only two who could hook up with the new hire since you two are all but married. I’m sure as hell not down with that.”

“Well it’s not like you’re dating someone.” Austin snorted.

Because that was the point. Fuck me. Still Austin’s little snort bugged the shit out of me. Like I was someone incapable of commitment. Like I was some kinda irresponsible fuckboy.

“I’m not a whore, and fuck them and you for trying to turn me into one.” I pushed away from the conference table, my chair crashing to the floor behind me. “This is bullshit.”

“Whoa.” Ryan stood up with his palms out in a placating gesture. “I think we all need to calm down for a second here. Maybe count to ten before we say something we can’t take back.”

“Because that’s the answer to all this fucking bullshit? Tricks you learned in anger management? That’s the reason we’re in this shit in the first place. You guys have changed so much now the network is bored. We’re not the same brothers anymore. You guys have lost your bite.”

Ryan shrugged. “I’m not gonna apologize for not being an angry bastard all the time.”

“You might wanna try it.” Austin smirked at me. “Maybe you’d actually be able to hold onto a woman for more than a night that way.”

“Fuck you.” I bolted across the room with my fists raised.

“Whoa!” Dylan hopped between us, trying and failing to push me back.

I got an awkward punch in, clipping Austin on the jaw over Dylan’s shoulder and getting a bit of Dylan’s ear in the process.

“Knock it off, asshole.” Ryan waded in, pushing Austin and Dylan out of the way. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“ME? Seriously? He fucking started it calling me a fuckboy and wanting to whore me out. What the fuck is wrong with you, Aus? You made it sound like I fucking beat women. Really? After what we went through growing up with him? That’s fucked.”

Austin’s eyes darkened as he frowned over Ryan’s shoulder. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

The door to the conference room crashed open. Two cameramen and James shoved inside. Suddenly there was a camera inches from my face, and a beaming James surveyed the damage from the door.

I ignored them all.

“Fuck you.” I jabbed a finger at Austin. “You know shit like that is a fucking trigger. You’re an asshole for saying it.”

“Agreed.” Ryan shoved Austin back a step. “That was over the line, Austin.”

We all simmered in heavy silence, glaring at each other.

James cleared his throat from the doorway. “Not to kill the mood or anything, but what exactly is the argument over? Would you guys mind going back and reenacting it for us?”

I raised my eyebrows at my brothers. “That didn’t take long, did it?”

They all studied their feet like they held the answers to the universe.

“Fuck, no. We’re not reenacting shit.” I turned to James and tilted my chin. “You got some resumes for us to look over? I think we all agreed on hiring that receptionist after all.”

James gaped at me. “But—”

“We’re not actors, James. We’re mechanics with anger management issues.” I crossed my arms over my chest and raised my