Page 27 of Love in Times of Contempt

Alex stared at Liam, for once giving him his eyes. Even so, his brother's eyes were shuttered and there wasn't much of a spark in them. "I thought I'd risk it. I arrived earlier today and looked around the city, seeing if I can see myself here."

"What did you think?" Ana stepped closer to Liam and put an arm around his waist.

Alex glanced at Ely but settled on the ceiling. "I think I want to have a few meetings with you, see what could happen if I said yes."

Liam nodded. "We weren't sure we were going to hear from you, so we put out some feelers for the position but, if you want to talk more about it, that'd be great."

Alex squinted, his lips pursing. "That's smart."

"We want to be smart," Liam said.

Ana stole a glance at Liam that told him his tone had been a bit more tense than he'd intended.

"Well, let's make dinner, shall we?" Ana said.

Chapter Nine

LIAM HID IN HIS and Ana's bedroom the next morning, only a little embarrassed by it. He sat on the bed, scrolling his phone as he waited for Ana to be done showering. He'd wanted to gather fortitude before having to face the day.

After an awkward and frustrating dinner the night before, Ana had let him vent in their room before sleeping. Once spent of his rancor, she held him until his heart warmed up. Then she'd let him make love to her and fall asleep in her arms.

Now, anger gone, all that was left was fear.

He looked up when Ana stepped into their room, steam escaping out of their bathroom and trailing behind her like a faint cloud. She'd wrapped her hair in a towel and another one covered her body.

She startled upon seeing him. She placed a hand on her heart. "Oh! Liam! You scared me."

"Sorry." He stood and got in her way. He smiled, his hands settling on her waist automatically.

"You okay?" She asked, putting her free hand on his chest.

"Yeah. Just not looking forward to spending all morning alone with Alex."

Liam would stay home with his brother, while Ely and Ana went out looking for apartments for Ely. Alex and Liam were going to join them in the afternoon, when they started shopping for office space.

To her credit, Ana didn't laugh at him. "If things get tough, you could join us earlier than you thought. That way, even if he complains about having to look at places for Ely, at least we can all try to deal with it together. As a team."

He angled his head to kiss her. "You're the best. I'm sure we'll be fine."

"I'm sure too but if he grabs a knife or anything, don't hesitate to call me."

He laughed. "Please tell me again you don't think I'm— we're— making a mistake by offering him the position."

She sighed. "I don't know if we are, to be honest, but we won't know unless he says yes. You've seen the other resumés; they all look about the same as his. He doesn't have a lot of experience in the film industry but neither does Ely and we're okay with that. They can learn, right?"

"He's such a grump, though!" he hissed. "What if he makes it hard to work with him? For Ely, especially."

"Answer me this question. Do you think he's professional? Would he jeopardize Jump Cannon out of— I don't know, pettiness?"

Liam frowned. "No. I don't think so. He's difficult but he's honorable. I think."

Ana tightened the towel around her body but took off the one wrapping her hair. She combed her wet tendrils with her fingers.

"So that's an advantage we have with him we don't have with other candidates. People we've been chatting with have been on their best behavior; we don't know what they're like when they're being assholes. And we don't know if they're honorable."

Liam chuckled. "Okay, yeah. I see your point."

"We're gonna be taking a risk no matter who we pick. If Alex says yes and we go with him, well… at least we don't have to be polite when we ask him to chill the fuck out and do better."