Rachel gave me a sympathetic smile then pressed a kiss to Austin’s cheek with a murmured, “be nice.”
Austin only raised his eyebrows and kissed Wyatt’s forehead before they left the room. Blue whined and took off after them.
I was sad to see them all go. I liked having the buffer.
“So what was so fucking important that it made you actually come over here to talk to me about work…on a Saturday?”
I huffed a breath and paced away to lean against the kitchen island. A little distance wasn’t a bad thing when it came to the two of us. “I, uh, I have someone I’d like us to hire on for the receptionist position.”
Austin’s eyebrows went up again as a skeptical look stole across his face. “That…wasn’t what I expected you to say.”
I didn’t bother to ask what he thought I was going to say. I could guess, and none of it was good. “Look, I know I’ve made mistakes.”
My brother scoffed. “You got that right.”
I rolled my eyes. “I also know there’s not a hell of a lot I can do to make up for it. I just…I really need you to do this for me. Indy is smart and capable and really needs a break.”
“Indy? What kind of a name is that?”
“Seriously? The one her mom gave her. What the fuck does that matter?” I bit out before remembering I was the one asking for a favor here. “It’s short for Indigo, but she prefers Indy.”
“Does she want to be a reality star? Or a singer?”
I smirked as Austin asked the exact same questions our brother had. “No. She can’t sing for shit, and she hates fake people.”
“Sounds like she’s someone with her head on her shoulders.”
“I think so too.”
“What the fuck is she doing with you then?”
I sucked in a breath. The seething anger in Austin’s eyes was tough to meet. But I know I deserved it. I was the one who’d turned his back on the family. I was the one who’d welcomed our sperm donor back into my life. Hell, I’d been instrumental to getting the bastard paroled. I more than deserved everything and anything Austin wanted to throw at me.
I knew it.
But I also needed to come through for Indy. She needed a break for once.
“She’s a college kid down on her luck. Her dad’s MIA. Her mom’s dead. She doesn’t have anyone here. Or anywhere really. She was just evicted from her dad’s apartment and was working at a sandwich shop, which we both know won’t mean shit for keeping a roof over her head all on her own. She needs help. And I’d really appreciate it if you’d say she can have the job. Despite my ties to her.”
“Seriously? You’re screwing college coeds now, Dyl? Aren’t you a little old for that?”
I blew out an agitated breath. “I’m not screwing her. We’re just friends. We haven’t so much as kissed. I swear.”
Austin narrowed his eyes at me. I could all but see him weighing my words and could feel how much he wanted to say no. How much he wanted to screw me over considering how much I’d screwed everyone else over.
Finally he nodded tightly. “Fine. She can come in on a probationary basis. Have her come in Monday, and we’ll go over preliminary paperwork and test run some shit with the network.”
“Thank you.”
Austin shook his head. “She’ll actually be doing us a favor. If we had one more casting call for the goddamn role, I was going to pull my hair out.”
“I heard that last one cornered you in the shop. Did James get it on film?” I asked. James was the producer of our reality show on the Urban Channel. Since we weren’t settling our disputes like we had been in season one—we’d been known to use our fists in the past—James had started setting us up in little gotcha moments. I’d been able to dodge them for the most part since there was nothing exciting about being in the paint shed.
“Get it on film? The fucker set it up. I swear since we all went to anger management, the guy has a hard-on for screwing us over. Which we’ll need to talk to Mindy about by the way.”
“Who?” It took me a second, and I shook my head. “Indy.”
“What?”
