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Chapter Four
Nash was ready to kill his brother. Seeing Emily’s face go from pale to red back to pale was enough to make him want to plant his brother a facer. “Okay, we’re done here.”
West glared over at him. “You can protect her all you want, but she’s getting ripped apart online. Have you heard what they call her?”
Nash didn’t exactly spend a lot of time in the digital scene—the real world was more interesting. He made a face. “Who cares what anyone says?” A bunch of insults didn’t change how interesting and talented Emily was.
“She cares.” West arched a brow at her. “Don’t you?” He definitely wasn’t through with Emily yet. “Or she slinks back to Harvest Ranch like a little defeated puppy.” He glanced over at Mia for support… as if he hadn’t just suggested Emily fire her a moment earlier. “Give her to me for a week, and I’ll turn this around.”
“Over my dead body,” Mia said. Despite her displeasure, her face stayed free of any expression. The woman had really overdone it with the plastic surgery. She looked like Barbie went through a woodchipper and someone tried to fix it with rubber cement.
Emily crossed her arms, scowling, an expression that Nash was familiar with when he teased her. Of course, it created the opposite reaction in his heart than he was sure that she meant to cause. Her full lips puckered as if she was just waiting to be kissed.
He gulped. From the first moment he’d seen her tonight, he hadn’t been able to get in a good breath. Her thick dark hair against that silky white dress with the lacy top was the culprit. Her big brown eyes still played havoc with his pulse. His brain felt like mush. Nothing was working right.
“Why not accept my help?” West asked, completely oblivious to Emily’s charm. “It’s not like you aren’t desperate.”
“What would you like me to do?” Emily asked West in a sarcastic voice that she usually reserved for Nash when they were fighting. “Get into drugs and almost get killed in a car accident like my brother?”
“Nothing so dramatic,” West cut in smoothly, “but maybe if you tried to… date a bad boy or got caught slapping some guy, then maybe people might think that you know something about love, instead of pretending that you’ve lived. Everyone can see right through you.”
Nash frowned at him. He recognized West’s baiting voice.
“I know about love,” Emily snipped.
“Really? Tell me about your relationships.”
She glared.
West was ruining everything. For a smart guy—he sure was dumb. Of course, Emily would never forgive West for getting River into drugs. Sure Nash’s brother was on drugs during that time, too. Nash doubted that West would allow anyone under his direct influence to get into that kind of trouble again… if only for monetary reasons. Still, Emily had every rightnotto trust him, and Nash had only begun to get through her walls. They were shooting back up.
“You really think you’re that good?” Emily hissed at West. “Prove it.”
“Prove it?” West repeated mockingly.
“Yeah, whose image are you trying to save at this party? Because so far I don’t see anyone here that you’re doing all that good of a job with.”
Touché. Trout and any of West’s other sleazy clients that West picked up along the way didn’t exactly look like paragons of virtue tonight.
West smiled dryly. “I’m not in the business of outing my clients. No, if you want a sample of my services, you’ll get it. By the end of the night, you’ll be a household name.”
She sneered at him. “Little Miss Harvest Ranch. I’ve got my own hashtag, remember?”
“That’s a start,” he conceded. “Let’s just say that whoever made it will envy you.”
She laughed. “I seriously doubt that, but by all means, go for it.”
“Emily.” Her music manager shoved between them. “It’s time for makeup.”
What for? She was already stunning. Clearly, the woman was trying to separate them, probably so she wouldn’t be out of a job. West was making too much sense, which Nash hated. He liked Emily the way that she was.
In the crowd below the stage, Lacy Lynch shouted out in recognition. “West! There you are.” He waved Nash’s brother over. Lynch was Trout’s biggest fan. “How long have you been here?”
Too long.
West’s eyes didn’t leave Emily’s. “We have a deal. You can thank me tomorrow.” He glanced over at Nash. “Don’t get into too much trouble,bad boy.”
What was that supposed to mean?
