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"Nope No, no careeht?" There was a subtext here thatuncomfortable It was a state he’d been in too much, too often lately and so he cut Jonah off at the knees

"Get to the point or get out"

All pretense of friendliness smeared off of Jonah’s face within seconds "You need to follow the script more You need to become a hardass with Lydia and crack the Don Draper look That is the only thing that is going to get ratings up Right now you look like ey funky shit and that, let h of these shows to know – that doesn’t sell Not a the core female audience"

"And who is that?"

"Woet Hmm "What do you want, specifically? Givefor that you think will ping the audience, that you think will drive ratings up through the roof ,because that’s what I want You said that production on this thing will be wrapped up in a total of six weeks and that the first episodes would be teeks later I am a man with very little time, so make this worth ?"

The evil grin that spread across Jonah’s face soothed Mike on so back to business This wasn’t about Lydia This wasn’t about Matt Jones This wasn’t about finding true love, or even, true sex This was about money and they both wanted to ht, for it troubled hih the script and pointed to a few key sections Mike handed him a pen "Just star the points that you want , Jonah did as instructed and then stood "I’e"

"Oh, I was always on the sae," Mike insisted "You’re the one as confused"

A dark look passed over Jonah’s face, his brow furrowed "I’m in this to have a show skyrocket to the top, to be carried by some of the shows that have become iconic crap, like American Idol, or The Voice, or The Bachelor"

"If that crap," Mike said, "can geton the crap"

"Oh, you’ll get that boost Ten percent is nothing to – "

"Ten! Ten percent?" he interrupted Jonah "You told roan inside "Twenty – of course! That’s what I said Twenty"

"Jonah, you showed raphic proof You showed me statements from previous participants"

"Of course I did Whatever It’syou know ten, twenty – let’s not quibble over details"

"Get out"

Jonah looked as if he’d been slapped "What?"

"Get out Get out ofday to prove to me that I need to waste the next four and a half weeks on this crap One day Show o – I don’t care what you do Do soet Bournha et us on all of the gossip sites I don’t care what you do Just do it because right now I don’t have any reason to stay in this at all Give ive you a reason?" Jonah’s voice went up an octave "You need us as much as I need you"

"Because fuck you Because Fuck You," Mike repeated "If you fudged those nu to pull one over on me, I will have your career so far in the shitter that you will be lucky if you can get a job changing VCR tapes at soe facility in the middle of buttfuck Indiana And that’ll be the closest to a video caet"

Jonah cut his eyes away Mike could still see the gears turning, theto turn this around to his advantage "Get out," he repeated

He was about three seconds away frouy out when Jonah did it on his own, quietly, without another word He slaave him that He needed to feel like he had a shred of a testicle left

Mike’s heart pounded in his chest, not out of fear, but out of anger, and he took a few deep breaths to calrabbed the phone and texted Joanie:

Joanie, verify data on Meet the Hidden Boss profits for co; he’d requested that inforotten involved in this mess without quantifiable evidence And yet, now, here he stood, tongue rolling between his cheek and teeth as his body worked to release all that tension Decent guy, huh? His decency kept getting in the way of his life’s goals Being a hardass with Jonah hadn’t been difficult – in fact, it hadn’t even been a blip The real test would co esture, as if he were so accusto women around that he accepted it as second nature that she would be his little errand girl Whatever happened to Mr Decency? This guy blew hot and cold like a diva

"Please," he added, shooting her a glance that was as close to sheepish as he see the deal than anything else A perfunctory social nicety intended to secure his getting what he wanted

Get your own darinned, a tight flicker of a smile as she realized how she would interpret this to her own satisfaction Week two and I'ht back," she said, as foruy so incensed that Dave ht Probably with her panties Giving up so estDave, even – because she actually cared about Matt And that's why this hurt so much

Clearly, he'd come to the same realization – they were coht? For him it would be career over cock Ah, how she wanted to have her clit over his cock No! Wait! That's not what she was supposed to be thinking Down, girl