He did a double take the moment he got a look at me and took a step back. “No problem, Theo. Just going over a few things with the designer,” he said cheerfully, even though I could see from her body language that wasn’t the truth.

He’d tried to get in my face too, and I’d quickly made him aware that he needed to watch his mouth with me. He’d stormed off mumbling shit under his breath, but he’d kept things civil since then. I should’ve known he’d just find someone else to bully. But if he thought that would be Alba, he was in for a very rude awakening.

“You need to take another step back from her, my man.” It sounded like a threat because it was, and thankfully Chase’s sense of self-preservation seemed to be in working order.

“Sure, man, no problem.” He laughed it off and turned his pointy face up to me, as if to say happy now? I was not a jerk about my size usually, but it was satisfying to see this asswipe need to tip his head up to look at me.

Meanwhile Alba stayed quiet in the corner and that just made my blood boil for some reason. I just didn’t get it. Alba had never been disrespectful to me, but she did not cower. She stood up for herself. Seeing her like that, meek, I fucking hated it.

“I was just asking about her designing experience. It seems like she hadn’t really done big-scale jobs like this one, so I wanted to get a sense for how much help she’ll need with managing the crew.”

“First, Alba’s standing right there. And second, making that judgement is not your job, Chase,” I bit out, which made Alba look even more uncomfortable. “Sturm’s hired her for the design job. All you have to do is film it.”

Chase looked like he’d bitten straight into a lemon.

“Well, showrunning is a lot more than just ‘filming it.’” Motherfucker actually did air quotes. He was wearing a fanny pack and for a second I fantasized about wringing his scrawny neck with it. “I need to make sure that everyone looks their best. And part of that is putting the most competent people on film.”

I’d watched an episode of the last show he’d done, and as far as I could tell the entire forty-five minutes consisted of discussions involving which kind of ice was the best for wine spritzers. This dude was entirely full of shit.

“I just wanted to get a sense for her history since we’re doing the getting-to-know-you sessions today. We should get on with those. Alba can come with me first.”

From the corner of my eye I saw my co-host stiffen, but still she didn’t say a word. I didn’t know what was going on with her, but Chase was not going anywhere alone with her.