Page 17 of Not Ready

“Everything is going to be fine. All I need you to do is trust me. Everything else, we’ll figure out together, but for right now, the main thing is keeping your stress to a minimum.”

“I’m trying,” I whisper.

“How about I show you to one of the bedrooms, and you can relax while I order something for dinner?” he asks. “I’m more than happy to bring in your stuff. You could have a nice bath. Wait, are baths safe?”

“Yeah.” I chuckle. “But I’m more of a shower type of girl. I’ve never actually had a tub big enough to soak in.” Or clean enough, come to think of it.

“Well, you can check it out and then decide.” He stands with me in his arms, and my head tilts up to look at him.

“I can walk.”

He shrugs a giant shoulder. “I know you can. I prefer carrying you.”

Chapter Seven

Bishop

Getting Vale settled into one of the guest rooms doesn’t take long. Unloading her death trap of a car takes even less time.

She brought almost nothing.

My system doesn’t give a fuck that we just met in person. It’s unnaturally difficult to walk away from her room once I’ve dropped off her belongings.

My boots slam against the stairs as I aim for Mercy’s office.

I need additional information.

I’m also a little afraid of the amount of shit he’s going to give me when he finds out how I got pictures of the guy.

It doesn’t matter.

Not fucking really.

I’ll take the heckling I know is coming my way, because Vale’s safety comes first.

Holt chuckles. “Tell me how the fuck that happened, and for the love of God, let me watch when you tell Bishop.”

My head cocks as I come around the corner into the kitchen. I haven’t been home in the better part of three weeks, but that’s because I’ve been on assignment. I vaguely remember Holt telling me Mercy was going to try some matchmaker to find a fake fiancée to claim his inheritance.

“It’s an unfortunate misunderstanding, but I’m sure he’ll understand.” Mercy yanks the cuff on his button-down.

“I’ll understand what?” I growl, taking a step forward. “I swear to fuck, if either of you did a single goddamn thing to upset?—”

Mercy turns to face me. “There was some minor confusion about why Vale is here.”

“That’s an understatement.” Holt laughs, glancing at me. “Is she all settled? She was all out of whack when she got here.”

“She’s taking a shower. I ordered delivery, but the two of you can starve, unless someone tells me what the fuck is going on!” I growl, trying to figure out why the hell my vision is going hazy.

I’ve been riled since I saw that motherfucker in her bedroom early this morning. If I could have crawled through the computer screen, I would have strangled him to death with my bare hands.

“I mistook Vale for one of the women sent over by the matchmaking agency.” Mercy cocks his head, carefully assessing me. “I introduced her to my mother as my wife-to-be.”

“Jesus fucking Christ.” My finger jabs at his chest. “You did this on purpose.” I shake my head, trying to clear the rage. This is the problem with having friends. It’s exceptionally difficult to convince yourself to kill them when the need arises. “You wanted to see if she’d jump at the money and leave me behind.”

They’ve all said shit, and I’ve threatened to break the face of the next person one of those snide comments comes out of.

I’m not fucking around, either.

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