Page 259 of The Protective Gryphen

“Well, I bribed the man to cut in the engraving line, so now, he’s working on something for Ian right now. I feel bad for whoever was up next.”

Oh, shit.

Ian was up next.

His ring for Gryphen was supposed to be finished today and that was why he was sitting in the town, patiently waiting for pickup.

Shit.

“Really?” he asked, not believing this.

What the hell?

“Yes. Sometimes, you have to do what you have to do,” he admitted.

Well, this was a pain in his arse.

He was planning on picking up the ring and getting back to the house to deal with the other chores like taking care of the animals and paying Molly.

Now, he also had to clean up a collapsed ceiling in one of the rooms.

Gryphen had an idea.

“Is there any way that maybe you can grab it when it’s done, and get it back to my bedroom?”

Holy shit.

Now, he had to break it to Ian that his ring for Gryphen was going to be later, but he couldn’t tell him it was because Gryphen had bumped him in line.

Oh, boy.

“Sure.”

This was perfect.

“I sleep on the left side when you’re facing the bed. Can you drop it in the drawer?” he asked.

Graham would have laughed but then, he’d have to explain.

“I can do that. We’ll have to go into the jewelry shop and tell the owner. I doubt he’ll let me pick it up without seeing you know me.”

Yeah, and he had to hope the man kept his yap closed regarding the ring.

This was getting complicated.

Gryphen was so damn grateful that the man was willing to back him up. If all it took was a trip into the jeweler together, sign him up.

That worked for him.

“Let’s go do it before Ian gets out with his paper supply,” he offered.

Yeah, so he could disappoint Ian later. Graham didn’t know how he was going to break it to the man. He wasn’t getting that ring this afternoon.

Hopefully, he could get the jeweler to finish before tonight and maybe deliver it to the castle gate.

As they headed across the square and into the shop, they didn’t notice that Ian was on his way out of the stationary store at the same exact time.

When he came out, he looked around, and he couldn’t find Gryphen.

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