Page 3 of Grumpy Billionaire Bad Boy

His annoyance washes over me like a cold shower, my own frustration rising to the surface at the way he's treating me. Any level of attraction I held for him dissipates just as quickly as it came.

His icy glare flits behind me, his body inching closer as he peeks into the hallway, the scent of him, something like cedar and honey, concealing my own body odor.

"Aren't you going to let me in?" I finally blurt out, every level of sass I can muster lacing each word.

"Excuse me?" He almost chuckles but he masks it neatly.

Adjusting the backpack strap of my few belongings on my shoulder, I nod toward his apartment. "I was told I could stay here." I reach into my pocket and pull out the slip of paper with his name and address on it. "See. Here." I shove it into the space between us.

He hesitates before glancing down, his thumb grazing my hand as he takes it from me. I ignore the warmth of his skin on mine and imagine this entire thing being behind me soon enough.

"This doesn't mean anything," he says, shrugging and giving me the paper back. "Anyone could have written this down."

"I mean, that's your name, isn't it? Asher?" Why is he having such a hard time understanding what's going on? Silver told me I would be safe here, but instead, this guy is acting like he has no idea who I am or why I'm here.

The man exhales and shakes his head. "Archer, not Asher."

"I—I mean, that's a simple mistake." I study the smudged paper and Silver's poor handwriting. Is it possible I got the nameandthe address wrong? Maybe this isn't where I'm supposed to be. That seems like a reasonable explanation for the way he's treating me. I'd probably wonder why some random beat-up girl was knocking on my doorstep if I wasn't expecting her, either.

"But that's my address, yeah. Doesn't mean you belong here, though." The way he says it cuts through me like a hot knife on butter.

"Listen," I say, my temper rising. "I can't even begin to tell you the hell I've been through to get here. I haven't had a proper shower in days. My feet hurt, my body aches, I am so fucking tired I could fall asleep right now, so unless you want me sleeping on your doorstep, you're going to let me inside. Silver told me to come here. He told me I'd be safe here, that you would help me, and that I could trust you. Was he wrong?"

He cracks the door open a bit more as he adjusts his stance. "Wait, what did you just say?"

I narrow my gaze. "Which part did you not understand, big boy?"

"Did you saySilversent you?" He does that thing with his jaw again and I can't help but wonder if he struggles with headaches as fucking tense as he is.

Gently, I rock my head up and down. "Now we're getting somewhere."

"This is a mistake," he tells me and grips the door.

My nostrils flare. "If you shut that door, so help me God."

I'm this fucking close to being free, I refuse to let anything stop me now.

Chapter 2

Archer

Silver must have lost his fucking mind. First, he calls to ask me for a favor that could put me and my entire family in danger, and now he sends some random, borderline irritating, injured woman to my apartment.

I told him, I toldeveryone, that I was done. I was out. I don't want to be bothered. I don't want to be acknowledged or talked about or even thought of.

If I were a better man, I'd kill myself and get it over with, but someone has to manage the family’s finances and be their tech person, and I don't trust any of them to do it. August, maybe, the eldest among us, only he's too busy running his own empire to learn the ins and outs of what I do. I don't want them to fail because I got a little down.

So, I made them a deal—I'd continue to run things, I'd continue to hack, as long as they left me alone.

It's been three years and still, no one can fucking grasp that I don't want to be bothered.

They knew it, Silver knew it, every person in our industry from here to the West Coast knows to leave me the fuck alone.

But they want my help because they know I'm the one to get shit done. Silver asked for the favor because I was the only one who could hack into the Manor's security. And he must have sent this woman to my doorstep because he knew I'd be the one tokeep her safe.

I cringe at those last few words, my heart icing over at the truth. I can't keep anyone safe, let alone some stranger I know nothing about.

I study her rain-soaked face, the bruises concealed under the red hair sticking to her cheeks.

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