Page 35 of Grumpy Billionaire Bad Boy

Once she's gone, I rush to the bathroom, turning the temperature to a reasonable degree, and take the quickest shower I ever have, drying off so quickly that I almost forget to hang my towel up. I'm throwing my arms through the sleeves of my shirt and trying to button my jeans when a voice calls out from my front room.

My chest tightens. Why would London be back already? Maybe she forgot something. Maybe she changed her mind. Either way, if I can't get rid of her soon, I'm going to have to explain…

"Arch, honey, we need to talk," Ivy murmurs from her spot standing at my bedroom door.

I rush toward her, grabbing her shoulders and guiding her out of the room that has London's stuff all over it. "Hey, let's chat out here."

Ivy throws her arms up. "You might be older than me, taller than me, but you know I'm prepared to kick your ass, right?" She shrugs me off and places her handbag on the counter, opening it to pull out acompact. She powders her nose and snaps it shut, dropping it into the bag. "How many times are you going to stand me up before I do something about it? This is getting old. I'm done making excuses for you." She tilts her wrist toward her. "Noon. Once a month. That's all I hold you to. Everything else, sure, make excuses for…but for Christ's sake. I'm not asking for too much. One Sunday. Your brothers get it, why can't you?"

I shove one of London's shirts under a couch cushion and attempt to tidy up while Ivy isn't paying attention.

Ivy is pretty small, probably shorter than London, but she grew up around four of the most ruthless men in this town and is trained to kill in various forms. I do have the advantage of being taller and stronger than her, and I'd never lay a finger on Ivy,but I'm not sure if I could hold her off. She's like a ticking time bomb. Soft and sweet on the outside, dying to murder someone on the inside. She gets it honest, though, her twin brother, Seven, being a homicidal maniac.

I've killed people, but for necessity. Seven does it for fun.

"Are you even listening to me?" Ivy turns around, her heels clicking against the floor in my kitchen. "Archer. What are you doing?"

I stop dead in my tracks, my heart pounding out of my chest. I hate lying to Ivy. I hate making her upset. And yet here it is, the only thing I can manage to do.

"I'm just straightening up," I tell her.

Her dark brow arches and she takes a full scan of the room. "What's going on here?"

"What do you mean?" I swallow harshly.

"Your place. It's a wreck. And…" She sniffs, then sniffs again. "Have you been using that body wash I left here?"

"I, uh, I can explain." But no words follow and I wish like hell I could come up with some reasonable explanation for why it looks like a tornado came through my apartment.

Luckily, the front door flies open and saves me from having to say anything.

"There's my least favorite brother," Leo says as he marches in, his arms extended as he pulls me in for an aggressive hug. He slaps my back hard. "Can't believe you stood us up, Arch. What the hell?"

I hug him back, my apartment feeling smaller and smaller as Seven and August come in, too.

August thumbs something on his phone and shoves the thing into his pocket. "Sorry, dealing with a crisis."

"Oh, what's new?" Ivy says, rolling her eyes.

August shoots daggers at her before turning his attention to me. "Brother. Are you well?"

"Why do you talk like you're fifty-five?" I ask him, the comment suddenly sounding like something London would have said.

London, shit, I need to check on her.

I rush over to my computer, type a few things, and sync her tracker to my phone, the loading screen taking far too fucking long.

"What are you doing, Arch?" Ivy starts toward me but stops when Seven dramatically drops a couple of brown bags onto the counter. "Geez, Sev, what crawled up your ass?"

Seven goes to my fridge and opens it wide. "What's to drink?" He scans the contents and slams the doors shut, the whole fridge rattling. He shifts his focus to the cabinet off to the left, taking a full bottle of tequila out and popping the top off it. After taking a giant swig, he wipes at his mouth and holds out the bottle. "Oh, did you want some?"

"I'm good," I tell him and make my way toward the kitchen, hoping everyone else will, too, instead of noticing how my apartment is nothing like how I usually keep it.

"I only have an hour," August announces.

"Guys." Ivy raises her voice. "Everyone. Sit down, now." She takes the bags and drops them onto the table in my dining room. "I said now."

Seven mumbles something but lowers himself onto a chair, leaning and throwing his tattooed arm over the back of the chair. "Pull that stick out of your ass, baby sis."

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