Page 22 of Anything But Convenient

I nodded, then motioned to the board behind him. He handed it over.

‘I’ve already planned on that. I was going to tell you today before you brought this in.’

He smiled at the board, then set it down. His hands went to my shoulders, his grip firmly locking me in place.

“I want you to know that we are here for you still, Takeshi. This isn’t me pawning you off on someone else or saying I don’t want you around. In fact, I still want you to come into the office. Bring Archie with you and work from here on your ASL, if that’s what you want. You’re still as important to this team as you were before.”

My eyes burned with unshed tears. This bastard was trying to make me weepy on my wedding day.

Not that I held much stock in all of it. I just didn’t want my eyes to be red before all this. Archie would likely think I was upset about it and tell me he didn’t need my help after all.

Couldn’t have that happen.

For some reason, I’d decided Archie would be mine. It was a decision I made about two seconds into him answering the questions I laid out for him.

He didn’t hesitate to answer them with genuine, honest answers. And through it all, he kept his gaze focused on me. My weird scarf didn’t bother him. Neither did my lack of speaking.

His ability to roll with whatever came his way would make him a good fit in my life. There seemed to be no shortage of curve balls coming our way lately.

I itched to ask Tank about any Gilded updates we might have. I’d been avoiding going into the main room since the day I’d had my meeting with Archie.

While at first I wanted to see the team and be involved, I quickly realized the minute things settled enough for them to gossip, they’d all give me hell about this wedding. I didn’t want their judgement to taint what was to come.

They weren’t going to change my mind.

It wasn’t possible at this point.

Archie was going to be my husband. Whether it was in name only, time would have to reveal.

When I didn’t move to write on my board or motion toward Tank, he clapped my shoulders and strolled out of the room. He whistled a wedding march as he went, the jerk.

I hung up the suit in my bedroom, then went about cleaning myself up for the wedding. I’d let myself get a little scruffy these last few days. I didn’t want Archie to see me like this.

Sure, he would eventually with us living together. But today was meant to be special, even if it wasn’t entirely the ‘in love’ kind of day most people would want.

When noon came,I was dressed and ready in my room. Ronan showed up to get me, a solemn look on his face.

I shook my head before he even opened his mouth to speak. The corners of his lips tipped up.

“You think you know what I’m going to say, huh?” He taunted.

I rolled my eyes dramatically, which sent him into a fit of laughter. Having never been the type to do the move, I knew it had to look ridiculous.

“You’ve already started changing, and you’re not even married yet. What the hell, dude?” He slugged my arm. “I can’tbelieve you’re doing this, but then again, Tank planned it all, so it makes sense. You ready?”

I gave him a swift nod, then marched through the door like I had nothing to lose. There was no hesitancy in my steps, no second guessing what came next.

Confidence was my middle name.

At least it was until I stepped into the room and saw Archie. I nearly tripped over my own feet at the sight of him in a crisp, white suit.

He was my opposite in many ways, not just in his appearance. Where I didn’t speak much at all even before my injury, Archie appeared to have enough words to fill a room and then some. He was bright and glowing, his smile showing true happiness despite this all being a sham.

It was that smile that gave me the confidence to enter the room. Ronan trailed in behind me, then closed the doors.

I looked around the space, noticing the whole team was there, along with a couple of unfamiliar faces. A small guy wearing a pair of glasses waved at me from the side. Stepping forward, he stuck out his hand.

“I’m Archie’s old roommate Josiah. Nice to meet you.”

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