Page 15 of Anything But Convenient

Get married?

Who the hell would I marry? I hadn’t had a serious relationship in… well, ever.

“I’d need a boyfriend for that. Someone I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, you know.” I laughed to cover up how awkward things had turned at his suggestion.

Tank didn’t seem as frazzled as I was. If anything, he was pleased by my confirmation that I was single.

“What if you could stay in the country and have everything you need taken care of? Money, a home, food, and anything else you could think of. The only stipulation is that you marry someone for, let’s say, three years. After that, you’ll be a full citizen, and you can get divorced.”

My jaw dropped. I tried to speak but couldn’t. It was as if my brain short-circuited.

“You don’t have to say yes now. I just thought it might be a viable option. The perks of being me would mean I could get you married quickly and have you sitting down with the right people to discuss your stay in this country within days after the papers are filed.”

I would have been less shocked by a unicorn stepping off the elevator and greeting me by name in that exact moment. At least that would make me think I was dreaming.

As it stood, this was all very real.

And while Tank’s offer seemed too good to be true — because it obviously was — I wasn’t going to simply say yes to the insane plan. I didn’t even know the person he wanted me to marry.

Which made me think…

“Who is it you’re trying to tie me down to? Do you have someone in need of a husband?”

His smile didn’t falter. “He doesn’t need a husband, no. What he needs is a partner. Someone who can help translate his words into the world until he’s ready to take hold of the reins of his life again.”

I scrunched my face at the description. A small memory came to mind from my coffee with Sinclair earlier that day.

“The guy who needs to learn ASL,” I said quickly.

Tank tapped his head in a gesture to show I was right. “That’s the one. You two would both get something out of the deal. He’d get to build his skills in a new language, and you’d be able to stay here to live your life as you please. The only caveat is that you’d have to stay married and live together during this time.”

“Live together?!”

“Of course. You’d hate for a surprise inspection to go wrong because you two aren’t in the same dwelling. They don’t take kindly to fraud.”

“I’m not trying to fool anyone like that. That’s why I didn’t even consider it an option before now,” I huffed out.

Tank’s hands went to his hips. “I’ll be honest here, Archie. I like you. Sinclair vouched for you at first, but watching you work — yeah, kid, you’re the real deal. You deserve to stick around, so I’m trying to give you that chance. Selfishly, it also gives mea person to keep an eye on one of my guys. He needs to find himself again. I’m worried he won’t without a push.”

“And you think marriage is that push?”

“I do,” he said with a smirk. “If it’s not, I’ll find another way. My whole life, I’ve trusted my gut on things. Right now, it’s telling me I can hook two fish on one line. You both get what you need, and no one really has to change all that much.”

Except my whole fucking life.

Good grief.I couldn’t believe I was even still listening to this.

“How about this? You can meet him and spend some time getting to know him as a person. If it’s still a no, I’ll see if I can maybe find you something work wise. Deal?”

I stuck my hand out quickly, not wanting him to take back the offer. The marriage would be a last resort. There was no way I’d see this guy and decide to tie my life to his.

That was some storybook shit. My life was far from happily ever after.

CHAPTER 6

TAKESHI

The noise comingfrom down the hall was distracting. How the hell was I supposed to ignore their work if they kept up all that fucking racket?

---