Page 14 of Incurably Cupid

I gently folded a towel and placed it under Mesmer’s head against the cushion of the backrest, wet his hair, and started working shampoo into it.

“What do you want?” Leo called.

I eyed Mesmer. “What sounds good to you?” I rinsed his hair and added conditioner.

“Subs?” He looked like he was actually enjoying this, eyes closed, face peaceful.

I finished and toweled his hair gently, then removed the now-wet towel from underneath his head, trying to soak up the water running down his neck. Thankfully, Lance was waterproof. Sadly, Mesmer was not.

“Sure. Any specific order?”

“Turkey, ham, bacon, avocado, and all the toppings. Maybe soup if they have it as well.”

“That sounds good. Leo, order a twelve-inch for him and whatever soup they have available, and then a six-inch hummus for me with everything, and a six-inch of what he’s having as well.”

“No thank you?”

“Leo,” I growled, quickly moving out of the bathroom so Lance could exit with Mesmer.

“What? It’s common courtesy.”

My left eyelid twitched. “Thank you, Leo, for all that you do for me.”

Leo projected an audio-visual display of fireworks bursting in the night sky. “See! Was that so difficult?”

“If you keep this up, I’m taking you to the fae engineers tomorrow and telling them you’re glitching.”

“They won’t believe you,” Leo said smugly. “You’ve already tried that several times, and they found nothing wrong with me.”

“I findplentyof things wrong with you.”

Leo blew a mechanical raspberry at me.

I got kicked out of the bedroom while Mesmer changed into sweatpants and a tee shirt. By the time Lance wheeled him out to the table, I was setting the delivery bags down and grabbing napkins and plates.

I made sure Mesmer took his pill before he ate, and we ate in silence, exhaustion settling over the both of us. He had to be in significant pain—there were lines of strain etched on his face, and pain in his eyes.

This level of concern for someone was new to me. I didn’t really know what to do with myself, so I just tried to be as efficient as possible in taking care of him.

When he finished, he went to lie down. But before he fell asleep, I made sure he had a water bottle near his bed and that he knew how to use the controls to adjust it up and down. Raising just the top half would help him sit up more easily, and make the transfers to Lance a lot smoother. Then I taught him how to place his hand on the wall to register his handprint and voice with Leo, explaining that afterward, he could communicate with Leo from the wall or just using his voice, and Leo would wake me up if he needed anything.

“What’s the handprint for, then, if I can just use my voice?”

“For the front and back doors. You can only access cupid homes with a full hand scan. Now that your handprint has been stored and you’ve been given permission, you can enter and exit my home.”

He nodded tiredly, his eyelids drooping. “Makes sense.”

I left him to sleep and sought out my own bed after briefly brushing my teeth and yawning through changing into pajamas. Then my head hit the pillow, and I was out like a light.

Chapter 6

Mesmer

“To love is to be vulnerable.”

Cupid Inc. New Recruit Training Manual

Ididn’t handle inactivity well. I tried to keep my mood in check, not taking it out on Indie—who I assumed had been coerced by the king and consort into taking care of me for two weeks—but it was tough.

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