Page 105 of The Mercenary's Guide to Mishaps and Romance

I bite my lip, wanting to be hopeful but unsure if I should. “Maybe I will. Will you unbox your TV stand if I do?”

“Only if you promise to help me. I’ve never been good at reading directions.”

I nod as I squeeze him to me. “I will. I promise.”

He kisses my temple, and when I lift my head, he kisses my lips gently. It’s such a soft and reassuring kiss. I don’t know why such a simple brush of the lips has so much power over me, but it does. “While I’d prefer to stay in here, I think we’re working against the clock.”

“Okay,” I say as I follow him out to where the pirate guy is closing the door to the room Betty and the others are in. He just gives us a nod and scurries off.

“He need something?” Tavish asks the others.

“Said the camera was down for some reason, but Betty assured him that everything’s all good,” Leland says, making me realize that’s what he’d asked Cassel about earlier. “We almost have the room done. Betty said if we can finish it in the next fifteen minutes it’ll be the fastest time yet.”

“Weirdly, it looks like the only one working is Cassel,” Tavish observes.

“I will beat the record. I will beat the record,” Cassel chants as he drags Jeremy after him to hold everything he deems important.

Needingsomethingto do, I rush over to help him. Seeing an emblem on a paper he’s holding, I point over to the far wall. “That symbol is on that sword I was holding.”

“Ooh, where?”

“Maybe it goes into one of those slots?” I say as I retrieve it.

“You are a genius,” Cassel praises. “So much smarter than Leland.”

“Betty, would you like to hear about how I met my husband?” Leland asks.

“I wouldloveto,” she says, forgetting her job to play the captured… something?

“Dark night?—”

“And DONE!” Cassel shouts before doing a little jig. “Done, done, you motherfuckers. I am the best. I am the smartest. I am…brilliant. All praise me! All bow before my genius. Imagine how quickly I’d have finished this if we weren’t fucking around for half of it. Jeremy, I want to come back and beat the others all alone and then show Leland how smart I am.”

“Wow! That was amazing,” I say, honestly very impressed.

“We’re keeping you around just to compliment people,” Cassel says as he throws an arm over my shoulder. “Did I ever show you the video of the time I threw Tavish down the stairs?”

“No, you sure didn’t. Was this back when Tavish was… on the other side?”

“No, this was like less than a month ago.” And now I’m uncertain why you’d throw your friend down the stairs.

Cassel whips out his phone as Betty looks puzzled about how he also has his phone… admittedly, I am too. I swear we put all of our phones in the locker. Then he presses play on a video of Tavish chasing a busty Leland up the stairs.

“Are those balloons?” I ask, rightfully confused.

“They make me look beautiful, don’t they?” Leland says as he sidles up right behind me to get a good view of Tavish who stabs right at Leland!

“I thought you said this was less than a month ago?” I ask in alarm.

“It was,” Leland says.

“Then why is he… you know…trying to kill you.” I whisper the last part, but Betty is too busy trying to hit on a rather baffled Micah to care.

“That’s just how friends greet each other after not seeing each other for a bit,” Leland assures me.

“Do they?” I whisper as I watch them fight a moment before Cassel fucking drops from the sky. And then I watch in pure amazement as the smaller man fuckingflingsTavish across the room.

I gawk at the whole thing, unable to comprehend what I’ve just seen. “Can I see it again?”

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