Page 120 of The Mercenary's Guide to Mishaps and Romance

“That poor man. I mean… we really did throw him off the deep end with no life jacket or anything. He definitely isn’t used to this side of the world.”

“It’s fine because we jumped right in with him,” I say as I drive.

I’m definitely not an overly anxious man, but I do feel a spark of it as I get closer to the prison. When I reach the location, I grudgingly leave my babies behind before I get out and look over at Everly’s vehicle. He’s a little early and is leaning against the rear door of his SUV.

Everly’s eyes catch mine the moment I’m out of the car.

I groan. “He’s looking at me. Jackson, I’d rather be locked in a closet with Ava.”

“Wow. I didn’t know it was that bad,” Jackson says.

“It’s that bad.”

“But how long are you in that closet? I mean… are you talking thirty seconds in a closet with Ava during a middle school spin-the-bottle event or like an hour? Or what about aday? Could you handle a day?”

“Oh god, now I’m thinking about kissing your mother. JACKSON. Why would you do this to me?”

“Would you rather smooch my mother or go deal with Everly?”

“EVERLY!” I shout as I hurry over, giving Jackson an answer that makes him laugh.

Everly slowly turns toward me, arms folded over his chest. “Never fathomed I’d get a text from you,” he says.

“Yeah… well… uh… I sent you a text a few weeks ago.”

“It was a picture of your dog.”

“Yeah, well she looked cute. Did you see how cute she looked?”

“I saw it, alright,” he replies as he watches me closely. “I… guess she looked a little cute. But then I remembered who sent the text.”

I bite my lip. I amnotgood at this worrying shit. “Fuck.”

“Fuck is right,” he says.

“You still working at the prison?”

“Sure am.”

“Still dealing with Lucas?”

“Sure am.”

“I’ll give you a million dollars to off him,” I say.

Everly seems to consider it for a moment. “I would rather not go to prison myself.”

“Understandable,” I say, feeling a bit awkward. “Uhhhh… been… uh… up to anything?”

“Just living.”

Fucking hell…

I feel like I’m grasping at straws. “You uh… want to come over and meet my fence sometime?”

He raises an eyebrow. “I thought we were here for something important?”

I sigh. “So I want to talk to this Sally about Jasmine, the lady she killed. Or allegedly killed.”

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