Page 37 of The Mercenary's Guide to Mishaps and Romance

He releases the connection to me and sits up to look at me. “You’re still holding the vase? Damn, how good of a grip do you have?”

I realize I’m squeezing it for all I’m worth. “Uh… yeah… I have it,” I mutter before getting a good look at him.

I guess having a nosebleed while free-falling isn’t the best mix. The blood has sprayed all over his goggles and across his face. I… feel slightly bad about the whole thing.

“I’m really sorry I hit you with the gun. Are you okay?” I ask.

He raises an eyebrow. “Your concern for me amuses me after all you’ve been through. You still have my phone?” he asks as he tosses the goggles and starts undoing straps.

“I do… it’s in… my underwear.”

Tavish grimaces a little as I dig it out, glad no one had noticed that I had another phone and had only taken Eugene’s from me.

“I did get ahold of that Leland guy, and he said he was going to come save us… but now we’re not on the island, so… you don’t think they’re headed there, do you?”

“If they are, they can stay there,” he says as he takes the phone from me. “It’s… wet.”

“I… might be a bit sweaty… a nervous sweat, you know?”

“I… see.”

He stares at it. I mean… is my ball sweatthatbad?

“It’s dead,” he says, making me realize that’s why he’d been staring at it.

“Ha… ha ha… you’re joking, right? Please?”

“I’m not. That’s okay, there has to be a house around here. We can contact them.”

Suddenly, my legs feel a bit weak as I realize how absolutely fucked all of this is.

“Hey, what’s wrong? You’re looking a bit pale. You going to throw up?”

“I can’t do this,” I say. “I don’t even know what the fuck I’m doing… my mom and sister are at risk. There’s no way we’re going to reach them before they do. We’re out in the middle of nowhere. Nothing is going right. I have no fucking idea why they want me. I have no idea why my dad is so goddamn selfish to have just left us with this bullshit. This might be normal to you, but this is just…”

I squat down and grab my head. I feel like I can’t breathe as I try not to focus on how close I’ve been to dying during the last twenty-four hours. I feel like it’s driving me to the ground and constricting my lungs so I can’t even take a deep breath.

Tavish watches me for a second before kneeling in front of me. “What the fuck are you talking about? You just took on some asshole, you stitched me up, you sacrificed yourself to keep me safe, and you jumped out of a plane. How could you possibly mean that you can’t do this?” he asks as he grabs both of my shoulders and gives me a squeeze. “You’re doing a damn good job.”

He squeezes tighter and I feel like the pressure on my lungs is slowly letting up the longer his touch is on me. “I… I’m not like you, though.”

“That’s a good thing! I mean, we can’t both be this damn rugged,” he jokes.

I shake my head, but a grin touches my lips. “That’s true.” My head drops down on his uninjured shoulder as I feel the tension gradually leaving my body. It’s like he’s peeling it away and somehow convincing my brain that this is going to be okay. Even so, there’s a weight on me that’s absolutely crushing me. “I’m really scared for my family.”

“I can tell. You held it together damn well back there, but now that someone other than you is in danger, you’re ready to panic. There aren’t many good guys like you left in this world,” Tavish says. “I fucked up. I really did. And I’m really sorry. It’s my fault you’re in this situation, but realistically, he was going to find you and your family one way or another. The only upside to it is that I now feel minorly obligated to help you out.”

“Minorly?”

“Smidge.”

“How far does a smidge get me?” I ask as I pull back enough to look him in the eyes. He raises an eyebrow.

“Hmm… you’re kind of cute, which helps.”

“So if I wasn’t cute, you’d do less?”

“If your attitude was less cute, I sure as fuck would do less,” he says.

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