Page 77 of The Mercenary's Guide to Mishaps and Romance

“Uh… I… uh… probably owe him.”

He grins at me. “I’m still very confused. So how’d you two meet?” he asks, but what’s there to be confused about?

I consider the best way to word this so Ellis will understandmyside of the story. “He was in this house.”

“Uh-huh?”

“And I was also in there with some… other guys.”

Ellis is already looking suspicious. “I’m confused. Were you both supposed to be in this house?”

“Well… one of us might have been more invited than the other.”

“You?” he asks hopefully.

I just smile at him, hoping that smile fixes any confusion he might have over the situation. “Yes.”

“You sound really confident about that,” he says sarcastically.

“Do I? That’s just how I always sound,” I assure him.

“So… you broke into a house they were in for what reason?”

I grit my teeth a bit. “I’m not going to say I’m a good person.”

“I see…”

“But I’m not necessarily a bad person.”

“I’m a confused person,” Ellis decides.

That makes me laugh. “Fine, fine. My job was to stop Leland and his crew, so… I tried. But once I got to understand things a bit better, we became steadfast friends.”

“Was this before or after the knife fight up the stairs?”

“It was after I held Jackson at gunpoint but before the stairs. Well, it was around the stairs that I started to realize that maybe things weren’t quite as they seemed.”

“You held Jackson atgunpoint?”

Can I just say I love the way his eyes get so wide?

“He enjoyed it. He later told me it was one of the most thrilling nights he’d ever had, and that Leland had never thrilled him that much,” I joke.

“I feel like you’re horribly mistaken about all of this. Or maybe I’m horribly mistaken. I’m still confused. Are you the good guy?”

“Sure as fuck am,” I assure him. “I’m the best guy.”

His scrutinizing eyes tell me he’s not so sure about that, but my charming smile will surely do the trick.

Ellis’s eyes narrow even more before he finally breaks and smiles at me.

“Come on, El, you can’t really take their side, can you?”

He shakes his head. “Trust me, I’m not taking anyone’s side. I’m simply confused how you think you’re the good guy.”

“Well… I…didn’tmurder either of them… although… I’m kind of confident Leland would murder me first. I could take on Jackson, but Leland’s a whole different breed.”

“Really?” he asks. “He seems…”

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