Page 16 of Vicious Arrangement
I don’t know a thing about her. Not what she looks like, her age, or what she does.
“Aria… Sanderson …” Asher starts typing into his phone, and I grab mine and do the same.
“I don’t know, man, maybe we met when we were kids. Oscar was friends with William, her grandfather.”
“She’s on the socials… is she… a nurse?”
“Dude…” I stop because I come across her feeds. She isn’t a socialite, far from it.
There’s a photo of her in scrubs, looking tired, and the caption reads My Team! It’s not by her, though, but she’s listed, and I know who she is because…
“Fuck.”
“What is it?” Asher asks. “You don’t like blondes?”
But I’ve moved on from her in scrubs to her with a guy I don’t like at all, not from his smug face to his try-hard goatee. She’s in a red dress, smiling, her hair’s down in loose waves and not the curls I saw. But…
“Holy shit, it’s the girl from the bar.”
He smacks my phone down to the table. “Do not tell me you already boned her.”
“I didn’t bone anyone. This week.” Or last week, either, but I’m not telling him that.
Asher doesn’t say a thing, just waits for me to start fucking talking. So I sigh.
“I met her the night of the funeral. I went out drinking. I needed… I just needed to get hammered or something, I don’t fucking know.”
“Uh huh.”
I scowl. “And she literally bumped into me. You saw the pics?”
He picks up his phone, looks me up because he starts snickering about diapers. But I ignore him.
“She spilled a jug of water on me. And then she decided to try and wipe it up.”
He stares and suddenly starts falling about laughing.
“Not that funny, Ash.”
“It is, you know,” he says, wiping his eyes. “Were there sparks?”
“We seemed to have a connection, and she was in no way trying to run off. I think we would’ve hooked up if it wasn’t for her very drunk friend.”
“Cocked blocked by a drunk.” But he shakes his head as he considers me. “You know, you’re being forced to marry someone you’re actually attracted to, so maybe it won’t be so bad.”
“Maybe you’re right,” I say, thinking about it.
Because yeah, he’s right. Things could be a whole lot worse.
Chapter Five
ARIA
After a double shiftat the hospital three days later, my bones are so exhausted I can barely move.
I’m exhausted and the only thing on my mind is ordering in pizza and a night snuggled in front of the TV with Angus.
After a shower because I’m filthy and I probably smell like Quentin Memorial, so when my phone buzzes, I answer it in a daze.
