Page 49 of Asher Black (The Five Syndicates)
I wonder which team Switzerland would be on—#TeamAimee or #TeamMinka? Probably Team Minka, because Aimee’s really messy. And aren’t Swiss people obsessed with cleanliness? I know they like cheese and chocolate, and they vote a bajillion times a year, and they keep to themselves, and they’re used to the cold and mountains, and something about Swiss knives, and I wonder if Asher has a Swiss knife or likes Swiss girls, and…
Okay, I’m mentally rambling. Again.
Being in the hallway makes me nervous. I’m always on alert, worried that Minka might round a corner and pounce on me. I’m also trying really hard not to think about how I like Asher’s breathing, and I’m moving in with him, and—
Nope.
Not thinking about any of it.
The girls eye me curiously but not unkindly when Xavier straightens up at the sight of me. I ignore them, because even though they haven’t added to Team Minka’s torment of me, they haven’t been helping either
. Plus, soon they won’t be my neighbors anyway. Hopefully, this is the end of my time dealing with Minka & Co., too.
“Sorry,” I say to Xavier. “I had to ask Asher if you know about my deal with him.”
“You could have just asked me,” he murmurs, keeping his voice appropriately low.
I whisper, too. “No, I couldn’t.”
He could have lied. We both know it. When I see the look of approval in his eyes, I know I just passed another test. This one may not be from Asher, but it’s from one of his guards, and that means something. It’s flattering, even.
The first words out of my mouth when I enter the dorm room are, “I’m fake engaged to Asher Black.” I grab the Holy Stick from my desk and toss it Aimee’s way.
She’s so shocked, she lets it drop to the floor. She recovers, picking it up quickly. “No way.”
I hold my handout for the stick and catch it when she throws it my way. “Yep.”
She takes the stick. “Who? What? When? Where? And Why?”
I take a deep breath and begin, “Who? Asher Black in front of Black Enterprise’s board of directors.
“What? It was a fake proposal to make him look stable in front of the board. One of the douchenozzles,” Xavier snorts, “is trying to get Asher voted off the island.
“When? Asher announced our engagement to the board a couple nights ago, as soon as we headed upstairs after we danced. It caught me the Hell off guard, but I played along.
“Where? It was at the part of the VIP floor that overlooks the rest of the club. That balcony area.
“Why? Like I said, he needs to appear stable in front of the board. They all have wives and families, so marriage is how they judge stability.” I toss the Holy Stick her way.
She impresses me by catching it midair. “Wow. You’re engaged to Asher Black.”
“Fake engaged,” I butt in.
She tuts at me and waves the Holy Stick in my face. “When are you guys having sex?”
I knew it.
I roll my eyes, expecting nothing less of Aimee. I tug the stick out of her hands. “We aren’t. We’re fake engaged, I repeat. Fake. Fake. Fake.”
She takes the stick. “You don’t have to be engaged to someone to have sex. You just have to be near them.”
Because Aimee is on her best behavior, I snatch the stick and toss it in my desk, so we can talk freely without the tedious back and forth. “Fair point.”
“I say you use your access to his home to show up in his bed in tiny lingerie. Seduce the Hell out of him.”
I roll my eyes. “That would make the rest of this engagement so awkward.”
“Sex is only awkward if the two consenting parties are immature or not ready to have it.” She looks me up and down. “What you’re experiencing right now isn’t a dry spell. Hell, it isn’t even a drought. It’s a dust bowl. Tell me, do you find cobwebs in there every time you get yourself off?”
