1
JR
The last placein the world I expected to be was the ass end of nowhere in western Montana.
And yet here I was, all the same.
My tires slid on the slick roads as I passed the gas station along the curve into town. Winter was just giving way to the beginning signs of spring, but it was still way too damn cold for someone like me. I preferred mild winters as opposed to the snow-filled, freezing temps only a place like this could endure.
Kicking up the heater, I checked my phone one last time for directions, grateful that this trip would be short. With any luck, I’d have a new job in a warmer state by this time tomorrow.
“What the hell?” I muttered as I pulled up to an apartment building.
This was not at all what I was expecting. Archer didn’t stay in a permanent spot.
Ever.
Motels were his go-to mode of living, yet the address didn’t lie.
“Son of a bitch,” I muttered under my breath as I shoved the door open and got out. A heavy sigh filled my lungs as my boots sank in the melting snow.
Slamming the door, I stalked up to the front door, cursing the snow, the weather, and the fact that I was way too far north in No Man’s Land. Punching the buzzer, I waited impatiently for the asshole to answer the door.
“Yeah?”
“Let me up.”
Dead air greeted me, which wasn’t that much of a surprise. It wasn’t like he was expecting me.
But the buzzer sounded, nonetheless, allowing me access to the warmth of the apartment building. Stomping the snow from my boots on the wet mat, I made it two steps before Archer opened the door down the hall and glared at me.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
“I could ask you the same thing,” I snarled, marching past him into his apartment.
All it took was one look to know I was well and truly fucked. He wasn’t just hanging out here. He had moved in. It wasn’t exactly decorated, but for a man like Archer, he might as well be spending the rest of his life here.
The door snapped shut, rattling the thin walls. “I told you not to contact me again.”
“And I might have listened if you hadn’t fucked me over,” I said, spinning slowly as I checked out the place.
“What are you talking about? I left you a replacement.”
I barked out a laugh at that. “Is that what you would call that dumb shit? He fucked up the first day. The job went south because he didn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground. You have to fix this!”
Except Archer wasn’t exactly the type to be ordered around. Neither was I, which was what made us work so well together.We got shit done. Or, we used to until six months ago when he vanished on me.
“Since you left, I haven’t been able to get a single fucking job. I’ve been all over the place, but the moment they realize who I am, that’s it.”
“That lands on you.”
“No,” I snapped. “You fucked up. You walked off a job. We had a plan, and?—”
“Alright, alright,” he shouted, shoving his fingers through his hair. “I’ll fix this.”
“How?”
His gaze narrowed dangerously on me. “I said I would fix it, and I will.”
