The Arrangement Anthology 2(52)
I don’t know what her connection is to the Ferros, but I’m grateful for avoiding the hospital. “Well, thank you. I know it’s weird, not wanting to go to the hospital.” I glance up at her as she works silently.
After a few moments, she pauses and smiles softly. “It’s all right. I understand.” She tucks a curl behind her ear and looks up at me. “Are you sure there’s nothing else you want to tell me?”
My eyebrows lift slightly. “Such as?” I glance around her kitchen. It’s so pretty, with every surface gleaming like it’s brand new.
“I don’t know. It seems like a strange injury from a piece of broken glass. It looks like you were thrown through the window or something—as if someone did it on purpose. Avery, did he hurt you?” Her big brown eyes are filled with concern. She’s a little thing, a waif of a person and it looks like she’d go kick Sean’s ass right here and now if I said yes.
I smile. I can’t help it. Everything about this woman is amazing. She took a stranger into her house in the middle of the night, and showed me more kindness than a friend would offer, and I don’t even know her. Never mind that she overlooked the fact that I’m a hooker. She won major points for that. She didn’t cringe when she patched me and has enough guts to ask if Sean is beating me.
“No,” I say looking up at her, “he didn’t do this. A stray bullet hit the window when I was standing by it. Sean covered me with his body as the thing splintered and came crashing down. He wouldn’t hurt me.”
Mari nods slowly. “Ah, that explains some things.”
After the medicine starts to work, I can barely sit up. My mind goes foggy as she patches me and then helps Sean. We both have stitches that will dissolve, but Mari tells me to see a plastic surgeon because of the length of my wound.
Miss Black would have never hired me if I had a huge ass scar on my arm. I wonder if Gabe figured out that I stuffed my bracelet in the seat yet. He’s going to be pissed. My mind swirls around that thought, over and over again. What is Black going to do when she finds me? The thought makes me shiver. I rub the goose bumps away and hear hushed tones passing between Mari and Sean.
He’s standing, towering over her, trying to pay the woman, but she won’t have it. Her slender arms fold across her chest. “No, I’m not taking your money. This was a favor.” She turns her back on him and starts to pick up.
Bryan is sitting at the table with his head lowered, resting on his arms like he’s asleep. He’s said next to nothing all night. I have no idea who he is. In some ways he’s like his cousin, Jonathan, all flash and charm, but there’s something going on with him. He seems weary, like he’s burdened by something he can’t manage. He hides it with smiles the same way his cousin does.
“No,” Sean says, following after her. “No favors. I have no idea who you are or what you’ll do. We need to reach an agreement before I walk out that door.”
Mari throws the rest of the bloody bandages in the trash and then snaps off her gloves and throws them in too. “You want an agreement? What, you think I’m going to blackmail you or something?”
“Or something.” Sean is intimidating but Mari doesn’t back down.
“Right, because the only reason to help someone is to take advantage of them later.” She lets out a long annoyed sigh as she pinches the bridge of her nose. When she looks up, determination flashes in her tired eyes. “Listen, I did this because you know someone that I once cared about. That’s it. If I saw you bleeding on the sidewalk, I would have done the same thing. I’m not going to bill you, blackmail you, or ever mention this again. If you want to pay me because your conscience can’t handle kindness, then pay it forward. Show mercy and compassion to someone for no reason and ask for nothing in return. That’ll make us square.” Mari walks to the backdoor while she talks and leans on the knob. She twists it and tugs the door open, gesturing for us to go. “Now, if you don’t mind, I need to be up and at the hospital in a couple of hours.”
Sean’s jaw locks tight. I know he wants to speak, but it seems like he doesn’t know what to say. I’m pretty sure I’m drooling on myself, I’m so doped up on pain meds. My head feels like a sandbag, but I manage to stand and walk over to her. “I like you, Miss Mari. You’re good people, and if I tried really hard, I don’t think I could hope to be half the woman you are. You’re like, a kick ass ninja of niceness.” I’m clutching the front of her shirt and I think my words are coming out way too slow. She takes my hands so I don’t rip her clothes off and tries to pull me upright.