My gaze darted from Vanessa to JP to Delilah to Con. None of them seemed fazed by JP and her crazy little monologue.

“There’s no wedding. There’s not going to be a wedding.”

“I wouldn’t speak so soon, sugar. I know Bishop doesn’t seem like the marrying type now, but then again . . . you never know.” Delilah winked at me. She needed to not do the winking thing anymore. It was starting to freak me out.

“You’re all crazy.” My voice was rising higher, but the clang of the door chime drowned out part of it.

Con nodded toward the door. “Thank fuck, man. Get in here before your bride decides to leave you at the altar before you’ve even proposed.”

I spun around to face Bishop in the doorway, and pressed the pads of my fingers to my temples. “They’re crazy. Certifiably crazy.”

He walked toward me slowly, his green gaze glued to mine rather than sliding to the nutty peanut gallery behind me. I expected him to demand an explanation or to tell everyone to stop acting so insane, but instead he shocked the crap out of me.

“You gonna leave me at the altar, cupcake?” He didn’t even crack a smile, and his tone was completely deadpan.

I shoved my fingers into my hair and barely resisted the urge to pull it out. “We’re not getting married. We’ve only kissed a couple times. I’m not sure if you actually saw me naked or if I imagined that, so yeah, definitely no wedding in our future.”

His lips twitched at that.

“Wait, you don’t know if he saw you naked?” JP asked. “How did that work?”

“Uh, yeah, you skipped over that minor detail with me too,” Vanessa said meaningfully.

“She wasn’t totally naked.” Bishop took another step toward me. “And I couldn’t give a fair opinion on the subject because I haven’t gotten the whole picture yet.”

Oh my God. The way his eyes burned over my body, all of a sudden I felt naked again. I had to change the subject before I completely lost my mind and did something insane, like throw myself at him. Again.

“How much is not totally naked?” JP asked.

Bishop didn’t release my gaze to answer her. “Not your business, JP.”

“Just asking.”

This time Bishop did look away, and I turned my head to watch the interaction. “Enough.”

From behind me, Vanessa’s heels clicked on the tile. “It’s okay. We’ll find you a big, bad tattooed guy too. There are plenty of them floating around in this town. Practically a dime a dozen.”

“Thanks, princess. That makes us feel so special.”

Vanessa crossed back to Con. “You’re one in a billion, babe, and you know it.”

The heat from Bishop’s side melted into my skin, and the fortune-teller’s words came back to me. Guard your heart.

“You ate?” his deep voice rumbled in my ear.

I nodded. “Vanessa brought yours back.”

Speaking of bringing stuff back, I needed to find out what the heck he did with my suitcase because he was empty-handed.

“Where’s my bag? I need my bag.” I reached out, closing my fingers around his forearm. “I can’t lose it. It has everything.”

Bishop stared down at me. “It’s in your new place that’s being aired out.”

New place?

“What are you talking about?”

He shrugged. “Called in that favor from Charlie. Got you set up a few blocks away. You’ll have to go talk to the landlord to get the final approval and pay the deposit, but the apartment is as good as yours, and she’s cutting you a sweet-as-hell deal and giving you time to come up with the money if you need it.”

“That place is fucking tiny. Barely qualifies as an apartment,” Con said.

“But it’s safe, and Harriet doesn’t want much more in rent than what the maintenance on it costs.”

They had to slow down because I wasn’t keeping up. Harriet? What apartment? I was so confused that I didn’t even know which questions to ask first. I started with the most basic of the lot.

“You got me an apartment?”

Bishop’s gaze dropped to mine. “You have somewhere else to stay for tonight?”

“You could’ve had her stay at your place.” There was a smile in Delilah’s voice.

“Low blow. Stop, I don’t want to hear any more.” JP held a hand over each ear like she was a toddler. “I have to go back to work anyway before y’all crush my hopes and dreams permanently.” She hurried to the door, not dropping her hands until she turned and said, “Remember, I’m not going to be a bridesmaid.”

The entire town had gone insane. I truly didn’t know what else to say.

“Your food’s got to be cold by now, but you can pop the po’boy into the microwave and warm it up if you want.” Vanessa nodded to the other takeout container on the counter beside the one that Con just emptied.

“Or I’ll fuckin’ eat it right now,” Con said. “I don’t care. That shit was awesome. Even the friggin’ cole slaw, and we all know I don’t eat that shit. You shoulda brought me two, princess.”

“I want to hear more about the fortune,” Delilah drawled. “Especially if there’s wedding bells involved.”

“She didn’t say anything about a wedding,” I blurted. “It’s not important. I need to get my stuff.” I had to get out of the craziness that seemed to pervade this entire shop.

But Delilah wasn’t done. “Did she say anything about tattoos? Because I don’t think I need a fortune-teller to see that in your future.”

The inked man.

This entire world was going crazy. I wrapped a hand around Bishop’s arm. “But my stuff is there? It’s safe?”

He looked down at my hand on his forearm for a long moment before replying. “Of course. Harriet’s place is solid. I wouldn’t let you go somewhere that wasn’t. Now, I’ve got an appointment coming. Can you hang tight for a while?”

“Yes. Thank you. I . . . I really appreciate it. But I would’ve figured out something for tonight.”

He pulled his arm from my grip. “You needed a place, and I knew of a place. It’s no big deal.”

But it was a big deal. And as much as I knew I should have solved this problem on my own because I was done letting people call the shots in my life, the help Bishop offered didn’t seem to come with strings. He just did it, and did it in a way that didn’t make me feel caged.