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“So, we’re in a relationship, now?”
He growls and fists my shirt in mock frustration, shaking me. “Can you give me one thing today?”
I smile against his neck. “Sure, baby. You can have a relationship with me if you want.”
“You’re so generous.”
“I love your indignant little huffs.”
“More than you love my tight ass?” he asks.
“I don’t love anything more than I love your ass.”
That makes him laugh, and I extract myself from his grip. He takes a second to rearrange my hair, and I do the same with him, fussing with his sex-frizzed curls until they frame his face just right. Until he’s the most perfect thing I’ve ever seen.
43
OLIVIER
Igo into my building from the front, Drew enters from the back. We pass each other at the elevator, and I offer him a hand to shake. He gives it a firm press and rubs his thumb over mine before pushing the up button and letting me go.
I sigh as I ride the elevator to my floor, growing more anxious the further away from him I get, and equally nervous about whether Elodie is still here. She told me she’d stay until I got home, but I was gone longer than I thought I’d be.
When I come in, the sound of the TV relaxes me a fraction, but it’s not until I see her curled up on the sofa in a fluffy blanket that I let my shoulders drop. I hate the way she startles when she hears me say hello, though. Her face looks worse today, if that’s possible, which means we’ll be staying in again.
“I assume you kissed and made up?” she asks after putting her show on mute.
“We did,” I tell her. I get some water, ask her if she wants some—she doesn’t, she’s already drinking wine—and I join her on the sofa. “I told him I want him to quit his job and move in with me.”
She laughs a little too loudly for my taste. “And how did that go over?”
“I feel like it’s a maybe,” I say defensively.
“You’ve been hooking up for how long again?” she asks.
“Long enough. Does it really matter when you know it’s right?”
“You sound delusional.”
“Oh, wow. Well, thanks for that.”
She slams her head back into the pillow. “Don’t listen to me. I’m just jealous.”
Elodie and I did more drinking than strategizing last night, and she passed out around two. So, no, we haven’t figured out what our options are—or even if we have any viable ones. All I do know is I was damn lucky to have met a person like Drew when I did. Elodie’s future sex life feels like a riddle neither one of us can figure out, and if I were her, I’d be bitter as hell.
“What if I talked to my parents?” It’s something I’ve been thinking about since Drew was in the shower. It’s what I’d meant when I asked him if he needed more from me, or I should say, it was the only thing I knew for sure I could do right now. Try to let them know I’ve cleaned up my act, that I’d found someone I’m interested in pursuing a relationship with—skip the part that he’s a man—and convince them to allow me to end the engagement.
It’s a long shot, but at least I’ll know where I stand. I’ll get to see if what Drew was saying last night is true—if they’ve truly got me by the balls for the rest of my life.
It’s not like I have a trust fund that I know of. My father’s company becomes mine when I turn thirty—last I heard anyway. That’s my “trust.” It’s the way my parents set things up so I don’t go rogue, I guess.
“It’s too late, Ollie. The engagement’s been announced.”
“Do you have a trust fund?” I ask while my brain’s on the subject.
“I mean—it’s basically my dowry now, but yeah.”
“When do you come into it?”
