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I agreed with him on all of that.
The topic of marriage was not revisited that night. Or the one after that. But it hovered like a shadow, following me around, making me feel cold no matter how bright the New Mexico sun shined.
ChapterTwenty-One
Eldenand I did not have to wait long for another argument.
I had a shift at Oliver’s the next day.
Which was what I told him when I woke up, asking for a ride back to Mom and Swiss’s in order to get changed.
First, he’d pulled me back into bed and fucked me.
I hadn’t argued about that.
Then he’d said we needed to get my clothes, skincare and ‘smutty books’ from my mom and Swiss’s and move them in there.
I hadn’t argued about that either.
As much as I loved the atmosphere at Mom and Swiss’s, as much as I loved the space my mother had created, it didn’t fit me. Not now that Elden was a part of me. Which he was. There was no denying that. There was a lot to work out. A lot. But that was not something that would ever change.
The argument started at Oliver’s. We went there after we picked up something for me to wear for the day. I settled on tight black jeans—may as well enjoy them while I could—and a cropped black tee with the leather jacket Swiss got me for my birthday.
Elden did not come into my mom and Swiss’s. He sat on the bike, looking like sex and sin.
Swiss stood in the kitchen, glaring in the direction of the rumbling bike. He did not go out onto the driveway to challenge Elden to a duel, so I called that a win.
“Thank Godyou’re here!” Julian shouted at me the second we walked through the door. “Get your ass to the coffee machine.”
I was about to do what Julian so politely asked when Elden grasped my waist and pulled me to him.
It felt exceptionally strange, him touching me like this in public. Good strange. Or it would’ve been had Elden not been glowering at me.
“It’s okay, honey,” I reassured him. “He’s really sweet, and he’s Australian… That’s just his way. I know you’re under the impression that you’re the only man who can order me around, but he actuallycanorder me around because he’s paying me. If you start paying me… No, that wouldn’t work because this would move to an ethical gray area.” I shook my head. “Anyway, he doesn’t mean any harm.”
“I know he doesn’t mean harm,” Elden bit out. “I want to knowwhathe means.”
I tilted my head in confusion. “He means he wants me to get my ass to the coffee machine,” I clarified, even though he’d made that pretty clear. I gestured to the long line of people waiting for coffee. “Or they might start getting violent.”
People took their coffee very seriously here. Which you could only understand once you tasted what real coffee was meant to taste like.
“You are not working,” Elden replied through his teeth.
I frowned at him. “Uh, yeah, I am.”
“You’re pregnant.”
I blew a strand of hair from my eyes. “I’m aware.”
“Your morning sickness is getting worse.” There was no denying the concern in Elden’s tone.
My stomach lurched as if on cue. “Of that I am also aware.”
“You’re not standing on your feet all day when you’re pregnant and sick.”
“I am working because I made a commitment to Julian, because I enjoy it and because there are millions of pregnant women at this very moment, managing to stand all day and exist in general,” I refuted.
“Violet,” Elden warned.
