Page 137 of Jump on Three

He hissed through his teeth. “Why would you do that to her?”

“I’m an idiot madly in love with my girlfriend.”

“Stupidly in love.” He lifted his chin. “You’ve wised up now? Keeping her away from Leonid?”

I straightened my spine, meeting his gaze head-on. “He will not go anywhere near her.”

“I was really hoping this would happen.” He rubbed his palms together. “Look, you’re good at what you do, and I could use you at my new place. I’ve got big plans to expand and need someone I can trust to help me do that. Things play out right over the next couple years; this could become huge.”

“I’m in.”

He held up a finger. “I’ve got conditions. I’m going to need you to go to school. You can do community college, I don’t care, but I need you to have a degree so I don’t become your second daddy and you don’t become beholden to me.”

I nodded. “I will do this.”

“All right. My next condition, no other Sokolovs get to set foot in my place. Your family visits; they can look at the outside of the building.”

“You hold a grudge.”

“I do. Remember that.”

I inclined my chin. “I will. Anything else?”

“Don’t be an asshole.” His head cocked, and he rubbed his chin again. “Bring my sweetness around. If she wants to make her position a paying one, we can do that. Or she can hang with me and eat fries.”

For once, I did not feel defensive over Marco’s affection for Evelyn. I saw it for what it was. He liked her. He appreciated her taste in music. Most of all, he wanted her to like him too.

Didn’t we all?

The pressure on my throat I’d lived with for as long as I could remember had eased. More hopeful than I’d been in a long, long time, I put my hand out.

“We’ve got a deal.”

Chapter Forty-seven

Evelyn

Bella stood behind me, checking her outfit in my mirror. “Damn, I make polyester look good.”

I tore my cap off my head for the seventh time. “I don’t look good in hats. It’s choking my head, which shouldn’t be possible considering my skull doesn’t even have lungs.”

“I think they’ll let you graduate even if you don’t wear it.” She took the mortarboard from my hand and tossed it on the vanity. “In fact, I forbid you to wear it.”

Delilah stuck her head in my bathroom. “Is Bella being bossy again?”

I picked up my hat. “She forbade me to wear this thing.”

“Evelyn!” Luciana called from the living room. “Are you ready? Ivan is here.”

My heart skittered, and I met my sister’s eyes in our reflection. She grinned with knowing. Her heart must have skittered the same way for Rhys.

I ran out of the bathroom, leaving Bella checking herself out in her graduation gown and Delilah putting on lipstick.

Ivan stood in our small living space talking to Beckett. Both were tall and athletic. Anyone would take notice of them. But once Ivan was in my sights, that was it. There was no one else.

He saw me too. Whatever he’d been saying to Beckett was cut off. Taking two long strides in my direction, he pulled me into his arms, sweeping me off my feet.

I yelped, and he laughed, pressing his face into my hair. “You look so fucking cute in your little gown, angel.”

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