Page 154 of Cashmere Cruelty

For fuck’s sake, she’spregnant. Soon enough, she’s going to have a whole kid to care for. Even I’m not enough of an asshole to ignore that. Distance or not—if she asked, I’d say yes.

But she hasn’t.

“Okay.” April nods eventually.

Only then do I let her wrists go.

The loss of warmth nearly gives me whiplash. I’m overcome with the urge to yank her back, to press myself flush against her and never fucking let her go.

But I won’t.

“Okay,” I reply. “So let’s eat.”

Distance. That’s what I need to focus on right now. I can’t let myself go soft like myvory—I won’t. I have to stay sharp. Most importantly, I have to stay the fuck away.

This little vixen’s thrown my life in disarray enough already.

After the enemy’s been dealt with, I promise myself.Once that’s done, I’ll move back out. I’ll visit the kid. I’ll be here for dinner.

And I won’t stay a minute more.

Until then…

Until then, I’ll have to get a goddamn grip.

47

APRIL

Elias stares at the packed clothes in front of him. “This is all of them?”

“Yep, that’s all.” I feel like a little soldier reporting for duty—all that’s missing is the salute. “I hope my blood, sweat, and tears didn’t leak on them.”

Elias lets out a booming laugh. “Oh, child. You’re really something else.”

We sit down for tea. That’s a good idea, seeing as how the living room’s started to spin again. Lately, it’s been doing that a lot.

Elias shoots me a fond smile. “Is there really nothing I can do to convince you to take it easy?” he asks, concern seeping into his voice.

I shake my head. “Actually, I was going to ask you for more work.”

My boss nearly drops his cup. “Morework? April, you’ve cleaned me out for the month.”

“I could get started on next month’s tasks?” I venture. “Early bird gets the worm and all that?”

“If you’ve got all that time on your hands, you should spend it on your baby,” Elias playfully scolds me. “Knitting tiny socks. Making onesies.”

Wordlessly, I show him a picture of Nugget’s wardrobe.

Elias’s eyes bulge. “You made all that?”

“Almost. Some of it’s from Matvey. And, well, the aunts and uncles,” I add, which is code for Yuri and Petra. Who both separately went on shopping sprees, apparently. I don’t know which one was wearing the sourest face when they dropped the gifts into my lap.

As for Charlie, well—he’s still on house arrest. But he’s been texting me pictures of Minecraft-themed baby shoes all week.

All in all, I could’ve slacked off.

Except that I didn’t. And there’s a very good reason for that. “I just…” I put on my best puppy eyes. “I want to keep busy. I’m going crazy in here, Elias. Please?”

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