Page 33 of Craving Dahlia

Fighting back tears, I reach for my phone, calling Evelyn. She answers on the second ring, her voice immediately worried when she hears the tears in mine.

“I’m getting evicted.” Saying it out loud is even worse than seeing the notice, and I slump down to the floor, my back against the counter. “I just got the notice on my door. My father froze the joint bank account, so I have maybe…two hundred dollars? I don’t know what I’m going to do. And don’t say you’ll pay it, Evie, because I don’t want you to do that. It’s not a long-term solution, anyway.”

Even as I say it, I know what the long term solution is. I’m sure this baby is Alek’s—there’s no doubt in my mind about that. There’s no one else that it could be. And marrying him would solve every problem that I’m facing right now.

I just can’t quite believe that’s the only way.

“Come over,” Evelyn says immediately. “Alek isn’t here, he went out. Just come over, and we’ll figure this out. Or I can come over there?—”

“No, I’ll come to you.” The thought of spending even another second here, knowing I’m about to be ousted, makes me want to burst into tears all over again. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

The moment my footsteps echo in the entryway of the mansion, Evelyn pops out from the small living room, her hair up in a messy bun and her forehead creased with worry. “Dahlia,” she whispers, hurrying towards me to give me a hug. “Come on. I’ll get some tea, and we’ll figure this out.”

Thirty minutes later, I’ve filled her in on what happened when I went back home, on the final argument with my parents, and finding out that the accounts had been frozen when I got back. Evelyn clicks her tongue against her teeth, her eyes narrowing angrily.

“I always thought your father had a stick up his ass,” she mutters. “I didn’t like him when I met him at our graduation, even though I didn’t tell you that. But this is so much worse than anything I would have thought he’d do.”

“I know.” Tears well up in my eyes. “I knew it would be hard, on my own, but I thought I had time. I thought I’d at least have the money that was left. And now…” I bite my lip, hard. “I think I’m going to have to take Alek up on his offer.”

Evelyn’s brow furrows. “What offer?”

Somehow, it doesn’t surprise me that he didn’t say anything. “He came to my apartment yesterday evening. He offered to go ahead and marry me. To ‘take care’ of me.” I press my lips together, anger resurfacing at the memory of the conversation. “He made a point of telling me there wouldn’t be any affection or physical contact. And that if the baby turned out to not be his, he would want a divorce immediately.”

“He—” Evelyn blinks rapidly. “That’s a surprise. He was so angry at Dimitri for even suggesting marriage.”

“Maybe he felt guilty afterwards.” I shrug, the gesture lighter than what I really feel. “I don’t know, Evie. I don’t really care, honestly. But I don’t know what to do, and if I’m going to have this baby…”

“Is that what you want?” she asks softly, and I close my eyes for a moment, my teeth sinking into my lip again.

“I don’t know,” I tell her honestly. “But every time I think about the alternative, I feel…wrong. I know going ahead with the pregnancy isn’t the smart thing to do, and that it doesn’t make any sense, especially when Alek really wants nothing to do with any of this. But I just feel…”

“That’s what matters,” Evelyn interrupts. “I was so scared when I found out I was pregnant. I didn’t think Dimitri loved me, or that I was ever going to love him. I didn’t think that any of this would work. But it did, and?—”

“You and Dimitri had…something more than what Alek and I do, though,” I point out. “Alek hates me. And sometimes…honestly, after the last couple of conversations, he’s starting to make me hate him.”

“Oh, trust me, I made Dimitri furious sometimes,” Evelyn says with a laugh. “And sometimes I thought I hated him, too. But we were both dealing with our own demons. Our own things that we had to work through before we could find each other on the other side. I’m not saying it’ll work out that way with Alek. But this is all your choice, Dahlia. And if you want to take a chance…”

“I could divorce him eventually,” I blurt out. “If I’m miserable. Once I have a chance to figure all of this out, to save up for a move…if we still hate each other this much, I’ll divorce him. There’s nothing stopping me from doing that, right?”

“It’s frowned upon in families like these,” Evelyn says. “Dimitri won’t like it, but like you said, he can’t tell you what to do. He can’t stop you from filing for divorce, even if he could tell Alek not to. So technically, no. Alek, from what I’ve heard, has never been one to put a lot of weight on tradition, anyway. If you’re both making each other miserable, he probably wouldn’t fight it.”

“It would buy me time. Is that terrible of me?” I whisper, looking at my best friend. “To do this to buy myself time?”

“Maybe,” Evelyn says carefully. “But he’s been pretty terrible to you. He’s my brother-in-law, and he’s been through a lot—I don’t even know what, exactly. I don’t think Dimitri does, either. The way he’s behaved towards you is atrocious, though, in my opinion. I don’t know what’s going on with him, but I don’t think it excuses it.”

“I’m glad you have my back.” I give her a small, tight smile, the best that I can manage. “So that’s—is this what I’m doing? Marrying him for now, to buy myself time?”

“I married Dimitri as part of an arrangement between us. It was never supposed to be anything more than a business deal.” Evelyn laughs. “Far be it from me to tell you that you’re doing anything wrong by trying to get some time to get back on your feet.”

I swallow hard. “So what now?”

“Do you want to go home? I can tell Alek that you want to talk to him when he gets back. There’s no telling when that will be.”

I pause, considering. Part of me isn’t sure if I want to be here when he gets back, but another part likes the idea of waiting for him, of catchinghimoff-guard, the way he did to me yesterday. I’m angry and hurt and confused, and part of me wants to take that out on him in some way.

He’s been through a lot. I don’t even know what, exactly.Evelyn’s words from a moment ago ring in my head, and I frown, biting my lip. I remember the scars I felt on his body when I touched him, that map of ridged flesh that told some story that he clearly didn’t want me to see, and I wonder if there’s more to his attitude than I’m letting myself see. If there’s a reason for how he’s acting, beyond him just being an asshole.

A part of me wants to pry into it, but I can’t find the energy right now. Every part of me feels taken up by the weight of what’ssitting on my own shoulders right now, and I don’t know if I have space for anything else. If I can bring myself to wonder about what’s happened to Alek when right now, I don’t even know where I’m going to live unless I marry him.

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