Page 593 of Filthy Elites

The pool house has a small kitchenette I’ve never used, but I start to make coffee. She opens her eyes moments after I’ve poured myself an espresso. “Good morning, baby doll.”

“Is that coffee?” she grumbles.

“I don’t have milk in here, or your choice of syrup.”

She sighs. “Black coffee’s disgusting.”

I make a mental note to buy what I need to make her drinks in the future. “I can get you some stuff from the main house. How are you feeling?”

She shakes her head and winces. “I’m okay.”

“No brave nonsense. I want a truthful assessment so I can tell your doctor.”

“I can tell my doctor myself.”She’s never going to stop arguing with me, is she?

“Please. Tell me.”

“My wrist and my foot are on fire.”

I check the phone I’d left to charge when we walked in last night. “Your nurse will be here in an hour. Just enough time to get some food into you. Can you eat?”

She bobs her head enthusiastically. “I could inhale a memory of elephants.”

“Fresh out of elephants, but I’ll see if I can get you pancakes.”

Erica sighs dramatically. “I suppose pancakes will do. Do you have a bathroom here?”

I help her walk from the bed to the bathroom, and inform her I’m popping by the house. “Don’t push yourself. If your foot’s hurting too much, you stay right there. I’ll be five minutes, max.”

She rolls her eyes. “Fine. Now let me pee.”

I hesitate, not willing to leave her alone for one single moment, but I run into the house to raid the fridge for milk, steal caramel syrup, and plate up some of the breakfast the day staff cooked.

I’m adding grapes to her plate when my mother walks in. “How’s my future daughter-in-law?”

“Stubborn and defiant,” I reply with a smile.

“Perfect. Exactly what you need.”

I kiss her cheek and return to the pool house.

My mother’s right. I’m too headstrong; most women would chafe under my character. Erica doesn’t, because she’s strong enough to say no to me. Perfect, indeed.

She’s back in bed when I return. I feed her and make her coffee. Exhaustion only hits me afterwards. I hadn’t allowed myself to rest until I could see with my own eyes that she was fine.

I lie down next to her on the bed, half expecting her to kick me out. She doesn’t say anything.

“You’re not allowed to die before me,” I inform her.

She chuckles. “I’ll endeavor to avoid premature death, just for you.”

“I’d be most grateful if you would be so kind.” She doesn’t get how much I care, which I suppose is fair: I never told her. “I can’t lose you, Erica. I can’t tell you when it happened exactly. It might have been a progressive thing. I never noticed because I was too busy clinging to my hatred for your mother and my father to pay much attention to anything else. Next thing I knew, you’d walked under my skin.”

She stiffens next to me.

“I know you think it’s a trick. It isn’t. I thought your mother was ruining my family. Turns out, she’s my dad’s girlfriend, and my mom’s all for it. They have their messed-up relationship, and you know what I realized? That’s none of my business.”

“I could have told you that part,” Erica says with an eye roll. “I learned to butt out of Audrey’s life a long time ago.”

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