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She reaches for him, but I pull her away. “Stop that! You’ve been useless. You don’t deserve baby cuddles.”
He blows Nina a kiss as we stalk across the apartment. “Get some sleep, you two. Bright and early tomorrow, we have a plane to catch.”
Gedeon is sitting at the table with his phone in his hand and two to-go cups of coffee in front of him. He slides one towards me as I walk into the room with Nina on my hip. “One last cup of shitty coffee before we make for the skies?”
I take it, but only because I’m desperate. I barely slept. “Did you get my email?”
“Did you think typing up that contract would make it any less ridiculous?”
“It’s official. I read a lot of sample contracts to get the wording just right.”
Gedeon clears his throat and begins to read off his phone. “‘Party A, henceforth referred to as Laila Barnes, and Party B, henceforth referred to as Asshole Incredible—’ This might be less serious than the scrap gibberish you drew up last night, which is, in and of itself, an impressive feat.”
I wave him off and settle Nina into her highchair. “I’m not going to take any more shit from anyone, including Asshole Incredible.”
“Shouldn’t you cover Nina’s ears before you say things like that about her father?”
“Do you see him anywhere?” I gesture around the room. “Besides, he’s not her father. This arrangement may have started with me acting as the donor, but now, that title belongs to Arsen. He provided the DNA for her gorgeous green eyes and that’s where his involvement ends.”
Gedeon sets down his coffee with a sigh. “You’re pissed.”
“I’m fine.” I point to my face. “See? I’m smiling and everything.”
“Yeah, and it’s alarming.” He grimaces at my forced grin. “Put the Joker face away and talk to me. I can’t send this to Arsen.”
“Yes, you can.”
“He’ll be livid.”
I hold out my empty hands, cupped like a bowl. “Here are all the fucks I give about his feelings.”
“Laila—”
“Gedeon,” I imitate, matching his serious tone. “I already told you: I’m a new woman. Spread the word.” I tap his phone screen. “Literally. Forward that email.”
His jaw works back and forth like he wants to argue, and then he huffs out a breath. “Fine.”
Thewhooshof the message forwarding makes my toes curl. After months by myself, comeuppance is my new foreplay.
“That wasn’t so hard now, was it?”
“I need a fucking raise,” he mumbles under his breath.
“I would give you my full support, but—” I take a bite of toast, talking around a full mouth. “—that sounds like something you should talk to Arsen about.”
He opens his mouth to say something scathing, I’m sure, but before he can, his phone rings. One glance at the screen and he blanches. “Fuck me. It’s Arsen.”
“Perfect. Ask him for that pay bump. I bet he’s in a swell mood.”
Gedeon slides the phone towards me. “Don’t make me take this.”
“Coward.” I shove it back to him. “He has my number. If he wanted to talk to me, he’d have called me.”
Gedeon answers the phone with a major stink eye tossed in my direction. “Hey, Arsen, I— I know, but— Don’t shoot the messenger, okay?” He winces and then holds the phone out to me. “He wants to speak to you.”
“Nah, I’ll pass.”
Nina throws her tiny play spoon onto the floor and stretches her arms out to Gedeon. Never one to miss an opportunity to shirk an awkward conversation, he dumps the phone in my lap and scoops her out of her highchair. “Take the phone; my hands are full.”
