Chapter 181

Ivan stays…late. Way too late.

I see my dad’s expression when he comes home with the groceries, as he spies me out here with my sort-of-ex-boyfriend, and then glances at my husband, who is sitting on the couch with his boyfriend. I can’t hear him, but I see him groan in confusion. Ivan laughs a little. “Should I go in and say hi?”

“Nope,” I say, wrapping my arms around my knees, starting to get a little cold as night falls. “I think that nobody in that house is very happy to see you here. Except maybe Janeen. But she just thinks you’re hot.” “Really,” Ivan says, perking up and looking around for her.

“Don’t,” I say, laughing and swatting his arm. “She’ll just rope you into being one of her regulars at the club. She’ll drain your bank account and leave you sobbing.”

“Yeah,” Ivan says, turning back to me and raising his eyebrows provocatively. “But don’t you already know, Fay? Complicated, hard-to-get girls are kind of my type.”

I roll my eyes at him, but I can’t help laughing anyway. “Why do you even like me, Ivan?” I ask, shaking my head and genuinely wanting to know. “I mean, is it just the hard-to-get thing? Do you just like a challenge?” “Are you a challenge?” he asks, turning his head and looking me up and down.