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They all shook their heads no. “We never actually thought about that,” Viktor said.
I laughed. “I’m not complaining. I’m just surprised I didn’t feel that. Apparently, I was dead to the world.”
Misha walked over to me with another carton of yogurt. “It’s not time yet for your antibiotics, but you haven’t eaten anything in almost two days. You need to eat something, gazelle. Whether you want to or not.”
“You’re not the boss of me,” I said as I took the spoon from him and took a bite, trying not to laugh. “What did you guys find on the mayor while I was out?”
Ivan sighed. “We’ve found a few connections to some of Ricardo’s business associates, but nothing that tie them directly. We also can’t find anything from any of the other bosses yet.”
“Let’s ask the journalist,” I said, in between bites, still under the very watchful eye of Misha. I couldn’t tell if he was watching me to make sure I ate or watching to see when I’d give him the rest.
We recruited Chen once more to have a conversation with the journalist. This time about the mayor and whether he knew anything about any ties to Ricardo or any of the other bosses. Chen was noticeably more relaxed this time when I called to ask him if he would be willing to meet with the journalist.
“Yeah, I’ll totally do that. It might be concerning how much I enjoyed lying to that dude’s face,” he said, laughing.
“We just unlocked a new life goal for you, didn’t we?” I asked, trying to hold in my laughter so it wouldn’t make me cough.
We set up a meeting at the same café for the following afternoon. Adrik was once again concerned it would be too much for me. “I only just got you back from the last meeting. Now you’re going to sleep for an entire day again,” he said that night when we were alone. I felt his mood shift when he said it. He was legitimately sad at the thought of me sleeping for an entire day again if I went to the meeting.
“I can feel your sadness,” I said, almost surprised by it.
“I’ve missed you,” he said, without hesitation. I hadn’t thought about how difficult this had been on him. Not only was he still working through me and Ivan being taken but he also had to deal with me not being able to do much on my own since coming home and having the extra worry of trying to take care of me when he knew exactly how much pain I was in all the time.
I thought for a moment as he helped me undress, so I could put his shirt on for the night. “What if we sent Keith and Chris instead? I was only needed for the Italian possibility, but he knows Chen doesn’t speak Italian, so it won’t be an issue this time. Viktor and Ivan can feed him all the information about the mayor to tell the journalist.”
Adrik stood in front of me, his sexy smirk on his face as he buttoned up his shirt. “You’re not going to argue about going?” he asked as he leaned down to press his lips gently to mine.
“I mean, I can if you want me to. But I know how difficult this has all been for you. There’s a very good possibility that going along would make me sleep for another day, or longer. Doesn’t seem worth it, really,” I said, pulling his arm around my waist with my one functioning arm. “And to be honest, I’m very tired of doing nothing but sleeping.”
“We’ll ask Misha what he thinks about it tomorrow,” he said as he gently pushed me back toward the bed.
“I think you should ask Andrei too,” I said as he helped me into bed. He raised his eyebrow at me, wanting more of an explanation. “It was Andrei that stopped Max from dying. Misha wasn’t kidding when he said he never would’ve thought to look for Tori or Max if Andrei hadn’t brought it up. I wouldn’t have either. I hadn’t thought about Max in weeks.” I paused to take a few breaths, as talking too much was causing me to cough more lately. “The acupuncturist told me he was like me too. I want to see what he can do.”
“Andrei’s like you? How? Like his observation skills?”
“Those are the beginning. She said he’ll soon figure out that he knows things before they happen. Like my ability to predict Trino’s methods for revenge. Andrei should be able to do that too. Or something similar.”
“He has been much more observant lately. He’s been right every single time too.”
“I told him that. He’s still insecure about it. He doesn’t trust himself completely yet,” I said. I was lying on my good side, like normal, with Adrik behind me, his arms around me as tightly as possible. It took exactly two more minutes and I was sound asleep again.
“Is Andrei getting breakfast this morning?” Adrik asked as we walked into the kitchen the next morning. Ivan nodded his head as he pulled me to him to hug me good morning.
“Good morning, princess,” he said, kissing the top of my head.
“Squish,” I said, hiding my face in his chest. “Why do I not want to wake up when all I’ve done is sleep for the last week?”
His laughter made his chest vibrate, which made my nose itch. “You need it, princess. You’ve had a lot to deal with lately. It also doesn’t help that you won’t eat very much. Your body is tired from trying to heal and you won’t give it any fuel,” he said, his giant arms holding me gently.
“But food makes me nauseous. I want to eat. Believe me, I do. But every time I do I feel like I’m going to puke afterward. Sometimes the nausea happens when I think about eating,” I said. “It’s not fair.”
Andrei walked back in with breakfast. “What’s not fair?” he asked.
“That I can’t eat right now because it all makes me nauseous,” I said, grumpily.
“What about drinking? Does that make you nauseous?” Andrei asked.
“Not that I’ve noticed.”
