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"Your burns? Hanna, I've never mentioned anything about your burns to Stepan, or anything personal. All I've ever told him was that you love food but you're mildly allergic to mint and berries, like very mildly, and that you have a very bad and traumatic past. Oh, and that you need a firm hand and persistence rather than space, which I heard very clearly how he followed that piece of advice." Angel gave a slight snicker while looking at me smugly.
She'd heard a good portion of the night Stepan ambushed me in my apartment because the phone didn't hang up after I'd dropped it.
Wiping her expression back to serious, she looked at me questioningly. "But I really don't know what you're talking about, Hanna, with your burns. You know I'd never tell anyone, even my own husband because those are your secrets to keep and tell." She was sincere, and I had no doubts about her in my mind.
"Did you tell him anything besides what you just said? My favorite foods? Products? Routines? Anything?" Ever since Stepan and I settled at his place—my new home, or our home as he labeled it—he's been perfect with giving me everything I need to a tee.
It didn't occur to me how strange it was for him to know me so well, chalking it up to him being overly observant. The more I thought about it now, though, the more unsettled I got. How'd he know the exact brands of the products I used? Or that I liked certain things with certain foods, like no cilantro with my noodle soups? Or that I liked to get up at 7 AM every day to work out before he even saw my daily routines? Then my burns, if Angel hadn't said anything to him. Same with my nightmares and medications; he knew about them before I even told him anything, now that I thought hard about it.
"No, nothing besides what I listed off." Angel replied with a firm shake of her head.
Fucking asshole. I'm gonna kill him.
Breathing heavily, I delivered another solid punch to the pad Lev held, making him grunt a little. "It's already dead hothead, but I'm not, so could ya ease up?" Lev joked with a forced chuckle before lowering the punching pads and looking at me with concern. "Do I need to kick Stepan's ass?"
"What?" I couldn't help but give out a chortle at his question. "No, no, it's not Stepan, no." For the most part, at least.
"Then whose got you all pissy?" Lev shook the pads off and gave me a stern look as he tossed my water bottle at me.
Catching it with a sigh, I took a few sips before looking at Lev with a forced smile. "It's nothing, I'm just taking it too personal, just something stupid." I didn't want to open my can of worms with anyone, not even myself, let alone Lev.
"It's not nothing stupid if it's got you that angry to where you're going to go into a fury." Lev chuckled softly with a raised brow. "I know how you are Hanna, or have you forgotten that you're basically my long-lost twin?" He furthered his smugness with a damn smirk that made me want to punch him across the face.
"Then you should know that I don't want to talk about it until I've simmered enough." I remarked with a winning smirk.
"Before or after you rip someone's head off?" Lev scoffed with a roll of his eyes. "Go wash up, Stepan will have my balls if I keep you again."
"So ridiculous, still can't believe he's jealous of his own brother." Sure, Lev and I spent a lot of time together, sometimes even more than Stepan and I, but still. The lack of chemistry between Lev and I was clear as day.
Although I could understand where he came from, so I didn't hold it against him. If he hung out with a female friend more than me, sibling or not, I'd get jealous eventually. Well, scratch that, I'd be jealous instantly, no matter who the female is. He's not allowed to give anyone else but me his attention, and I'm not afraid to cut a bitch if she gets too close.
With a huff, I left for the locker room and quickly freshened up before heading up to Stepan's office with a happy little smile on my face. I know I should still be upset at him for my little paranoia earlier, and don't get me wrong, I still was, but I could take it out on him later when we got home.
I missed him just a tad too much to rip into him right now. Besides, maybe I overthought it all; maybe he knew because he was overly observant, or I had let something slip whenever I'd ramble. Either way, I'd bring it up to him later in a civil manner. Besides, the training with Lev helped me unload a lot of steam.
The trip to his office zipped by with how fast my feet practically skipped up the stairs and down the hallways.
"Ste—"
My chest tightened at the sight before me, all my happiness and excitement leaving me in shock like an ice bath.
"What the fuck is she doing here?"
Chapter 34
Hanna
SLAM!
"Hanna! What hell is going on with you? You're being ridiculous without an explanation." Stepan slipped through the door before I slammed it shut in his face. Shame.
A pair of hands grabbed my arms and spun my scowling self around. "What is going on? Talk to me, little tigress." His expression twisted with genuine concern as his eyes studied my face for an answer.
Unable to respond because my tongue remained stiff as a board in my mouth for some goddamn reason, I settled for turning my gaze away from him. That only worked for a second before a yank on the martingale collar around my neck forced my attention back to Stepan.
"Malenkaya, we can either do this the easy way or the hard way. The easy way is you sit your ass down on the couch and talk, the hard way involves you going over my knee or tied down to the spanking bench. Which will it be?" All hints of softness eroded with his stern, dominating presence.
"Poshel ty, papochka." I spat with a glare, crossing my arms and jutting my chin up at him.
