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I rolled my eyes. I had a headache. "I know that. I wouldn’t dream of skipping."
With swift speed, Kova leaned down and slipped his hand under my arm and pulled me up. The world spun around me, I was instantly dizzy from being forced to stand.
Gripping my arm tight, Kova leaned down in my face. "I am not putting up with this defiant, childish behavior. You said you would do anything I said and would hire all the best people to help you recover. Remember? You continue like this and I will lock you out from coming in on your days off. I am trying to help you. Stop fighting me on every little thing, Adrianna. It is like you wake up and write up a checklist of things to do and say to get under my skin to infuriate me. Remember your place."
Kova was way off base, that wasn't what I intended at all. I yanked my arm back, but he had a firm grip on me. I had my reasons as to why I didn't want to soak in a stupid bath, reasons I didn't want to share because I knew in my gut they'd backfire on me.
"I'm not trying to defy you."
"Then what are you trying to do?" he asked, his eyes filled with concern as they searched mine. "You worked extremely hard today, you need to recover properly, or you will be useless and no good for your first meet. Is that what you want? Because it is not what I want for you. I want more for you."
I puckered my lips, determined not to answer honestly.
"Please, what are you thinking? Tell me?" he begged. He seemed truly bothered, and that didn't sit well with me for some asinine reason. The pleading in his voice broke my resolve and before I could stop myself, I gave him what he wanted.
"Kova," I said, in an uncomfortable sigh, "I don't have the strength to carry bags of ice up to my condo, okay? Or to prepare a bath. There. I said it. Hayden helped me the last time, and I have no doubt that he'd help me now if I asked. But seeing as he already knows so much about what happened between us, I really do not want to call him for anything."
He looked at me completely flabbergasted, and I almost laughed. I continued, "Truthfully, I'm in worse shape right now than when he helped the first time. I didn't expect this today, and something in my gut says you didn't either." He tilted his head down and scratched the back of his neck. "The thought of driving to the store, buying ice, walking to my car, driving to my condo, bringing it upstairs, and filling my tub is just tiring to think about. I don't want to do it. I'm one hundred percent depleted, I've never felt like this. I swear you made me work muscles I didn't even know I had. All I want to do is face plant on my bed and go to sleep." I took a deep breath. "Happy? Now you know. And don't give me that look. I can handle the work you dish out."
The silence between us brewed into palpable tension. I knew Kova by now. At least, I'd like to think I did. I knew when I pushed his buttons. I knew when he was frustrated with me in the gym. I knew when he was pleased with me, even though he'd never admit it. I could even tell when he was fighting with Katja.
But this Kova…the one standing eerily still in front of me, was a new side of Kova I'd yet to see. One I'd have to add to my list of Kovas I'd met. Frustrated was an understatement. More along the lines of he wanted to rip my head off with his bare hands and feed my limbs to the gators along Alligator Alley right outside.
"You know, for someone who is so determined to be the best, who wants to go all the way to the Olympics that so few have the ability to actually do, someone who has the gall to stride into my office and demand what she wants and will not take no for an answer, you can be so incredibly stubborn and dumb. Blatant stupidity standing in front of me." He spat the words out like little daggers. The vein in his neck protruded and pulsed with each passing second. "This is when I question if you truly want it, because if you did, you would show me, not just in the gym, but outside of it as well. You would show me that you are responsible. You would ask for help and not care about your pride." He clenched his jaw and sighed deeply, exhaling through his nose. "I do not understand you, Adrianna. You tell me what you want, you get it; but when you need assistance with something outside of the gym, you do not ask." He shook his head. Hurt filled his eyes, warring with the profound anger written all over his face, and it pierced my heart. "I told you I am here for you. Take what you need from me, Ria."
The wrath radiating off Kova was impossible to ignore, but so was the troubled look in his eyes. He was worried. I stood a little taller, speechless, resenting him for the truth in his words. He worked me like I demanded and I retreated on my promise when I said I wouldn't. He had every right to be angry with me.
"Are you just going to stand there and say nothing?" Kova asked, crestfallen.
I shrugged helplessly. "What do you want me to say? That you're right and I'm wrong? Fine, Kova. You're right. You're always right. My ego stood in the way today. I didn't want to show weakness because I got exactly what I asked for and then some. I was afraid if I did then you would think I couldn't handle it. I wasn't expecting not to be able to walk. Push came to shove, and I acted on impulse and bit off more than I could chew."
Without hesitation, Kova reached down and scooped me up into his arms.
"What… What are you doing?" I slapped his shoulder as he bent down to grab my bag before heading toward the front door. "Put me down."
"You were right—I worked you too hard. I was cross earlier and took it out on you. Believe me, I know you can handle what I dish out, but no one would be able to do what you did today and walk out skipping. I was being a dick."
I threw my hands up dramatically. "There is a god! I'm so glad you recognized your dickness for the first time in your life. I feel like we should have a moment of silence."
"Dickness?" he repeated like it was a bad taste. "Sometimes I do not understand you Americans and your choice of words. You make sayings up as you go."
I laughed. "Yes, your default personality is a dick. It means you can be an angry Russian asshole sometimes."
He side-eyed me. He knew I was right based on that look alone. "I swear, your goal since coming here is to aggravate me as much as you can. Why are all women the same? Every one of you females are born with a brazen tongue us men want to cut out. "
"Oh, so you expect us to just allow you to speak any which way you want and we take it? Typical man." I patted his chest. "Put me down."
He ignored me and kept walking.
"You know, this is why I sometimes call you Captain Dickhead in my head."
He feigned a grimace, and I smiled from ear to ear. He wouldn't stay mad at me for long. "Put me down. I'm capable of walking to my car."
"We are not going to your car, we are going to mine. I will pick up your slack today," he mumbled under his breath.
"Pick up my slack today? This is your fault, Kova. You just admitted it. Jesus Christ. Just put me down."
Kova pushed the door open with his back and carried me to his car. He opened the passenger door and carefully deposited me onto the seat. Within minutes, we were on the road.
