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“Well, you should,” Hayk said, threading his fingers through mine as our hands joined under the water.
We were in too close quarters for Hayk’s sweet comments to go unnoticed, and as soon as my friends heard them, the mood changed entirely.
“Aaw,” Jace teased me with a sound of mock sentimentality. “Our Anton has found someone at last.”
“Shut up, asshole,” I growled, borrowing Peter’s pet name for him.
Jace laughed, and Lefric and Sebald laughed along with him. Gennadi twisted to send Jace a quelling look and shook his head. Jace responded to that by splashing Gennadi, and within seconds, we all went from being serious young men—and Billie—deciding the fate of the frontier to silly, ridiculous friends with too much nervous energy that needed burning off.
Even I participated in the splashing fight that followed, and honestly, it felt good. It reminded me that I wasn’t alone, I was a Son of the Cities. We were friends, and we would be for life.
But even more than that, as Hayk joined in the play fighting, groping and kissing me as much as he splashed me, I felt energized with hope. Stranger things had happened than two people finding each other by random happenstance but knowing they were meant for each other. Hayk could be the one for me.
But how did I discover that without leaving my heart open to be destroyed? And even worse, what did I do if it really was love?
ChapterTen
We enjoyed ourselves in the pool for another half hour before my stomach reminded me that I’d missed lunch.
“I missed it too,” Hayk said as we all climbed out of the water and grabbed towels from the shelves along one wall. “Why don’t we see if we can find the kitchens to get ourselves something to eat? We can catch up with the others later.”
My breath caught. Was Hayk just saying that so we could be alone together again?
“The notebook is up in my and Oly’s room,” Lefric said, either missing or ignoring Hayk’s attempts to sneak off with me. “It’s just down the hall from your room,” he told me.
“I guess we’ll meet you there, then,” I said.
“Don’t take too long,” Jace said with a lascivious wink, nudging my arm as we all dressed.
I flushed hot, wondering if I should tell him there was no need to hint at it, Hayk and I had already fucked.
Then again, it was Jace. He probably knew.
As it happened, the kitchens for the entire estate were in the same building as the bathing pool. Everyone else headed out to cross over to Olympus’s house, but Hayk and I wandered just a few yards down the hall and around a corner until we found ourselves in a the most massive kitchen I’d ever seen.
Lord Vikhrov’s staff was more than happy to provide us with a feast of leftover food taken from cold storage cupboards and from one of several pantries. They even set us up at a small table in a pretty courtyard at the back of the building that I gathered was used by the servants when they took their meals. It was lovely of them, considering how agitated they all were, between the lockdown and Eneko’s murder.
“You must think I’m weak for wanting to let Dmitri go free,” I said as Hayk and I sat down to eat. “Especially after what he did to you.”
I just wanted to get the awful truth out into the open so I could have my disappointment up front, then move on.
“Why would I think that?” Hayk asked, blinking. He clearly saw my surprise, because he went straight on with, “First of all, I’ve had much, much worse than that done to me. But more importantly, there’s a difference between being merciful because you value life and being weak. In fact, I think it took far more courage to advocate in Dmitri’s favor, knowing some of your friends wouldn’t approve.”
I hadn’t thought of it like that. And I didn’t want to think about worse things than being brutally throat-fucked happening to Hayk.
“I just want you to like me,” I blurted before I realized my thoughts were about to come out.
Immediately, I blushed and looked away, feeling stupid.
“People don’t like me,” I went on, mumbling. “I mean, I know the Sons do, but I feel like they’ve all moved on without me. They’re all doing something important with their lives and I’m just….” I didn’t know how to finish.
Hayk reached across the table and rested his hand over mine. “Anton,” he said in a serious voice, though his eyes were soft with affection when I grudgingly peeked at him. “I like you,” he said. “Very much. Your friends like you too. And you’re young. Your friends are extraordinary. Most men our age don’t know what they want to do with themselves either. I certainly don’t.”
I frowned. “You’re a whore.”
He laughed. “And you think I want to be a whore for the rest of my life?”
I lowered my head even more. “Of course not.”
