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“Please.” I feel tears starting to build behind my closed eyelids. “I can’t lose you; I can’t do it.”
The bed dips beside me and warm fingers trail along my brow.
“You’re not losing me,moy malen’kiy voin, now go to sleep.” His bossiness wraps around me. It actually brings me comfort. I’m losing my mind.
“I don’t want to hurt anymore.” I turn to my side, still keeping my eyes closed so nothing spins.
His lips press against my temple. “I know,moy malen’kiy voin, I know,” his whisper washes over my face.
I have to fight this. I have to.
“No. No more fighting me. Sleep now. We’ll fix everything in the morning. Sleep.” He kisses my forehead again. And as much as I want to open my eyes, I can’t. With his hand caressing my cheek, I drift right off to sleep.
Maxim
She’sawake but pretending to be asleep. That’s fine, I can wait. I’ve been stupid enough to wait this long, another few minutes isn’t going to kill me.
“Are you going to just stare at me like that all day?” she asks.
“Depends—are you going to pretend to sleep all day?”
Her eyelids flutter open, and she slowly sits up. Her hair is all over the place. She’s a fitful sleeper when she’s been drinking. Makeup is smeared all across her cheek.
“You stayed.” She rubs her eyes.
“Of course I did. Drink some water.” I point to the glass I put on her bedside table.
“You’re back to being bossy,” she mutters but grabs the glass and downs a good portion of it.
“I am.” I lean back in the chair I pulled into her room from the kitchen. “And it’s only going to get worse from here,” I warn her.
“Oh?” She huffs a laugh, like she doesn’t believe me.
“You’re going to forgive me.”
“Forgive you?” Her eyes open wide and raise to mine. “You can’t just order someone to forgive you. Besides, you did exactly as you promised.”
I shake my head. “You were grieving. I shouldn’t have let you go when you were hurting so much. That won’t happen again.”
“Maxim.” She breathes out my name like she’s exhausted by it. “How’d you know where I was last night? And last week at the halfway house?” She tilts her head.
“There’s still a tracker on your phone.”
“You’ve been watching me this whole time?”
I nod. “I wanted to be sure you were safe.”
She stares at me for what feels like a full minute, but I’m sure is only a breath.
“You never left me.” She looks down at her hands in her lap. “Natalie said she saw you at the funeral.” She looks up again, unshed tears in her eyes. “You never really left me, did you?”
“I tried to. I wanted to respect your decision, but…” I clear my throat. “I love you, Mandy. And I’m not willing to let you go because I know you love me too. And I know everything happened between us during a really crappy time in your life, and you’re grieving for your brother, and my association with the Romanovs might make things harder for us, but I’m not leaving you. I’m not letting you move on alone.” I move to the side of the bed. “Because I love you and you love me.”
I catch a tear with my thumb and wipe it away.
“You’re so arrogant.” She grabs my wrist. “I shouldn’t have shut you out like that.”
“I shouldn’t have allowed it,” I counter.
