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Chapter seventeen
RHYS
They hadn’t been joking about showing up at 8 am the next morning, all three of them gutting my kitchen as Paval ran around my living room using his crayons as imaginary swords. He didn’t resemble the same kid from yesterday but I wasn’t complaining. Paval was enjoying his five-year-old self and I was loving the absence of silence in my house.
Gianni had shown up with a dozen assorted pastries and enough coffee to jack a racehorse. I had happily obliged, stuffing half a cheese danish into my mouth at the same time all three of them burst out laughing. When I had questioned it, horrified that something was wrong, Gianni quickly corrected those thoughts.
Seeing that kind of happiness on your face is everything, Rhys,he had said.
I retreated to my office anyway, dragging Paval with me to make sure he stayed out of the kitchen. I was a little confused about how I got roped into babysitting but it felt normal. Domestic.Nice.Between all the little kisses and touches before I retreated and Paval happily drawing in his notebook while he sprawled out on my couch, it almost felt like this could be my new reality.
If it wasn’t for the fact that the kitchen renovation felt like it was the result of something else entirely. Why had Owen been so adamant to take care of it? He had been so sure Valentyn and I weren’t dating, not because of any warped obsession but because it seemed like there was a different connection between Kolas Renovations and the kitchen project that was currently underway. Not to mention that Owen had apparently dropped a deposit. With Gia’s bomb yesterday, things were starting to fit together.
I took a deep breath and reached for Fibo in my pocket out of habit but realized I didn’t need it. For once, I was okay.
A knock on my door pulled me out of the algorithm I had been playing with for the better part of an hour, not annoyed like I usually was when Owen appeared in the doorway. Gianni leaned against the archway, his attention focused on their kid before he looked over me. “We’re ordering lunch. Want something?”
I shook my head. “I’ll just get something from the fridge,” I mumbled. I didn’t want to be a bother and I already felt weird stuffing my face with sugar in front of them. Owen had always told me that I was spiraling when I did shit like that and while I knew these men weren’t anything like him, I couldn’t shake the feeling.
“Babe, I looked in there and you don’t really have shit other than pastries and alcohol.” There was no judgment in his words. “Come on, Dmitri’s putting in the order.”
I opened my mouth to protest again when Gianni ushered Paval to head down the hall and then all but dragged me toward the kitchen. Barefoot, a little underdressed, and clutching my pen against my chest, I stood in front of Valentyn and Dmitri with Gianni at my back. His hands fell to my shoulders, massaging lightly before gesturing to the menu in Dmitri’s hands.
Paval had crawled up Dmitri’s side, giggling at one of the entrees before gesturing me to come forward. This whole thing felt a little odd, like this wasn’t the first time we had done this and it scared me how easy it was. The heat against my back though made it hard to concentrate on what I wanted. I pointed to two things—a large entrée of sesame chicken and those sugar donuts that were just dough and a bag of sugar—, Dmitri pulling out his phone to place the order.
Valentyn stepped up in front of me, pinching my chin between his fingers. “Why do you look so worried, Rhys?” I trembled at the command in his eyes. Gianni nuzzled his nose against the back of my neck, pushing me to answer the question.
“The order was okay?”
“Why wouldn’t it be?” Valentyn asked, tilting my chin just enough for our eyes to meet.
Dmitri hung up before returning to my side, frowning at the conversation taking place. Paval had his head resting on Dmitri’s shoulder, eyes closed, not a care in the world. “Did someone make you think what you love and enjoy isn’t okay? I saw the way you flinched at breakfast too. Was it Owen?”
I didn’t answer that, but I didn’t have to. They all seemed to just understand it. The silence morphed into something uncomfortable as I fiddled with my hands, debating on whether to return to my office or find a place in the living room with Paval. However, Dmitri seemed to have that covered, Gianni offering to pick up the food moments later.
Instinctively, I moved toward the door, unsure if I wanted to stay in my house with two men that I wanted but didn’t really know yet. Gianni grinned at my attempted escape, placing a gentle hand on my chest. “As much as I’d love a partner, babe, I think Valentyn would love to have a few words with you.”
My eyes went wide, my entire body stiffening from fear. “About what?” I hissed.
“Hey, deep breaths. The kitchen renovation and maybe also about that night and the… offer I proposed.” He threw me a wink as if that was supposed to help calm my nerves. It didn’t. “He won’teatyou. Well, unless you ask him. You don’t have to stay.”
“I’ll… I’ll stay.”
“Good boy,” he whispered before slipping out the door, my cheeks heating up with those two words. He didn’t use that phrase often but it made my dick twitch and I knew that if the same words fell from Valentyn or Dmitri’s lips, I’d be a goner.
The door fell shut, the silence of the room returning as I realized who I had been left with. Strangely, I felt safe but still wary of what was going to happen now that we were going to have ‘the talk’. A squeak fell from my lips as Valentyn called my name, my head bowed as I approached. “Shit, Rhys, I’m not going to hurt you.” When I cringed, a growl rumbled through his chest before he cut it short. “Sorry.”
I didn’t miss the ‘I’ll rip him six ways from Sunday’ that tumbled from his lips before he gestured me into the kitchen. Dmitri was leaning against the fridge again, Paval passed out on his chest. For the second time since I had met the kid, he actually resembled the 5-year-old that he was, his mess of curls drooped over his face and one of his hands firmly secured around Dmitri’s ear lobe.
The dangerous aura that surrounded them—Gianni included, if I was honest with myself—seemed to dim the longer that I saw Paval between them. Although, Ada’s rough edges hadn’t softened with Tia’s arrival. She was still, very much, a bitch. Valentyn let out a deep sigh as he waited for me to come a little closer, his intense gaze making me shiver with a mixture of intrigue and need.
“We spoke a little before about the renovation for the kitchen, Rhys but I think it’s time to really get down to the basics, yeah?” I nodded and he continued. This felt oddly like an interrogation all of a sudden. “Was it really for the kitchen?”
“What?” I frowned and looked between the both of them, wondering what they were insinuating. “I think so? Owen scheduled it and now that I know he paid half upfront, I think that’s why he was here last night but I don’t-”
Valentyn cut me off. “So, you had no idea how extensive the job was supposed to be?”
My frown deepened because it seemed like there was a double meaning to his words. Something wasn’t adding up, both of them anticipating an answer that I didn’t truly know the question to. “Um, I… it… I told Owen we didn’t have the money. It fell off my radar and I meant to cancel but then it was you and Gianni and I-” I trailed off as I ran a hand through my hair, the other one stuffed in my pocket as I traced my favorite swirls. Fibo to the rescue. After a deep breath, I started again. “What are you really asking?”
