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I walked back to her, waiting on the food to warm up still. “I don’t know if that’s fair. Sephie can cook when she wants to. Not because she has to.” I kissed her temple, pulling her close to me again.
She shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t mind. I like to cook.”
“We like when you cook,” Ivan said, smiling at her.
We talked a little more as she and I ate. The guys were right. It was definitely better than anything Tori had ever made us. Maybe I was okay with Viktor dragging his feet a little bit.
Sephie looked at Ivan, a serious look on her face. “You haven’t slept yet, have you?”
He looked down, but shook his head no. She clicked her tongue, walking to him. She slid her arm across his shoulders, resting her chin on his good shoulder. He was so tall that she barely needed to bend over, even when he was sitting at the counter. “Your body needs rest, Squishy. You’re still trying to catch up from losing so much blood and you’re just going to make it harder on yourself if you don’t sleep. Your body can’t do both at the same time. It can’t recover and try to keep you going for days on end. You’re going to crash.”
He sighed. She was right, but I could clearly see the worry on his face when he thought about sleep. She leaned over and whispered something in his ear that I couldn’t hear. He smiled, but once again shook his head no. She thought for a moment, her chin still resting on his shoulder. She stood up suddenly. “I have an idea. Be right back.” She walked toward the guys’ rooms. We heard her knock on a door, but couldn’t tell whose door she knocked on. We could hear hushed voices, but that was it. She returned with a phone in her hand. She grabbed Ivan’s good arm and pulled him toward his room.
I shook my head as I cleaned up the rest of the kitchen while I waited for her to return. While she was gone, I looked through the cabinets, hoping to find the same kind of tea she had made herself at the penthouse. I didn’t think triple strength was necessary this time, but I figured it might help. As luck would have it, I found a box of the very same tea.
I had just put the tea bag in the hot water when she returned to the kitchen, without Ivan. I looked at her, my eyebrow raised, hoping she would let me in on her plan. As she got to me, I handed her the tea. “Drink this.”
She took it from me, but stopped to inspect it first. “It’s not triple strength, is it?”
I laughed. “Single strength only. But I think you could use a little extra help tonight.” She sipped it, smiling at me over the mug. “Are you going to tell me what you just did to Ivan?”
“Ivan got stuck in his darkness much the same way I did on the plane, I think. Anytime I was quiet for too long, he would start fighting again. I remembered that Misha had recorded me playing at the piano gallery, so I asked if I could borrow his phone so Ivan could listen to that while he slept. That way he’d know that I was always there. I turned it on and stayed with him for a few minutes. He’s so exhausted that he was asleep in like two minutes.”
I walked to her, brushing a curl from her face. “That’s a brilliant plan, solnishko. I was beginning to worry I would have to spend another night away from you, just so Ivan could sleep.”
She cut her eyes at me as she took another sip of tea. “I’m hoping this will satisfy all parties involved.”
Sometime in the middle of the night, Misha came into the bedroom. Sephie was asleep, across my chest as usual. Misha urgently shook me to wake me. “Boss, wake up. We need Sephie.” I moved to sit up, which woke Sephie up.
“What’s going on?” she asked, still half asleep.
“Sephie, we need you. Ivan…” He didn’t even finish and she was out of the bed, on her way to the door. She didn’t even stop to put pants on. Good thing my shirts are so big on her. I got up to follow them.
She ran to Ivan’s room. Ivan was struggling, with Viktor and Stephen trying to hold him down. He clearly wasn’t completely with it, or he would’ve known he was fighting Viktor and Stephen and not the demons of his past.
Sephie didn’t hesitate. She ran to him, getting in between Viktor and Ivan. She placed both her hands on his chest, pushing him down. “Ivan, I’m here. You’re fine, Squishy.” As soon as he heard her voice and felt her touch, he collapsed on the bed. She leaned over to his ear, whispering to him. He sighed and we all watched his body relax.
Viktor looked at me. “See, Boss. Never seen anything like it. We all know how difficult it is to break him out of his own head when he’s like this. She does it instantly.”
She looked over her shoulder at him, smiling at him, but still talking in Ivan’s ear. She kept one hand on Ivan and reached over to the table next to his bed. She picked up Misha’s phone, holding it in the air for him to take. “I drained your battery, Misha. I’m sorry.”
He took his phone from her. “It’s okay, gazelle. That must’ve been what started this. He was quiet until just a few minutes ago and we all heard him yell. Viktor and I rushed to check on him and Stephen heard us trying to keep him from hurting his arm again.”
“Andrei’s still asleep, then?” she asked.
“Yeah, pain meds knock him completely out. He’s dead to the world when he takes those things,” Misha said.
“Good,” she said. She still had her hand on Ivan’s chest as she talked to Misha. Ivan was clearly still asleep, but he reached up and grabbed her hand, holding it in his. She smiled, turning back to him, whispering something to him. He took in a deep breath, his body completely relaxed. She looked back to all of us. “You can go back to sleep now. He’s fine,” she said to everyone. She looked at Misha, “Thank you for coming to get me.”
“You’re the only one that can calm him,” he said. “We would still be fighting him. He’s gone for hours like that before.”
She had a pained look on her face. “It’s not my story to tell, but he has good reason to act this way.”
Misha leaned over and kissed the top of her head. “We’re just glad you can save him, gazelle.” He walked out of the room. Viktor walked over and kissed the top of her head as well. “Thank you, Sephie,” he said as he left the room. Stephen had quietly slipped out as well.
I walked to her, not sure of what to do now. She looked at me, clearly not sure of what to do either. “I can’t leave him or he’ll start struggling again.”
“I know, love. I know. I do, however, wish you would’ve put pants on before running down here,” I said, grinning at her.
