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“Well, since I’m your favorite now, I guess I can oblige.”
As he walked us to the house, I said, “I must take advantage of this while I can. If you actually start dating Tori, I won’t be able to do this anymore.” I hugged his neck a little tighter.
“You can do this no matter what, sestrichka,” he said patting my leg.
I sighed, “We’ll see, Bubba. We’ll see.”
Once we got back to the house, we went to the kitchen and I started to rummage through the refrigerator to look for ideas to cook for dinner. As I was looking through the extra-large refrigerator, Andrei was laying down the ground rules for the evening.
“You must stay within my sight. You’re my responsibility, so you must stay in the kitchen where I can see you.”
“I promise I will follow the rules while giving you two as much distance as I can. Don’t worry about me,” I said while opening a drawer full of knives. I waved my hand over the top of the drawer, “I’ve got weapons and I know how to use them.”
He chuckled. “That’s my girl,” he said, holding his palm up for a high five. I smacked his palm and went back to looking through the kitchen.
Tori walked into the kitchen shortly after. They exchanged pleasantries and walked into the next room, Andrei positioning himself on one of the couches so he could still see me while Tori timidly sat down next to him.
I busied myself working on dinner, trying not to watch them the whole time. I would glance into the room every now and then. Every time I did, Andrei was smiling. His gaze would switch between Tori and me frequently. I did feel bad for Tori. This wasn’t exactly fair to her that he had to pay attention to me while he should be paying attention to her. At least it seemed like it was going well. He’s managed to speak to her, so that’s progress.
I was in my own little world, working on dinner, humming to myself, sometimes dancing to a tune in my head, but mostly really trying to listen to what was being said in the next room while not being obvious about it. She hadn’t slapped him and stormed out of the room yet, so I was taking that as a good sign. I turned around to wash a knife in the sink, glancing in the direction of the front of the house.
Adrik was leaning against the doorway to the kitchen, still out of sight of Andrei. I immediately grinned at him. I quickly glanced at Andrei, who was now fully paying attention to something Tori was saying. I motioned for Adrik to be quiet, but to look toward the back room. Just then, the rest of the boys walked in behind Adrik. I motioned for all of them to be quiet and to look toward Andrei and Tori.
They each quietly peeked around the corner to spy on Andrei. There was discussion amongst them, but it was quiet enough that I couldn’t hear it.
Adrik, smirking, pointed to me and then pointed in front of him, signaling me to come to him. With one quick glance toward Andrei, who still wasn’t paying attention to me, I ran quickly to Adrik’s open arms. As soon as I was with him, they all dispersed and hid in various places. Adrik pulled me with him, his finger over his mouth to keep me quiet. He took me to a spot under the giant staircase in the entryway. He pressed me to the wall, his body pressed against mine. He whispered, “I’ve been waiting to do this,” as he pressed his lips to mine. “But first we must scare Andrei.”
“Don’t be mad at him,” I whispered back. “It was all my idea. Technically I put him up to this, because Lord knows he never would’ve made a move without me.”
He smiled at me. “I’m not mad, solnishko. The opposite, really. But he doesn’t need to know that right now.”
My smile grew wide. I loved seeing this impish side of him. I couldn’t help but think back to what Tori had said about him earlier. This was clearly not a man who had anger issues. I was happy I got to see this side of him.
We heard Andrei in the kitchen, calling for me. He cursed and yelled my name again. When he walked toward the front of the house, the other guys came out from their hiding places as he walked past them. We could hear them all jump on him, poor Andrei yelling and cursing each one of them.
Adrik stayed pressed up against me, his eyes never leaving my face. I looked in his eyes, still expecting to see a change. He raised his eyebrow and asked, “Why do you look confused, solnishko?”
I looked down, not realizing I had given myself away. I felt my cheeks blush. “It’s nothing.”
He clicked his tongue, but let it drop. He leaned down and pressed his lips to mine. The guys were laughing now, “Come, we will witness the aftermath of the carnage.”
“Ohhh, I love good carnage in the evening,” I said, clapping my hands.
When we appeared from our hiding spot, Andrei’s face was so red I was worried he was going to have a heart attack. He caught sight of me, “You’re going to be the death of me!”
I tried to look as innocent as possible. “Tomorrow is never promised, Bubba. You have to seize the opportunities when they arise,” I grinned at him.
The other guys all laughed, walking back toward the kitchen. Andrei looked toward Adrik, still worried he was in trouble. Adrik held his hand up saying, “She already told me she basically forced you to do it. You were fighting a losing battle.” He patted Andrei on his shoulder. “Go. All is well.”
Andrei exhaled and smiled at me, before turning to quickly return to Tori. I turned to Adrik. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For not yelling at him.” I paused, then added, “for coming back to me…and for not looking at me differently.”
He closed the short distance between us and held me close. “Why would I ever look differently at you, Persephone?”
I caught my breath. He was really the only one that ever used my full name, and I loved the way it sounded rolling off his tongue. I looked at him, somewhat sheepishly. “It happens almost every time someone finds out about…you know, my scars.”
