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When we’re in my Camaro, Vitaly laughs. “How many people are you going to make shit themselves today? Because you’re on a fucking roll, brother.”
“I know how easy it is to lose your temper, and Konstantin wants a quick death. He’ll tell them whatever he thinks will earn him a quick bullet to the head.”
“True, but Timofey’s in charge, and nothing gets under that man’s skin. They’re yours to kill,” he reassures me. “No one’s going to take this from you.”
I nod at our men who are now manning the gate outside the Lebedev property and speed down the road, anxious to get back to Alina. I know she’s safe and that my brothers would never let anything happen to her, but I’d heard the anxiety in her voice. I feel it insidemyself, too. If I can’t see her or touch her, it makes me nervous. It’s not healthy, but I’m not sure how to stop it.
I’m so focused on getting back to her as quickly as possible that it takes me a second to realize Vitaly’s asking me a question.
“What?”
“I said we should stop and grab some supper.” He points out the window at the restaurant up ahead, and my first instinct is to shake my head because I don’t want to take the time to do it, but then he says, “She needs to eat, man, and you know how much she loves chicken fingers.”
He’s not wrong, so with a frustrated sigh, I pull into the drive-thru and get behind a large truck. Tapping my fingers against the steering wheel, I glance at the clock, worrying that everything is taking too damn long. When we’re finally at the menu, I place a ridiculously large order because Vitaly keeps talking over me and adding new things onto the list.
“Add one more fucking thing,” I warn him.
He smirks at me, giving a soft laugh when he sees how pissed I’m getting, and then hollers, “Ten chocolate chip cookies!”
He’s still laughing when I gun the engine and pull up to the first window to hand over my card.
“Come on, brother. You have to admit that was funny, and you should be thanking me. If we show up without chocolate chip cookies, the pregnant women will circle us and go in for the kill. You don’t fuck around with chocolate, and my wife’s cravings have been strong. Here.” He puts a straw in one of the drinks and hands it to me. “You’ll feel better once you have some root beer. I think your blood sugar is low. That tends to make people grumpy. That’s why I try to snack every couple of hours.”
“Is that why?” I take the drink he offers, not admitting that it tastes fucking delicious and hits the damn spot.
He laughs like he can read my mind and steals one of the chicken fingers out of the bag so he can nibble on it for the last bit of the drive. It takes both of us juggling several bags and drinks to get everything up tothe penthouse, and as soon as I set it down on the kitchen island, I go searching for Alina. I find her sitting on the couch in the game room with Lev and Jolene. She’s holding a remote, but when she hears me, she loosens her grip on it and looks over. When her eyes meet mine, her shoulders relax and her eyes soften. I can see the relief washing over her, and in seconds I’ve crossed the room and pulled her into my arms. Burying my nose in her hair, I breathe her in, letting the familiar scent calm me.
“I’m here, baby,” I whisper.
I feel her nod as her arms tighten around me. I look up in time to meet Lev’s eyes before he and Jolene walk out of the room, leaving us alone.
“I’m sorry. I swore I wasn’t going to be weak or needy.”
I cup her face and tilt her head so I can see her. “You could never be weak or needy, and I missed you just as much as you missed me.”
“I don’t want you to feel like you can’t leave the apartment, like you have to babysit me or like I’m a burden.”
I kiss the skin between her eyebrows where she’s furrowing it in worry and smile at her. “I could never think of you as a burden, and you have no idea how badly I want you to always be next to me.”
“Is it weird that I missed you this much when you weren’t even gone that long?”
“Is it weird that I only felt like I could breathe again when I saw you in front of me?”
I run my thumb over her cheek, and she gives me a soft smile. “We’re quite the fucked-up pair, Matvey.”
“We are, baby, but to me you’ll always be perfect.” She leans into my touch, pressing my scarred palm against her soft skin. “Vitaly and I brought back food.”
She sighs at the mention of another meal. “I feel like I just ate.”
“It’s been hours,” I remind her. “And it’s chicken fingers. I even ordered you curly fries.” She musters up a small smile for me, but I vividly remember every detail of those damn drawings. The way she’dbeen chained naked to the fucking table, a plate of food on the floor just out of reach, is something I’ll never get out of my head.
“Want me to fix us a couple of plates and bring it to our room?”
She lets out a sigh of relief and nods while keeping my palm pressed firmly against her skin. “Do you think they’ll mind?”
“Not at all, baby. Everyone understands how hard this is for you.” I kiss her forehead and take a step back. “I’ll get the food and meet you in there.”
When I run back upstairs, the others are already sitting at the table and digging into their food. Katya’s decided to go the dessert-first route. She smiles and holds up the last few bites of her cookie.
