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I was practically floating on air the rest of the day. Ivan dropped me off at my class, vigilantly inspecting the campus, the building and even my classroom. After a moment, he pulled me to him and gave me a hard kiss on the mouth. He made me promise to be careful and contact him if anything out of the ordinary or suspicious happened, then left.
I got out of class early and waited in front of the building, as instructed by Ivan, for Hannah and presumably Nikolai to show up. I was relieved that Hannah could meet me earlier than we originally planned. I was dying to talk to her about what happened last night, but less excited to have to share it with Nikolai also listening. Maybe he could sit a table away from us?
I’d invited Delaney to join us as well, but fortunately, her class got out a little later. That would give me time to update Hannah on Ivan.
Delaney wouldn’t be as shocked by the notion of us having sex since she thought we were dating and probably assumed we’d had sex long ago. Fortunately, she’d totally bought the fumigation story and was completely grossed out by the idea of a mouse in our room, which is what I ended up telling her.
“Hey!” Hannah said as she walked up to me, jerking me out of my thoughts. She looked amazing, as usual. It was hard to believe this is the same girl who would dress in oversized glasses and baggy sweatshirts.
She was in skinny jeans, sandals. and a red embroidered, bohemian style blouse. Long, dark hair that was so similar to mine was pulled up into a ponytail, a beautiful contrast to her vivid dark-blue eyes.
Our eye color had always been a mystery to me, considering my eyes were blue with gold flecks, Hannah’s were more indigo, and my mother’s were brown. Any time I remarked on it, my mother just brushed me aside, laughing about my interest in genetics.
“Hey!” I replied, pulling her into a quick hug. “How are you doing? I can’t believe we’ve seen so little of each other.”’
“I know,” Hannah replied ruefully. “It’s ridiculous, but I needed to get myself organized the first couple of weeks. I have some killer classes this semester.”
“No worries. Where’s Nikolai?” I asked as we walked toward the cafe, somewhat shocked not to see him with her. Even if he wasn’t going to hang out with us, he tended to escort Hannah everywhere. I often thought it was way too much, but after all this stuff with Ivan, I could see the appeal of having a hot, protective guy on your arm all the time.
“Oh, he had to meet with Drago about something.”
“Drago? Is he getting into all that, you know, mob stuff?” I asked, whispering the last part.
Hannah shook her head, her ponytail swinging. “Oh, no, nothing like that. I think it might have something to do with Yuri, but I can’t imagine what. He’ll tell me when he gets back.”
I frowned. “It’s so hard to imagine Nikolai, like, sharing his feelings. He seems so…self-contained.”
Hannah nodded. “I will admit, that stuff is hard for him, even to this day, but he eventually tells me everything. When he doesn’t, it’s like I can feel it. Like whatever he’s worried about, or freaking out about, is a physical presence in the room. Eventually he tells me, or I bug him until he does.”
I looked at her and shook my head. “You sound like a pit bull.”
She laughed. “That’s fairly accurate. You have to be with a guy like Nikolai. He spent his whole life bottling things up, so sharing is not an easy or natural act for him. He needs to be encouraged, cajoled, or bullied.”
I snorted. “I need to take classes from you. Please, Yoda, teach me your ways.”
She laughed. “I assume you’re talking about Ivan. What is going on with you guys?”
“I slept with him last night,” I blurted out loud enough to look around and see if anyone heard me.
Hannah’s eyes bugged out. “What? How did that happen? I thought he was acting all distant and jerky after you guys hooked up after the frat party?”
“I know, he was. I have a lot to fill you in on.”
“I guess so. Holy shit, Emmy! Are you okay? Was he a jerk afterward? Did you use protection?” Hannah asked questions like rounds out of a machine gun.
“Oh my god, at least let me get a cup of coffee before I answer all that,” I said laughingly as we walked into a cafe on campus.
Hannah snorted. “Fair enough. I’m just shocked. Ivan seemed so resistant. To have him make this kind of move makes me…nervous.”
We ordered a couple of coffees and muffins and grabbed a seat near a bay of windows. After we sat down, I filled her in on everything that happened, including the letter that Orlov left in the room.
“So, you’re, like, living with Ivan now?” Hannah asked, her eyes bugging out.
I shrugged, not really sure what was going on. “I’m not sure if that’s what’s still going on. I was kind of afraid to ask too many questions this morning. Ivan’s moods are unpredictable and considering how he reacted to the frat hook up, I was a little nervous to rock the boat,” I said, wincing as I heard myself admit that I was afraid to communicate directly to Ivan.
Hannah reached out and grabbed my arm. “Don’t beat yourself up about tiptoeing around Ivan, Em. Relationship stuff is hard, you’re just figuring it out. It seems like he’s just figuring it out, too. You both deserve time to adjust.”
I felt a rush of love and gratitude for my sister. We haven’t always been great about confiding in each other in the past, but it gave me such comfort to know I could always turn to her. “Thank you. It’s so hard to navigate this thing—between knowing what I should tolerate from him and when I should push.”
