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“I thought they did an okay job getting Andy?” I asked, somewhat confused.
“They did. Apparently when you add women, Mike turns into an asshole. Sephie had to check him again when he got a little too harsh with Giana,” Viktor said.
“Tomorrow is going to be a very hard day for him,” Sephie said, leaning into me. She held onto my arm as I stretched it across her lap, leaning her head onto my shoulder.
“Bad day for him, but a good day for the rest of us,” Misha said, grinning at her.
“What happened?” Ivan asked, curious.
“Giana is used to you guys at this point. You know what you’re doing and you kind of guide those of us that are mostly clueless along without saying anything and usually without us even realizing you’re doing it. You’re all very good at your jobs, which means you can quietly do your jobs. Mike is not that way. He yelled at Giana for going the wrong way, so I yelled at him. It was completely unnecessary and now she’s scared of him even more than she’s scared of you guys,” Sephie said.
Ivan cursed under his breath. “Tomorrow is indeed going to be rough for him.”
Sephie was awake bright and early on Monday morning. She woke up before the sun even really started to rise. I felt her stir, moving off my chest. She stretched next to me, her joints popping like normal. I rolled over, wrapping my arms around her and burying my face in her neck.
“You’re up early, my love,” I said.
She turned toward me, draping her leg over mine, her hand running lightly over my back. “Yeah, I can’t sleep anymore. My brain won’t stop.”
“You’re still worried about Mike?” I asked. I moved so that I could look at her.
“Yes, but not just him. I just keep thinking about everything happening, really. I’m even worried for Trino now that we know just how sick Massimo really is.” Her fingers started to lightly play with my facial hair.
I laughed. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to skip telling him that. He told me he was going to steal you yesterday. I don’t want to give him any more hope that you can learn to love Colombian men.” She looked at me wide-eyed, her fingers frozen in place. “I told him I’d like to see him try,” I said, grinning at her.
“He was kidding though, right? Please tell me he was kidding,” she said. I could feel the faint shaking in her leg start as she thought about the possibility of having to worry about Trino coming for her as well.
“He was kidding, Sephie. He would never. He was laughing when he said it. He’s made it clear that he’s fascinated by you, but he has too much respect for me to try anything. And besides, you’ve seen Trino. You could snap him in two without breaking a sweat. He’s the last person you need to be worried about.” I wrapped my arms around her tighter, pulling her closer to me, trying to keep the shaking from getting worse. I felt her sigh and her body relax as I held her. I kissed her forehead. “Come, I’ll make you breakfast. You need fuel for Mike’s big day.”
I grabbed my phone as we got out of bed. I had a feeling that the guys were all awake too. They were like children on Christmas morning about this training session with Mike. I sent Viktor a text telling him to come up for breakfast.
“Who are you texting so freaking early?” she asked as she was putting her hair up into a bun on top of her head.
I grinned at her. “I told the guys to come up for breakfast too. I’m sure they’re all awake by now. They can’t wait for Mike’s big day either.”
“I mean, no pressure,” she said, rolling her eyes. A small smile crept across her face, though.
We barely had time to get dressed and the guys were walking into the penthouse. We had just walked into the kitchen when they all walked in. Yep, they were excited about this.
Ivan walked to Sephie, sliding his good arm around her shoulders. “Good morning, princess,” he said, squeezing her shoulders. He kissed the top of her head as she leaned into him.
“I think you’re all more excited about this than I am,” she said, smiling at each of them.
“Maybe a little,” Misha said, grinning back at her.
“You’re going to be fine, spider monkey. We were trained by the best and we trained you, which means you were trained by the best too,” Andrei said, as he made her a cup of coffee.
She still looked slightly unsure, but she didn’t say anything more about it. She looked up at Ivan, “We need to change your bandage again. It should be close to time to get an x-ray to see if the bone is healed enough so you can take that stupid sling off.”
“Not looking forward to that and also looking forward to that,” Ivan said, winking at her.
“I’ll be there the whole time. I’ll make sure it’s quick,” she said, smiling broadly at him. We could see him relax as she smiled at him. There was definitely a stronger connection between those two since Ivan almost died. The rest of us could see it, but we didn’t necessarily understand it.
Mike, Chris, and Keith were on time to the gym, which was a good sign. It was obvious that Mike didn’t think he needed to be there, however. Chris and Keith seemed happy enough to be there. Keith even more so when he caught Stephen’s eye. I couldn’t help but smile to myself as I watched those two be awkward with each other.
Viktor informed them that they needed to have their skills assessed so he could see where their training needed to start.
“I told you the training I had, Viktor. You already know this,” Mike said, a slight edge to his voice.
