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Kissing my shoulder, he pushed up onto his forearms. My breath caught at how amber his eyes were as he looked down at me. “Abi, I…” His throat bobbed, and he whispered something in Russian.
I stroked the backs of my fingers down his scruffy cheek. “What did you just say?”
“When this is all over, I’ll teach you,” he promised.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
abi
Stepping out of the shower, I dried my body with one of the fluffiest towels I’d ever felt. It was warm and toasty, but it had the faintest hint of something that reminded me of Vaughn.
Wrapping it around my body, I saw a few things already set out for me. My tinted moisturizer, deodorant, and my favorite body cream. None of which I’d packed. All I’d thrown into my bag was a change of clothes and a few extra pairs of panties.
Having the man I loved as a stalker had some serious benefits. Shaking my head at my reflection in the steam-free mirror, I ran a brush through my hair. From the main cabin, I could hear Sammy’s raised voice. Her words were muffled through the closed doors, making it impossible to make out what she was saying, but there was no mistaking she was angry.
Not hearing Vaughn’s replies had unease filling my stomach. I wasn’t sure why, but I felt nervous leaving him alone with her. What if she hurt him?
As soon as the thought filled my mind, I shook it away. Sammy wasn’t like that. She wouldn’t hurt him…
Stepping into the bedroom, I hurried to the door to the main cabin. As soon as it slid open, Vaughn’s eyes lasered in on me. A wave of relief hit me seeing him in a chair across from his sister, an iPad on his lap, appearing completely relaxed. Hunger filled his face as his eyes skimmed over my jeans and plain tank top, my damp hair hanging over my shoulders.
My gaze went to Sammy, her hair tangled around her beautiful face as she stared up at me with eyes that were a swirl of anger and something I couldn’t name. We’d only been friends for a few weeks, but I felt like we knew each other well. She couldn’t have harmed her brother, even in her confused state of mind from her head injury. The knot on her forehead seemed to pulse as she seethed, but when she was finally able to focus on me, her face paled.
“Abi.”
Crossing to her, I tried to be as gentle as possible when I hugged her. Her unrestrained arm hugged me back. “What are you doing here?” she whispered.
Leaning back so I could see her face, I explained, “Vaughn told me you were in an accident. That he needed to take you back to New York so your dad wouldn’t worry. I know everything, Sammy. You don’t have to hide anything from me now.”
I understood why she hadn’t told me anything about her life in New York. Not everyone was an oversharer like me.
Sammy tensed, glancing over at her brother. “What do you mean by ‘everything,’ Abs?”
“I had no idea your dad was sick,” I murmured as I took the seat beside her. “I wish you would have said something about his dementia. My grandma Alicia suffered from it before she passed a few years ago. It was a side effect of her second fight against brain cancer. It was really rough on Dad and Aunt Kassa. But Uncle Gray took it the hardest. He looked so much like his own father that Alicia kept thinking he was his dad. She alternated between trying to fight him and being terrified of him.”
It had been a daily struggle for my uncle, who was raised by his aunt after his father had killed his mother. Dad and Aunt Kassa had been adopted by Alicia right before her sister was murdered. My family rarely talked about life before Grayson witnessed what had happened to his mom, but the local news in the small town they’d grown up in had covered the story enough that I’d been able to put a few things together, even with all the bullshit rumors that went along with it.
Taking Sammy’s free hand, I entwined our fingers, offering her support. “I completely understand why your dad shouldn’t travel. Vaughn was so worried when he found out you were in the accident.” I tried to lighten the mood by giving her a mock glare. “But you should have told me he was your brother. I never would have told you about my—”
I could feel Vaughn’s gaze on me and abruptly cut myself off. He didn’t need to know that I’d been daydreaming about him for so long. And Sammy definitely didn’t need to know about my sleep-drunken nights with her brother. “Why didn’t you tell me you were his sister?”
“What the actual fuck?” she snarled, glaring at Vaughn.
Her anger wasn’t the reaction I was expecting.
Vaughn said something in Russian, his tone cold, neutral, belying the emotions I knew were just below the surface. But that only made her angrier than she already was. I didn’t understand anything as the two of them went back and forth for a moment in the same language. When Vaughn whispered to me in Russian, it sounded romantic, sweet. But with Sammy practically spitting in her anger at her brother, Russian sounded harsh, intimidating.
She jerked against her restraints, and for a moment, I saw a different person in front of me than the woman who had become one of my closest friends. Danger thickened the air, that flight-or-fight reaction that people were supposed to have activating in the presence of her violence. I didn’t know what she’d just yelled at him, but it caused goose bumps to pop on my arms.
Maybe I should have been prepared for her anger, though. Vaughn told me they weren’t close. And with her head injury making her brain foggy, she was probably confused, not to mention overwhelmed with everything happening.
I pressed her back into her chair, trying to soothe her and keep her from tearing the IV from her hand. I wasn’t scared of her. At least, not for myself. But the way she struggled to get free, as she made little growling noises, made it apparent that it wasn’t safe for Vaughn to be alone with her. “Easy, Sammy. Don’t hurt yourself.”
Chest heaving, she shrugged off my hand.
Glancing over at Vaughn, I saw his face was blank. My heart squeezed at how much pain he must have been in that he was hiding his emotions from me again. Now that I understood his relationship with Sammy better, I realized that his blank face was a coping mechanism. Not to block me out, but to protect himself.
Wanting to try to fix their relationship, hoping that I could mend whatever had been broken between them, I turned to face my friend.
