“I…” I smile, shaking my head. “Honestly, I don’t know. I think I’ve been seeing it as this thing in the distance for so long, and now it’s here, and it…” I trail off.
“Doesn’t seem real?”
“Pretty much,” I grin.
Nikolai smirks. “Want me to let you in on a little secret?”
“Please,” I laugh.
“It never does.” He shrugs. “Feel real, that is. Weddings, marriage…even when it’s to the person you’ve dreamed about marrying for years. When I think back to my wedding to Bane’s mother?” He smiles, a sad but also happy look in his eyes. “I felt like I was in a goddamn dream…” He exhales sharply. “Anyway, I just wanted to look in on you before it all started, and to tell you that I’m really looking forward to getting to know you, Dove.” He smiles warmly. “It might sound corny, but I’ve always wanted a daughter. And now I get to have one.”
Well,fuck.
Who’s cutting onions?
I inhale, fanning my face madly so I don’t ruin my makeup. Nikolai chuckles, pulling a handkerchief out of his jacket and walking over to hand it to me. I blurt a grateful thank you, and he watches as I dab at my eyesverycarefully.
“Can I ask you something?”
He nods. “Of course.”
My gaze drags to his. “Is there anything I should know? About Bane, I mean.”
His brow furrows for a second. “That’s…a complicated question.” His hand comes up, and he runs his fingers across his chiseled jaw as he nods slowly. “I mean, he’s a more complicated guy than you might think at first. At the same time, he’s notthatcomplicated, if that makes sense. I think he lives by a code.”
I frown. “A code?”
He smiles. “Nothing crazy. He just holds himself to a certain set of principles. He’s loyal, and fiercely protective of the people he loves.” He smiles, a look of pride flickering across his face. “He’sgot a definite savior complex, and has his issues.” He grins. “But he’s a good kid. A good man.”
I find myself smiling at the pride in his tone.
Nikolai rolls his eyes. “Look at me, getting all emotional and fawning, I just—” He makes a face, swallowing a few times before he clears his throat. “Shit, sorry,” he grunts. “Dry throat.”
“I’m on it.”
I turn and click-clack over to the vanity that I’m guessing Nikolai had set up for me in here with, among other things, a bottle of water and some glasses on a tray. I pour a glass for him, and I rush to get it to him as he coughs again. As I do, I manage to bump the stool next to the vanity.
Shit.
It goes crashing to the ground, together with my handbag. My face throbs with embarrassment as the contents spill over the floor—makeup, a freaking tampon, my two-year sobriety token, and...
FUCK.
A couple of orange plastic pill bottles.
They roll across the floor and knock against Nikolai’s polished dress shoes.
“Shit,” I blurt. “I?—”
“Please, allow me.”
Before I can stop him, Bane’s dad crouches down and plucks up the bottles of lithium and lorazepam,andthe fucking sobriety coin.
He stands, staring at the things in his hand a second too long before he glances at me. “Sorry,” he murmurs, frowning as he gives them back. “Didn’t mean to pry.”
“No, it’s…it’s fine,” I mumble, my face throbbing as I awkwardly take them.
I finish stuffing everything back into my bag before I glance back at Nikolai, who now knows I’m a crazy fuckup.
