The door was open when I reached his office, so I just walked inside, not bothering with knocking. Hearing my boots, he lifted his eyes from his computer, and something akin to hesitancy and wariness bled into his pretty hazel eyes. I barely bit back my smirk.
I’d bided enough time. Spent enough of my minutes and hours watching him from afar. Tracking every move he made. Now, I was done waiting, and I was going to push the doc until he caved. Until he gave me what I wanted. What I fuckingneeded.
“Why—” His eyes landed on my hands, and his sigh was filled with exasperation as he stood from his chair. “Sit down,” he snapped, pointing at the gurney I’d occupied yesterday. “I swear, I’d think you were a toddler if I didn’t know any better,” he muttered, talking more to himself than me. I bit back a laugh. “Did you even bother soaking your hands like I told you to?” he demanded as he yanked open his cabinet and began rummaging around. “Are you even resting your hands?”
“Had training this morning,” I told him with a shrug, which wasn’t a lie. Training didn’t stop just because I had busted up, swollen hands. Maksim’s life relied on me always being on my A-game. I couldn’t slack off just because Nicholas wanted me to rest my hands for a few days.
It wasn’t that simple for a bodyguard. Certainly wasn’t that simple for any soldier under Rico’s command. We had jobs to do, jobs we had to remain in tip-top shape for.
“You should have taken some days off training,” he reprimanded.
I scoffed. “You do realize training and my job doesn’t stop just because I fucked my hands up, don’t you?” I questioned. I watched as he set the items he needed down on the bed by my hip. Then, just like the night before, he draped a white towel over my lap, then began to unwrap my hands.
“You won’t be able to properly move your hands soon if you keep this up,” he warned me.
I arched a brow at him. “My pain tolerance is a lot higher than you think.”
His eyes lifted, meeting mine, and something there sparked a heat low in my gut. Like he was reading into the double meaning I’d put behind my words, but he wasn’t sure if I’d meant it how I said it.
“Pain tolerance has nothing to do with moving your hands freely,” he finally said, focusing back on cleaning and rebandaging my hands. “You need to take some time off.”
I shook my head. “Duty calls.”
He stopped again and shot me a disapproving look that I decidedly hated. Having him reprimand me was one thing, but that disapproval? It made me feel like my fucking skin was crawling.
“Fine. I’ll talk to Alfonzo and Rico myself,” he said. “You can’t properly do your job if you fuck your hands up too much.”
I smirked, not worried he would actually do that. Nicholas didn’t step into bodyguard shit. “Worried about me, doc?” I questioned.
He narrowed his eyes at me, and for a long moment, we just stared at each other, both of us trying to figure each other out. Finally, he gritted his teeth, then rolled his shoulders like he was preparing for battle. Battle againstwhat, I had no fucking clue.
“What game are you playing at right now, Rollins?” he demanded, calling me by my last name.
And there it was. The opening I needed. And fuck it all to hell, I was about to fucking take it.
4
Nicholas
Icouldn’t figure out what game Drew was playing at, and having spent the entire night trying to figure him out, which meant I’d gotten very little sleep, I was on edge. The unknown really fucking bothered me. If he was trying to come onto me like I thought he was, then I needed to keep my distance. I wasn’t interested in a relationship. I wasn’t even interested in having a fuck buddy. I certainly did not want to mix business with pleasure. It might have worked for Alfonzo and Niran, but it would not work with me.
My luck was just absolute shit like that.
“I’m not playing a game,” Drew drawled, those warm, chocolate brown eyes captivating mine. “I’m just a man who sees something he likes and wants to take it. I wantyou.” He cocked his head to the side in a way that made him look… predatory, and my gut swooped. I shouldnothave been attracted to that look, like he wanted to fuckingeatme, yet there I was… hooked.
Drew was so, so bad for my damn health.Thiswas why I’d kept my distance from him all these fucking years. Drew Rollins, while usually quiet, speaking only when spoken to, and mostly keeping to himself, wasdangerous. The quiet ones always were.
“Cut the bullshit,” I snapped. Drew smirked, amusement gleaming in his brown irises. I crossed my arms over my chest.
“No bullshit,” Drew assured me. “Wanted you for years, but I kept to myself. Bided my time until I became someone worthy of you. Someone who could bring something to the table other than trauma and practically zero education.”
For a moment, I was speechless. Because I’d never seen Drew that way. I’d always seen him as a temptation. As someone forbidden and off-limits to me. I’d watched him climb the ranks over the years, proving time and time again that he was a force to be reckoned with and thatthisfamily was where he’d been meant to be all along.
“Don’t do that,” I said, feeling defensive of him. “Don’t say that about yourself. Almost everyone in this fucked up little family has come from some kind of shitty, fucked-up childhood. That doesn’t define who you are.”
Drew chuckled. “Never said it did, doc. I just said I wanted to bring something more to the table.” He spread his unbandaged, bloody hands wide. “Now, I can.”
I shook my head. “No,” I said, hoping I pushed enough finality into my tone to make the subject drop. “I’m not looking for a relationship, Drew. And I’m not looking for someone to warm my bed either, before you can even try suggesting that.” Instead of looking put down, he just continued looking amused, like what I was saying was somehowfunny. “We’ll never happen.”
