“All right, all right,” Aleks chuckled. “For the record, she wasn’t wearing stilettos or a black silk blouse. She works with kids, so she was dressed comfortably.”
“T-that d-doesn’t make your sick fantasy b-better, asshole.”
“Look. Just hurry up and come pick me up. I just pulled in the parking lot to ditch the car.”
“Fine.”
“You might want to tell him to wait,” Lev said.
“What do you mean?”
“Apparently, Aleks’s visit shook the therapist up, and she’s got some guy coming to pick her up.”
The mention of a man sent a deluge of heat blasting through me. At what must’ve been my maniacal expression, Lev glanced at the driver. “Hit the locks, bro.”
Since Vitaly was used to taking orders from me, his gaze flicked to mine in the rearview mirror. As I turned to Lev, a humorless laugh tumbled from my lips. “D-Do you actually t-think I’m g-going t-to hurt some random man?”
Inwardly, I groaned at how out-of-control my stuttering was. What the fuck was happening to me? I’d never been this unhinged over a woman before. Without even speaking a word to Dr. Sarah Whitfield, I would’ve maimed a man for merely talking to her. For having one claim on her that I didn’t have myself.
Lev bobbed his dark head. “Yeah, assumasshedshiyas you look at the moment.”
I wanted to tell him not only did I fucking look crazy. I fucking felt it. Totally psychopathically crazy. “I can handle it.”
Lev gave me a look before burying his head back in his iPad. As I remained sitting calm and collected, I fought the urge to say, “See. I’m fine. I’m not injuring anyone.”
Inwardly, I was a fucking mess. A hundred scenarios flickered through my mind. Most of them were of some undeserving jackass doing unspeakable things to Sarah.
“Thank fuck,” Lev muttered.
I snapped my gaze to him. “What?”
“The man coming to get her is gay.”
“How the fuck do you know that?”
“Just did a deep dive on him after pulling his name from her contacts. Shares a mortgage with a man and has a rainbow flag on his profile on the gram.”
I slowly shook my head. “You’re incredible.”
Lev puffed out his chest and grinned. “I know.”
Exhaling a ragged breath, I nodded at Vitaly. “Let’s go get my idiot brother.”
He chuckled. “Yes, sir.”
As we pulled out of the parking lot, Lev mused, “I’m impressed that you aren’t forcing yourself to wait.”
“I can imagine what sort of man he is since he’s coming t-to meet her. He cares for her very much, so I’ll allow his p-presence since he’ll comfort her.”
“Jesus, Maks. Don’t go soft on me now.”
I grunted. “You’re starting t-to sound t-too much like Aleks.”
“Speak of the devil,” Lev mused as we pulled into a parking spot next to Aleks.
After he hopped into the front next to Vitaly, Aleks shed his suit jacket before starting to work on his tie. As we started backto the house, he turned in his seat and cocked his brows. “So, what’s the plan now?”
Since he’d grown up in Bratva and was thoroughly vetted, I didn’t worry about speaking freely in front of Vitaly. Of course, he didn’t know the full story about why I was now seeking out aid for my stutter.
