I closed the distance between us and claimed a hand, rotating his arm, ghosting my thumb over the old wounds.
No new ones.
Should’ve reassured me.
Didn’t. I already knew Vik wasn’t shooting the junk he was taking, just like I knew smoking that shit was just as destructive.
I found a scar that didn’t fit and skimmed my thumb over it. “What happened here?”
Viktor tuned back into the world. I thought he might take his appendage back, but he traced a fingertip over my split knuckles instead. “You first. Then you can tell me why you are in my house.”
“Jakov sent me.”
Viktor snorted. “Okay.”
“You don’t believe me?”
He retracted both his hands and gazed at me with that bottomless bewilderment again. “If I am awake, Jake has done something I never thought he could. If I am asleep... then I am having better dreams than I deserve.”
“You don’t deserve bad dreams, Vik.”
“But if you really are here, then I am Jake’s worst nightmare come true.”
Viktor spun and walked away. From the building plans, I knew he was heading to his bedroom. That Jakov’s room was at the other end of the house.
I also knew the big brown couch in my peripheral was calling my name like a motherfucker. This sunshine, man. It had to be better than the shite Vik was smoking. I already felt like a cat craving a five-hour nap.
Not yet.
I’d left my bag on the porch outside.
I doubled back to retrieve it, then trailed Viktor down the hall, following the pull in my gut rather than his silent footsteps, and I wound up at the door to a room I didn’t need a map to know was his.
That fucking orange-blossom scent. It messed with my head, and I made myself breathe through my mouth as I took in the cluttered space that was all Viktor—from the clothes littering the floor, to the weapons safe dug into the wall.
Vik still carried the gun he’d approached me with.
Doesn’t trust me.
Couldn’t name how that made me feel. Just that changing it went to the top of my to-do list. Adult me loved my own company. A lone fucking wolf. Anomad. But I took my friendships seriously. Vik could wave that Glock in my facemorning, noon, and night, I wasn’t going anywhere. Not unless Jean needed me, and she’d made it clear she didn’t.
“Go on with you, boy. Get some sun on those bones. I don’t want to see your face until you’re cooked through.”
That she’d neverseemy face again didn’t matter. The sentiment wasn’t literal, and she’d have plenty of company while I was gone. Probably trade me in for Nash McGovern, and I didn’t blame her.
“You are thinking a lot.”
I refocused on Viktor. He’d stowed his gun for the sake of thechildrenthat lived in the house a little way down the hill. His niece and nephew. Thank the fucking lord he rarely babysat. Trust me, I’d checked before I’d agreed to this escapade.
Like that would’ve changed your mind.
As if I hadn’t been halfway down the continent before Jakov had reeled off the coordinates to this place. “I’m thinking that I never saw your bedroom in your other place.”
“Did you want to?” Viktor punctuated his question by coming closer, a faint, loopy smirk twisting his lips. “Is that why you fell asleep on the floor?”
“I fell asleep waiting for the dinner you promised me.”
“You waited for nothing. It was there all along.”
