They’re heavy, strange thoughts, but life is fucking weighted.
The courier arrives at the gate right at the same time we do. I take it as a good sign. Santiago offers to carry the box for me as we walk back to the house, but now that it’s in my hands, I’m not about to let someone else hold it for me. Besides, it feels wrong for him to be involved at all. This way, if anything goes to shit, Aleksei can’t view Santiago carrying it for me as evidence that we’re in cahoots.
At the door, Aleksei and Nalla leave us again, heading towards the kitchen. Roshka is on my heels, even closer than Santiago.
“Quit it!” I turn and hiss aggressively at the giant furball.
Of course he moves even faster.
Santiago drifts to the side, nonplussed by the standoff between me and Roshka, and he presses his hand against a sensor.
“Did someone come and install that?” I ask, a little freaked out. Surely, they would have mentioned another person being in the house.
The electronic release triggers a small beep inside the hallway.
“No. It was Aleksei.”
“Jack of all trades, huh?”
“Seems like.”
“You know, it’s weird. He’s hot and cold, but he’s also so different from Sergey, it’s like light and day. When you meet Sergey, you’ll get why I’m not doing a great job of explaining.” I blab, and that’s fine because it’s been a hell of a day.
Or two. Or, actually, a few weeks. No, months.
“Quinn,” he says, dropping his voice lower so I have to strain to hear him, “you need to be very careful around him. No matter how different you think he is, I want you to remember the position of second-in-command in the mafia means he has proven he is dangerous.”
“Same sentiment could be applied to you, then, right? I mean, you’re obviously involved in the Cartel. In some capacity. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why you’re here? It seems below you.”
The expression on his face is as obvious as if he’d opened his mouth and said the same thing back to me.
I figure hiding out in my room is probably the safest for all of us. Santiago stops my escape, catching my hand. A jolt of what feels like a thousand amps races up my arm. The noise I make is involuntary, a needy keen falling from my lips, and he swoops closer.
“I understand you’ve chosen to deal with the situation different from how I want you to, and I respect your decision and your reasoning. But for me, the only thing that matters is you. Please accept my truth. It doesn’t need to change anything, and honestly, maybe just knowing it will calm some of your storm.” He pushes hair off my face, his sentiment softening. “And while that sounded very egotistical, I promise you it wasn’t. For me, I knew the second I saw you.I knew.” His whole face changes, like a weight is off his shoulders.
So often, people say what you want to hear but never do what you need them to. Santiago just threw down the gauntlet, and instead of being overwrought, all he looks is relieved.
He’s also clearly decided to let his bossy side come out to play. “Now go stash whatever you’re doing a terrible job at hiding and come back out to the sitting room, ready for dinner. We agreed staying locked in your suite is the safest tonight. And spending the night playing board games will hopefully slow your racing thoughts down. Not that I tabled my suggestion of fucking you until you couldn’t keep your eyes open. It’s still out there, though, if you have changed the whole ‘you're only my bodyguard’ thing.”
Thankfully, his phone rings before I decide his idea is solid.
Chapter Twenty-Five
ALEKSEI
Istay as long as I can, making sure she’s okay. It hasn’t been a bad experience, either. Kade made something edible. I’m not sure I’d ask for it again, but it served its purpose of feeding us.
Once done, both her guards cleared the table, and the three of them started playing cards in the way old friends would, with lots of banter where her trademark dry humor flowed as effortlessly as her laughter.
Seeing her relaxed does something to my insides. Hearing her laugh is fast becoming a motivation. When she is happy and relaxed, her scent blossoms like standing in the middle of a field of vanilla flowers after a spring sun shower.
She’s softer and more generous with her attention, and a lot more tactile. Clearly, she feels safe. She pushed the chair around to face the room, then curled herself into the chair closest to the fire and promptly fell asleep while Kade and Santiago wereworking, doing whatever it is they do, on their computers and phones.
“I’m going to meet Sergey. Other people will be back before he and I return. Don’t open the door for anyone, and it’s better if you stay in here if I am not here. Tomorrow, I will introduce you to the guards who patrol the house, but not tonight.”
Kade stands up and comes closer, so our talking doesn’t wake Quinn. “Is there anything we should know?”
“All the guards are carrying weapons and have been instructed to kill first and explain later. About half of them take regular instruction in army hand-to-hand combat from a general that defected to the Bratva.”
