“We sawDirty Dancing. It was good to get away for a bit and just be a normal uni student for once.”Through my phone screen, Aleksi’s nose wrinkled, and I laughed. “Not to your taste?”
“Not really. If it was a rock concert, then maybe…”
“Speaking of—I made another playlist for you.” I copied the link, sending it to him. “Let me know what you think of it.”
He grinned. “Thanks. I’ll listen to it tonight. I’ve got something for you too.” An open sketchbook appeared on the screen, slightly out of focus. Leaning forwards in my desk chair, I narrowed my gaze, studying it carefully, taking in the harsh black lines of Aleksi’s signature style.
The picture came into focus, and I gasped.
He’d drawn me on the night of my eighteenth birthday, in the woods. I knew he hadn’t seen me out there that night, and the scene he’d drawn had never actually happened, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away.
I was standing in the darkness, surrounded by trees, black slashes of charcoal crowding around me. Alek haddepicted me as a shadowy, masked figure in the centre of the image, my hood down and my hair blowing behind me in the breeze. My left foot was planted on a log on the woodland floor, and my right arm was raised to the sky, my fingers clasping my knife-torch. He’d coloured the beam from the torch in a pale yellow, and the only other colour in the image came from the red slashes on my mask. Charcoal smoke swirled around my ankles, and as I looked more closely, I could see a shadowy figure disappearing between the trees, their back to me.
I looked fierce and powerful, like everything I wished I were inside.
I swallowed around the sudden lump in my throat. “Alek. This is amazing. I wish I really looked like that.”
“You do to me,” he said softly.
Shaking my head, I smiled. “If only I could see myself the way you did. I miss you.”
“I know. I miss you too, and I’m worried about you. I’m sorry I couldn’t get any information from my dad about Operation Foxglove, but he wouldn’t tell me anything, and I didn’t want to make him suspicious. It’s hard when I’m down here in Alstone and you’re all so far away.”
The sketchpad disappeared, and his face filled the screen. His eyes were wide and concerned, and he was biting down on his bottom lip, like he did when he was worried or unsure.
“You don’t have to worry about me, I promise. I don’t think I’d personally be a target of the investigation, anyway, because I’m just a uni student.” Pausing, I sighed. “I am worried about my family and friends, though. Especially Ryker. When he came back to uni, he looked…I don’t know. He looked so drained. So empty. He insisted he wanted to spar with me, but it was obvious he was just going through the motions. I’m worried about him.”
Alek’s mouth thinned. “Your brother is fully capable of handling himself.”
“I hope you’re right. He isn’t—” A soft rap on my door cut me off. “Hang on a second. Someone’s knocking.”
Leaving my phone on my desk, propped up against my portable speaker, I crossed to the door, sliding open the cover of the little window that had once been a hatch when my room was a cell.
My eyes widened. I darted across the room, back to my phone. “I’m sorry, I have to go. I’ll speak to you soon, okay? Don’t forget to listen to the playlist.”
“I will. Speak to you soon.” Alek nodded, shooting me a grin as he lifted his hand in a wave. I ended the call and moved back to the door. Cracking it open, I beckoned Jay inside.
He looked larger than life, a hooded figure standing here in my tiny room, the sharp line of his jaw and his full lips softly illuminated by my fairy lights.
“What are you doing here so late?” It wasn’t quite the question I wanted to ask. Yes, it was late—after 11:00 p.m.—but what I really wanted to know was what he was doinghere, in my bedroom.
“I lost track of time in the gym. Thought I’d take a detour through South Wing on my way back to the house, see if any of my friends wanted company.” He lowered his hood, revealing his tousled raven hair, and his eyes arrowed to mine. “We’re friends, aren’t we? We can hang out.”
At his smirk, I shook my head. “We’re playing with fire. If anyone saw you…”
“They didn’t. I was careful.”
“What about my brother? Is he okay? He was so tired earlier, and I’m still worried about him.”
“Yeah. He’s okay, Nov. He’s a stubborn bastard, but I got him to go to his room, at least, and he said he’d try and get some rest. Whether he will…who knows?” Jay dropped his gym bag to the floor and strode across the room to my bed. Sinking down onto it, his legs spread as he flexed his hands at his sides, he cocked his head at me. “Come on. Let’s talk. We didn’t get a chance to earlier. Tell me something I don’t know about you.”
“Um…” I was caught off guard by his presence here, and I wasn’t sure what to say to this gorgeous man who was giving me his full attention. It was still strange for us to be around each other without hostility, and even though I’d been the one to suggest we’d try to be friends, this wasn’t exactly what I’d had in mind.
It was dangerous. Letting him in, letting him get to know me…if I did that, it would hurt even more when I inevitably had to cut him out of my life. There was no world in which a Volkov would let their wife hang out alone with a single man. Especially one as hot as Jay Attwood.
“Go on. Tell me something, and I’ll tell you something.” He sat back, stretching his long, muscular legs out. My gaze followed the movement of his body, and I watched avidly as he lifted his hoodie over his head, his T-shirt beneath riding up to reveal a glimpse of his abs and a dark line of hair disappearing into his low-slung joggers. I swallowed, falling back onto my desk chair on shaky legs. I was suddenly very aware that I was only wearing a pair of sleep shorts and a thin cami top beneath the oversized hoodie I’d pulled on after my shower.
And Jay was staring at my bare legs.
