“Alexio? Zeki?” I heard something scrape across the table. “He leaving this here, right?”
I blinked rapidly. “Sorry, Vanny. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“His lucky coin? Is on your table. Unless you have same lucky coin? He told me it’s very old. He find on beach when he was a kid.”
It took me way too long to realize what he was talking about. The fucking thing I’d found earlier? I thought Caleb had made it, but oh god. It was Alexio’s?
My hands began to shake, and I held one out. “Oh. Um…can I…can I have that?”
He pressed it into my palm. “You sure? I’m meeting him at the arena tonight for team meeting. I can bring it back.”
“No, I…I’ll…I can do it.” Fuck. Fuck! Fuck, he was going to figure it out. He was going to know that Alexio was here—that he’d fucked me six ways to Sunday. He was going to tell people, and the secret would be out, and Alexio would hate me and… “I need to go.” I stood up abruptly, and I could hear Vanya jumping to his feet.
“Okay. I give you ride if you want.”
“No. No…I’m sorry. I forgot my friend was coming to pick me up. Can I call you later?”
Vanya tugged me into a tight embrace and kissed both my temples. “Yes. Best friend can always call. Anytime. Three a.m. and watching funny dog videos and want to call and share, you can. I will answer.”
I wanted to be grateful. I wanted to be fine about it, but I wasn’t.
I was freaking the fuck out. Luckily, Vanya didn’t seem to notice. He let me usher him to the door and hug him one more time, and then walked down the hall like he didn’t have a care in the world. Like he wasn’t about to head to the arena and tell Alexio and everyone else what he’d found in my apartment and blow this whole thing apart.
Christ. I had to get to Alexio before he did. I wouldn’t be able to stop him, but at the very least, I could try out that begging thing and show him just how sorry I was for not being careful.
