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“Absolutely, sir.”
“We’ll be in touch,” Adrik said, ending the call. I couldn’t help but laugh a little at how scared poor Chen was. I think his reaction surprised me, honestly. Adrik could be intimidating, for sure, but I just didn’t think of him that way. It was a new experience to see the fear firsthand.
“I had no idea that your reputation was so ominous,” I said, grinning up at him. He just smirked down at me.
“Who do you want meeting with them and where?” Viktor asked.
Adrik was quiet for a moment. He looked at Misha as he said, “All of us.” I didn’t need to look at Misha to know that he was checking outcomes. Adrik’s face softened slightly, so I knew he’d gotten approval.
Misha said, “It needs to be all of us.” His voice was serious enough to know that he was honoring his pinky swear. I turned around to look at him, smiling. He was standing with his hands on his hips. He winked at me, tapping his pinky finger against his hip.
“Good. I need Sephie to be there to make sure we can trust the other dealers,” Adrik said. He pulled me closer to him.
“Where do you want this to happen? I’m not sure your office is the right place. It’s not being watched, but it would be obvious should anyone see them there,” Viktor said.
“Agreed. I don’t necessarily want them at the building until we know we can trust them.” Adrik said.
“What about my old apartment? Chen said it was basically no man’s land there. Like that part of the city doesn’t really belong to any one boss. They’re likely not watching it. And it was easy enough to secure when I went to talk to Chen, right?” I asked, looking between Viktor and Stephen.
Stephen agreed. “Yeah, it’s got a couple great vantage points where we can see everyone coming and going.”
Adrik looked to Misha, who had that faraway look in his eyes as he was checking outcomes. “It’s good,” he said.
“Let Chen know. Monday night. I prefer to do this well after dark, if possible,” Adrik said. He leaned down, pressing his lips to mine. He smiled against my lips, saying, “It helps perpetuate my ominous reputation.”
Adrik was lying across the bed, lost in thought as he waited for me to finish drying my hair. I hadn’t planned on washing it after Misha and I got back from our run this morning, but since Adrik couldn’t keep his hands off me in the shower, it meant my hair was washed and now needed to be dried. It was getting colder outside and he knows how much I hate to be cold, so he insisted.
I walked to the bed, climbing on top of him. His hands immediately went to my neck and my hair as I laid down on top of him. He clicked his tongue. “Your hair is still wet, solnishko. I don’t want you to catch a cold.”
I laughed. “I’d be in there for like another hour if you want me to dry my hair completely. It’s dry enough. I won’t catch cold.” I snuggled into him. He wrapped his arms around me, holding me close. “Especially not if I have you to keep me warm.”
“I’ll make you wear a hat later,” he said. It sounded like a threat, so I picked my head up to look at him. He laughed at my expression. “I’m leaving my phone with Viktor this afternoon and you and I are going to the lake. For as long as you’d like to stay,” he said, fighting his usual battle with the curls around my face. He looked more amused than usual with my hair. He smiled, adding, “Your curls are even more out of control when you use the hair dryer. I didn’t think that was possible.”
I laughed. “It’s why I don’t usually use the hair dryer. My hair revolts, which is a situation nobody wants.” I loved watching the wonderment on his face as he tried to get my hair to obey his wishes. “You’re really going to ditch work this afternoon?” I asked.
He nodded his head, taking a deep breath. “I could use a break too, and I can’t think of a better way to spend the afternoon than with you, away from everyone.”
I couldn’t stop the smile that spread across my face. I couldn’t think of a better way to spend an afternoon than with him either. He pulled me down to him, pressing his lips against mine.
We were sitting in silence by the lake. It was one of the many things I loved about Adrik. His ability to be comfortable in the silence was unmatched. I had a feeling he loved it about me too. We had talked on the way to the lake. He kept his fingers laced through mine the entire way. He would steal glances at me as we were walking and talking, like he enjoyed watching me more than the scenery around us.
We were sitting on the ground, leaned up against an old tree that had fallen years ago. He finally broke the silence, saying, “This has always been my favorite spot to come to when I needed a break from everything. It’s why I bought this house.”
I leaned my head over on his shoulder. “It was a good purchase. There’s something magical about this place. Even Misha knows it, without knowing it. It’s why he ordered you to bring me here,” I said, giggling.
He laughed too. “That kid has never given an order in his life.” He laughed harder thinking about it.
“I made him promise to do it more if he gets the response he did about coming here. It’s a powerful reaction that he gets now and I made him pinky swear he would always tell us,” I said. Adrik reached over and put his arm across my legs, pulling them toward him. I held onto his arm as we talked.
“Is it the same reaction he’s always had or it’s a new one now?” he asked.
“New. He used to only get a reaction when something was going to go wrong. He said since he’s been using it more, now he can get a reaction when something is going to go right. It’s a different reaction to each, so he can tell the difference. When he thought about coming here, he wasn’t just thinking about the house, and he got goosebumps. My mom used to tell me goosebumps were how you know universal truths. Like when someone tells you something and you get goosebumps on your body? It’s a universal truth and your body recognizes it,” I said.
Adrik was quiet for a moment, then chuckled. “You’ve given me goosebumps when you’ve told me things before, solnishko.” He leaned down and kissed the top of my head. “What was Misha thinking about when he thought about coming here?”
“He said he was looking at me when we were talking about Giana, thinking about how I looked like I did after we got attacked, just without the concussion, and how I looked after the ball, just without the hole in my hip. He knows that coming to the lake recharges me, if you will. He said he got goosebumps when he thought about it, so he waited until Armando left and that’s when he basically ordered you to come here,” I said, still laughing at his delivery.
He moved to look at me, surprise on his face. “Misha saw that too?”
