*Sephie*
I walked back to the kitchen to find Adrik waiting for me with another cup of tea. I smiled at him, taking the cup from him. “Honestly, I’m so tired I don’t think I even need this, but thank you. You’re so good to me.” I kissed his cheek, turning so I could lean my back against him while he wrapped his arms around me from behind so I could still sip the tea while in his arms. He moved my hair off my neck, lightly brushing his stubble against my neck as he gently kissed my neck. I closed my eyes, enjoying his touch.
“Are you still happy here, solnishko? You don’t mind staying here another day or two until Ivan and Andrei are better?” he asked.
“Of course not. Why? Are you planning on not coming back one night?” I asked, looking at him sideways.
He laughed. “Why would I ever want to torture myself like that? I just want to make sure you’re not missing seeing other people.”
“You’re very sweet to think about that. With everything that’s happened, I kind of don’t want to see other people right now. Other people are different from you and the guys,” I said, taking another sip of tea.
He turned me around to face him, a curious look on his face. “What do you mean?”
I sighed. “I’m not entirely sure how to explain it. I didn’t even realize it was happening until I spent more time with you and the guys. Other people, other than you guys, take from me without ever giving anything in return. Like Giana, for example. That girl is so insecure with herself that she’s latched onto me anytime she’s around me. Thankfully, she also latched onto Ms. Jackson so I can have a break. I mean, I’m not mad at her for it, but it’s exhausting to be around for very long. Max is that way, too. I just never realized it until I was apart from him for a while. Lots of talking about them, lots of me solving their problems, lots of me giving them support. Rarely the other way around. Normally, it doesn’t bother me, but with everything that’s happened the past couple of days, all the extra I have to give is reserved for Ivan and to a lesser extent, Andrei. So, now that I’ve gone into way more detail than you were expecting, I’m perfectly happy hiding here for a few more days.” I finished my cup of tea and set it on the counter. Adrik looked at me, thoughtfully. He grabbed my hand, pulling me toward the stairs. I was happy to go to bed, hopeful I would get to sleep through the night tonight. I was already feeling the effects of the tea.
“I can leave Mando and Giana here when we go meet Trino,” he said, as we walked up the stairs.
“No, it’s okay. I think you’re right. I need to see him with Trino as well. I didn’t say all that to mean that I don’t want to be around Giana ever again. She’s a nice girl. I’m just happy to have a break right now to get past the last couple of days.”
As we walked into the bedroom, he turned and pulled me to him, his hands finding their way under my shirt. “I’ll make plans for the middle of next week then. You can have the rest of the week and weekend here. That’ll give Andrei and Ivan more time too.”
I smiled at him. “Deal. Although I think Andrei won’t need that much time. He’s healing much faster than Ivan is. He looked much better today. But I think if Ivan can sleep tonight, he’ll start to feel better too.”
“You’ll feel better if you can sleep tonight as well, my love,” he kissed my forehead as he pulled my shirt over my head and threw it on the floor. He untucked his shirt, unbuttoning it, and sliding it off. He held it up behind me so I could slide my arms in the sleeves, then he buttoned it up. The sleeves were always too long, so he took the time to roll each one up, before moving to my jeans.
“We should change your bandage before we go to bed. I think we were supposed to do that last night and I forgot,” he said.
“Clearly, I did too. It hasn’t bothered me much lately, though. Maybe I can leave the bandage off overnight. I’m tired of bandages. I’m going to have a square scar from the stupid adhesive on the bandages.”
He clicked his tongue. “I’m sorry, solnishko. I know it’s irritating. Come, we’ll look at it.” He bent down and picked me up, carrying me to the bathroom. He set me down on the counter. I pulled his shirt up far enough that he could peel the bandage off. I flinched. This was always the worst part now. My skin was so sensitive where the adhesive stuck to it. Adrik always looked so apologetic when he took the bandage off.
He inspected my shrinking wound. “It’s much smaller now. Do you want to try to leave the bandage off overnight?”
I nodded. “Yes, please. If no other reason than to give my skin a break from the world’s strongest adhesive.”
He chuckled. “We’ll leave it off, then. But tell me if it starts to bother you. I’ll repack it.”
“I’m secretly hoping that nothing will bother me tonight,” I said, putting my hands on his shoulders. I wrapped my legs around him, pulling him closer to me.
“Nothing? Nothing at all?” he asked, a devilish grin on his face.
I ran my hands down his chest and his stomach. “Present company excluded, of course,” I said as I unbuckled his belt. He smiled, his lips immediately finding mine.
I woke the next morning to Adrik’s warm hands on my back. His shirt did not stay on me for very long last night. As long as I could lay across his chest while I slept, I never seemed to get cold. It never seemed to matter how we fell asleep, I inevitably ended up laying across his chest. He never seemed to mind, but I sometimes felt guilty for keeping him basically trapped underneath me.
He felt me begin to stir and his hand ran up to the back of my neck. This was a new spot that he found rather recently. I made the mistake of telling him that it turned me on when he would leave his hand there, partially in my hair, partially on my neck. Of course, that made him want to do it more.
I secretly loved it. I moaned softly, not wanting him to stop. Not wanting to have to wake up yet.
“Good morning, solnishko,” he said. I could hear him smiling without having to look at him.
I rested my chin on his chest, smiling back at him. “You look a little more rested this morning,” he said as he pushed a few curls back from my face.
“I’m guessing that Misha’s brilliant plan worked the entire night. Either that, or Ivan has been awake for hours and will be exhausted when we go downstairs.”
“Nobody came to get you, so let’s hope that the plan worked.” I rolled off him, stretching before I got up. “How does your hip feel this morning after leaving the bandage off overnight?”
I sat up enough that I could look at the almost-gone hole in my hip. It had dried and formed a scab overnight. It also didn’t hurt any at all. “I think it’s fine. I want to leave the bandage off today. See what happens.”
He rolled on top of me, to get a closer look at it. He kissed my hip, just above the shrinking wound. “It does look better. As long as it doesn’t hurt you again, maybe you can leave the bandage off for a while.”
“One less thing to worry about is fine by me,” I said, grinning at him.
He frowned briefly, then kissed me. He looked at me thoughtfully, his fingers running lightly through my hair. “I promise things will get better soon. You won’t have to worry about anything ever again.”
I smiled at him. “As long as I have you, I can handle anything.” I paused, then added, “okay, maybe the guys too. They can stick around too.”