*Sephie*
Adrik was laying 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?”
“Saw what?”
“That your light had dimmed again.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “He didn’t say it exactly like that, but he noticed.”
“Maybe I underestimated the rest of them,” he said. I looked at him, expecting him to finish his thought, but he stayed quiet. The wind had picked up slightly as we were sitting by the lake. We both heard a loud clap of thunder that sounded like it was almost above us. I sat up and looked behind us to see that a storm had blown in quickly while we were at the lake. Adrik saw it too. He stood up, pulling me up with him. “We should head back. That doesn’t look like it’s going to blow over,” he said, watching the sky. Just as he said that, a streak of lightning stretched across the sky, followed quickly by another loud clap of thunder. I felt the first few raindrops start to fall.
I looked at him, trying not to laugh. “What gives you that impression?” He grinned at me, grabbing my hand as we started to walk quickly back to the house. The trees in the forest kept us from getting rained on, but once we got to the other side of the forest by the back lawn of the house, it had started pouring. There was no way to avoid getting wet. The temperature was dropping with the storm, as well, making the rain cold and biting. Despite running back to the house, we were completely soaked and I was shivering when we made it to the back door. The guys were all on the couches when we got back, mostly amused that we’d gotten soaked. Ivan and Misha were especially excited. Apparently, they’d all seen the storm coming, so they made a bet to see whether we would make it back before the storm hit. Ivan and Misha said we wouldn’t, so they were the winners.
“You’re welcome!” I yelled as we ran upstairs to change into dry clothes. Adrik turned the hot water in the shower on, puling me inside before I even had a chance to take any clothes off. I couldn’t help but laugh. “And you were worried about my hair earlier,” I said, grinning at him. He peeled his shirt off before doing the same to mine. He pulled me under the water as he worked on getting my pants off. I was still shivering, despite the hot water. I laughed at our pile of wet clothes in the corner of the shower. Adrik seemed concerned about getting me warm, but he was also amused at how our afternoon turned out.
He bent down and picked me up, wrapping my legs around his waist as he made sure I was under the water, trying to get me warm. He flinched when I wrapped my legs around him. “Your legs are so cold, solnishko,” he said, running one hand up and down my leg rapidly to try and warm me up. He looked up at me, still laughing about our situation.
“It might not have ended the way I wanted, but I’m so happy I got to spend time with you this afternoon. Hopefully your phone didn’t drive Viktor crazy while we were gone,” I said.
“You look even lighter, solnishko. Who knew getting caught in the rain was so healthy?” he said, still laughing.
I unwrapped my legs from his waist and stood in front of him, but stayed under the water as I was still cold. “I owe Misha one for ordering you to bring me here,” I said, grinning at him. “I needed this break, I think.”
“Let’s maybe not let him know that he can order me around so easily,” he said, smiling at me. He leaned down and kissed me. “I needed a break, too. I was happy he ordered me to come here. But let’s keep that between us for now.”