*Sephie*
“What happened?” Ivan asked, clearly bristled.
“He had to move her arm. She’s in severe pain. I don’t know how she’s been handling it. It would’ve crippled me,” Adrik said, still in Russian.
“You can feel her pain now too?” Stephen asked.
“This was the first time,” Adrik said as we got on the elevator to go back to my hospital room. “When he moved her arm, it was a severe shooting pain in my shoulder down to my hip.”
“That’s exactly what I felt,” I said, chewing on my bottom lip. I hadn’t been able to feel Adrik as strongly since I’d been in pain. It was like the pain was overtaking everything. When I was still paralyzed from whatever sedation they’d given me, I couldn’t feel as much pain, so I could feel him more strongly. Ivan, too. I just couldn’t do anything about it because I couldn’t move my own body.
“What’s your pain level now, princess?” Ivan asked.
“She’s definitely at a 13. Don’t let her lie to you,” Adrik said. “She can take her next dose of superprofen soon, but not soon enough.” He looked down at me. “Are you sure you don’t want to try something stronger now that you’re going home?”
“I can manage. Ivan was right. It’ll be better once I get home and can sleep for more than 2 hours at a time,” I said.
“I can have the acupuncturist come to the penthouse today. It’ll help with pain. At least that’s what they tell me,” Ivan said, winking at me. I smiled back at him, nodding my head.
“Do it. I want to get her home as soon as possible,” Adrik said.
Dr. Williams came to the hospital room shortly after we returned. “Your lung looks good. The blood that was there was completely drained with your chest tube, so you don’t need to worry about blood clots. Your ribs have stayed in place, as well. It actually helps that your arm is secured to your waist. It provides a layer of protection and stability for your ribs right now. I see no reason to keep you here any longer,” he said. Like you had a choice, doc.
I tried to smile as sweetly as possible at him, but I was still in pain. “Thanks, doc,” I said.
“I’ll have a nurse bring a chair so you can leave,” he said.
“Save her the trip. I don’t need it,” I said. He started to argue with me, but I just looked at him, then looked at all the guys standing around me. “You really think they’d let me leave here in a wheelchair? They’d be more likely to fight over who gets to carry me out of here. Let’s not be dumb, doc.”
His expression was one of amusement and embarrassment. “Right. Come back in two weeks so I can check the progress of your shoulder and arm. I’ll have the nurse bring you a sleeve for your cast so you can shower. Keep the sling on as much as possible. Only out of it for a shower and that’s it. Your shoulder was completely out of socket. You need to keep it immobile for a few weeks to let the soft tissue heal,” he said, leaving the room.
Viktor and Stephen went to pull the vehicles around so we could leave. I had to admit that even though I was still in pain, I was suddenly very happy to be leaving.
“It’s too early for Vinny’s, but there will be a real breakfast for us soon after we get home,” Viktor said as Adrik helped me into the backseat.
“Viktor, have I mentioned how much I love you lately?” I said, catching his eye in the rear-view mirror. Even though I could only see part of his face, I could tell that I’d just made him melt.
I felt a sense of relief wash over me once we walked into the penthouse. It was nice to be home. Anywhere with Adrik felt like home, but this penthouse and the house, they both felt like they were just as much my space now as Adrik’s. I smiled to myself thinking about how happy I was to be home again.
As soon as we walked into the penthouse, Andrei walked to the kitchen to make coffee. “We haven’t had good coffee in so long. It’s been so long, spider monkey,” he said dramatically.
Adrik checked his watch. “That works out well. You can take your superprofen. The caffeine will help it take effect quicker.”
Viktor’s phone beeped. “Food is here. I’ll be right back,” he said.
“I’m so happy right now,” I said. My stomach growled loudly, just for emphasis.
We were quieter than usual as everyone ate and guzzled as much good coffee as humanly possible. I knew the guys were at a clear disadvantage since I could basically sleep whenever I wanted to, but they needed to get back to work. They were going to need all the coffee today.
“How’s Dario?” I asked, still slowly finished my food. Breathing was still laborious, so everything I did was much slower than usual.
“The guards on him say he’s been quiet, but that he seems happy. He’s always grateful when they give him anything. He says to thank Boss all the time. He’s been asking if he can have an update occasionally. I think he wants to know when he can leave,” Viktor said.
“I would like to know how he knew about Armando’s first wife. And why he didn’t tell anybody that Sal was trafficking girls,” I said.
“We can talk to him again soon. I don’t like the thought of bringing him out during the day. He’s well-hidden and I’d like to keep it that way. I don’t want Armando to see that we have Dario. Yet,” Adrik said. “I’d like to have another discussion with Armando before he sees Dario.”
“And by ‘discussion’ you mean you’re going to make him wish he jumped off the roof when I told him to?” I said. I couldn’t help but feel some satisfaction at that thought.
“To put it mildly, yes,” Adrik said, a small smile on his lips.
“Okay, well, don’t hurt your knuckles too much. I’m in no shape to take care of you very well right now. Only one of us is allowed to be hurt at a time,” I said. When he looked at me, I felt that pull in my chest that he gets when he thinks about how much he loves me. I winked at him. “Do you think he’ll tell you anymore about Ricardo?” I asked.
“We’ll see. I’m curious to see how he reacts. I think he’ll be different with me than he was with you. He clearly thought he had the upper hand with you, although it still stuns me that he thought he was smarter than you. He’s always pretended to defer to me. Never once argued with anything I’ve told him. I don’t know if that was an act or if there’s legitimate fear there, but I intend to find out,” Adrik said.
“I love a good mystery,” I said, putting the last bite of bacon in my mouth.
Ivan’s phone beeped. He took it out, looking at the text. “The acupuncturist can be here this afternoon, princess.”
“Good. Did you tell her you need it too?” I asked.
“I did not,” he said. “I’m fine. You took the worst of it this time.”
“Fine. I will tell her then,” I said. I wasn’t angry with him, but I wanted to mess with him just to see what would happen. He started to argue with me, but I looked at him, trying to make my eyes go as dark as possible. I wasn’t sure how to do it, but since he’d told me they changed so quickly in the hospital, I wanted to see if I could control when it happened. The look on his face told me I was getting control of it. I didn’t let him suffer for very long before I laughed weakly at him and tried to change them back to normal.
“You were trying to control it that time, weren’t you?” Ivan asked. I nodded my head, still smiling at him. “That’s impressive. It worked.”
I suddenly felt Adrik’s desire for me come on very strongly. I could tell he was trying to hold it back, because I was in no shape for, well, anything, but I knew he was thinking about me changing my eyes the next time we had sex. I felt my cheeks flush.
“Do you have enough energy for a shower, solnishko?” Adrik asked. He sounded innocent enough, but I knew he was struggling to hold it together in front of everyone.
“I think so. But that means I’ll probably sleep for like four hours after. Everything is exhausting right now,” I said, trying to hide the grin I knew was growing on my face.
“Let’s get you cleaned up, then you can sleep until your acupuncture,” he said. He looked at the guys. “You guys should get cleaned up as well. Come back when you’re done. I want to see what else we can find on Ricardo and Lorenzo before tonight.” Everyone’s head nodded in agreement. They set about cleaning up the kitchen as Adrik picked me up, carrying me to bedroom.
Once the door was closed, I grinned at him. “You’re so excited for my new trick, aren’t you?”
He exhaled loudly. “You have no idea, solnishko.”