Page 10 of Crave

“So fill me in on the trip. Mikhail didn’t tell me much.” She pours herself a glass of water, then hands me a soda from the stash she keeps for me in the fridge.

I shrug, and toss myself onto the couch. “She stabbed him again. I think they’re in love. It’s what Nikolai said.” I can feel my face twist. “Is that what people in love do?”

“No, Alexei. That isn’t normal. Remember when Nikolai was married? They didn’t stab each other. That’s what it’s supposed to be like.” Lara pushes her long blond braid over her shoulder and sits next to me, tucking her toes under my thigh.

I like it when she does that. It usually means she’s not mad at me.

She flicks her hand. “Okay, so they’re fucked up together. What else happened?”

“They got taken by Ivan. He fucked them up. I bet it takes Nikolai weeks to heal from being turned into a pot cushion.” When I shift the candy to the other side of my mouth, it makes my cheek pucker.

She has an eyebrow raised and her lips are crooked. “Pin.”

“Pin what? You want me to write it down for you?”

Her blue eyes close and she shakes her head. “No, it’s ‘pincushion’. Like for sewing. Never mind.

What did Ivan want? He never does anything without a reason.”

My feet prop up onto the coffee table, then I push the buttons on the remote to turn on the TV. “I dunno. He was asking about someone named Zoya. I don’t know her so I stopped listening.”

Cartoons. Horse racing. Shampoo commercial.

Nothing’s on.

“Can we watch Yellowstone?” We started it before I left.

I want to see what happens next. Those cowboys are just as ruthless as we are.

Bigger hats, though.

Lara lets out a long sigh. “Sure.” She fidgets with her phone while I bring up the show.

I can feel her big blue eyes on me.

“What?” I click the candy over to the other side of my mouth.

“So, there’s this guy…” She trails off.

Ugh. I hate it when she does this. “Okay? Is he trouble? I can take care of him.” I have before, I can do it again.

Her eyebrows drop.

I must have said something wrong.

“No, he isn’t trouble, Alexei. I am supposed to meet him for dinner tomorrow.” Her thumbs type into the screen. “So, if everything goes well…” Her voice fades.

I hate it when she does that.

“And? What? Use your words. I suck at reading your thoughts,” I grumble, turning back to the television.

“If all goes well, we might come back here.” Her lower lip curls between her teeth.

I shrug. “He can watch Yellowstone with us.” The sucker crumbles when I bite it as I turn to her. Using the wet stick, I point to emphasize myself. “We arenotrewatching episodes to get caught up though.”

There’s still too many left to backtrack.

Her toes disappear from under my thigh and she crosses her legs.

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