Page 50 of Savage Reign

I shrug, grinning. “Different rules. Movies are timeless. Tech… not so much.”

“Fair enough.” He folds his arms, watching me with a mix of amusement and curiosity.

“Wait—you’ve never seenScream?” I ask, sitting up straighter.

“Never.”

My jaw drops. “What the hell? You’re missing out. It’s iconic!”

He chuckles. “Maybe I’m not much of a horror guy.”

“It’s a parody of the horror genre, actually. It’s kind of funny.” I bite my lip. “You can’t live like this. You can watch it with me.” I feel awkward as soon as the words are out of my mouth. I invited Nikolai fucking Zhukov to Netflix and chill with me. Then again, I really think he’s missing out if he doesn’t see it.

He raises an eyebrow, looking genuinely surprised. “You want me to watch it with you?”

“Yeah.” I nod, trying to seem casual. “It’s a classic. A cultural touchstone. You should at least see it once.”

He tilts his head, considering. “I’ve got work to?—”

“Of course,” I’m quick to jump in, feeling silly for even offering.

His eyes flick to me, catching the faint disappointment I didn’t mean to reveal.

“Fuck it. Yeah, let’s watch the damn movie.”

“Really?” I can’t hide the excitement that creeps into my voice.

“Yeah,” he says with a shrug. “But if we’re doing this, we’re doing it right. Popcorn. Coke. The full ‘90s cinema experience.”

I grin, the tension in my chest easing. “Popcorn and Coke? You’re a man of taste, Zhukov.”

“You have no idea.” He glances toward the door. “Stay here. I’ll be back.”

Not long after, we're sitting side by side on the small couch in my room, the lights low, popcorn in a bowl between us, and two cans of Coke on the table. On the screen, Drew Barrymore’s Casey Becker character answers the phone while making popcorn, her blond bob adorable as she flirts on the phone with the mysterious caller.

I glance sideways at Nikolai. His posture is casual—leaning back, one arm draped along the back of the couch—but his eyes are locked on the screen, his jaw tight. He has no idea what’s about to happen.

I watch him rather than the screen when Casey is forced into a terrifying game of horror movie trivia with her boyfriend Steve's life on the line. When she answers wrong and hears Steve's agonized screams, Nikolai's hand twitches against his leg. I bite back a smile, waiting for what's coming next.

Then it happens—Ghostface appears outside the glass doors, and Casey's piercing scream fills the air. Nikolai flinches. Just barely, but enough to tell me he's freaked out.

"Are you scared?" I whisper, smirking as I take a sip of Coke.

He cuts me a glance. “Hardly.”

“You look a little tense.”

He narrows his eyes. “I don’t get scared. I get… alert. And I don’t like horror movies.”

I laugh, the sound muffled by the next dramatic high-pitch wail from the TV. “So what do you like?”

“Heat. Die Hard. The Godfather.”

“Don’t you get enough adrenaline in your day job?”

He leans back, a piece of popcorn halfway to his mouth. “Movies don’t come with consequences. I can enjoy the chaos without worrying about cleanup.”

I sneak glances at him, my eyes drawn to the flicker of emotions playing across his face. His jaw tightens, and his brows knit together as poor Casey gets killed off.

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