Page 84 of Sergei
“Wasn’t planning on it.”
Tears were streaming down Tabitha’s face as she stepped over and placed the palm of her hand on Sergei’s forehead. “You gave us quite a scare.”
“Nothing to be scared about. It was just a little graze,” Sergei grumbled. “Should’ve just slapped a Band-Aid on that shit and called it a day.”
Nikolai and Viktor stepped over to the bed, both looking relieved and exhausted. Viktor shook his head as he teased, “You’re a real asshole, you know that?”
“Right back at you, brother.”
Viktor and Nikolai didn’t rush out after Sergei woke up. They both lingered near the foot of the bed, talking back and forth with Preacher and Tabitha, and we all watched quietly as the nurses checked the monitors and adjusted Sergei’s IV. None of us said it out loud, but we all felt it.
We were all worried that he wasn’t out of the woods yet.
He was trying, but it was a struggle for him to stay awake. The drugs played a part in that, but his body had taken a hard hit. It was going to take him some time to get his strength back, and until then, he was going to need rest and plenty of it.
Eventually, Viktor gave Sergei’s leg a careful pat and said, “We’re going to get out of here for a while. Let you get some sleep, but we’ll be back in the morning.”
“Try not to give the nurses too much hell while we’re gone,” Nikolai teased.
That earned him a faint twitch of a smile. Tabitha ran her fingers through Sergei’s hair in a way that only a mother could. “I don’t want to leave you.”
“I’m fine, Mother.”
“You’re not,” she fussed. “I almost lost you, and…”
“But you didn’t,” Sergei interrupted. “It’d take more than a couple of jabs to get me down and keep me down. Now, go home and get some rest. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Okay, but I don’t like it.” She leaned in and kissed him on the forehead. “I love you, son. I love you so very much.”
“Love you, too.”
They all said their goodbyes to me, and before slipping out the door, Tabitha leaned in and hugged me as she whispered, “Call me if either of you need anything.”
“I will. Thank you.”
She gave Sergei one last motherly look before she and the boys slipped out of the room. As soon as the door clicked behind them, I pulled the chair a little closer to his bed and sat where I could see his handsome face as I held his hand. He studied me for a moment, then whispered, “I should’ve gotten to you sooner.”
“Sergei, don’t.” I shook my head. “You saved my life.”
He started to argue, but I leaned in and kissed him before he could get the words out. It was soft and gentle, nothing like earlier, and it was effective. He stopped with the nonsense, and when I pulled back, I whispered, “You came. You got to me. Nothing else matters.”
His eyes closed, and I saw him exhale like the weight of the world had loosened its hold. It loosened its hold on me, too, and a piece of me started to think that maybe, just maybe, we were going to get through this thing after all.
28
SERGEI
It’d been just over three weeks since the night Lina was taken and held captive in that Godforsaken place. It had been long enough for the stitches to come out and for me to get back to my own bed. The doctor said I’d healed remarkably well, like it was some kind of miracle that I’d walked out of there.
He didn’t know that it was pure spite that kept me going. But even though the pain was fading and Lina was alive and well, I was still tied up in knots.
I hadn’t been able to let go.
Not since she was taken and strung up like a piece of fucking meat.
Not since I watched Zadora place his knife at her throat.
Not since he sliced her flesh and touched her. Not since I felt the world go cold and thought I wouldn’t get back up.
