Page 121 of The Last Inch Of Ice
Kai should ask. Should demand the truth. Should have this conversation like an adult instead of typing and deleting messages like a teenager.
But he and Nazar don’t really talk. Not about the big things. They exist in a strange space of intense physical intimacy and emotional… not distance, exactly. But circumspection. Theycommunicate through actions more than words, which works surprisingly well most of the time but is deeply unhelpful when Kai needs actual information.
Also, you can’t talk much with Nazar anyway. The man prefers silence the way other people prefer oxygen.
Kai finds himself smiling despite everything. That’s the thing about Nazar—his relentless, stubborn silence should be frustrating. And it is. But it’s also somehow comforting. Steady. Like a rock you can lean against that won’t budge no matter what storm is happening around it.
He types out a message before he can overthink it further:
I’m waiting for you. P.S. I bought you a decent hair conditioner.
He hits send, immediately feels ridiculous for the words about the conditioner, and is about to lock his phone when it buzzes.
Nazar:okay:)
Another buzz.
Nazar:tell me what this conditioner does
Kai stares at the messages. At the emoji—an actual emoji from Rykov, who once told Kai that emojis were “unnecessary”—and feels something warm unfurl in his chest.
He’s smiling now. Like an absolute fool.
And then he realizes he’s been sitting here without his sunglasses. The massive Celine ones he usually wears like armor. He’d forgotten to put them on after practice, and now he’s sitting in his car in a parking garage grinning at his phone like—
Like someone in love.
The realization makes him laugh—a slightly hysterical sound that echoes in the enclosed space.
He starts the car and pulls out of the garage, the city streets busy with afternoon traffic. The drive home takes twentyminutes, his mind cycling through tomorrow’s investor meeting, his father’s arrest, Nazar’s impending arrival.
When he pulls into the underground parking of his building, he’s still thinking about Nazar’s emoji when movement catches his eye.
Someone steps out from behind a concrete pillar.
Kai’s foot slams on the brake, the Taycan screeching to a stop.
Then the figure moves into the light, and Kai’s brain finally processes what he’s seeing.
Nazar.
Nazar is here. In his parking garage. A full day early. Wearing jeans and a jacket Kai has never seen before, his hair longer than Kai remembers, and he’s—
He’s smiling.
Not his usual tight, controlled expression.
An actual, broad, genuine smile that makes him look younger and somehow more dangerous at the same time.
Kai is out of the car before he consciously decides to move, rage flooding through him so fast it makes his vision narrow.
“Are you insane?” The words come out in a hiss. “I could have run you over! I could have crashed! What the hell were you thinking, lurking behind a pillar like some kind of—”
Nazar’s smile doesn’t fade. “Calm down. Don’t exaggerate.”
“Don’t exaggerate? You—”
“I had everything planned. I was watching your car. I knew exactly when to step out.” He crosses the distance between them in three strides. “You were never in danger of hitting me.”
