Page 161 of Cognac Villain

She grumbles something I don’t hear and drops two slices of bread into the toaster. “Well, now that you’re here, I’m sure the walls are going to close in a little more.Adios, hot sandwiches.Adios, hot guy squatting in the gray sweatpants.”

She’s joking, but guilt washes over me. I chew on my lower lip. “I’m sorry…”

Jorden whips around. “No! I didn’t mean it like that. You being here means I won’t need to go scrounging around for human connection. I’ll be happier in my four-hundred square foot apartment than I ever could be out in the big, wide world.”

“Very convincing,” I drawl. “I know I’m imposing. And really, if you need me to stay somewhere else, I can—”

“Girl.” Jorden points two fingers at her eyes and then jabs them in my direction. “Listen to me:I. Want. You. Here.Okay?Comprende?”

I still don’t fully believe her, but there is no point arguing about it. So I nod. “Okay.”

“Okay, good.” She leans back against the cabinet. “Besides, how else are we going to plan our stunning new life if we aren’t together?”

“Good point. Do you have ideas?”

I haven’t been able to think about much of anything beyond Ivan and Katerina. Thinking about my future feels like staring out an opaque window. I can’t even make out blurry shapes on the other side.

I don’t want Francia to be burdened with my problems, but I hope she’s able to find out something about Katerina. Something that helps give me a peek into what the hell I’m supposed to do next.

Jorden doesn’t share in my uncertainty.

“I’m thinking somewhere cold,” she muses. “My aunt used to live in Montana. I never went, but she sent pictures and they were pretty.”

I muster up a half-hearted grin. “Is this the part where you start waxing poetic about the many upsides of dating a lumberjack?”

She laughs. “I wasn’t thinking that, but you won’t catch me protesting. Flannel, manly forearms, swinging axes, building us, like, a log cabin in the middle of a pasture… Okay, I’m sold. Where do we sign up?”

Suddenly, Jorden’s front door smashes open.

It happens so fast that I can’t even react. My heart lurches and I spin around, but my fight or flight instinct is frozen solid. I just stare as Yasha crashes inside, eyes wide and frantic.

“Are you okay?” He’s breathless, his chest heaving.

I’ve never seen him like this. He’s always joking around, lighthearted, so seeing him panicked sends a bolt of fear through me.

“Of course we’re fine.” Jorden scoffs. “What happened to knocking before you—”

“Why aren’t you two answering your phones?” he growls. Yasha stomps into the room and spins in a circle, searching. “Where are they? Why haven’t you responded?”

Jorden lifts her chin. “I’m on a digital detox.”

“You weren’t on one last night.”

Jorden flushes. I have a feeling I don’t want to know what they were texting about last night. Not if I want to look at either of them directly in the eyes again.

He waves her away before she can respond and turns to me. “What about you? Have you heard anything? Where is your phone?”

“I haven’t looked at it this morning.” I cross to the couch and dig between the cushions until I find my phone. It’s vibrating. The alarm I set last night has been going off for the last thirty minutes, but Jorden’s couch absorbs everything, including both sound and my will to live.

I silence the alarm and check my notifications. “I have a bunch of missed messages from you.”

“Anyone else?”

I double-check and shake my head.

“Shit.” Yasha pulls out his own phone and fires off a text. He drags a hand through his hair and curses again under his breath.

Jorden steps closer, a hand reached towards him before she thinks better of it. “What is going on, Yasha?”

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