“It’s okay. Normal people don’t know these things. She’s likely led a very sheltered life up until she met Armando. It’s not necessarily her fault,” I said. I looked to Ivan, grinning, “but I’m very grateful you shu t that conversation down as quickly as you did. I’m starting to love your demons, Super Squish.” His handsome smile stretched across his face.
They’re useful,” he said, winking at me.
Keith and Chris walked back into the office. “What did we miss?” Chris asked.
“Oh, we changed subjects and we’re talking about demons now,” Stephen said, completely straight-faced. While it wasn’t a lle, his delivery made it seem like he was joking. Chris and Keith just stared at him, not knowing how to respond.
I couldn’t help but laugh. Once I started laughing, I couldn’t stop, which made all the guys laugh as well. I wiped the tears from my eyes, saying, “Yoden for the win, ladies and gentlemen.” A few more laughs made it out before I finally gained my composure. “Ah, shit. I don’t know why that was so funny, but holy he II it was hilarious.”
Stephen spoke in his usual calm and quiet manner, “we’re all a bit stressed, Seph. It was needed.”
Keith looked at me, his face suddenly very serious. “Sephie, is it okay if I ask you a personal question?”
The guys all straightened up, curious as to what he was going to ask. “Sure,” I said.
“You’ve clearly been through some shit in your life. Armando and Giana don’t know about that, do they?” he asked, timidly. He glanced around at the guys, making sure he wasn’t overstepping his bounds.
“No, they don’t know. Very few people outside this room have seen my back and I’d like to keep it that way. Why do you ask?”
“I noticed the tension it brought up when she kind of implied your knowledge of withdrawals was because you’d been a user,” he said. He was trying to be careful and choose his words wisely as he spoke, as he could tell it was a sensitive subject.
“I wasn’t a user. I was forced to live with one for a few years though. I have a feeling that Giana has led a sheltered, mostly privileged life. Her brain struggles to comprehend that everyone doesn’t live like she does. She has her own set of problems that come with that, though. It’s neither better nor worse than what I’ve dealt with. In her mind, her problems are just as bad as what I’ve had to deal with. Doesn’t make her a bad person. Life will eventually find a way of opening her eyes to other possibilities. Or it won’t and she’ll become even more close-minded and judgmental. It could go either way, really,” I said, shrugging my shoulders.
Keith was quietly contemplating my answer. Stephen looked at Keith. “You’ll come to find that Sephie’s assessment of people is always spot on. It’s why we rely on her to tell us if we can trust someone or not,” he said. His cheeks flushed slightly when Keith looked at him as he was talking.
“That’s why Mike hated her,” he said. I could see him putting pieces together in his mind.
“People who carefully craft a persona only want the world to see what they want the world to see. People like Sephie and to a lesser extent, me, can see past that persona and see people for who they really are. It generally angers them because they know they’ve been caught and their whole house of cards is in danger of crashing down,” Ivan said.
“Don’t sell yourself short, Super Squish,” I said, grinning at him.
We spent a little while longer in the office, talking through more possibilities, Keith and Chris were full of questions that they didn’t want to ask in front of Armando. I couldn’t blame them for wanting to appear completely competent in front of Armando, but I had to laugh to myself. Armando was so relaxed about his security that he likely wouldn’t have known the difference.
I had gotten up and pulled Adrik to one of the couches at one point so I could lay down. I was starting to get tired, but didn’t want to interrupt the discussion until it was done. They continued to talk as Adrik ran his hands through my hair, my head in his lap. I found myself drifting between being awake and asleep. I would still catch parts of the conversation, here and there, but I eventually gave in and fell asleep.
Some time later, I felt Adrik gently, but urgently, shaking me to see if he could wake me up. He had a worried look on his face when I opened my eyes. I looked at him, confused. “What’s wrong?” I asked, sitting up.
You were talking in your sleep, solnishko. You don’t remember?” he asked, now clearly worried.
Sephie
“You were talking in your sleep, solnishko. You don’t remember?” he asked, now clearly worried.
I thought for a moment. “I don’t remember anything. What did I say?”
“You were pleading with the doctor, trying to convince him not to do the procedure,” he said. His face looked almost haunted.
“Shit. I’m sorry,” I said, glancing around the room. Chris and Keith were gone, but the guys were still there.
“Why would you ever apologize for that, princess?” Ivan asked.
“Because I saw what hearing me on the plane did to all of you. You guys don’t need to carry the burden of all my trauma.” I glanced at Misha, who was clearly struggling. It suddenly hit me why he was struggling. “Especially Misha, who’s still beating himself up for teasing me about being pregnant, even though he had no idea when he said it.” His face turned red as he tried to control his emotions. He was staring at the floor, his elbows on his knees, trying to maintain control. I quietly got off the couch and leaned over his back. “Don’t make me bring back the emotional support sloth,” I said, as I draped myself over his upper body, I whispered to him, so only he could hear, “I still love you, my adorable Russian guardian. You didn’t know. I can’t be mad at you. I couldn’t be mad at that face anyway. Like it’s physically impossible you’re so adorable.”
He reached up and held onto my arms that were around his neck as he laughed. I kissed his cheek. “Promise you’ll stop beating yourself up?” He nodded. “Good. Because my hands still hurt, s I don’t want to beat you up for real over this.”
Adrik stood up from the couch, holding his hand out for me, “come, we should go soak your hands again.” He still had a look of worry on his face, but he was trying to mask it. I walked back to him, still feeling guilty for what I’d clearly just put them all through. He wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me, almost urgently, toward the door.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.