Chapter 81


    Chapter Eighty-One


    Adrik


    Misha walked outside. His face was red and his eyes were misty, but he looked better than he had


    since the ball. I raised my eyebrow at him. He put his hand on my shoulder, “she’s asking for you.”


    “You good, kid?” I asked.


    “Yeah, Boss. Better than good. I don’t know how she does it, but she always knows exactly what to


    say.”


    I put my hand on his shoulder with a knowing look. I walked inside to find her getting a ss of water in


    the kitchen. She drank half of it and handed the ss to me. I finished it and refilled it, handing it back


    to her. I went to grab her antibiotic and gave her one. She swallowed it easily. “What do you think about


    a pain pill? I can tell you’re hurting. Maybe half? It will at least help to take the edge off the pain,


    maybe?”


    She thought for a moment. “Do you think they have just regr ibuprofen here? I know that won’t


    knock me out and it’ll take the pain away. That’s all I took for my back.”


    I cursed under my breath. “Really? That’s all you took?”


    She nodded and shrugged her shoulders. “It worked. It should work on this too.”


    I called for Misha and asked him to find Isabe to ask if they had ibuprofen. It would be time for dinner


    soon, so she had to be around close.


    He wasn’t gone long and he came back with a full bottle of ibuprofen. He handed it to me as she said,


    “see, Misha, this is why you’re my favorite. Don’t tell the others.” He smiled widely at her.


    I opened the bottle. “How many do you want?”


    She took the bottle from me and read over thebel. It was all in Italian, but she found whatever answer


    she needed. “Four. In eight hours, four more. I call it ‘superprofen,” she grinned, popping them in her


    mo uth.


    Ivan walked into the kitchen, looking worse than I’d ever seen him. He stopped, surprised to see


    Sephie awake and upright. She looked at him, her eyes wide at his state. She looked to me quickly,


    ncing toward the patio. I knew she wanted a moment alone with Ivan, so I turned to Misha and


    motioned for him to follow me to the patio.


    We were on the patio longer for Ivan than Misha. Viktor and Andrei were reluctant to go to her. They


    still felt so awful about everything that happened that they weren’t sure how to approach her. I couldn’t


    me them. I would be scared if I were them, too. Truthfully, I was still nervous for Andrei’s ba lls and


    his future ability to have children.


    I was starting to worry about Ivan’s well-being when Sephie walked out to the patio, leaning on Ivan’s


    arm. His face was also red, his eyes misty. Two down, three to go.


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    Viktor was the first to make a move when he saw Sephie. He stood up and went to her. Ivan made sure


    she was stable


    on her feet and walked away. They were still far enough away that we were mostly out of ear shot.-


    Viktor always towered over her, but he looked so defeated standing in front of her that he appeared


    shorter. Smaller. We were trying to give them privacy, but we couldn’t help but watch the scene unfold.


    We saw his shoulders crumble in a single sob


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    and herparatively small arms reach up and wrap around his massive shoulders.


    Ivan broke our silence. “I don’t know how she does it, but she always knows exactly what to say.”


    I knew exactly how he felt.


    Viktor walked back to us after a few more moments with Sephie. He looked at Andrei, who looked


    terrified. We heard Sephie say loud enough for everyone to hear, “Bubba if you don’t get over here right


    now, I’ll make doubly sure you aren’t able to have children.”


    His face went wh ite as he stood up slowly and walked toward heri


    “Where’s Stephen? He might as well get this over with as well?” I asked.


    “He went to try to get some sleep. None of us have been able to sleep much since we got here. He


    said he was going to try one more time.”


    I looked back toward Andrei, who looked like he had been sent to the principal’s office. It was much the


    same scene as with Viktor. She said exactly what he needed to hear to save him from himself. He held


    onto her gently, but still like she was his anchor in the storm of his own sea of emotions.


    Andrei turned back toward us, letting Sephie lean on him as they walked toward us. Her eyes found


    mine. That spark was back as she walked slowly toward me. I felt my heart threaten to stop as she


    smiled at me. She tucked herself into my arms. She still felt more fragile to me. Like she was


    apprehensive. I hoped it was because she was in pain and not anything else.


    She looked up at me, “so what’s the n now? Don’t we need to leave?”


    Ivan spoke first. “It can wait until you’re ready to travel. We still have eyes on Anthony and Lorenzo.


    Everything is still fine until you can make the trip.”


    “What does the trip consist of?” she asked.


    “We had originally nned on riding bikes to Naples. Now, we’re thinking we should take a different


    vehicle. It’ll just slow us down,” he said.


    She thought for a moment, leaning against me. “How long is the trip?”


    “Bikes, we should be able to make it in 7 hours or less. Cars, 8 hours or more.”


    “I can probably do that. As long as I can take the superprofen first.”


    Ivan raised his eyebrows. “Superprofen?”


    “She took a high dose of ibuprofen instead of a pain pill. She said that’s all she took with her back and


    it worked. No ill side effects either,” I said.


    Ivan cursed under his breath. “Really? That’s all you took?”


    She shrugged her shoulders. “I guess I’m a weirdo, but it works. Whatever lets me fu cking eat again,


    I’ll dly do.”


    As if her stomach was waiting to be invited to the conversation, it growled loudly. Everyoneughed.


    Andrei ran into the kitchen and came back with a partial loaf of bread from earlier in the day.


    “Here, spider monkey, this will tide you over until dinner.”


    “Bubba. Let’s get married in Naples. I’m tired of waiting,” she said ripping a huge piece off the chunk of


    bread and shoving it into her mo uth.


    She handed the bread to me, knowing I was likely just as hungry as she was. She was right. Between


    us both, we finished it quickly.


    Viktor asked, “you think you can do the car?”


    She shook her head. “No, that’s not what I meant. I can do the bikes with the superprofen.” They all


    looked at her, surprised. “What? This sh it works.”


    Laughing, I kissed her temple.


    God, we all missed her.


    She spent almost the entire dinner convincing the guys that she’d be able to travel the next day. They


    were willing to wait a couple more days until she was better.


    “Once we get to Naples, what’s the n?” she asked, in between bites of food.


    “Armando is meeting us there. We’ll spend a couple days there before going on to Sicily,” Viktor said.


    “See. I can rest there after the trip. It’ll be fine,” she said. “You guys all need to sleep since I’m


    apparently the only one that’s done thattely. We can leave like lunch time tomorrow and still get to


    Naples before it gets dark tomorrow.”


    They thought about her suggestion for a few moments. I had to admit, it wasn’t a bad n. I could use


    some extra sleep right now, as could everyone else, including her. She could time her superprofen to


    where she could take it before we left and then she’d be able to take it soon after we arrived in Naples.


    If she said she’d be up for the trip, I wasn’t going to argue with her. She was, after all, apparently


    difficult to k ill.


    Ivan looked at her, a serious expression on his face. “If it bes too much, you tell me. We’ll stop for


    the night before reaching Naples.”


    “I will tell you if it bes too much. I promise,” she said.


    As we were finishing dinner, Stephen appeared in the kitchen, looking just as ho rrible as everyone else


    had and not at all rested. The guys all saw him before he saw Sephie. We all quickly walked outside to


    give them their moment alone, without him even realizing she was up yet.


    Once we were outside, Misha spoke up. “That was kinda mean, but I would’ve loved to have seen his


    face when he realized he was alone with her.”


    It didn’t take long and we heard her yell, “it’s safe. You cane back in.”


    We filed back into the kitchen. Stephen’s face was red, but he looked relieved. He looked at all of us as


    we walked in.


    nupici Ligny-one


    “You guys are as sholes. I nearly sh it myself.”


    We all grinned at him. Sephie said, “you’re lucky I’m slow right now or I would’ve tested that.”


    Laughter erupted in the kitchen. Everyone needed that little bit ofic relief. I looked at everyone as


    weughed and they continued to tease Stephen. They were all going to sleep well tonight now that


    they knew she was back and they were forgiven. I felt that pull in my chest toward her as I watched her


    bring light back to every one of them. I hadn’t realized how much her light shone on each one of them


    until it was gone briefly. My breath caught as I looked to her, finding her eyes on me and her smile wide


    across her face.


    God, we all missed her, but me most of all