Chapter 136
Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Six
Sephie
Well after dark, one of the nurses came in and informed us that visiting hours were ending soon and
that we would need to leave. I couldn’t help it. Iughed. “I think you should call Dr. Williams and ask
him if it’s a good idea for me to leave.” She looked at me like I was a petnt child. I mean, I partially
couldn’t me her. I was too tired to have any sort of tact at that moment. She tried to cop an attitude
with me. Everyone but Andrei and Ivan stood up. I took a step toward her, crossing my arms across my
chest. “Call Dr. Williams.”
She left the room in a huff and I returned to the side of Ivan’s bed. I felt slightly guilty about torturing
him with having to share a bed, but I knew he didn’t feel anything. He didn’t seem to mind.
The nurse came back a few minutester, her attitude visibly different. She was now overly nice and
clearly frightened. She asked us if we’d be needing an extra bed. I put on my best fake smile as I
nodded my head yes. She left as quickly as she could. The guys allughed when she left the room.
“You don’t even need us anymore, gazelle. She’s more scared of you than she is us,” Misha said,
yawning in his chair.
“She doesn’t know I’m the go ddamn princess.” I mumbled, crossing my arms again across my chest.
A different nurse came inter with an extra bed. I looked at Misha and nodded my head toward the
bed for him to lie down. “You’re clearly tired. You can have the first shift. We’ll be quiet.” He looked at
everyone else, who all agreed. Viktor, Stephen, and Adrik were fairing better than the rest of us. I was
happy making Ivan share, for now. Misha got up and stretched out on the small bed, his legs dangling
off the end of the bed.
Iughed. “This is going to be the best night’s sleep you’ve ever had, my giant adorable Russian
guardian.”
We were quiet so Misha could sleep. Andrei fell asleep quickly as well. I looked over to find Viktor and
Stephen with their eyes/ closed, their heads leaned back against the wall. Adrik was still concerned
about me, and would check on me every so often, but would close his eyes in between. Ivan wasThis belongs to N?velDrama.Org.
awake next to me.
I looked over at him, whispering, “you should sleep, Squishy. I won’t leave. I promise.” He looked at
me, the fear in his eyes clearly visible.
“Promise?” he asked. He sounded more vulnerable in that moment than I would have ever imagined he
could be.
“Pinky swear, even,” I said, holding my pinky up. He looked at me, puzzled. “Right. Let me introduce
you to the pinky swear. It’s the holiest of swears there is. Likepletely trumps swearing on all things
holy, on your mother’s grave, on your life, all of it. It’s the holiest of holy swears. Like the pope himself
can’t even make a pinky swear because he’s not holy enough.
He chuckled and held his pinky up. I grabbed his pinky with mine. “I plnky swear I will not leave you.”
“Thank you,” he said, a look of relief on his face. He leaned his head back, closing his eyes. I looked
over to Adrik, catching him watching our exchange…
I smiled at him, trying to let him know I was okay. He just mouthed “I love you” and closed his eyes
again. I leaned my head onto Ivan’s shoulder and closed my eyes.
Nobody got much sleep during the night, but it was better than nothing. The nurses would have to
come in every few hours to check on Andrel and Ivan. Whoever was on the extra bed would get up and
let someone else have a chance to be down.
Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Six
Ivan eventually fell asleep, but had troubled dreams throughout the night. He would fall asleep for a bit
and I would rx and start to drift off to sleep, only to feel his body start to je rk. I would just lean close
to his ear, whispering to him to let him know I was still there, and he would calm down. I tried to be as
quiet as I could, but Viktor caught me calming him down.
Viktor looked at me, with a knowing look. “You’re the only one that’s ever been able to do that. This isn’t
the first time we’ve been in the hospital with him. It’s never gone this well. Being here brings up
whatever is in his past and every time before, he’s struggled for days with it. They can’t sedate him
either. We’ve had to hold him down before to keep him from hurting anybody.”
I sighed. “He has reason to be this way. He told me what happened to him. We should all be seriously
impressed that he didn’t turn into a real monster.”
Viktor looked surprised. “He told you? Everything?” I nodded my head. “He’s never told anyone.” He
thought for a second, before smiling. “I shouldn’t be surprised.”
I smiled at him, looking from him to Ivan sleeping soundly. I sighed again, “everyone has demons. My
demons recognize a few of his and his demons recognize a few of mine. He feltfortable enough to
tell me, I guess.”
The doctor was back early the next morning to check on them both. I think he wanted to release them
as soon as possible just to get them out of the hospital more than anything, but I wasn’t going to
comin. I didn’t want to be there any longer than absolutely necessary. They both got the green light
to leave. Both were instructed to take it easy for a few days. Both had their arms in slings. I’m sure it
helped Andrei’s arm feel slightly less painful, but for Ivan, it kept him from overusing his arm and
ripping the stitches out. He’d already tried to use it once because he forgot he wasn’t supposed to. It
didn’t seem to matter that he was heavily bandaged. He still “forgot” that arm was currently under
construction and not usable.
Viktor and Stephen pulled the vehicles to the door. The nurses showed up with two wheelchairs for
Andrei and Ivan. I couldn’t help myself again. Iughed at them. “You guys wasted a trip,” I said, as
both guys stood up behind me and walked out of the room. Yep, they were a different breed.
Ivan got in the passenger seat, while I climbed in the back, moving over so Adrik could slide in beside
me. His arms were immediately around me, pulling me closer to him. He whispered in my ear, “I
appreciate why you did it, but I don’t ever want to be apart from you for that long again.” He kissed my
temple. I felt my cheeks blush.
We dr ove to the house, to give Andrei and Ivan a few quiet days. I was happy to be going to the house
as well. After I took a nap, I was looking forward to a long walk. My hip was finally feeling almost back
to normal, with only slight soreness now and
then if I overdid it.
I leaned against Adrik, closing my eyes. Happy to be next to him. Happy that Ivan and Andrei were
okay. Happy that we were all together still. Knowing that the storm wasing.
The guys all dispersed to their rooms, but not before I made sure that Andrei and Ivan would be okay
on their own. Ivan slid his arm around my shoulders, saying quietly, “I know you barely sleptst night
because you were busy keeping me calm. You need to sleep for at least a few hours, princess. I’ll be
fine.” I looked at him skeptically. He just held up his pinky and grinned. “Go. Your go ddamn prince
misses you.” He nodded to Adrik and walked toward his room.
I caught Viktor and Misha before they went to their rooms, on either side of Ivan’s room. “If you two
hear him struggling again,e get me. I won’t let him fight this alone this time. I don’t care what time
it Is,e get me. He needs to keep that arm still anyway. If he messes up the doctor’s handiwork, he
could bleed to death. Understood?”
They both nodded their heads. Viktor wrapped his nt arm around me. “Ivan is lucky to have you this
time. We’re all lucky to have you.” He kissed the top of my head and continued to his raam.
I felt Adrik’s arms around me. “How are you feeling, solnishko? Are you sore? Do you want a bath or a
show
n’s blood on you and I would much rather not see you in hospital scrubs,” he had a small smile on