Chapter 156


    Chapter One Hundred Fifty-Six


    Sephie


    Both Ivan and Andrei made considerable progress the rest of the week and chiring the weekend.


    Amtrei stopped wearing his sling a few days aftering home from the hospital. He said being able to


    move his arm and shoulder felt better than keeping it still all day long. I would still yell at him for trying


    to use it too much too soon, but he really was healing remarkably fast.


    Ivan was slightly slower, but his wound was also considerably worse. He was still heavily bandaged


    because of the extensive stitches. Before he left the hospital, they told him to have his bandage


    changed and the stitches checked over the weekend. Clearly, that was going to be an issue for him.


    “I don’t know, Ivan. I can change your bandage, but I’m a little paranoid about checking your stitches.


    You had so much damage. What if I miss something important?” I asked, trying to figure out if he could


    handle seeing a doctor one more time,


    Heughed. “Says the girl that misses nothing.” I squinted my eyes at him. “You’ll be able to tell if


    there’s something going on in there that needs to be looked at. If it looks bad, I’ll go to a doctor,” he


    said, reluctantly. He paused, then added, “as long as you go with me.”


    Smiling, I rested my chin on his good shoulder. “I’ll always go with you, Ivan He rested his head gently


    on mine. “Do we have everything we need to wrap you back up again? I don’t think you need to go


    without a bandage and sling like Bubba quite yet.”


    He nodded. “Viktor made sure to pick up everything. He knew there was a very slim chance I would go


    back to see the doctor, like instructed.”


    I grinned. Viktor was like the father of the group. He quietly went about making sure everyone had


    everything they needed. He oversaw all the security, kept Adrik’s schedule, and was even helping


    Armando create his own security force. Papa Bear.


    Ivan’s stitches looked quite good once I got his bandage removed. “Dr. Williams did a much better job


    on your arm than I did on your back,” I said,ughing as I inspected his arm.


    “Your stitches kept me from having to go to the hospital, so I’d say they were infinitely better as far asThis belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    I’m concerned,” he said, cutting his eyes at me.


    “Squishy logic for the win,dies and gentlemen.” I sighed, “I think you’re going to live, Super Squish.


    Everything looks good from what I can tell. I would tell you to let me know if anything starts to hurt, but I


    don’t think that would do any good.”


    “I can feel it when it starts to heal. It itches,” he said.


    “Really? That’s surprising. So, it’s just the pain that you don’t feel? Like you can feel everything else?” I


    asked, curious how it worked.


    He nodded his head. “Some pain I can feel. Like when you poke me in the ribs. I feel that. Severe pain,


    I don’t feel. Everything else, I can feel. Pleasure I can feel”


    “I was Loday years old when I learned that I was secretly curious about that,” I said, grinning at him.


    “Now I know,” I said, working on bandaging his arm again.


    He looked around, making sure we were alone. “Redheads are simr, you know. You guys have an


    insanely high pain tolerancepared to other people. The few redheaded boys I knew in the program


    were put through he ll to see how much they could handle. It was almost as much as me. They had


    weird reactions to drugs too. One boy had it the worst. The pain meds didn’t work on him at all. Like


    ine, but he could feel all the pain. I really felt bad for that aid.”


    My heart hurt for that poor child, “I didn’t know redheads were that different. I’ve only had the one


    surgery and I don’t remember much about it. They said I was out for a long time, but I don’t remember


    anything else about it. I wasn’t in the best state of mind when I woke up, so I think 1 blocked it out.”


    “Understandable. They probably had to give you more drugs than normal to keep you under. That’s


    what would happen to the boys in the program. They would take at least double the amount of drugs to


    knock them out. It would always take them twice as long to wake up too.”


    I shook my head. “Those poor kids.” I finished his bandage in silence, thinking about everything he had


    to endure in his early life, but also how I found myself silently grateful for it, as it led him to this moment.


    I smiled, remembering Adrik had said basically the same thing to me on the balcony so many months


    ago, after learning about my scars. “Ivan, I don’t think anything I can say to you about your past will


    make it any easier to deal with, but I’m grateful that the path you were forced to walk led you here. I


    can’t imagine my life without you in it.”


    He looked stunned. I just smiled at him while I put away the bandage supplies, I went to throw away the


    old bandage. When I came back, he just pulled me to him, hugging me tightly. I rested my head against


    his chest, hugging him back just as tightly. Knowing he would always keep me safe.


    We were finishing tip dinner on Sunday night. Adrik looked to Ivan, raising his eyebrow, asking a silent


    question. Ivan nodded his head, a small smile on his face. I looked to Adrik, who also had a smile on


    his face. “I think we should go back to the penthouse until we leave to meet Trino,” he said, holding my


    gaze. There was something in his tone that told me it had already been decided, but there was clearly


    another reason he wanted to go back to the penthouse before we left. We’d spent almost the entire


    week at the house, so I was happy to go back to the penthouse, even though I was enjoying the routine


    we’d all settled into at the house. I was enjoying cooking dinner for everyone each night.


    Stephen told me that Viktor hadn’t even put the word out that we needed a chef yet. Clearly, they were


    also enjoying my cooking.


    “Why do I feel like the decision has already been made on this?” I asked, smiling at Adrik, He gave me


    his boyish grin that told me there was definitely more to going back to the penthouse. I couldn’t help but


    laugh at him.


    Viktor asked, “what do we have to do to get you to cook at the penthouse too?” He leaned back in his


    chair, pulling his shirt up and patting his stomach. He’d pushed it out to make himself look like he had a


    belly. Iughed at him, knowing he had a six- pack like all of them.


    “You don’t have to do anything, Viktor. I like it. Wait until it gets colder and I don’t want to go outside. I’ll


    start baking. Your stomach might actually look like thate spring.”


    “Worth it,” he said, smiling broadly at me