Hidden Monsters (Volkov Bratva #4)(52)

Alex was far more aware of his presence now than she had been the last few nights he’d slept beside her. She lay there stiffly, trying not to notice his body heat and how nice it felt at her back. She had never slept with him so near. In the same apartment, yes, but never in the same bed, especially not like this.

She didn’t know how long she lay there like that when she heard him sigh, evidently still awake. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt his arm circle her waist and tug her back against him, holding her to him.

“We’re just sleeping, Alex,” he murmured, his breath fanning her hair.

“Luka, I don’t—”

“I need you exactly where you are.”

What rational argument could she produce to something like that?

She didn’t bother with a response, just relaxed, forcing her eyes closed, but as he relaxed behind her, she didn’t find it hard at all to fall asleep as they were.





23

____





When You Need Me





The next morning, Luka was up first. By the time Alex woke up, she felt worse than she had the day before. It was like every part of her ached, and she didn’t think it was just because of all the work she had done yesterday.

Pushing past it, though she wanted nothing more than to lay there and enjoy the comfort of his bed, Alex ventured downstairs, finding Luka standing in the doorway, watching Loki bound across the backyard.

“Luka, I need to go home.”

He turned his head at the sound of her voice, his body still. She could tell just from the expression on his face that he didn’t like that idea.

“I don’t have any clothes here. Well, obviously you know that, but I can’t keep wearing your stuff. ‘Cause obviously you have to wear clothes too…” She finally clapped her mouth shut when his stoic expression shifted into a smile.

Being around him made her weird. She wouldn’t say they were butterflies. At one point, she had gotten those, back when she was still getting to know him after he had just popped into her life suddenly, but now, there was just that sense of calmness she got when he was around. It wasn’t as easy to keep up a front. He saw right through her, every time, and maybe that was why she liked him so much.

“I doubt you own anything to paint a house in,” he grumbled as he pushed off the wall, crossing the floor to a closet nearby.

“Paint a house?”

He lugged out two giant containers, closing the door back. “You offered. I’m taking you up on it. We can knock it out today until I get a call.”

Meaning before he had to go out and handle Bratva business. She might have been happy with this change in him, but she suspected that it had less to do with her helping him and more to do with keeping her out of trouble.

“You don’t have to babysit me, Luka. I went out yesterday and didn’t even think about it. I’m gonna have to go home eventually.”

At least he didn’t try to deny it as he said, “It’s not just about making sure you stay clean, Alex. Crazy shit has gone down over the last six months. The last time you and I were together before…this…we had a good time, right?”

They had.

It had only been for a couple of hours, but those couple of hours had been amazing. When it was just the pair of them, nothing or no one else around, they got along amazingly. It was only when outside influences got involved that they had a knack for arguing.

“Right.”

He came closer, his hand coming up to finger a lock of her hair, seemingly hypnotized as he watched the strands drift between his fingers. “I know what it feels like to be lonely, even when there are people all around you.” He looked at her, eyes intent on her face, and she didn’t shy away from that intensity. She welcomed it. “It only takes one person to fill that void.”

Alex didn’t know if he was talking about her, or himself, but either way, she agreed wholeheartedly. “When do we start?”

____

Having washed her face, brushed her teeth, and eaten another breakfast that Luka had prepared—though she wasn’t very hungry to begin with—she helped carry in the paint, going back for paintbrushes and the tarp he used to cover the floor.

She rolled up his sweats at the ankles and the waist, not bothering with the shirt since there wasn’t much she could do about that. Picking a wall, she poured out some paint, grabbing a roller, and got started. Luka was behind her, at the steps it sounded like. She worked silently, her thoughts on what they were doing, at least for a while, then she turned, ready to ask him a question, but was caught off guard by the sight of him sans shirt.

Alex thought she was used to the sight of Luka shirtless by this time, but watching him do manual labor was an experience in itself. It was odd though, helping him make renovations to his house. All of it just felt so…mundane. She was used to the glamour of it all, but working beside Luka—even with the grisly meaning behind the majority of his tattoos—he brought a sense of normalcy that she didn’t get anywhere else.

“Yo?”

Alex blinked, her gaze darting over to Luka as he stood at the base of the stairs, cleaning his paint-spattered hands off with a towel. “Yeah?”

He smirked, the first real hint of amusement he’d shown all day. “You’ve been painting that one spot for ten minutes. I think it’s covered.”