Hidden Monsters (Volkov Bratva #4)(54)

The clinic was sterile and cold, as most were. Various posters with smiling teenagers promising that chlamydia was curable hung on the walls. Despite the hour, there were few people in the waiting area. There were a couple of seats down from her, another woman holding a crying infant, and another girl who looked absolutely terrified.

Alex briefly wondered how she looked to them.

When her name was called, she walked the short distance to the back. She didn’t let the shame she felt show, staying quiet as vials of her blood were taken.

This was going to be the longest two days of her life.





24

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To Be Alone





Back home in her apartment after leaving the clinic, the silence was suffocating. Now that she was alone for the first time in days, she hated it. Already she missed the sound of Loki padding across the floor and even Luka’s restlessness. Usually by this point, she was already too far gone to even remember her own name, and now that she had time in her hands, she didn’t know what to do with herself.

She’d never given much thought to how superficial her life was until now. If she wasn’t drinking, she was shopping, and if she wasn’t doing either of those, she was fantasizing about doing one or both. After finishing high school, she’d never had any interest in going to college. Really, there was only thing that she had truly been passionate about, and that was ballet.

But that wasn’t something she could currently do.

It was already hard enough to return to the dance after having a baby, but after leaving the company without a word…it was pretty much career suicide. If she could go back now, she would change so much. Instead of allowing Anya’s secret eclipse her entire life, she should have moved forward and left it in the past where it should have been.

But it was too late to feel sorry for what was lost. She could only move forward from here. She didn’t know what she would do, not just yet, but she was no longer going to just sit and feel sorry for herself.

Alex wanted more.

The doorbell rang, making her sit up, glancing over at her phone. It couldn’t be Mishca or Lauren because they would have called first. And it definitely wasn’t Klaus since he didn’t make it a point to see her outside when they were both in the same place at the same time.

Pulling on a pair of shorts, she headed for the door, looking through the peephole.

Her heart skipped a beat when she saw who was standing on the other side. After she’d left earlier, he’d remarked about how he had things to do, and the possibility of them seeing each other was low…and yet here he was.

Trying to feign ease, she unlocked the door, yanking it open, a smile curling her lips. “Tiger.”

Luka looked tired, but at her greeting, a spark entered his eyes. “Been waiting to hear that. Can I come in?”

She stepped to the side to let him by, trying not to seem too excited about his presence in her apartment. “What are you doing here?”

He stuffed his hands into his pockets, rocking on his heels for a beat before his eyes found her. “Went home, but you weren’t there.”

A thrill shot through her at his words, and since her back was to him as she walked back to her bedroom, she didn’t fight the stupid grin that bloomed in response.

Alex was suddenly glad for the hard work she’d done all over her apartment now that Luka was here. Before today, she couldn’t remember the last time she had cleaned her sheets, nor the last time she had done anything around this place.

“Are you going to invite me to your bed?” he asked casually, leaning against the wall as he gestured toward her bed with a tilt of his head.

Climbing up onto it, she resisted the smile that was trying to force its way onto her face, waving him on as though an invitation was really necessary. He was always welcome and he knew that.

Pulling the T-shirt over his head, he toed off his boots, dropping his bag in one of the chairs near the door. Watching him prowl toward her made another smile bloom, but she was even happier when he stretched out, his body seeming that much larger now that he was in her space.

She turned on her side so she could better face him. There was still some distance between them on the bed, but she didn’t want to close it, not when there wasn’t an invitation. But like he had read her mind, he lifted his arm, looking at her expectantly.

Alex wasn’t going to turn that down.

She slid over, and when she was close enough, he wrapped that arm around her waist and pulled her in the rest of the way until they fit together, like two puzzle pieces.

Luka sighed, his fingers drifting through her hair. “You cut it…again.”

“And you don’t like it?”

He tugged slightly, not enough to hurt, just enough to get her to look at him. “There’s nothing about you I don’t like.”

“Except my knack for getting into shitty situations that you have to bail me out of.”

He laughed. “Just so.”

A part of her was afraid to ask, especially knowing that he had come here without her having to ask…but she was curious. “It’s Tuesday…”

“It is.”

“But you’re here…”

He nodded. “I’m here.”

She slapped his chest. “Stop repeating everything I say.”