“Under the weather? In what way?”
“Headache. He gets them a lot—shoot, hang on.” Helga dug her phone from her bag. It was flashing with an incoming call. “Sorry, I have to take this.”
Jonah took the hint and left her to it. He went back to the table where Lily was talking animatedly to Nico. They were engaged enough for Jonah to subtly claim his coat from his chair and abandon them too.
He shouldered his way out of the pub and into the street. Smokers lined the pavements, but none were Sacha. You don’t even know he smokes, remember? That was a late night assumption you made based on your obsession with listening to him breathe.
Jonah shook his head slightly, and walked away from the drinkers who’d spilled out of the pubs and bars, drifting across the road to the office on autopilot, his phone to his ear.
Sacha’s voicemail kicked in. Again. As if he’d dropped off the earth for the second time in the space of a week. Maybe he did go home. And he turned his phone off to get some peace.
But as logical as the theory sounded, Jonah knew it wasn’t true. There was nothing logical about Sacha Ivanov. Never had been.
Jonah swiped himself into the office building and strode to the elevator. Samson was at his post, for once wide awake. “Did you see Mr. Ivanov from Blutecc leave yet?” Jonah asked.
Samson shook his head. “Not that I remember. But everyone seemed to leave in a hurry today. Excited for Christmas, no doubt.”
“No doubt.” Jonah nodded and continued on his way to the elevator and up to the thirteenth floor.
He found it deserted, not even Curtis had reached there yet. Lights off, computers shut down. But instinct drew Jonah to the alcove that couldn’t be seen unless you were in it, and he rounded the corner to the soft blue light of a laptop.
Sacha’s laptop.
And Sacha was beside it, slumped on the floor, eyes closed, face pale.
He looked dead.
“Oh my god.” Jonah closed the distance between them and dropped to a crouch beside Sacha. He put one hand to his forehead and clamped the other around his wrist, checking his pulse. “Sacha? What’s wrong?”
Sacha’s eyes flickered as Jonah counted his racing heartbeat. He groaned.
Jonah tightened his grip. “Hey. It’s me. Jonah. Open your eyes, Sacha. Look at me.”
Sacha took a deep, shuddery breath. One eye opened fully, the other stayed hooded, drooping slightly, unfocused and bloodshot.
“That’s it.” Jonah squeezed his hand. “Can you tell me what’s wrong?”
“I’m fine,” Sacha slurred.
“You’re really not. Your heart is beating really fast.”
“Is nothing. Too much caffeine. No food. It get better soon, now I finish.”
“Finish what?”
“Work.”
Jonah glanced at Sacha’s open laptop and an overwhelming urge to throw it out of the window swept over him.
He settled for slamming it shut, cloaking them in darkness.
Sacha hummed and let his eyes fall closed again.
Jonah shook him. “Don’t do that. You need to stay awake so I can get you some help, okay?”
He started to stand.
Sacha grabbed his arm. “No, I don’t need help. Is just migraine, luchik. Please don’t go.”
“Sacha—”
“No.” Sacha dug his fingers into Jonah’s forearm. “Please. It will pass, I promise.”
Jonah pried Sacha’s grip loose and took his hand, squeezing it again, harder than before. “All right, all right. But you can’t stay on the office floor. We need to go home, get you comfortable, okay?”
Sacha raised his head, slow, like it was weighted with concrete. He finally met Jonah’s gaze with reddened eyes. “My home.”
Jonah blinked his surprise. “You want me to come to your place?”
“Yes. For lots of reasons. But…” Sacha tapped his temple. “For medicine. I keep it at home.”
“This has happened before?”
“Since I was young and car accident. There is problem in my brain.”
Sacha’s speech dragged as if he was drunk, and each word hit Jonah in slow motion, impacted him with brutal force. It bothered him more than he could say that he hadn’t known this about Sacha. All this time they’d spent in each other’s company, and he’d had no idea. “Okay. Let’s get you home, then you can tell me more about it.”
“Why?”
“Because I fucking care about you,” Jonah snapped. “Stop fighting me.”
Sacha smiled a little, but it didn’t last. His colour was terrifying, and only the distant memory of Lily’s premenstrual migraines kept Jonah’s fear at bay. He’s not dying. Take him home. Get him his medicine.
He found Sacha’s coat and his bag, and helped him stand. “Your laptop is staying here.”
“Is yours?”
“It’s locked in my desk. I’m not looking at it until January 2nd.”
“That is long time.”
“Yes, well. I have my phone for emails and anything else can wait.”
“You are a principled man.”
“Not really. I just know what happens to me when I work myself into the ground.” Jonah swiped his phone screen to summon a car to take them home.
Sacha was silent, leaning against the wall. Any other time Jonah would’ve felt his keen gaze on him, raking over him, studying him, the way only Sacha could. But not this time. Sacha could barely keep his eyes open.
Jonah took Sacha’s laptop to his own desk drawer and locked it inside. He returned to Sacha’s half smile.
“It is like you are taking me hostage.”
“Not you. Just your laptop.”
“Shame.”
Jonah smirked and pulled Sacha’s coat tighter around him, fastening the buttons. “Maybe next time. Come on. There should be a car downstairs any minute, my driver wasn’t far away.”
He took Sacha’s arm and guided him to the lift. Inside, it lurched downwards, shuddering, as it had become prone to doing since the breakdown that had brought them together.
Jonah smiled, but when he looked at Sacha, he was deathly pale, shielding his eyes from the overhead lights with one hand, while his other arm was wrapped tight around himself, holding himself together.
“Hey.” Jonah stepped into his personal space. “Lean on me.”
Sacha shook his head. “I’m okay.”
“Liar.” Jonah pushed Sacha’s hand away and guided his head down, pulling Sacha into an embrace that took some of his weight and allowed him to hide his face in Jonah’s shoulder.
Sacha was tight, rigid with pain. Jonah massaged the nape of his neck. Sacha moaned.
“Shh. It won’t take long to get home,” Jonah murmured as if Sacha didn’t know the distance between the office and his own flat. “It’s okay.”
The lift ride was over before Sacha could respond. Jonah slipped an arm around his waist and steered him out of the building into the waiting car. He gave the driver Sacha’s address and the luxury vehicle slipped soundlessly into the evening traffic.
Sacha hunched forward, hiding his face again. Jonah rubbed his back and kept quiet, mind spinning as he replayed the day’s events. While Blutecc had worked to the wire, it had been relatively serene on the FG side of the office. Deadlines were met, projects wrapped up, and they’d all been in the pub by lunchtime. Most of his team had been legless long before the Blutecc personnel had filtered in, but not Jonah. He’d stuck to tonic water, and he was thankful for it now. He’d never imagined the evening playing out quite like this, but he wasn’t sure a drunk version of himself would’ve thought to go back for Sacha, and the notion of Sacha being alone right now made him feel slightly ill.