“I’m sorry, too. Next time, I’ll ask you rather than just assume or command.”
His hand stroked my side, and now that the adrenaline and worry was out of the way, my body was responding to a different emotion entirely.
I glanced out the window as Ivan started to nibble on my ear. “Umm… we still have an audience,” I said.
“The little old lady?” he murmured. “Let her watch. It’s probably the most excitement she’s gotten all year.”
He moved to my throat next, and I threw my head back with a moan as his fingers drifted to my inner thigh.
“We shouldn’t,” I protested weakly.
“Why not?” Ivan nipped at my throat and stole whatever reasonable answer I’d been about to voice.
Until someone banged on the car window and shouted, “Open up, you horny fuckers.”
Ivan groaned, and Misha opened the unlocked door and tossed a pile of clothes at us. “Not sure if any of it is worth anything after you ripped out of it like that.”
“Where’s the guy who shot me?” Ivan asked, carefully placing the ripped shirt over my lap and sliding me to the passenger seat.
“Oh! I meant to ask, are you hurt?” I couldn’t believe I’d forgotten that.
“He got my ass,” Ivan said. “It wasn’t fun, but it healed almost as soon as I shifted. What was that guy’s deal?”
Joey shrugged. “Just a druggie. He recognized the name Novak and freaked, because he shook down a laundromat yesterday and thought it might have been one of ours.”
“Was it?”
“No idea. But we’ll find out.”
“Probably wasn’t any help about the shooting, then.”
Misha shook his head. “Nah, he’s high as a fucking kite. Probably is most of the time. We’ll handle him, but first we’ve got to take care of you two. You can’t go around knocking on doors in the nude, Ivan.”
“I’ll just take Tanner home and change—” Ivan started to say, then realized what he was doing. He turned to me. “Tanner, I’d like to take you home and then come back out to keep working. Would that be okay with you? This crazy addict wasn’t normal for this neighborhood, but even then, I wasn’t in any real danger. I promise you, I won’t do anything risky today.”
My insides clenched at the idea of staying home while Ivan went back out into danger—and it was dangerous, no matter what he said—but he was trusting me to be reasonable. To let him do his job. The truth was, and what he was too kind to say, was that I was a liability. Jumping in after that guy had been stupid. Beyond stupid. I could have been deathly injured, unlike Ivan.
I nodded. “I’ll stay home. But if anything happens to him, I’m coming after you two.” I pointed at his two brothers.
Misha laughed and tossed Ivan the keys. “I wouldn’t want that. See you in a bit, brother.”
Joey nodded approvingly at Ivan. “Pro move, big guy. See you back at the house, Tanner.”
Ivan closed the door and started the car, taking a deep breath. He looked over at me with a wry and indulgent smile. “Facts, you’re going to keep me on my toes, aren’t you?”
“Did you know that no one is certain where that phrase originated? It’s thought to probably come from boxing, however.”
Ivan laughed. “God, I love you.”
I stopped breathing. Did he realize that was the first time he’d said it? His eyes darted toward me, and I realized, yes, he did. But as confident as my big bear was about claiming me and protecting me, he wasn’t as confident when it came to expressing his deepest feelings. I tugged his shirt around me and inhaled his scent. “I love you, too.”
We shared goofy grins, and I was grateful that what had started out as a misunderstanding had ended with us building an even deeper bond together.
8
Ivan
Misha shot Joey a dirty look when he started the knuckle cracking. I didn't blame the kid, you could cut the tension in here with a dull knife. Even I was feeling a little twitchy after sitting through this unnecessary meeting.
Maybe not so much unnecessary as just a waste of time while we sat here relaying information that we already knew about everything we still didn’t know. It didn't help that we were all crammed around our father's conference table while we tried to make sense of the shitstorm raging through our city. Everyone had been fucked with somehow. The Irish. The Chinese. The Ukranians. The Italians. Not to mention half the two-bit wannabes taking advantage of the turmoil.
Pops slammed his palm down against the wooden surface. "Two weeks! I cannot believe that not one person has found anything to go on by now. How many more weeks will it take before somebody comes up with something to report?"
"We can't find what's not out there, sir. We've followed every lead but we ain't got bupkis. No matter how hard we’ve tried, we keep coming up with nothin’." George nervously scratched the back of his neck, avoiding eye contact with the don as if regretting whatever impulse had made him speak up.
Vasily nodded his agreement. "George is right, sir. Our men have done everything we've asked and more. And you know all of us have been out there knocking on doors too. There's just… nothing. Not even a whisper in the wind."
Pops clenched his jaw, leaning back to steeple his fingers as he looked around the table. "I get that, boys. And while I appreciate the work you've all put in, we need more. This town is on the brink of war. Tensions are high among the families and it won’t get better until we get to the bottom of it. Don Stanislav is still upset about that little present he got the night Pavlo was kidnapped. His whole family was shook up. We're lucky I was able to talk the old man down or it would've been war."
"Sure. They were awfully shook up." Joey looked disgusted at the mention of our Ukrainian 'friends'. "They get a box with a detached ear that was still dripping blood and a note that says some bullshit about this is what happens when you trust the Novaks with your son, but yet they don't even ask if he’s doing all right when they find out he’s alive and in our house?"
Misha shrugged. "To be fair, old man Stanislav saw that Pavlo was okay and still in possession of both his ears when he came to ask what the hell was happening with his kid. His type don’t care much about mental health."
"Like he cared. Once he saw that Pavlo was in one piece, all he wanted to know was why he hadn't been informed immediately when his son was taken and what were our plans for retaliation when we found who did it." Joey's nostrils flared, gold chains rattling as he jerked his arm up and roughly carded a hand through his hair. "I'm still not convinced that he wasn't behind the whole thing. He seemed more upset about getting that ear delivered and ruining his dinner party than he was about the actual kidnapping."
I shook my head at Joey’s illogical circles, but I’d already been through that argument with him. It wasn’t worth my time.
River yawned, arching his back in a catlike stretch before slouching back in his chair. "That's a Stanislav for you. I still say he didn't need to leave the fucking ear on the don's desk. That was fucking disrespectful as hell." He smiled ruefully at my father. "Sorry, sir. I get territorial when it comes to my family."