Chapter 51 Aleksandr
ALEKSANDR
The knock came just after midnight. I was restless, drinking vodka and staring at my book without reading it.
Eva was asleep in my bedroom. She’d been staying the last few nights, claimed she slept better here, though I suspected it had more to do with not wanting to be alone while Carter’s threats escalated.
Tristan had crashed on my couch an hour ago.
I opened the door to find Cole in a suit, shadows under his eyes, looking a mess, tie loosened, jaw tight, eyes bright with angst. His expression softened when he saw me.
“They’re asleep,” I told him.
His answering smile was crooked. “I wanted to see you too.” And fuck, if that didn’t light up my chest more than it ever should have.
“Come on in,” I said, my eyes flicking to the security cameras in the hall. Silently, I swiped my drink off the end table and dumped it down the sink.
“You don’t have to,” Cole said with that same crooked grin.
“I want to,” I answered back. “Take a seat.”
“Is this going to be awkward now that we’re fucking the same people?” he asked me.
The laugh that burst out of me was genuine. “God, I hope not.”
His answering smile was just as genuine. “I had dinner with my father tonight. I think he’s in trouble, and I think we can drive him closer to the edge.”
This was the Cole I’d come to respect—engaged, brilliant, and yes, scheming. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree in that respect.
“Tell me.”
He swallowed. “My father’s meeting with Senator Reynolds tomorrow, at the Marauders game.”
I leaned forward. “Why Reynolds?”
“FCC oversight. The Russian oligarch issue that Tristan’s brother told him about—he’s trying to get our broadcasting license revoked.”
“Over what?”
Cole’s jaw tightened. “He wouldn’t say. Called it a personal disagreement, but he’s desperate enough to bribe a senator. I think that’s what the ten million from selling the buildings is for, and I think he’s broke enough that he doesn’t have that kind of cash sitting around anymore.”
I spared a thought for the child of a billionaire who thought that not having ten million in cash was being broke.
Reynolds was dirty, but he was careful. There was a reason no one had ever caught him accepting a bribe. “What are you thinking?”
“One of my father’s key accounts is empty,” Cole continued.
“And I think we can put pressure on him. If, say, Dmitri Lebedev were to stop by and be friendly with my father, it’d sour the deal with Reynolds.
It’s one thing to make deals with billionaires and quite another to be publicly photographed with the bratva. ”
Maybe.
“I’ll arrange tickets,” Cole said.
I laughed. “I may have resigned, but I’m still Alek Novikov. Tickets won’t be a problem.”
I pulled out my phone. Cole watched as I dialed, his expression unreadable.
“Sasha,” Dmitri’s voice was warm. “I assume this isn’t a social call, not at this hour.”
Regret pinched in my chest. Even if Dmitri and I had reconciled, I hadn’t done the work to truly repair our relationship, and I owed him that.
“I need you to come to the Marauder game tomorrow and spook Jed Carter,” I said, diving right into business.
He laughed. “Will you be there?”
My jaw tightened. Would I be there, watching a team I’d coached for the last decade, that was now under the watchful eye of another man, as my heart broke with how much I fucking missed them? “No.”
“Then I want something in return,” he said.
“Name it.”
“Come to dinner. You and your—” He cut himself off. “You and the whole gang. I’d like to meet them.”
“Done,” I agreed, not sure if this was a lovely idea or a terrible one.
We fell silent after the call ended, not awkwardly, and Cole tilted his head back, sprawling on the couch across from Tristan as if this was the first time he’d relaxed in days. Maybe it was.
“Eva’s in my room,” I said quietly. “Sleeping.”
He looked at me, vulnerability flickering across his face. “I should head out then. Let you both rest.”
“Stay,” I said.
Cole’s eyes met mine, bright blue and shining with vulnerability. He didn’t need me to take care of him right now. He needed me to acknowledge him as an equal, as someone I respected.
“I’d like you to stay,” I added.
His eyes widened for a moment, and then that cocky grin came back.
“Go,” I said, jerking my head to the bed. “I’ll lock up.”
Cole hummed. “Why don’t you show me everything that needs to be done so I can do it next time?”
Because there would be a next time, and a time after that, and a time after that. The expression in his eyes was vulnerable, as if he expected me to refuse.
I walked him around the apartment, showing him where to check the windows and how to turn on the security system, then pulled an extra keycard from a drawer in the table at the entrance. “Here,” I said, my voice rougher than the moment perhaps deserved.
“Alek, I don’t—”
“You do,” I replied gently. “All three of you do.”
“It’s your home,” he said.
“I want you here, all of you, whenever you need to be.” I wanted the three of them tangled up in my life so badly, they couldn’t escape even if they wanted to.
“Thank you.” The rasp in Cole’s voice gratified me, reminding me I wasn’t the only one who was feeling their way through this absurd mess.
Together, we walked to my bedroom. I opened the door quietly.
Eva was curled on her side, buried under my comforter, her red curls spread across my pillow. She looked peaceful, vulnerable in sleep in a way she never allowed herself to be awake.
Cole stripped down to his briefs then looked at the bed. The uncertainty was back in his expression—where did he fit in this?
“Get in,” I said quietly. “I’m tired.”
He crawled into bed carefully, trying not to wake her. Eva stirred anyway, making a soft questioning sound.
“It’s Cole,” I murmured, shedding my shirt and climbing in on her other side. “He’s staying.”
Her eyes blinked open, foggy with sleep. She looked at Cole, then at me, and I braced for her to pull away, to retreat behind her walls.
Instead, she shifted closer to him, making room. “Good,” she whispered, her voice rough with sleep. “Where’s Tristan?”
“Couch,” I said.
She frowned, already half-asleep again. “Get him.”
My chest tightened at the command—she wanted all of us here. Cole’s eyes met mine over her head, bright hope in his expression. I climbed back out of bed and went to the living room.
Tristan was sprawled across my couch, one arm thrown over his face. I shook his shoulder gently.
“Come to bed,” I said.
He blinked up at me, confused. “What?”
“Eva wants you.”
He was up in seconds, following me back to the bedroom. When he saw Cole already there, his smile was slow and genuine.
“Room for one more?” he asked.
Eva held the covers up in answer. Tristan climbed in beside Cole, immediately curling around him, his thigh thrown over Cole’s legs.
I slid back in beside Eva, between her and the door. She scooted her ass right up against Cole, and he chuckled softly, smoothing her hair out of his face.
“I’m glad you came,” she whispered to him.
He kissed the top of her head.
I slid Eva’s thigh over mine. Cole’s fingers found mine on Eva’s hip. I threaded them together and held on tight.
This was what I wanted—the four of us tangled together, choosing each other, even if none of us knew what the fuck we were doing or if this would survive past Carter’s destruction.
For now, it was enough.