Chapter 38
C H A P T E R
HONEY GIGGLED WHILE SHE LAY ON THE COUCH IN HER APARTMENT.
Music played in the background as she ran her fingers through Nikos’s hair, who lay on top of her with his head buried in her chest and his arms wrapped around her waist. They had been relaxing like this for the past two hours ever since Kai left with Olivia to stay at his cousin’s place for the night.
Two wine glasses were on the table with a bottle of her favorite wine half empty on the side.
“You’re so childish,” Honey said, laughing.
“It feels good to relax,” Nikos said, nestling his head more as if he belonged there. Sometimes, Nikos acted just like a child, reminding her that he was two years younger than her. But she would never admit to him that she thought it was cute sometimes.
“Don’t get too comfortable,” she warned.
“Why not when I’m sleeping over anyway?” he asked.
Honey rolled her eyes. “Why would you be sleeping over?”
“Kai isn’t here,” he replied, “and those are my designated days to sleep over.”
Honey snorted. “You practically sleep over every night.”
Every night, Nikos would make his way here, whether it was dropping her off back home after work or coming over on his own, but most nights he would come if he wasn’t busy.
Usually, she wouldn’t be comfortable with a man spending the night at her place too much, and she definitely wouldn’t allow them to spend the night when Kai was there, but with Nikos, it was different.
Kai was comfortable around Nikos and liked it when he spent the night.
Often, they would watch movies together and play games.
“I do,” Nikos admitted, chuckling as he dropped his head on her lap. “I might as well move in.”
“There’s no space for you here,” Honey said, half-joking, half-serious. Her apartment was small with just enough space for herself and her son.
“That’s why you should move into my place.”
Honey rolled her eyes, not believing they were having this conversation that felt half-joking and half-hypothetical. They just started whatever this was, and there was no way they were moving into either of each other’s places.
“What?” Nikos said, catching her eye roll as he sat up. “At my place, Kai can have all the space he needs to run around. You’ll never have to worry about hearing complaints again.”
Because she had an eight-year-old hyperactive son, she had gotten used to hearing the complaints from her neighbors, whether it was her neighbors downstairs who complained about the stomping and jumping or her neighbors next door who complained about the noise because of the paper-thin walls.
“You’ll have all the space to cook for me,” Nikos continued, and Honey laughed.
“For you?” she exclaimed, laughing at the thought.
“Yep, and of course, space to dance,” Nikos said before he grabbed her hand and kissed it. “Will you be my private dancer?”
Honey erupted in laughter as Nikos grinned at her, his blue eyes alight with mischief.
“I can’t even tell if you’re being serious or not,” Honey said, shaking her head.
“I’ll be serious if you want me to be,” he said while looking into her eyes, causing her laughter to sober instantly as she stared back at him, realizing that he was indeed serious. Slowly, her heart began to beat louder in her chest, thumping enough that she could feel it.
Before she could reply, his phone rang. Nikos looked at her for a second longer before he pulled his phone out of his pocket, and Honey saw Christos’s name before Nikos answered it.
“I’ll be right back,” Nikos told her before he got up and disappeared into the back. Honey was left to her own thoughts, wondering how she should respond to that.
Even though they weren’t necessarily official or serious, at times, it felt like their relationship was going at the speed of light in the way it hadn’t been with other men that she had been in serious relationships with, because everything between them felt so easy and natural.
She was never uncomfortable with him in the way she had been with her other lovers, never cautious of him with her son, never worried about placing boundaries.
It made it so that she hadn’t even reacted in the way she would have with another, which would have been an easy no.
Their relationship was so new. There was no need for them to move in together, and yet, the idea of it didn’t bother her in the way it should have.
She mused over it longer, listening to the music from the speaker and nursing her wine when she heard a knock on her door.
Honey sighed, grabbing the remote to pause the music as she stood and walked over to the front door.
She wondered if her neighbors had heard it again through her paper-thin walls.
It was late after all. Maybe she should accept Nikos’s offer, just to avoid annoying things like this.
She couldn’t count the countless times her neighbors had knocked on her door to complain.
Sighing, she opened her door, ready to give the usual spiel she did for moments like this but froze when she saw who was behind the door. Her heart nearly lurched out of her chest as her stomach dropped like she was going down on a roller coaster ride.
“Honey,” Antonis said, looking at her with familiarity that made her skin crawl.
He looked haggard and not the pristine way he usually looked.
But it was expected. This was a man who had just gotten out of a coma, and judging from the cane he held in his hand, he should be somewhere recovering, but instead, he was in front of her door.
“Antonis,” she said, wishing that she could greet him with the same happiness that he held, but she couldn’t. She was stunned and baffled, and only one question could come to her mind. “Why are you here?”
“Is that the only thing you have to say to me after I return from the dead?” he asked as the smile in his eyes disappeared as if he had been expecting a tearful reunion between them when, in actuality, they were nothing to each other at all.
The only time she would ever shed tears for Antonis was when he left her life for good. “No questions about my wellbeing?”
She had no questions about his well-being.
One, because she didn’t care, but two, because the reality of the situation was dawning on her.
Antonis was back, and Nikos Drakos was in her home.
If Antonis saw Nikos inside her home, she didn’t want to imagine what would happen, especially as she glanced over Antonis’s shoulder and saw two of his men standing there. It would be a blood bath.
When she didn’t respond to his question, Antonis didn’t question her any further.
Instead, he stepped into her personal space, and when she tried to take a step back, his free arm snaked around her waist and pulled her into a hug.
She stood there frozen, unable to do anything because she was petrified with fear.
Her heart raced uncontrollably as Antonis hugged her as if he were returning home.
They stood like that for a moment longer, and then Antonis pulled back and haggardly limped over to her couch before sitting down.
She gritted her teeth, wondering when she had invited him into her home for him to sit down so comfortably.
She glanced out of the corner of her eye but didn’t see any sign of Nikos, which was good.
She hoped that whatever conversation he was having would keep his attention until Antonis left.
“When I woke from my coma, you were the second person I thought of,” Antonis informed her. Honey refrained from cringing outwardly with disgust because the moment he had gone into that coma, she had let him slip to the back of her mind, so much so, that she was in this predicament now.
“Who was the first?”
“My enemies,” he said, and his frown was deadly.
She took in his appearance and realized that he must have awakened from his coma very recently because there were still bandages all over him, and it was clear that he shouldn’t be on his feet.
As a matter of fact, she was surprised that a recent comatose patient was.
“Maybe you should go back to the hospital and rest,” Honey suggested as she folded her arms together, hoping he would take the hint. She didn’t invite him in, but she damn sure would invite him out.
Antonis laughed.
“You probably didn’t miss me, considering that you already want me gone,” Antonis said. Though he laughed, there was bitterness in his tone, and he looked away from her, letting his eyes fall to her table where he noticed the wine glasses. Honey sucked in a breath.
“You had company?” he asked, and Honey tried to tamp down her nervousness as best as she could before she spoke.
“I was just having drinks with my friend a while ago before she left,” Honey said. Antonis stared at her for a long time, and Honey looked back at him without blinking, just waiting for what his response would be.
“Search the apartment,” Antonis said to one of his men, who immediately nodded and headed to the back. Her eyes widened as her heart threatened to break out of her chest.
“What the hell are you doing?” Honey spat angrily. “Why are you doing this already?”
This was why she didn’t date, why she rejected men’s advances because Antonis was insane.
They had never been in a relationship together and had never shared anything with one another, but Antonis treated her like she was his property, burdening her with his feelings and harming every man around her who even showed a fraction of interest in her.
It was why she had been hesitant to date Nikos in the first place because though Antonis had been out of commission, she always knew that there had been a possibility of him returning, and now her worst nightmare was coming true.
If he saw Nikos in her home, he would show neither of them any mercy.
“I hope that just because I was out of commission for a short time that didn’t mean you decided to give yourself to another man,” Antonis said as he clenched his fist tight.
“We aren’t in a relationship,” Honey gritted out, wishing that Antonis would understand this very fact that she had told him time and time again whenever he had harmed one of her lovers.
Silently, she prayed that they wouldn’t find Nikos even if she knew it was futile.
Her apartment wasn’t big enough to hide someone unless he went out on the balcony.
Honey stood with prayers on the tip of her tongue as she waited anxiously, and when Antonis’s henchman returned without Nikos, she nearly sighed with relief but held it in.
“There’s no one else here,” the man said, and Antonis nodded.
Honey silently thanked herself for being stubborn and not allowing Nikos to leave any of his things here, something that he would argue about with her profusely, saying that it was a waste of time when he was practically here every day.
If they had seen his things here, the search definitely would have been more thorough.
Honey folded her arms together and glared at Antonis. “I want you gone now.”
Antonis sighed as if he knew he had pushed his luck, which he definitely had even if his suspicions had been right.
“I have other people to meet anyway,” Antonis said as he slowly stood to his feet, adjusting his cane so he could stand properly.
And though she had suggested he return to the hospital so he could get out of her apartment, she genuinely thought it was best for him to return.
Clearly, he could barely stand or walk. After not using his limbs for months, he shouldn’t have been on his feet at all.
He couldn’t have wanted to see her that bad.
Antonis haggardly limped to the door, looking every bit of his age now until he paused, and Honey lifted a brow in question.
“How has my nephew been?” Antonis asked, and Honey arched a brow, wondering why he would ask her about Nikos. Did he know? But she tried to feign ignorance as best as she could.
“What do you want to know?” she questioned casually.
“How has he been doing at the club in my place?”
“I guess he’s been doing good. Had a few bumps in the road, but now everything is going smoothly. I have no problems with Nik,” Honey said, carefully choosing her words to make sure not to give Nikos too much praise.
“Nik,” Antonis repeated, and Honey lifted a brow, wondering what the problem was, when she realized that she had called him by the nickname her son had given him. Kai said it so often that it had started rubbing off on her.
Antonis gave her a grim smile before he left, and when her door closed, her legs gave out, and she dropped down to the ground, breathing heavily as if she had been holding her breath.
A second later, arms wrapped around her, and she breathed in Nikos’s familiar scent.
He felt cool, and she knew then that Nikos had been out on the balcony.
Nikos squeezed her tight, giving her the comfort she needed, and making the fear slowly ebb away.
“I hate to admit it, but I hoped he’d never wake up from that coma,” she said. Nikos pressed a kiss to her head.
“Me too,” Nikos agreed as his hand tightened on her shoulder. “Me too.”