Chapter 31
Chapter Thirty-One
Lauren
I awoke to find my sister sitting beside my bed.
“Where’s Alexei?”
“He had to leave, but Jason called us.” She leaned over and touched my forehead. “You feel better.”
I felt like I’d lost twenty pounds and about fifty percent of my sanity, but the urge to hurl was no more, so I counted it as a win.
I sat up while Sadie plumped the pillow behind my back, then stood and opened the drapes.
She wore one of her gorgeous designs—a lovely coral and white polka dot dress.
Sometimes the fact that my sister was a world-famous dress designer blew my mind.
Sadie Yates Designs was synonymous with full-skirted, fifties-era, Rockabilly dresses, very forgiving of a woman’s more ample assets.
They had never been my style—a little too pretty—but I appreciated how gorgeous they looked on everyone else.
At fourteen years older than me, she was a woman in her prime, her strawberry blonde hair still naturally vibrant.
She had always been curvy, and those curves suited her well, the perfect advertisement for her brand.
She retook her seat on the bed. “Why was Alexei Nazarov here?”
“He’s helping me land a client, a player he knows. I blew off the call, so he was worried.”
My sister narrowed her frosted blue eyes at me, the ones we shared with our father. She wasn’t happy with that explanation.
I searched for a subject change. “How’s Foster doing? I’m sorry I missed camp the last couple of days.”
“Good. He’s having fun, especially with Alexei as his instructor.
” She paused a moment, expecting me to add to the lore about Nazarov.
When I didn’t jump in, she went on. “And I think Matti has a girlfriend. He keeps sending pictures of all these iconic places in Europe and I’ve caught the same girl in the background three times. ”
“What’s the big secret? He’s twenty-three years old.” My other nephew, Matti, Gunnar and Sadie’s eldest, was backpacking across the pond for the summer.
My eyes alighted on something unexpected, sitting on my nightstand.
“Iggy!” I grasped the bedraggled-looking bear from a shelf and took a closer look. Held together by stitches to his eyes, arm, and the heart-shaped patch on his chest, I gazed on him as happy-sad memories washed over me. “I can’t believe you still have him.”
“When we moved last year, I came across him and thought it would be good to give him some air. When we heard you were ill—though why you didn’t call, I don’t know—I thought I’d bring him over. Finding Alexei Nazarov here and no sign of Thad was surprising, to say the least.”
Iggy had belonged to Sadie when she was a girl, and she’d passed him onto me, though I hadn’t known that detail until later. A touch of melancholy checked me. I wished for a time when things were simpler.
“I need to tell you something, but you can’t tell Gunnar.”
“Is something wrong?” She pressed a hand to her chest. “Are you ill? Or more ill than before?”
“No, not ill. It’s just … I screwed up, and while I can get myself out of it, it’s made things complicated for Thad and me.” I rushed on. “I married someone by accident in Vegas. Months ago, before Thad.”
Sadie stared at me, unblinking.
“Did you hear me?”
“Yes, I did. That’s—wow! What does Thad think?” At my wince, her eyes went wide. “You haven’t told him?”
“No, I have. He’s been very understanding. He knows it happened before I met him and that it takes time to resolve.”
“Okay. Who’s the—oh, it’s Alexei, isn’t it?” At my nod of affirmation, she went on. “Well, that answers that question.”
Did it? Frankly, it left me more confused than ever. I proceeded to tell my sorry tale. Once done, she took a moment before speaking.
“So, you knew him in college?” She waited a beat as awareness dawned. “He was the guy who broke your heart.”
My defenses reared up. The problem with someone knowing you so well was that they had all the goods on you. Sadie wouldn’t have forgotten my teary-eyed return to Chicago post-graduation, the one that had all the hallmarks of boy trouble.
“‘Broke my heart’ is overdoing it, sis. More like a tiny fissure that I managed to paper over with lots of meaningless sex.”
“Oh, Lo.” Sadie blushed, probably because thinking about the little sister you saw through adolescence as a sexual being was weird. “But why do you think you married him?”
“Did you not hear the story? We were drunk. Elvis. Marilyn. Wouldn’t it be hi-lar-ious? I’m not saying he took advantage, but he fucking took advantage!” I fisted my hands against the bed covers, feeling furious all over again.
“Gunnar’s not going to like this.”
“What won’t I like?”
Damn. I turned to the door where Gunnar stood, a V of sweat dampening his chest, his dark blond hair slicked back with the water he’d poured over it after his run.
Now in his late fifties, my brother-in-law was still a very fine specimen and one of the most decent men I knew. I hated the idea of disappointing him.
“It’s not important.”
A very skeptical eyebrow raise was his response to that.
“I got married in Vegas. Last year.” I waved a hand as if it was the in-thing. All the kids were doing it.
Gunnar’s expression hardened. “And Thad didn’t come to see me?”
“It wasn’t Thad. It was pre-Thad.” Gunnar had rather traditional ideas about family. Anyone about to propose had better talk to him first and ask for his blessing.
Note to self: heads-up to my boyfriend once I was rid of my husband.
“It’s all under control,” Sadie said in her most soothing voice. “One of those madcap adventures in Vegas, but Lauren is getting it fixed so she can move on with her life.”
Gunnar was still looking at me. “You wanted this, Lo?”
Straight to the heart of it. He understood me well enough to know I wasn’t one to be bowled over by a man.
“Maybe part of me did before I came to my senses. Both of us had a little too much to drink, and we didn’t realize it had happened until later. Now we’re trying to get out of it. There’s no relationship here, just an unfortunate confluence of events.”
“It’s Alexei Nazarov,” Sadie said.
I would rather not have shared his identity, but it was easier coming from my sister.
Gunnar didn’t look angry. If anything, he looked amused.
“What’s so funny?”
“So you have history with this guy. You married him after a few drinks. And he came over to look after you when you were sick.” A wry smile snuck over his lips. “Sounds like a relationship, Lo.”
Groaning, I looked to the ceiling for guidance but found only a concerning damp spot in the corner. Add it to the list.
“I’m dealing with it. I don’t want to be married to him. I have Thad.”
“And he’s okay with it?”
“Not getting into this with you. Now, I need to take a shower, check in with my clients, and eat something more interesting than soup.”
Two days later, I felt like a new woman, but unfortunately shades of the former one insisted on needling their way to the surface, specifically that soft-hearted wimp who had once fallen for a hockey superstar.
Case in point: I had been so disappointed to wake up and find that Alexei had left.
Of course he had responsibilities, and I was lucky that he was able to spare a few hours to feed me like a Victorian-era orphan.
In his place, Sadie had stayed for the next twenty-four hours, ensuring I was on the road to recovery.
In other news, my sister was a menace.
Since witnessing Alexei playing at nursemaid, she had been texting me absurdities about the wonderful impression he had made.
Sadie
Perhaps we should invite your husband to dinner to thank him?
Me
For what? Reacting like a nervous nelly because I missed a meeting?
Sadie
He was very concerned about you. I thought it was sweet.
Me
Don’t mistake humorlessness for concern. He’s Russian.
Sadie
So, Saturday?
Gah! I put my phone in my slouchy hobo as I approached the hostess podium at Galleria. The same woman as before greeted me, and she remained as unimpressed with my pantsuit as she was with my sweats.
“This way, please.”
Thad was already seated at the table, funnily enough the same one as my date with Alexei.
Not a date. But it had felt more like one than this.
Likely because it was new and a little bit exciting, not to mention under the radar.
Thad hadn’t known yet and I had enjoyed that, though I shouldn’t have.
I didn’t usually revel in danger. After my troubled adolescence, I had evened out.
That night in Vegas was the first spark of rebellion in years.
“Hello.”
“Babe!” He half-stood, chewing on the bread he always asked for before I arrived, usually because I tended to be late while I put out fires for my trouble-loving clients. He bussed my cheek. “How goes adventures in agenting?”
“Fine. I missed a couple of days with the stomach flu.”
His eyes widened. “But you’re better now, aren’t you? Did you get my flowers?”
“I did, thanks.” The server came over, the same one as before. Tonight was a rehash of my greatest hits in dining. He winced on seeing me but pro that he was, quickly regrouped. “Madam, can I get you a drink?”
Thad was already one scotch and soda in. “A glass of Malbec, please.”
He scurried off before I could pose more weird questions about dumpsters and alleys.
“I’m thinking the steak and—”
“I need to ask you something.”
Thad looked up, perhaps sensing something in my tone. “Shoot.”
I reached for the breadbasket and a rosemary-studded roll of fortification.
“Have you been asking clients of mine to invest in some crypto fund? Or guys in the Rebels org who are not clients?”
His eyelids fell to half-mast. “Has someone said something?”
“Can you answer the question?”
He held up his hands. “Whoa, no need to turn into a hard-nosed prosecutor. Though y’know I love when you get bossy.”
I was ready to explode. “Thad, tell me.”
“Sure, just a few people. If I run into them at the coffee shop or a cookout, they’re always asking me for investment advice. Am I supposed to not give it?”