“How old were you when you joined the Bratva?”
“Twenty-one.”
A nod. “That makes you…twenty-nine?”
“Yes. Thirty next month.”
Her gaze skewered me from the side. She had to think this was weird, talking to someone who wouldn’t even let her see him. But she didn’t complain.
“Hmm. That means you’re three years older than me.”
Yes, I was aware that Annika was twenty-seven.
Tim remained oddly silent, but I was too focused on Annika to pay much attention to him.
“Why the Bratva?”
As the Bratva’s interrogator, I was usually the one doing the questioning. I had never been on this end of an interrogation before.
I puffed out a breath. There were several reasons I’d joined the Bratva, but she didn’t need to know all of them. Why was she so damn curious about me, anyway?
“Because I had no other options. Sacha was the only one to ever give me a chance.”
She reached for her coffee. Took a sip. “Sacha’s a good guy. That sounds like him.”
My gaze latched onto her fine, delicate hands as she rested them on the tabletop, swirling a finger over the rim of the cup. Her nails were short and neatly trimmed, lacking any polish. Those small hands were amazing at a piano keyboard. I wondered if her fingertips were rough from the piano keys or even if such a thing was possible. Could fingers be callused from a keyboard? I had no idea. But suddenly, I wanted to know.
And then my mind turned to dirty and completely inappropriate thoughts of those soft hands on me, stroking…
I closed my eyes, fighting the image back before it could take hold. This certainly wasn’t the first time I’d imagined her hands on me, but it was the first time I’d thought about it in her presence.
She turned to Tim suddenly, as if remembering he was still there. “You seem to have forgiven him for kicking your ass. You two are obviously good friends.”
Tim shrugged. “Yeah. It’s hard to stay mad at Adrik, especially since he can easily stomp me into the ground any time he wants.”
She giggled. “True. But you two obviously like and respect each other.”
Tim glanced over her head at me. “We do. I can honestly say I will never find a more loyal friend than Adrik.”
Heat crept into my face again, making my ears burn. Luckily, she couldn’t see me from behind the hoodie. “Same here,” I murmured. “Tim’s probably the best friend I’ve ever had.”
Tim snickered and pretended to dab his eyes. “Oh, stop with the mushy stuff, dude. You’re making me cry.”
Annika laughed, a soft, throaty sound that made something shift and tighten in my chest. She finished her coffee and set the cup back on the table. “Well, I’d like us all to be friends. I know you’re probably supposed to keep your distance and all that, but it’s just the three of us here inside the house, and I’d rather not tiptoe around each other. We should make the most of our time here, don’t you think?” She pressed the lever and wheeled her chair away from the table. “I’m going to take a shower and relax. Maybe later we can play some games or something.”
With a final glance at me, she wheeled away, quickly disappearing down the hallway.
Tim rose, taking his empty coffee cup with him. “She likes you for some reason. You really should stop hiding and let her see you.”
I grunted, refusing to go there. “I’d rather she never see my face than have her turn away from me in revulsion.”
Tim sighed, shaking his head. “Whatever, dude.” Then he changed the subject. “I’m taking a nap. I’m exhausted. Unless you want to go first.”
“No. Go ahead. I’ll trade off with you when you wake.”
Tim ambled away, leaving me alone.
I contemplated his words for a long time after he was gone. If I let Annika see my face, she would want to know what had happened to me. Everyone did. Even Sacha had eventually given in to his curiosity and asked.