Chapter 16 - Ivan

Everything from the waist down and on the back hurt from sitting in the damn car for hours. We'd tracked Donovan to several meetings throughout the day, and several required fucking waiting on my ass while he shot the shit with his contacts. Thank God for surveillance equipment, or I wouldn't have been able to peg down that location for tomorrow.

Still, I was beat, and a fucking beer was sorely needed.

Abe and Vlad were still being pissy with me too, which was fucking annoying and had been that the car was especially quiet. They just needed to chill and get that fucking stick out of their asses. Nothing that a little family dinner wouldn't cure.

After all, if they could have their chance to see Adley for themselves—and ask too many fucking questions—I was sure they'd get over the abrupt change.

My steps dragged as I climbed up the steep staircase to my room. The trek was a familiar one after a long day, but what awaited me inside was a new perk that I was really looking forward to sinking my teeth into again.

I was deadly quiet as I cracked open the door. I didn't know what Adley had been up to all day, but the idea of getting a glimpse of her again without her knowing was too good to pass up.

Where are you, little peach?

I'd chucked my duffle of supplies into my office before coming up so my hands were free to roam over my sweetheart if I walked into a compromising position again.

Like before, Adley wasn't in the main bedroom when I walked in. But I could hear strange scratching noises coming from the bathroom. Heading that way, I noticed that the black bag which held Adley's drawing shit was open.

Hmm…

Being as quiet as I could, I entered the bathroom, and there she was. Sitting on her legs, Adley was in front of a large sketch pad propped up on a small easel. She was in front of the full-length mirror I'd tucked against the wall on the far side of the tub, and I could tell immediately that she was drawing.

As I padded further in, thanking that impulse to put a mirror by the bath so that I could watch myself fuck in it, I briefly flicked my stare to the open patio door. She'd clearly discovered the tricks that the shower setup offered.

Adley sat up straighter, turning her attention to the mirror, and I instinctively moved closer to her. It was then that I noticed her distinct lack of a shirt. Well, hello there .

Quickly roaming my gaze across what she'd been drawing, I could finally see the gorgeous piece. She'd been working on a sketch of herself, her body at least. In the image, her head was turned away, and I could recognize the pose from what she was doing now in front of the mirror.

The image was almost complete, Adley having expertly rendered her lithe form and fabulous breasts. The soft curves were sketched to such perfection that I was really upset that the picture couldn't come to life and join the fun. Two sets of perky, b-cup breasts would be so damn nice.

After a moment of studying how she looked in the mirror, Adley went back to the drawing and finished shading the right side of the portrait, the stark shadows depicted by precise lines and smudges.

"Oh, okay. Done."

I smiled as she spoke, loving that she still hadn't noticed me. Adley raised her hands over her head, stretching out long. I could imagine her back was stiff, and she let out a gentle sigh as she reached over her head.

When Adley's eyes opened again, I met them in the mirror.

"Ivan!" She jumped, spinning around and using her hair to cover her chest. "Christ! You have to stop scaring me like that."

Smirking, I chuckled quietly. "But it's so fun."

Crossing the remaining few feet between us, I circled around the tub and sat down on the ledge. I smirked down at Adley as her cheeks turned pink, reaching for her hair and tossing it back over her shoulder.

"Never hide yourself from me."

The flush in her cheeks deepened, and Adley ducked her head down, looking at the floor. "Right. Sorry."

I narrowed my eyes and took her chin in my hand, getting her to look at me. "I'm not looking for an apology, Adley. And as much as I adore how embarrassed you get, I like the thought of you being comfortable in your skin."

Her eyes flared wide, and I wasn't quite sure where that came from myself. She reached up tentatively, wrapping her smaller hand around mine where it gripped her chin.

"I'm not used to this." She laughed slightly, flicking her eyes to the floor and then back up. "You have to know that this ‘wooing' you're doing is far from typical."

I snorted, smirking as I slid my tongue around my teeth. "I think you'll find that very little about me is ‘typical.'"

Adley grinned, smoothing her hand down my arm, which made me drop it. "Well, you've got me there."

There was a beat of silence where I just stared at her, admiring the curves of her breasts, the way the afternoon light hit her skin, and the cooler breeze made her nipples pebble.

"You were drawing?"

She nodded, that thread of bashfulness still tangled in her. "Yeah. I, umm, I thought about going to go to school for it once. I just…"

Adley looked over her shoulder, eyeing her sketch.

"I just have to sometimes. It…settles my nerves. Drawing just…it's a part of me, I guess."

With a laugh, her attention returned to me, and Adley rolled her eyes with a head shake.

"Wow, that sounded lame."

"Hardly." I met her stare hard when she gaped up at me. "I may not be as artistically inclined, but I understand."

A small smile touched the corner of her mouth, turning it up, and she looked between me and the floor again. After a moment, Adley sat up straighter, chewing on her lip. She wanted something.

"What?"

Another little giggle and then a sigh. "You're too good at that. Reading people."

"Part of the job, sweetheart. Now tell me."

Adley tucked her hair behind her ear, letting out a long exhale. Before she faced me, she grabbed her pencil.

"Would you…let me…" I was going to die of old age if she kept taking so long to ask for something. "…draw you?"

My mouth actually dropped open.

"I'm sorry, what?"

The sound of my blood was suddenly screaming in my ears, and I was acutely aware of how I stared at Adley. No one in their right mind had ever asked for my photograph, let alone to draw me. Why would anyone want to for that matter?

"Is that against the rules or something?" I could see Adley try to play it off, but there was obvious nervousness beneath the lilt in her voice.

I scoffed, truly shaken, and leaned back, putting some space between us. My skin felt hot and itchy, and I couldn't hold her eyes, choosing instead to focus on the floor.

"No. It's not ‘against the rules,' Adley. I just…why?"

I was not a fan of the airy sound of my voice, so I immediately cleared my throat. What in the absolute fuck had prompted her to ask me of all people. God, this felt so weirdly…intimate.

For a moment, neither of us moved. Hell, neither of us breathed, but then Adley sighed, and I looked at her again. She was staring off into the middle distance, that blush in her cheeks high again. When she looked up at me once more, the way her eyes burned into mine was something I'd never forget.

"You're beautiful, Ivan. I…I want to put it down on paper.

The gruff chuckle was a knee-jerk reaction, and then I shook my head before grinning down at her. "That's not something I've ever been called before, sweetheart. I'll admit you took me a bit by surprise."

Adley smiled—a gentle, easy thing that stripped me bare.

"Really?"

She nodded.

With a sigh, I rolled my eyes. I planted both my hands on the tub to my left and right and got into a position that was marginally comfortable. Enough for a quick sketch, anyway.

The giddy look in her eyes was all I needed to feel better about my decision, and she shuffled backward toward the sketchbook. Flipping to a clean page, Adley cocked her head, considering me.

"Hmm…Could you come down here on the floor? The light's better."

Rolling my eyes again, I obliged her and scooted down onto the floor in front of Adley. At least it was more comfortable than the other location, though I was getting blinded a bit by the angle of the sun.

"Perfect." She grinned at me, a kid in a fucking candy shop, and it took everything not to cancel this little "outing" and just have my way with her. "Hmm…but no shirt, please. I like to see the musculature."

"Of course you do." The sarcasm was more than obvious, but again, I humored her and pulled my long-sleeve tee over my head. "Am I losing the pants, or is this good?"

Adley smirked. An honest-to-goodness devilish grin, and I nearly came right there. I was having an influence on my sweet prize, and I was more than okay with where she was headed.

"Not this time. But I may need that for a later drawing."

"You think you're getting me to do this again?"

With another cocky grin, Adley shoved her hair over her shoulders, revealing her breasts as she put the tip of the pencil to the paper.

"Yup."

That one floored me a little, and I let the silence hang as Adley drew. She set to work sketching out my image, and I watched as the lines on the paper slowly transformed into curves, shadows, and someone who looked quite a bit like me.

"You're really good, Adley."

She looked up from the paper, smiling as she blew the hair out of her face. "Thanks. It's not much, but I've done it for ages. That much practice is bound to pay off, right?"

An easy laugh let me, and I nodded. "Absolutely. But tell me something."

She finished a line that depicted the broken glass on my forehead, and I studied the other tattoos she'd drawn on me. They looked like perfect little replicas of the real things.

"Okay, what?"

"Is that actually how you see me?"

She regarded the paper, a bit of concern threading through her brow. But then she seemed to gather what I was alluding to and quickly nodded.

"I took very few liberties with your appearance; just made the tattoos less detailed because I don't have eight years to perfect them all."

Adley's grin was accompanied by her eyebrows up to her hairline as she eyed me.

"Can you answer me something now?"

I wanted to say no. But fair is fair.

"Shoot."

"Hmm…all right, I have two. One, what really happened that made you get that tattoo on your forehead? Dumb accident doesn't seem right. Two, how is it that someone as cocky as you doesn't think they should be drawn?"

Scoffing hard, I let it meld into a laugh, rolling my eyes all the way around as I leaned back like I'd been punched.

"Not taking it easy on me, are you?"

She shook her head. "Nope. You can take it."

Ooh, that was good, Adley . "It was a dumb accident, but…I managed to get my brothers and myself really hurt. According to the doctors, I should have died or wound up in a coma for years. I didn't, and I can't exactly say why the universe would seize the opportunity to get rid of me. So maybe it was dumb luck. This…"

I pointed to my head and then returned to the pose Adley wanted me in for the picture.

"Is my reminder that luck swings both ways. Disaster bisexual that it is."

Adley considered me, nodding when she'd determined that I wasn't bullshitting her. "Okay, and two?"

Narrowing my eyes at her, I chewed on my lip. "I can't say I really feel like answering that one."

"Come on. You can ask me something."

Adley smiled hopefully, and dammit, she was too fucking cute like that. We were broaching some intense territory, though. I didn't talk about my past much with my brothers and zero with anyone else.

But that past was roped up in the whys about how I got into the line of work and the reason I never looked for anything better for myself. The reason why I didn't expect shit for myself, kept everyone at arm's length, and didn't believe for a second that anyone out there could ever…love me.

Feelings are gross. I hate this.

"Ugh, Adley, I—"

"I had to pee while working the register once, and it got bad, so I left to go, and right then, the person at the counter swiped a bunch of cash. We were robbed because I peed."

I burst out laughing harder than I had in…well, forever, and I couldn't stop myself from just losing it to the story. It was too damn hilarious and random, and I put my fist to my chest, leaning back again as the laughter took over.

Adley joined right in and lowered her head, her hair falling in a curtain around her as she giggled wildly.

After a good two minutes, I was finally able to stop, wiping the tears that had collected from laughing so hard.

"Oh, shit, sweetheart. I don't think I've laughed like that in years."

"Well, I hope it earned me a tiny confession, too."

She wiped under her eyes, too, and I abruptly remembered that we were both sitting around topless, and she was much closer to me now.

"All right. All right. You've earned it." As I thought about my father, the good mood that had blossomed was squashed. "My dad was a dick. Of monumental proportions. He didn't…he didn't really appreciate any of us thinking too highly of ourselves. It was made pretty damn clear that we were expected to do what he said because he was all we would ever have."

Adley frowned, her attention refocusing on me as the memories took over. A thousand-yard stare took me, and I cleared my throat when I realized I'd drifted off somewhere else.

"We were lucky if we got to clean his boots, you see. And I mean, look, I know that I can get a woman to come back here with me. I have several times, but…that's a skin-deep thing. It doesn't change what's been drilled into my head for years."

When Adley spoke again, it was a faint whisper. "Why do you do this then? If you know that it's an extension of that past?"

Well, that was the million-dollar question, wasn't it?