His to Steal

Ch. 26: Snap (Part One)

Sutton

Marković, your mother is dead now, so I have nothing to hold over you this time.

I heard Jason say that with my own ears. Granted I did not hear the rest of the conversation or what led up to it, but that doesn't matter. In no world would it be okay for Jason to utter those words. I'm sick to my stomach.

I clutch one of the stuffed Yetis Nicolai bought me to my chest and bury my face in it. I still think the creepy photo thing is a misunderstanding, but I can't deny what I just heard.

And I can't believe I just disregarded Nicolai's story because I didn't want to admit that Jason may have said something shitty. And that one threat from Jason is what led to my and Nicolai's downfall.

Because no wonder Nicolai left. That makes sense. His mother was the only family he had. He had to protect her.

I couldn't fault him for that.

Fuck. I have fucked this up so royally.

I want to go talk to Nicolai, but I wouldn't blame him if he didn't want to see me. Even after he did this really nice thing for me, I still pushed him away. But at the same time, I can't help but remember all the times I sat here and cried about missing him, wishing he would come back, just so I could figure out what happened.

Now he's right across the hall from me, and he told me the truth. If I don't go talk to him, I am an asshole of the highest fucking degree.

I toss the Yeti aside and get out of bed. Flinging open my door, I run right into a brick wall.

A brick wall also known as Nicolai Marković, just the man I was going to see.

"Oh, shit, I'm sorry," I mumble, looking up at him with my cheeks on fire.

He places his hands on my hips to steady me and my entire body bursts into flames. "No need to apologize. You okay?"

"Yeah, I—I was coming to talk to you."

I don't know if it's the lighting in here or what, but I swear his eyes sparkle. "Oh? What for?"

I look over my shoulder. "Wanna come in and we can talk inside? A little privacy?"

He takes a deep breath and gestures to my jacket that's hanging on the back of my office chair. "Grab your hoodie. Let's go up to the roof."

I perk up. I swear, anything to get out of the house, and I'm immediately interested. I've got the jacket on and my feet slipped into a pair of shoes in five seconds flat. Nevermind the pajama shorts I have on. It'll be fine.

"I didn't know we could go up there," I whisper as we walk down the main hallway of Jason's apartment.

"Sure we can. Every penthouse on this block has a rooftop deck. There's a pool up here. It's getting a little chilly to use it, but you never know with New York; we may get an unseasonably warm day at some point."

The idea of seeing Nicolai shirtless—or him seeing me in a bathing suit—has me all kinds of twisted up, so I focus on not tripping over my feet as we walk. "Maybe."

We step onto the elevator and take the short ride to the top. When the double doors open, Nicolai gestures for me to go first, placing his hand on the small of my back as we step out onto the roof.

"Wow, this view is incredible," I breathe, taking in the Empire State Building right across from us. Thankfully it's not too cold, and my shorts weren't an awful decision.

"Yeah, I have to admit, this is a nice place." We move to sit on the loungers near the pool, and, on instinct, turn to face each other. He sits with his knees spread and his elbows on his thighs, and my bare legs are trapped between his.