No Strings Attached

CHAPTER 44

My eyes open slowly as I feel someone roll over beside me. I look next to me to see Anastasia sleeping with her back to me.

I blink a few times then sit up, running my hands down my face as I remember the events of last night.

Fucking hell. I think I should keep my promise to Anastasia and never drink again, because why the fuck would I say all that to her?

I hope that she doesn't bring it up, because that's the last conversation I want to have today.

My eyebrows furrow in confusion as Anastasia rolls over again, her hands balled up in fists as her lips curve into a frown.

"You're ok Ana," I say quietly, putting my hand on her back as I rub up and down, assuming she's having another one of her nightmares.

Her body relaxes under my touch, her lips parting in a sigh as she settles down again. I keep my hand resting on her back as I think about what the next few days will be like.

Today will be finalising the plan on how we seamlessly get Leonardo, tomorrow morning I'll give to everyone to rest and prepare. Then tomorrow night is when we get him.

We know he's staying in a somewhat shabby motel, no doubt trying to be discrete and go by unnoticed. Val and Gabriel have already hacked into both the motel's cameras and all security measures, so no one will notice us going in or out.

Ana stirs again, rolling over so my hand lands on her stomach. This seems to wake her, as she blinks a few times before she looks down at my hand. She rolls over onto her back and I remove my hand.

"You feeling ok after last night?" she asks, a small smirk on her lips.

I chuckle and nod my head, "Thank you for looking after me," I say appreciatively,

She shrugs, "It was either you or the girls, and one person is easier than two," she says in a nonchalant voice.

"What about Alessio?" I ask, guilt flooding through me that I wasn't there to look after him.

"He didn't drink," Ana shakes her head, frowning at my concern.

I'm somewhat surprised at that, as my brother has never been one to pass up the opportunity to get dangerously drunk.

I nod slowly, not saying anymore on the topic.

She rolls back over to her stomach, resting her head on her arms as she looks up at me. "Did you mean anything you said last night?" she suddenly asks.

"I don't know why I said all that shit, I'm sorry," I say truthfully, trying to dodge her question.

She narrows her eyes at me before sighing, "We don't need any distractions now anyway," she mutters, "Probably for the best,"

I hum in response, silently agreeing with her. We're so close to the end, there's no use fucking it all up now. She's leaving, there's nothing to talk about because nothing is happening. It's as simple as that.

"We should get up," she finally says, looking at me with an unreadable expression. I nod, "I'll be out in a minute, tell everyone to go to the kitchen and we'll go over the plan then," I say.

She nods and slides off the bed, walking out of my room and closing the door behind her. "Fuck," I mutter, lying back down and running my hands down my face.

Why the fuck am I so irritated by this whole situation? I keep telling myself nothing is happening, and that I don't care. But it's fucking obvious to everyone that something is happening and we both care too fucking much about it. Hell, even Ari pointed it out.