Page 32 of Trapped By the Bratva

The lack of intimacy was a drastic difference from the first day she was here, but over the next week, I came to realize that Hannah was more than a hot young woman to tease. She was more than the painfully and stubbornly happy, peppy helper.

It annoyed me to admit it, but she was damned smart.

“You’re not a nurse,” I reminded her the following Friday. She insisted on decreasing my pain medication, claiming it wasn’t effective at that dosage.

“No, I’m not,” she replied honestly, but slightly testy about it.

“Then why should I listen to you?”

“Because I know what I’m talking about.”

I scowled. “According to whom?”

She didn’t back down. She never did. “According to your doctors,” she said, showing me the notes they provided at my last checkup.

I shrugged. I wasn’t opposed to lowering my meds, but I wasn’t sure how else I could stave off the anger burning up inside me. With the narcotics, I was calmer. Still furious, but it wasa manageable level of rage. Without them, I wasn’t sure how I could vent.

“Why aren’t you a nurse?” I asked.

I didn’twantto know more about her, but it was impossible to stop wondering.

“Because I dropped out right before graduation.”

I grunted as I finished an exercise with an elastic band. Such a simple maneuver, and my shoulder muscles ached and burned. She kept her small hand on my back, though, guiding me through the motions, and her cool skin contrasted the throbbing sensation.

“That’s stupid,” I commented.

She shot me a dirty look and shrugged.

Oh, you won’t talk back when I belittle you?I hated when she didn’t retort or engage with me. It suggested that she was better at blocking me than I was with her.

Damn you. You’re going to make me ask, aren’t you?“Why’d you drop out?”

“Because I had headaches. Migraines.” She frowned, eyes on my shoulder. Immediately, she corrected my posture. “Courtesy of some Mafia thug trying to kidnap Emily and knocking me out when I attempted to stop him.”

She lifted her gaze to mine, making eye contact with a leveled boldness.

“Hmm.” I nodded, lowering my arm with her admission. “It’s better now?”

Fuck. Why’d I ask that? Why do I care?I didn’t want to. I had no room in my life to concern myself with her well-being, but I already had. That very night she was talking about, I had. Without hesitation, I took her to the hospital and waited while she was checked out.

“Yeah. Back to normal, or as normal as anyone ever can be.” She shrugged. “But the recovery couldn’t be rushed. Reading and concentrating on final exams just weren’t in the cards for me. Not then. Just like your rushing your recovery won’t do you any good in the long run.”

I smirked at her snippet of wisdom. She couldn’t understand my desire to be back to my “normal”.

As soon as I was, Erik Avilov would suffer.

“All in good time, Dmitri,” she advised.

I stared at her, curious about what made this young woman so mature and smart. She either had an old soul or she had faced her own hardships to become the hopeful and optimistic person she was.

Ironically, I wanted to know what. I was curious, begrudgingly so, to learn more about this stubborn woman who tested my patience and frayed the tight rein I kept on my desire for her.

Her phone buzzed. She was so close that I heard the vibration. Just like she did every other time it alerted her, she smirked, ever so slightly.

Yet, she never answered. She stood so close to me, assisting me with my balance as I started another rep with the band.

“Not going to check that?” I asked.

---