Page 82 of Toxic Temptation
The fucking travesty of having to go to Osip just to check where my own damn girlfriend is.
Fake girlfriend, I correct myself quickly.
“No,” I snap. “I don’t actually care where she is. But I do need to set her straight about some of the rules of this little arrangement of ours.”
“Uh… right.” Osip blinks slowly. “Have you tried calling her?”
Sometimes, I wonder what sins I committed in a past life to deserve Osip Pikalov in this one. I want to put my fist through the wall. Either that or his bald skull.
“Brilliant fucking suggestion,” I spit. “What would I do without your genius?”
“Damn, this girl has really got your panties in a twist, huh?”
I hang up before I give him an official order to take a long walk off a short cliff. Thankfully, Luka walks out of the bathroom a second later, so I’m forced back into an appearance of calm.
But my hard-won composure is pushed to the brink at Luka’s first question. “Where’s Vesper?”
I turn to look at him. He’s standing in the bathroom doorway, hair still damp, looking smaller and thinner than usual.
“Working,” I growl. His eyes go wide, and I make myself breathe and choose a more appropriate tone of voice. “She’ll be back tonight.”
I think.
“She’s been working a lot.” He slouches onto the couch, shoulders caved inward. “We barely see her anymore.”
“I know, kid.”
He stares at the empty space where a TV should be. “Do you think she’s mad at me?”
Everything inside me goes still. “What makes you think that?”
“I didn’t want to watch the movie with her that night. I was mean.” His voice cracks. “I didn’t even say goodnight.”
“Luka—”
“She probably hates me now.”
I cringe in a way that hurts both physically and spiritually. This kid carries guilt like it’s his job. It’s not, though. It’s mine.
I’mthe one who upset her with my foul temper and my sharp tongue. By the time I’d woken up the next morning with an apology on my lips, she was gone.
Which, to be fair, I hadn’t thought twice about. She’s a doctor, after all. But when my calls were ignored and my texts went unanswered, it started to hit home.
I might’ve pushed too hard.
“She doesn’t hate you.” I sit beside him, my voice gentler than it’s been in days. “That’s not why she’s staying away.”
That’s on me. My mistakes. My rough edges.
He doesn’t say anything, so I try a different tactic. Start peeling the Band-Aid away now, before it’s too late. “Listen, Luka, I know you like Vesper?—”
“She’s really cool.”
Christ.This is going nowhere good.
“Right. But it’s probably best if you don’t get too attached to her.”
Confusion clouds his features. “But she’s your girlfriend.”
