Page 178 of Facing Off
We watch as Quinn passes Dmitri Lokhov the folded-up piece of paper, telling him not to look at it yet. Lokhov’s scowl is deadly, clearly letting everyone know he’s being forced to participate.
Kavi pulls her camera out, ready to capture this moment. I’m going to ask for three copies of every photograph she takes.
I take my phone out because I can’t wait and need to record this immediately, too. My camera is pointed at the man coming to stand beside Lokhov, in front of those couches, surrounded by his team.
He’s in a light gray sweater, the kind that makes his eyes seem bluer than usual, even from this distance. Wearing nicely fitted jeans and in this outfit, no one could mistake the musculature of his body as anything other than beautiful.
I can’t help it.
A tornado of butterflies dances around inside me.
Adrian Hughes. The love of my life.
“Ready, set, go!” yells Quinn.
Lokhov opens the piece of paper. Then crumples it and tosses it on the ground. “I want another word.”
“No changes, no take backs,” Quinn reminds him.
The team agrees.
“If anyone can do this, it’s you!”
“Come on bro, I’m betting on you!”
“Just try, man! For yourself, and not at all for our entertainment because we love forcing you out of your comfort zone because it’s hilarious!”
“I believe in you,” adds Kavi, who’s taking photos from the side, but also smiling fondly at her husband and all the team bonding going on.
Dmitri looks at his wife and sighs. Then he looks at the Wings players. “I swear I’m only playing this one round. That’s it.”
“And that’s all we ask of you, Great Wall of Secretly Suppressed Emotions,” says Adrian, grinning as he riffs on Lokhov’s Great Wall of Ice nickname, the one fans love using for him. “I’m ready. Please start acting for me in three…two…one….go!”
Lokhov groans.
Then jabs a finger toward his chest. Slowly that finger moves and he points it….
At Kavi.
Because his word issoulmate.
I watch my best friend’s eyes soften and go round. Her hand, the one holding her camera, sags to her side.
Adrian looks at her, then back at Lokhov. “Hmm…I’m not understanding. Do it again.”
Dmitri growls, then repeats the gesture. Pointing to himself, then more intensely at Kavi.
Adrian gasps. “Wait, are you having a baby?!”
“No, no,” exclaims Kavi. “I’m not pregnant!”
Adrian sniffs, wiping invisible tears away. “Okay, phew. I don’t think Sonya and I are ready to be godparents yet?—”
“Sonya is welcome, but who said you’d also be a godparent?” scoffs Lokhov.
“Actually, if you needed me to be ready,” Adrian declares, putting a hand firmly on his chest and tilting his chin up, “I’d read all the books out there to be the best godparent in this world to your baby.”
“Still not pregnant!” Kavi reminds the group.
