Page 74 of Born into Madness
“They won’t hear it from me,” he says, and I know he’ll keep my secret for as long as I need him to. That’s the thing about Niki. The guy’s a vault. He carries around information on everyone thanks to his ability to hack into any computer and watch through any camera. It’s a good thing he’s not a gossip like our Uncle Vitaly.
He looks between Cyn and me again, clearly still getting used to seeing me show affection to someone, and asks her. “So how did you and Sasha meet?”
Cyn’s face turns a pretty shade of red, and when she gives me a wide-eyed look and starts to fumble over her words, Niki laughs and says, “I’m just messing with you. I know all about your fucked-up meet cute.”
“It was pretty fucked up,” she admits with a relieved grin.
“It wasn’t that fucked up,” I say. The memory of how she’d looked with blood streaked along her cheek hits me hard, and I can’t help but grin. “It was kind of sweet.”
“Nice to know you haven’t completely changed, cuz,” Niki says, and before I can respond, his attention is pulled from me and centers on something behind me.
My hand instinctively slips under my shirt, but then I hear Cyn say, “Hey, Sav, we’re over here!”
Niki keeps his eyes on the tall blonde walking towards us, and when he does finally look over at me, I say in Russian, “Looks like I’m not the only one who got knocked on his ass.”
Chapter 12
Cynthia
Igive my best friend a quick hug while Sasha says something to Niki in Russian and Sav whispers in my ear, “Oh my god, who is the guy in the hoodie?”
Grinning, I pull back, but before I introduce her to Niki, I squeeze the large hand that’s still holding mine and say, “Sav, this is Sasha.”
Her eyes widen a bit when he steps closer and she takes in the full, intense sight that he is. With a T-shirt on, she can easily see his tatted hands and arms, and without a turtleneck or scarf, there’s no hiding the tattoos on his neck. Add in the six-five height and muscular body, and, well, there’s no hiding him.
Sasha holds out an inked hand to her and gives an almost-full smile when he says, “Nice to finally meet you, Sav. Cyn’s told me a lot about you.”
She takes his hand while raising a brow at me. “Well,Cyn,” she says, accentuating the nickname no one has ever once called me, “has told me plenty about you, too.”
The corner of Sasha’s mouth twitches when he says, “All of it good, I hope.” Before she can ask if by good he means murdering people, he says, “This is my cousin Niki. I asked him if he could join us. I hope that’s okay.”
“Of course,” Sav quickly says, and even though she’s still looking calm and collected on the outside, I know my bestie well enough to know she’s definitely liking what she’s seeing.
I look around our small group, trying not to get my hopes up about a possible love match that would ensure I never have to be far from the one person who’s a constant in my life and more my family than the one I was born into, and say, “Thanks for putting up with a vegetarian meal for me. I swear someone else can pick the place next time. Most restaurants have vegetarian options, so I’m fine with whatever.”
“Vegetarian?” Niki asks, eyeing the small restaurant he’s leaning against with a mixture of curiosity and apprehension.
“They’re surprisingly good,” Sav tells him. She grins and adds, “I mean, not as good as a double bacon cheeseburger, but they’re not as bad as you’re thinking they’re going to be.”
“That’s what I always aim for with meals,” he says while a grin plays at his lips. “Not as bad as I think it’s going to be.”
Sav laughs while I try very hard to not smile too big. When I look up and meet Sasha’s eyes, he gives me a wink and then leans down to whisper in my ear. “Don’t start planning their wedding yet, my little Cyn. Niki’s already married to his computer.”
I know he’s teasing, so I just smile and kiss his cheek before he stands back up and leads me inside. We find a quiet booth in the corner. Sasha scoots in next to me, so Sav and Niki are left to share the seat across from us. I notice the worn leather messenger bag that Niki tucks in between the wall and his body. I’m guessing it’s the laptop that he’s supposedly married to.
While everyone looks over the menu, I ask, “So you’re good with computers?”
Niki raises his eyes from the paper menu he’d grabbed on the way over. His eyes are a pretty grey-blue, and he looks like he wants to laugh when he says, “Yeah, I’m pretty good with them. Why? You need me to erase your student debt?”
I laugh while Sav turns her head to look at him. “You can do that?”
“I can, among other things.”
“Wow, my laptop just likes to glitch out and throw up those annoying reminders that I need to do updates,” she tells him, oblivious to the horrified look he gives her because she’s too busy looking at the menu again.
“Please tell me you do the updates,” he says, and I bite back a laugh at the almost pleading tone of his voice.
“Oh hell no,” she says, “I just hit theremind me laterbutton.” She gives a nonchalant shrug, not realizing that Niki is practically cringing at her blasé attitude towards technology. “I mean, if it was really important, wouldn’t it just do it itself?”
