Nikolai glances at his watch. “You never know with this kind of stuff. We live in a world of smoke and mirrors. Sometimes, you reach for a sure thing and come up empty.”
I flop back and sigh. “If only I could just remember something that might help you guys find her. It’s just that the memories are so hazy I’m not even sure I can trust them.”
“You’re putting too much pressure on yourself. There might be nothing there to remember.”
“My gut’s telling me otherwise.”
“Your gut also told you to accept dinner with my brother. It’s got a checkered past.”
I throw him a dirty look and he just chuckles. When he stops, he leans in and looks me in the eye. “You went through a lot recently, Alyssa—all while pregnant. You haven’t given yourself enough time to process, to recover—”
“What ever happened to the therapist you said you’d find for me? To help jog my memories?”
He clears his throat uncomfortably. “Things got a little sidetracked after the bleeding incident. Uri was on board at first, but now… well, it’s tough to get anyone new in or out of the gates.”
“For fuck’s sake!” I cry. “His overprotectiveness is getting out of hand.”
“You could have lost those babies, Alyssa. I’d say his reaction is justified.”
“Wonderful. So glad you’re taking his side.”
Nikolai holds up his hands in self-defense. “I’m on the side of my nephews or nieces in there,” he says, pointing to my belly. “That’s it.”
I give him a smile. “Fair enough. I can live with that. Thank you, Nikolai.”
“For what?” he asks, looking suddenly sheepish.
“For being so nice to me. For making me feel like a person again. For listening to me even when you didn’t have to. And for refusing to let me take the blame for… well, for everything.” I reach out and put my hand on his. “You have no idea how much it means to me.”
Then, for the second time that day, Uri bursts into my room. Nikolai jerks out from underneath my hand and lunges to his feet as though he’s been caught doing something he shouldn’t.
Uri’s eyes flit from him to me. But I’m less concerned about their weird sibling rivalry and more concerned with knowing if the lead panned out.
“Well?” I ask. “Did you find Polly? Did you find anything?”
“It was a dead lead,” Uri says impatiently. “I found the girl who matched Polly’s description—except that she was a former stripper named Octavia. I spoke to her for a couple of minutes but no one’s seen Polly in that joint.”
“Fuck,” Nikolai mutters. “So we’re back to square one.”
“We haven’t exhausted all our options yet. We just have to keep looking.”
Nikolai runs a hand through his hair. “Yeah, okay. I’m gonna check on our recon teams. See if they’ve picked up anything. Excuse me.” He barely glances at me on his way out.
Uri watches his brother leave. Then he shuts the door with an expression in his eyes that I can’t quite read. “You and Nikolai seem to be getting… close.”
“What was that pause you made before ‘close’？” I frown. “Also you said ‘close’ like it should have been in quotation marks.”
“Did I?”
I roll my eyes. “Don’t think I didn’t notice that comment you made earlier, the first time you barged in here.”
“What comment?”
I grit my teeth. “The whole, You stay; you two look pretty cozy anyway,” I remind him. Uri rounds the corner of the bed and I shove myself up a little to give him space. “You wanna tell me why you’re acting all weird with Nikolai all of a sudden?”
“That’s the usual way I act with Nikolai. You’ll get used to it.”
“I like your brother. He’s a good person.”
Uri turns to me, his eyes bright under the lights. Then, without warning, his hand curls around my neck and he pulls me towards him. Our lips meet in the middle and just like that, I’ve completely forgotten what we were talking about.
Which, I suppose, is the point.
23
ALYSSA
“You promised!”
Uri’s hands clench together and the violently pulsing muscle in his jaw goes even wilder. “And I’ll keep my promise. One day.”
“What does that even mean?” I cry, getting right in his face. “I called Elle three days ago, right after you agreed. We made plans. One o’clock at Seed. That’s literally thirty minutes from now.”