I had missed out on the family dinner because I stayed and looked after Lev. That meant sleeping in the medical wing, too. He was a little less pale today, but the man was trying my damn patience. Sasha had been in to bring us both breakfast and find out how Lev was doing. He told me that Ryer was salty about having to be the one to give Lev blood, but he wasn’t regretting it.
At this moment, Lev was hollering for me from the bed right outside. He had taken to calling me ‘Tiny Andrei’ or ‘Carbon Copy’ even after I told him my name again, several times. The man was bloody annoying, and he knew it.
Leaving the desk, I took my stethoscope and debated just choking him out with it, but that would void all the work I had done the day before, keeping his annoying ass alive.
“What the hell do you want?”
“Relax, tiny Andrei. I wanted to tell you I’m feeling some pain in my side.”
“For the last fucking time. My name is Alessio. A-L-E-S-S-I-O. Do you understand?”
“Got it, tiny Andrei.”
“I have to walk away before I murder you.”
“Now that isn’t very nice, Alessio Matteo Concetta Mihail.”
I whipped back around after Lev used my full government name, right down to my middle name, which it shocked me he knew. Since I had told no one.
“How the hell—-”
“I have some friends in high places.”
“It would seem so.”
“I find it very fitting you have your grandfather’s name as your middle name. Matteo suits you as a middle name.”
“I want to know who the hell gave you that information.”
Lev smiled at my anger, before the phone in which he came with turned around and he showed me his recent calls and texts. My mother’s number stuck out among the rest of the numbers, and I was livid.
“How the hell do you know my mother?”
“Same way I know your father, we run in the same circles. I knew your grandfather, too.”
“I would appreciate it if you don’t speak about me with my mother. Thank you.”
“So prickly about it. You kept asking me to call you by your name. I did.”’
“You called me by my full government name, which you shouldn’t even know!”
“I shouldn’t know the name of the Heir to the Concetta family?”
“I am not the Heir! I don’t fucking want it anymore. I don’t know why people cannot fucking get that!” I screamed at Lev in frustration.
“Alessio. Relax.”
“No, I don’t think I fucking want to! You don’t even understand the bullshit and utter garbage this week has been for me and now—----”
I hadn’t realized I had gotten close enough for Lev to reach out and grab me. But he had. When he yanked me caught me off guard.
“Stop screaming at me and take a deep breath. I understand you have had a terrible week, and I’m sorry about that.”
After a deep breath, I composed myself again. Feeling embarrassed about losing my temper on him, that was the Mihail genetics in me. He was only playing around. It was pretty clear.
“If you don’t mind me asking now that you’ve calmed down a little, about the elephant in the room. Caleb.”
Heavy emotions stirred up in me again, and I had to sit on the edge of the bed. Where Lev had seemed to conveniently make space for me to.
“I wasn’t even here when he died. Sasha was with him when he passed. He had stage four cancer, and he took his life before the cancer could kill him. I didn’t even know about the cancer until after his death. I was back with my mother, packing up all my things to come back here.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Not as sorry as I am.”
He reached out and touched me suddenly, and I realized he was using the corner of the blanket to dry a tear that had fallen.
“It must be so hard to lose the one you love.”
“It is the most painful thing I have ever known.”
“If I had known, I wouldn’t have said what I did before about him.”
“It’s not your fault.”
The frown on his face told me he really didn’t believe me. It wasn’t like he had been informed or invited beforehand. He only just found out. It was just a subject I never wanted to touch.
“I know I don’t have a place to complain or bitch about how you handle yourself and your loss, but you really need to look after yourself. You barely touched your breakfast, you picked at it, and that’s not healthy.”
“I will be ok.”
“I don’t doubt that, but in the meantime, you can’t let your health suffer because of it.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. How the hell was this man a killer when he was saying shit like this?
“Moving on… When the hell can I get the fuck out of this bed?”
“Never. Last time you fucking took off, and you were not at all healed.”
“If I promise not to leave—-”
“Sorry, I don’t believe you.”
“That’s hardly fair.”
“I don’t trust you not to leave when I go back to Caleb’s wing, so I’m going to have to stay here until then.”
“Let me stay with Sasha then, so you can sleep in a proper bed.”
“The problem with that is Ryer. He is already salty. He had to give blood to keep your ass alive, so no.”
“He had to give me blood?”
“Yes, we didn’t have your blood type, and I had to go right to the source, and Ryer was the closest.”
“Right, that’s going to be a sore spot.”
“Only other choice is to take you with me to Calebs…”
But that wasn’t a good idea. I didn’t need someone bearing witness to my fall into darkness when I finally got home every night.
“Is that even a good idea? That space is private to you.”
“No, but I can monitor you to make sure you don’t take off before you’re healed.”
“You act like I’m just going to sneak off in the middle of the night suddenly.”
“That is because you will.”
“I will give you my word—-”
“Nope.”
He frowned again and reached for the clip on his finger. I knew what his damn game was. I grabbed his hand and clenched it.
“Knock it off, you’re pushing my buttons, Lev.”
“You, Mikhail Men, are the easiest to work up. A few words or jabs and surprise, anger.” He chuckled.
“I’m glad you find this funny.”
“How long do you want to hold my hand for?”
“What! I’m not—Right.”
I dropped the hand I was holding and stood up, turning off the machine so he couldn’t use it to annoy me anymore.
“You take all my fun away, Alessio.”
“I do not.”
He raised an eyebrow at me, as if he was challenging me, and it got under my skin even further. And he damn well knew it.
“I’m not taking away your fun. I’m taking away the annoyance. There is a difference.”
“Your annoyance is my fun.”
I sighed. I didn’t mean to. But I did. Lev looked almost offended before he spoke.
“Am I boring you, Doctor?”
The way he said the word doctor was playful, and until any of the words in the sentence. Lev was a strange guy. Considering what his job was.
I sat on the edge of the bed again and looked at him.
“Look. Let’s make a deal.”
“I’m listening.”
“I’ll let you out of the medic wing tomorrow to come with me to Caleb’s wing, my wing now I guess…” I said, my mood somber again.
“What’s the catch?” Lev asked, clearly knowing there was indeed a catch.
“You don’t take off, you don’t judge me, and you don’t mess around with Caleb’s things.”
“I’ll work with that. Deal.”
It felt wrong as I took his hand and gave it a shake. Somehow, I just knew this was going to go sideways. But it was too late now.
“What are we going to do for lunch?”
“You are going to get another massive dosage of pain medication, and I’m going to see if my father will pick us up something for lunch.”
“More pain medication? What for?”
“Yours will have worn off by lunch and I would rather not have to hear you whine about the pain you’re in later.”
“Who says I would whine about it?”
“Just a guess.”
Lev looked at me again, almost like he might have been trying to figure me out. He had looked at me like this the last time. I had just ignored it. This time was a little harder to ignore. He had made a comment before about how my eyes looked hollow. Maybe that’s the reason he was looking at me.
“Ok, I’m going to get your medication and a glass of water.”
“Alright.”
Heading to the cabinet where the high grade pain medication was kept, I punched the code in before grabbing out two single pills. I placed them in a tiny paper cup. It was easier to grab my water bottle from the office than it was for me to get him a glass of water.
Returning to the side of his bed with the small paper cup and my water bottle, I passed them to him. I watched as he took them and passed back both the paper cup and the bottle.
“Ok, I’m just going to text my dad and find out if he can pick us up something for dinner. If he won’t, I’ll ask Alexi or Creed.”
“Sounds good.”
Shooting my dad a text, I don’t have to wait long. He was quick to say he would bring us something for lunch and some stuff to tuck into the fridge for dinner. That sounded pretty good to me. At least, I wouldn’t have to figure out how the hell I was going to feed Lev.
I was grateful to my father for right now, and to Sasha for this morning, too. They clearly were thinking about us. I couldn’t cook to save my life. There were only a few things I was actually good at cooking, but they weren’t worth sharing.
“Dad said he would bring us something for lunch, ok—-- oh.”
Lev had passed out sitting up slightly, his soft snores rolling out his throat. It was kind of amusing. This wasn’t from the medication either, this was just his body forcing him to conserve energy to heal. The quiet was nice for the moment.
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