Page 86 of The Chaos She Brings

I tilt my head. “Then what is it?”

He exhales, rolling his jaw like he’s debating how much to say. Then, he meets my eyes, his usual playfulness absent. “When I was a kid, I watched my father get beaten to death in the street. Right outside our building.”

A lump forms in my throat. “Nico—”

He shakes his head. “I was too young to do anything. Too weak.” A bitter chuckle escapes him. “But I swore to myself thatday that I’d never be powerless again. That no one I cared about would ever suffer because I wasn’t strong enough to stop it.”

I stare at him, my appetite suddenly gone.

He leans back, picking up his drink and swirling the liquid inside. “So, no. I wouldn’t change it. Because this life? It gave me the tools to keep that promise.”

The weight of his words settles between us, thick and heavy.

Diner continues in silence.

After, we settle into the living room, once again playing games together like we do every day.

“Right. If I win Connect Four, I get to use your phone for the whole night. You don’t get it back until morning,” I say with a yawn. We’ve been playing for hours, and my eyes are starting to droop.

Nico narrows his eyes. “You just want to have phone sex with your boyfriend.”

I smirk at him and raise my eyebrow. “And what?”

He fake gags. “Fine. Whatever. Let’s play.”

Thankfully it doesn’t take long for me to win the round, and I grin triumphantly, doing a dramatic bow. “I’d like to thank my family, my friends. Thank you to Nico—AKA Happy, AKA Sir Nico the Stubborn—for being so bad that—”

He throws his phone at me to cut me off. “I’m going to bed. Have fun.” He winks then strides from the room, leaving me still grinning widely.

I take my time getting ready for bed, even though all I really want to do is call Kai immediately. As soon as I slide under the covers (thank God this safehouse has more than one bed) I hit the call button on Kai’s contact.

It rings only once before he answers. “Tess?” The hope in his voice iseverything.

“Hi,” I whisper with a smile.

“Is Nico there?”

“Nope! I won at Connect Four, so I get his phone to myself all night.”

“All night you say?”

“What’s that tone for, mister?”

“Just wondering what we could do with all that time, that’s all.”

I snort as I settle deeper into the bed. The mattress is stiff and uncomfortable under me but it’s better than the cot I had in my prison cell with the Russians. “Really? You have no thoughts on that?”

He chuckles, the sound deep and throaty. “I have some ideas.” His voice becomes deep and sensual, and I almost moan from that alone.

Just hearing his voice is enough to turn me on, to make every nerve in my body come to life with anticipation.

“What ideas?” I ask with a breathiness I can’t even attempt to hide.

“Are you in bed, Hurricane?”

“Mmhm.”

“Are you wet for me?”