Jakov finally grinned, all tanned and handsome and shit, and she slipped away, leaving me alone with a man I’d come to consider a friend.
I opened the fridge. “You want a beer?”
“No, thank you. I have brought a car.”
Just food then. I helped myself to an ill-advised drink of my own and shut the fridge.
With Juana gone, Jakov’s gaze turned absent, as if he already missed Viktor while he was in the living room. Or maybe he was thinking about her.
“I always forget you knew Juana before us. I see it with Viktor and Lili every time they’re around each other, but I never remember the rest of it.”
“That is not a bad thing.” Jakov peered into the oven. “She is my friend’s widow, but I prefer to think of her here.”
“I’m sorry you lost him.”
Raul. Hope’s biological father. Jakov smiled a little. “It is the life, no? For you too.”
“My best friends are all here.”
“Then you are lucky, Cam. And there is no shame in that.”
The oven timer beeped. I blinked. Had I even set it?
Apparently so.
I retrieved Jakov’s dinner and passed it over. He ate at the counter while I shared the loose version of an idea I’d been formulating since Logan and Remy had stopped by a few weeks ago. A plan I’d only shared so far with Alexei, my sister, Nash, and Rubi.
“I like it.” Jakov cleared his plate and moved like family to slide it into the dishwasher. “I am not sure the Dog Crows deserve your vision for them, though.”
“Who they were doesn’t change who we are now.”
“I think you have always been who you are now.”
Ivy barrelled into the kitchen before I could answer, Decoy too slow to catch her. She skidded to a stop in front of Jakov, taken aback by the presence of a stranger. “Who are you?”
“Ives, that’s rude.” Decoy scooped her up. “Come on, we’re going home soon.”
“I don’t want to go home.”
“Then find some manners, bug.”
He took her out. But she was back a few minutes later, lingering in the doorway, curiosity bright in her eyes, until Folk came to her side and said something Russian to Jakov.
Beside me, Jakov relaxed a little and crouched to Ivy’s level, extending his hand. “I’m Viktor’s brother. Nice to meet you.”
Ivy took his hand, so used to scars and ink she didn’t notice the scorch mark branded on Jakov’s palm. “What’s your name?”
Jakov’s hesitation, and the second glance he shared with Folk, was so brief I could’ve imagined it. Then any lingering tension seemed to leave him, and he smiled. “My name is Jake.”
Ivy was a force of nature even Russian mobsters couldn’t withstand. She fetched a unicorn-themed deck of cards from the living room and corralled Jakov—Jake—into playing snap with her at the table while Folk looked on, the haunted gaze he’d carried all winter long gone, leaving nothing but love-fuelled serenity in its place.
Jake taught Ivy a new game, one Liliana wanted to learn too, and the kitchen filled up, crowded with almost everyone.
Cool hands slid under my clothes and over my flank, leaving goosebumps on my skin. Alexei pressed up behind me, dropping his chin on my shoulder. “This is your dream, no?”
I leaned into him, fighting to keep my eyes open. “Which part?”
“All of it. You did not build a kitchen this big for the cat who no longer lives here.”