Page 74 of The Brigadier

At least he nodded again.

As he rolled over, I tucked him in even more, a pit suddenly appearing in my stomach.

However, I had to remind myself that kids saw things differently. I turned on his special light before heading to the door.

As I walked out, I could hear his little voice.

“Monsters are real.”

CHAPTER 22

Chantel

Sinful.

Bad girl.

Why yes, yes, I was.

The experience of being naked out in the open in a hot tub when soldiers were roaming the beach was at minimum decadent.

The warm water felt good against my tense muscles. Not too hot. Not too cool.

Just right.

I’d found fluffy oversized towels and two robes to match. They were positioned close, the heavy bubbles easily hiding my nakedness. However, if there was trouble, getting to one of the robes would take a few seconds.

Ah, what the heck. What was wrong with being the bad girl anyway?

Leaning back, I glanced up at the sky. In the city, all you could see was a glowing hue of neon when you looked up from the light pollution.

Stars.

I couldn’t believe I’d been forced to wish on the stars. I had my head leaned back against the edge of the hot tub, the bubbles close to being violent. Oh, God. Now I was comparing the bubbles of a pleasurable object to something violent?

My head wasn’t screwed on well enough.

I continued staring at the bright sky, trying to relax. I don’t know why I thought I could. Whatever meeting Nikolay was going to tomorrow worried me. There was no reason for it to. He’d told me nothing and had acted as if it was simply a matter of business.

But my gut told me otherwise. Maybe I was making a mountain out of a molehill. Anything was possible at this point. Especially with my wild mind.

My mother would call it scattered.

I laughed until something made me stiffen. Jerking up, I spun around quickly, instantly fearful.

“Nikolay.” I whispered his name, because of the strange look on his face. There was no way to explain the difference except his expression was much darker. As if something had occurred.

As if he’d learned something horrible.

He was just staring at me, his hands in his pockets. I could feel the vibrations humming along every inch of his body. Secondslater, a sweeping wave of electricity sparked desire, but whatever had happened, it sparked something much darker in him.

I moved to the edge, placing both my folded arms on the surface. He remained two feet away, his chest heaving. “Is something wrong? Is Damien okay?”

The silence was almost as terrifying as the look in his eyes. What the hell was going on?

“Nothing is wrong.” The three words were dark, full of authority, and completely unlike before. So much different from his tone in the kitchen I was certain he believed I’d done something horrible.

“Then why…” I wasn’t certain what I was asking.