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Nas snuggled into our shared pillow She ht and joined me on the floor An intense protective streak hitin, I pressedit would convey everything I felt for her and more

No one was more important to me than Nastasia Leokov

With one last look at her, I fought a yawn as I left the room and made my way to the kitchen just as Mina approached the back door, holding a plate The shock on her face at seeingYou never had to guess what Mina was thinking You could see it all right there, written in her expression

The second I opened the door, she walked inside cautiously and drew out the sentence, “What are you doing here?”

Heavy emphasis on “you”

Squinting into the sunlight streah the s, I went to retrieve a couple of s and filled them with coffee “Nas needed me”

Mina’s lips puckered as she took the profferedand sat on a stool at the breakfast bar “What, she doesn’t have a vibrator?”

I rolled oing through some shit”

“Like what?” she asked quietly

I wasn’t sure it was h so similar with Lev, so I proceeded with caution “Do you knohat an anniversary reaction is?”

Mina shook her head, appearing a little confused

“You re to Lev as a child? About how no one would ever have known about it if Nas hadn’t snuck into his bed and taken a beating meant for him?”

Her expression turned ice-cold “I’et anytime soon”

I explained it as best as I could “Well, every year when it gets closer to the date of when all that shit went down, Nas gets… tightly strung” Out of sheer curiosity, I asked, “Does that happen to Lev?”

Mina shrugged “Not that I’ve noticed”

Yeah Lev wasn’t the type to wear his e himself

“She, uh, has nighty Irritable” I was not about the tell Mina that Nas so corpse of her les”

Mina’s face softened “And you’re looking after her”

I sipped at ainst the counter “No place I’d rather be”