Nix gave Ivan a sidelong glance. “Youdidtell your brother we were coming, didn’t you?”
Ivan ignored him, looking to Sascha. “You said I was welcome.”
Sascha crossed his arms, his brows dropping. “I said you were welcome if you were able to not act like a complete dick.”
“You said I needed to act human. You didn’t say anything about not being a dick.”
Sascha’s lips twitched, much in the same way Ivan’s did when he was trying his best not to smile. He sighed, stepping back from the door and opening his arm in reluctant welcome. “Well, I didn’t think you’d take me up on it, like, immediately, but come on in.”
Some of Ivan’s frostiness eased, just a touch. Nix could see it—if only for the briefest moment—how fond Ivan was of his brother, before Ivan swept past Sascha and Kai into the house like they didn’t exist, leaving Nix on the porch with them.
Sascha seemed unfazed by the rudeness. “Hello,” he said to Nix, adorably shy all of a sudden.
Nix grinned at him. “Hi, cutie.”
Kai cleared his throat, the scowl on his face a marked contrast to Sascha’s shy smile. “What are you two doing here?”
Speaking of rudeness.
Nix batted his lashes, knowing it would piss Kai off. “Maybe we wanted a cozy little getaway.”
Kai scoffed. “Doesn’t look very cozy to me.”
No, it didn’t, did it? Nix pressed his lips into a pout, looking to Sascha for commiseration. “He’s angry with me.”
Sascha waved a dismissive hand, leaning back against Kai, his shyness seeming to ease with a familiar topic of conversation. “He’s always angry. What does he think you did wrong?”
“Something he’s decided is some sort of betrayal.”
Sascha’s smile dropped. “Oof.”
Oof? What the fuck did “oof” mean? Nix had been looking for reassurance, not confirmation that he was completely fucked. “Is it that bad?”
“Well, our brother, Alexei, supposedly betrayed him abouttwo years ago. He stayed away, but Ivan still held a massive grudge and may have fired a gun at him the next time they saw each other.”
Ah, yes, the attempted fratricide. Well, that had clearly been Alexei’s first mistake—staying away. A man like Ivan couldn’t be left to stew in his own miseries. It gave him too much of an opportunity to shore up his defenses.
Nix wouldn’t be making the same mistake.
They found Ivan in the living room, standing over what at first glance appeared to be a pile of blankets. Except, at second glance, there was definitely a hooded head poking out of it. A young man stared up at Ivan, big brown eyes blinking rapidly.
There was another resident in the house.
“I forgot about the stray,” Ivan said, looking down at whoever he was.
And apparently Ivan already knew about him. Nix tried not to pout. He hated being left in the dark.
“Be nice to Matteo,” Sascha scolded, shooting the young man a reassuring smile.
“Why?” Ivan asked, his eyes still on the “stray,” as he’d called him.
“Because otherwise you have to go,” Sascha told him, a bit of brattiness in his tone now. “It’s his house now too.”
Ivan turned to shoot him a look. “Iboughtthis house.”
“And what an investment,” Sascha said dryly. “There’s only one other guest room made up, but I can—”
“Nix and I will stay in the same room,” Ivan interrupted.
