Chapter 272: Is The Only Reason You’re Holding Me Tonight…

[FROLO]

* Author runs

"Solnyshka... we need to talk," Sergei said, and Katya didn’t even sit upright to look at him. If anything, the omega just smiled ghostly as he stared at the ceiling.

"We are talking, Vladimir," he chuckled softly, and Sergei felt his heart beat a little faster than he had intended. Again, around Katya, Sergei was a man with no power or control at all.

"No, you need to listen to me," Sergei insisted, and Katya sighed exaggeratedly before he sat up and turned to look at Sergei, who was seated right on his side.

"You are not allowed to stress my boyfriend any further. At least give the man a chance to breathe and deal with the consequences of his decisions first, alright?" Katya said, looking into Sergei’s eyes like this was normal for them.

Like they were just two people who had gotten used to each other. And worse, like one of them wasn’t already in a whole different world and living a whole different reality with the other.

Gods, they were so doomed.

"It’s not ab—"

"No bombing the Senate again, too," Katya warned, pointing his tiny finger at Sergei, who couldn’t help but laugh at how serious the omega was.

It was nice being scolded by Katya.

Because getting a scolding to Sergei meant that Katya was free with him. That Katya trusted him even when he was being unreasonable. That Katya believed in him and, better, that Katya was safe around him.

He had worked hard to get to this point, and honestly, he wanted to stay in that moment a little longer.

"What if they—" Sergei began, and Katya glared at him, giving him the warning look like Sergei wasn’t already a smiling mess in front of him.

"We have work to do. Besides, you wouldn’t want the people thinking I’m running the largest corporation into the ground now, would you?" Katya teased, and Sergei couldn’t breathe for a moment.

Katya was so damn beautiful, shit.

They were so close. So very close, and Sergei knew that Katya hadn’t even realized it yet, because if he had, the omega would have put some distance between them.

And for a moment...

Sergei, unable to control himself for the first time in forever around a Katya that was awake, leaned closer.

The alpha pressed his lips gently on Katya’s forehead, lingering for a few seconds before pulling back like it was nothing. But they both knew it wasn’t nothing. It could never be. Not with the history between them.

"We need to talk, Solnyshka," Sergei said again, his voice lower this time.

Katya lifted his eyes to meet Sergei’s hooded gaze. Gods, when had they gotten this close to each other? It was almost like everything around them was disappearing.

But Katya didn’t run.

He didn’t get up and leave because of the forehead kiss.

He was still stuck in a loop of how Sergei’s lips felt against his forehead. Of how the alpha was suddenly so close. How the rainforest had somehow gotten richer in the room.

This was not good.

Not for Katya, who had a boyfriend.

Not for Sergei, who had learned to keep his distance.

Certainly not for both of them who had strived to keep their relationship purely platonic, even though they were both in love with each other.

For a moment, neither moved.

Like they were learning to breathe again. Like they were trying to understand what the heck was going on. Like the world was suddenly all grey and bright at the same time.

And Sergei, he looked into Katya’s dark eyes, like a man mesmerizing his beloved. Like a man who was about to make a stupid decision. Perhaps it was. Perhaps that was why he insisted they talk.

But for Katya? It was different.

The alpha smelled so good.

He looked so perfect in the damn burgundy suit that he’d worn to destroy his boyfriend.

"Solnyshka," Sergei breathed, and Katya just stared into his eyes, the distance between their faces so desperately thin and dangerous.

"Vladimir," Katya whispered, not trusting his voice anymore.

He was looking at Sergei the way that Sergei was looking at him.

This was a dangerous game for both of them, only that it was no longer a game, was it?

"I want..." Sergei began, and Katya breathed in, licking his lips subconsciously.

Sergei followed every move, every swipe of Katya’s tongue against his lips. Staring at those full, plump lips like a man who wanted just a taste.

Surely it wouldn’t be so bad, right?

"What... what do... what do you... want?" Katya whispered when their eyes met again, hunger evident in them for each other.

"Terminate the contract," Sergei breathed, while staring at Katya’s lips again.

"Vladim..." Katya began before his mind caught up, and boy, had he never put so much distance between himself and Sergei.

"WHAT?" Katya boomed so loudly that Volkov pushed open the door to his boss’s office to check if there was something going on.

"Sir?" Volkov spoke, not looking at Katya, who was at the farthest end of the office, while Sergei was still seated on the couch, like a man who was rearranging his thoughts.

"Leave," was all Sergei said.

Volkov didn’t need to be told twice.

He just stepped back out and locked the door while hoping for the first time in his life that Katya and Sergei didn’t fight. Because he knew what Frolo would look like if the devil didn’t have the one person who kept him sane.

Perhaps it was a huge subconscious request, but it was true that even the city, which was busy tearing the good senator apart, had grown accustomed to it by this point, and they knew it too.

Inside the office, Katya just stared, like a man who had been through the worst of betrayals. The way he was looking at Sergei like the alpha was taking away the most important thing to him, after giving him a forehead kiss.

Oh, what a cruel alpha Sergei Moskowsky was... right?

Sergei, on the other hand, had a stoic face, one so blank that it reminded Katya of the first time they had met in the hospital. It was like he was getting flashbacks. What the fuck was even going on?

"Are you sick?" Katya asked worriedly, the betrayal still on his face, yet he was also concerned.

"What?" Sergei asked, unable to keep the stoic face a little longer.

If anything, he looked amused as Katya carefully walked back to the couch, putting more distance between them, as if this was not the time for them to be getting cozy with each other.

"Are you dying?" Katya added, and Sergei snorted hard.

"Where is that coming from?"

"You’re terminating the contract," Katya stated calmly as if that was supposed to be the greatest explanation of the evening.

"Do you not want me to terminate the contract?" Sergei asked, and Katya stared at him like he really was a delirious man this time.

"I don’t care about the contract," Katya said confidently, and Sergei’s breath held in his chest. And before he could speak, Katya beat him to it.

"You’re leaving, aren’t you?" Katya asked, and Sergei wasn’t even sure what to say anymore.

"Moy lyubim," Sergei breathed lowly instead.

"Is it because of the interview? Because of Alek? Are you taking responsibility off my shoulders because you’re about to disappear again?" Katya rambled like Sergei hadn’t just called him his love again.

"Don’t go... please," Katya begged.