Ryer left his place early, I heard him leave when I was sitting up in the bed, taking yet another round of pain pills. They gave me sleeping pills as well, but I wasn't interested in taking them. Checking my phone which lay on the nightstand beside the bed, it was only six am. I figured he must be heading to train, like that Alexi and Creed did every few days. Though, they left later than Ryer did.

I waited until the pain pills fully kicked in before I attempted to venture out of the bed. I didn't trust walking without some kind of pain pills right now.

I could get dressed in sweatpants and a T-shirt pretty easily. I had managed that by day three or four. Slipping my phone into the front left pocket. I took my first few steps, this would tell me how the rest of my day would go.

The steps came pretty easily, and it was a minor victory for me. The limp was still there but less than it had been yesterday. They said it would be about six months before I would be completely healed, but the extent of how healed would be the big question.

The doctors who had done the surgery said it had gone down with no complications and had been a perfect surgery, now it was just up to my body to do the healing.

Checking my phone again, I sighed. Lukas was already back to work and would leave soon, and Alexi and Creed were not even awake yet. I had phone access to Alexi and Creed’s office so I could head there, but right now, I wanted to check on Lev and see how he was doing.

My boots, shoes and my coat which had all been at Alexi and Creed’s house were hung up and placed neatly. It made me annoyed, and I wanted to mess up his whole coat and shoe rack. But I didn’t. I also didn’t take any shoes when I left his section.

As long as I didn’t walk too fast the limp stayed pretty unnoticed, but the moment I went faster than a normal slow stroll, the limp started. It made me so damn frustrated. I kept having to tell myself I was still healing, and this was normal.

Maddox had stuck Lev in the far end of the complex away from everyone else. I was pretty sure I knew where he was. I passed one of the underbosses who was on the phone; I was pretty sure his name was Jackson. He stopped dead in the hall, pulling the phone away from his ear.

“Sasha. Nice to see you up walking.”

He put the phone back to his ear and went back to walking down the hall, way faster than I was, he seemed to be on a mission. Finding the room where Lev was had been easy, it was the only door in the entire hall with a light on.

I knocked one, and the door was ripped open. Lev looked me up and down before the largest of smiles broke out on the Russian’s face.

“Sasha, nice to see you alive.”

“I could say the same to you.”

“Is it safe to hug you, or will you fall apart?”

“I would hope not. They worked really hard putting my spine back together or so I’m told.”

Lev lightly hugged me, and it was a weird thing. It was not the first time he had held me in such a way; he had done so when I was drunk.

“What of your injuries?”

“Minor, healing fine. I’ll be here another week or so, before I to one of my own homes. Which I don’t know yet. But Andrei’s heir won’t let me leave for another week.”

“Alessio.”

“Yes, Great doctor, but so demanding.”

“He wants to make sure you are safe to travel. He doesn’t want all the work he took to keep you alive to be in vain. Can’t say I blame him.” I snorted.

Lev chucked, shaking his head.

“Come in and sit, Standing too long can’t be great for your back even now.”

I stepped inside, and he closed the door. We walked to the smaller couch set in the room's corner and I sat down. Lev finally noticed my bare feet then.

“Just where are your shoes, Sasha?”

“Back at Ryer’s on his shoe rack because I didn’t want them.”

“At Ryer’s... Hmm, I can’t say if that is a good choice.”

I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose before I delved into minor details of how Ryer is trained and educated in therapy and rehabilitation. Lev gave me the same amused and shocked look that I was sure I had given Ryer when he showed me the proof.

“Well, you're in expert hands then it seems,” Lev said, amused.

“What do you find so amusing about this?” I said, raising an eyebrow at Lev who chuckled to himself.

“Oh, nothing. Just wondering how long before he tries to claim you. Lord knows the man does not keep his want of you hid.”

“Lev that is hardly something to find amusing. I’m far from interested in fucking him. His southern charm might work on some, I will not be one of however many on his list of trophies.”

I swore I saw Lev flinch at the choice of words I used.

“And what will you do if you should fall under the spell of those southern charms?”

“At least after the first time, chances are he will just leave me alone then, I’ve heard from others he rarely enjoys the same person twice. Well, that is his lifestyle, that is not for me.”

Lev chucked. I was sure even he was that way; it seemed to be something that came with the power and money. It didn’t bother me the way Lev and Ryer and the rest of them lived. It just wasn’t for me.

“I meant to ask Sasha, Did you get in any trouble for all this?”

“Hardly. My ex-boss came and pretty much thanked me for it all. He even had them pay for my medical bills and such.”

“I’m glad to hear that. It is their fault, after all, They knew he was an issue and they let him slip away out of their sight.”

We spoke for only a short while longer before I checked my phone and said I was off to see Alexi and Creed. They should be in their office now. Lev said goodbye. As soon as I left, he turned the lights off and no doubt went back to sleep. Hell, It’s what I would have done. If I didn’t have so much boredom and need to do something flowing through my entire being.

Heading to the office, I had to stop outside the door and wait for some small breakthrough pain to subside. I heard the sound of someone clicking their tongue at me. Turning to see who it was, Alessio stood there with his hands tucked into the pockets of his pants.

“Come along with me Sasha and let’s have a look at your spine.”

I knew better now than to argue with Alessio; I had been here long enough to know that he was going to take me with him by force if I denied him. I just nodded and walked alongside him.

“I’m pleased to see you up and walking, but I’m worried you might be pushing it.”

“Hardly, I’m building the strength back.”

“I’m no specialist in that field, but your spine is still well into healing, you should take it easy. I’m sure they told you about six months and you should be fully healed.”

“Alessio, Look. I don’t have six months to sit around and to wait to see how much of my spine I can actually use. I want to be able to go back to work and do the things I could before.”

“If you keep pushing it, you won’t be able to do anything you want to but make the area worse.”

He opened the medic wing door and waited for me to step inside before he closed the door and pointed to the curtained area where the curtain was open.

“Go sit there. I’ll be there in just a moment.”

I went and sat on the lowered bed. I had about nine other things I could do than sitting here right now.

Alessio came back, Caleb right behind him. I sighed.

Alessio and Caleb poked and prodded at me for a while before he gave me yet more pain pills after calling Ryer, to which I argued for him not to. They called him to find out the names and dosages of the medications I was already on since I couldn’t name them off by perfect names.

So here we were. Me sitting on the bed in the medic wing, and Ryer standing there with a look of annoyance on his face. He had definitely been working when Alessio called him. There was blood spatter on his face and the hand in which he took the bottle from Alessio who didn’t even seem to notice all the blood.

“Let’s go, Sasha. I have things to do.”

I stood up and fixed my shirt before snatching the new medication from his hand. He was right behind me as I left the medic wing.

“Go back to work. I don’t need a fucking babysitter.”

“Clearly you do. You are supposed to be resting.”

“I will do whatever the fuck I want to, Ryer. You are not in any position that allows you to tell me what to do.”

I watched his jaw tick before he picked up his phone and called who I assumed was Maddox. He went on and had someone take over what he had been doing because he needed to monitor me. He hung up the phone before smugly smiling at me.

“There we go darling Sasha, You have all my attention for the next few days. Now we can make sure you do exactly what you are supposed to be doing.”