My jaw slackened. "You can't just barge into my home whenever you feel like it."
Kova sighed and ran a hand down his face. He stared ahead at the wall of trees. "Adrianna, I do not want to come inside, I have better things I could be doing with my time, but you leave me no choice. If you have a problem with it, I will call your father and let him speak with you. I am certain he will be on my side."
"You would call my dad, wouldn't you," I stated more than questioned.
"Whatever it takes. Now, can you make it out of the car?"
It wasn't long until we were upstairs and in my unit. Kova had to carry me from the car to the lobby, as I walked slower than an eighty-seven-year-old.
I sat in a daze on the toilet and watched Kova bring in the ice bags and fill the tub. He ran the cold water and I dreaded what was to come next. There was so, so much ice. He had bought the twenty pound bags instead of the smaller five pound ones. Asshole. He rambled on and on about the importance of quick and efficient muscle recovery, but I wasn't listening. It was nothing I didn't already know. Combined with his thick accent, I could barely hear him over the roar of water and ice anyway.
Kova sat back on the ledge of the tub and glanced over his shoulder. He gazed down my body like he was waiting on an answer. Fatigued, I just nodded. I had no idea what he said.
"Ready?"
I sat up taller at his edgy tone. I just wanted to go to sleep. "Ready as I'll ever be."
Reaching into the convenience store bag, he pulled out a few medicine bottles. I looked away and eyed the freezing ice water I was about to sink into, trying desperately to mentally prepare for the dreadful temperatures that were about to shock my body. But I knew no amount of manipulating myself would work for this. It just sucked big time all around.
"Here. Take these." I glanced back at Kova who had his arm stretched out and palm open with a handful of colorful pills and capsules. They looked like multivitamins and a few more of the standard amount of Motrin that I usually took. His other hand held a water bottle.
I folded my palm up and the pills tumbled into my hand. He uncapped the water and handed it to me.
"What's this one?" I pointed to one of the pills.
"Melatonin. It will help you relax and get some rest. It is an all-natural sleep aid. There is also a few naturally extracted fruit supplements and a multivitamin to help with recovery."
I swallowed them all in one shot.
"I can take it from here, Kova. Thank you, though."
"I do not trust you to get in and stay for the correct amount of time. Come on." He reached out to take my hand, but I didn't move. I just stared at his hand. "What is wrong with you?"
"I… I can… I can do it on my own. I appreciate that you're here, I really do, but I got it." I didn’t want him to see my hard nipples when I got out, or for him to wrap me with warmth. I knew myself, and I knew I would sink into him and beg him to hold me.
Kova's Adam's apple bobbed as he frowned down at me. "Do not make me pick you up and drop you in there."
"I will fucking kill you if you do that."
He challenged me. "Do not tempt me, Ria. I will do it."
"Can you just go? This… This is too much." He tilted his head to the side and propped his hands on his hips. "It just feels too intimate to me."
His jaw dropped, and his eyes widened in shock. This was the first time I had ever made him do that. "I know," I said, giving him a halfhearted laugh, "but we should really try to not put ourselves in such situations anymore, Kova."
"You have got to be kidding me. After everything that has happened between us, sitting in an ice bath is too intimate for you? Are you serious right now?"
A faint heat crept into my cheeks. I was embarrassed.
I looked down. "I know it sounds stupid—"
"It is stupid."
"It's just you are being nice and helping me like this… I don't know, Kova, it's too much for me, too