Chapter 33
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
MIA
I stare at Aunt Linda, my face slack. Hell, my mouth might even be hanging open. What she just told us has all of us in some form of frozen shock. I break away from her face to look at Demitri, who is barely holding his shit together. I know when a person is close to breaking, and he’s at his limit.
I don’t say anything, but they all turn to me when I stand and move to Demitri’s side, taking his hand and pulling him up. I make eye contact with each person at the table, silently telling them to leave us alone. The girls get it. Hell, they can probably read my mind at this point. Daniel spares me a small glance before continuing to glare at Aunt Linda. Grady and Aiden both nod their heads in understanding and Joker and Nate tip their chins before going back to their laptops.
Brodie is also here now, having come to see what he could do and sticking around for story time. He looks lost.
I pull Demitri into the office and close the door. I don’t let his hand go until we’re sitting side by side on the couch. I gently tug on his arm, and he puts his head in my lap, holding my thighs. He squeezes his eyes shut, but I know he’s reliving memories I can’t see behind the lids.
“Wanna talk about it?” I gently ask, running my fingers through his hair.
“I don’t know what to say,” he replies, sounding so lost. “I feel like I’ve just had my entire world flipped on edge.”
Aunt Linda told us she’s been keeping secrets. Lots of secrets. About Demitri, his family, and who the bad guys are.
“Sasha was never a good guy, Mia. He’s done unfathomable things in his life that he will never be able to atone for. Violence was always a part of him. I don’t understand.”
“Do you believe what she said?”
“That he’s tired of the blood and hate and doesn’t want the family to continue? I have no idea what to believe.”
“Are you going to talk to him? I’ll go with you.”
“No. I don’t want you anywhere near that monster.”
“How will you ever get answers if you don’t talk to him, Demitri?”
“I don’t know that I want the answers. Does that make me a bad person?”
“No, Dem, it doesn’t. It makes you human.”
“I don’t think I want to be human right now.”
I lean over and kiss his forehead. He pulls me back, kissing my lips with a sad desperation I’ve never felt from him before.
“ Krasotka , I need you,” he whispers. “Please.”
“Yes,” I whisper my reply.
He sits up and helps me stand. This isn’t going to be sweet or seductive. It’s going to be a release of emotions he’s not ready to face. It’s going to be quick and naughty. I check in on my mind and body, and they both understand that this is what the man I love needs, and we can provide it. He’s not using us or wanting to hurt us. He’s leaning on us. Me. He needs me .
His eyes remain locked with mine as he tugs the drawstring on the sweats I stole from him a few weeks ago. They were also the first thing I found to throw on when the alarm went off this morning. I kick off my tennis shoes while he slides the fabric down my legs, helping me out of them. He then pulls down my panties, leaving me bare under an oversized t-shirt—also stolen from him.
“You’re hot as fuck in my clothes, Mia. But even hotter out of them.”
He lifts up from the couch, yanking his own pants down far enough for his cock to spring free. I straddle his thighs, his hands running up mine and lifting the fabric of my shirt to cup my ass. He holds me to him, crushing our lips, his tongue darting out to lick the seam of my mouth. I open, letting him in, and he groans. Without ending the kiss, he lifts my body while I adjust his cock under me and slide onto his shaft.
I place my hands on his shoulders and use his body as leverage to rise and fall, lifting until just the tip remains and sliding back down again. My pussy grips him, pulling him in more with each downward motion.
“I want you to come too, Mia. I need you to.”
“I’ll try,” I promise.
“I’ll help you get there.”
He removes one of his hands from my backside and brings it around to my front, flattening his palm on my lower belly and pressing his thumb against my clit. He’s circling it, dragging his thumb lower with each circle, gathering the wetness that’s growing from where he’s entering my body. The dual sensations of his cock and finger builds me up.
I’m almost there when he throws me over the edge with his words.
“You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met in my life. The way you care for me, love me, want me. You are the best part of my existence.”
My body pulses around him, pulling him in even deeper. He growls my name as he climaxes, his face buried in the crook of my neck.
“I guess we’ve mastered the quiet quickie.” I giggle into his hair.
I feel him laughing under me, his body creating extended waves of pleasure to course through me.
“You know they’re going to worry if I killed you.”
“Or if I killed you,” I agree.
“You know they call orgasms ‘mini deaths’. Does that mean we killed each other?”
“The fact I want to laugh at that just proves how fucked up we are, right?”
“Fucked up together, baby.” He smirks, patting my ass before helping me stand.
He follows and leads me into the bathroom, where he helps me clean up.
“You ready to face those people again?” I ask, looking at the door.
“I guess. If I have to.”
“We’ve had a long, already shitty day, Dem. We can do whatever the fuck we want.”
“After you order a new bottle of Beluga Gold.”
“You’ll have to settle for a different kind of shot today.”
“Fine. Let’s do this.”
Two hours is how long it takes for Aunt Linda to get everything set up. Enough time for me to worry a tread into the floor of the bar worrying about Demitri. He’s quiet. Too quiet. He’s separated himself from the rest of the people here, sitting in a corner booth on his own. The don’t-fuck-with-me vibe he’s putting off keeps everyone away. I don’t blame him. He’s about to meet his uncle for the first time in years, and he’s afraid.
He’s upset that I won’t leave. That I won’t leave him alone to meet the monster. I understand he doesn’t want me involved, but what he doesn’t get is that I already am. I became involved the first time I went home with him. And when that bitch walked into MY bar offering me money to look the other way? Well, it became personal.
“He’s going to chew his lip off before this begins.” Grace frowns, standing beside me.
“It’s his tell. Next, he’ll start running his hand through his hair and gripping the back of his neck. And then he’ll start tapping on the table with his thumb.”
Grace side-eyes me. “This thing between you is real, isn’t it? It’s not just fun or sex or forced proximity?”
“It’s always been real, Gracie. I only had to quit fighting it to let it happen.”
“I’m happy for you.”
“And sad for you,” I reply, tugging on her arm and pulling her into a hug. “It’ll happen for you one day, too. You’ll open your eyes and your heart and realize your perfect match is standing in front of you, begging you to let them love you.”
“I hope you’re right, but let’s not hold our breaths, okay?”
I snort, holding in a laugh. When is this woman going to realize that she’s an amazing human? That Brett could steal so much from us, but he could never take our will to survive. To fight the demons he left with us. I know each of us still has some of those to slay, but we do it little by little each day. And one day, we will all be able to look back on that time in our lives and realize the scars might still be there, but the pain that went with them has faded and we are stronger now.
I’m not totally prepared when the door opens and the brute that broke into my bar comes through the back door with Aunt Linda at his side. He looks older than his years. I guess that’s what being a monster will do to you. Or I’m just a bad judge of age after they reach twenty-one.
Demitri looks up, determination and a bit of fear in his eyes. I feel so bad for him. I want to take that fear away, but I don’t know how.
“You broke into my bar,” I say, standing.
“I did,” he replies, his Russian accent still thick. “I did what I had to do.”
I scoff, rolling my eyes. “Why are you here?”
“For my plemiannik . My nephew.”
“What do you want with me, Dyadya ? You spent years hurting people. Hurting me. Are you back to finish the job?”
“Demitri. Please. Can we sit and talk?”
I look between the men and can see the resemblance. While Sasha looks like he’s lived a hard life, he shares the same eyes, the same jawline. Where Demitri is tall and lean with muscles, Sasha is shorter, stooped from the years of living.
Demitri looks at me, an unspoken need radiating from his entire being. I immediately move closer and take his hand. Sasha doesn’t miss the action, a sad smile on his face.
“I need you to know the truth. About me. About our life.”
“Start talking.”
Demitri sits back down in the booth and I join him, our hands still clasped under the table, resting on his thigh. Sasha joins us, and I notice everyone else in the bar moving closer, sitting at the closest tables. I don’t blame them. I’d want to hear all of this, too. The only person who remains standing is Aunt Linda, and for the first time, she looks like she doesn’t have the answers.
We all watch as she goes behind the bar and grabs four shot glasses before returning to the booth and sliding in next to Sasha. There is no fear in her as she sits so close to this monster, this killer and trafficker. She places the shot glasses on the table and pulls a bottle of clear liquor out of her bag. A bottle of Beluga Gold. Without saying a word, she opens the bottle and pours the liquid into the glasses before passing them around to us.
“ Za tvoyo zdorovye ,” she announces, picking up her glass.
“To your health,” Demitri translates as he also picks up his shot.
I follow, and we all down the drink.
“You stole my bottle of vodka,” I say to Sasha.
“I haven’t had a drop out of it and will make sure it finds its way safely back to you.”
Demitri squeezes my hand and looks at his uncle. “Why are you here? Why did you come back? What do you want? Is it about the money?”
The older man laughs, ending in a cough. Aunt Linda hurries to get out of the booth and runs over behind the bar, pouring the man a glass of water. She returns and sets it in front of the older man before taking her seat next to him. It’s like she’s taking care of him. Like she cares for him.
“Demitri, I don’t need your money, nor do I want it. I have my own, dear boy.”
“Then why?”
“To protect you. And your ledi .” He gestures to me. “I couldn’t let anything happen to you.”
“To protect us?”
“Yes.”
“Why should I believe that? Dyadya , I watched you. For years, I saw what you did. The women you hurt.”
“You saw what I wanted you to see, Demi.”
Demitri flinches at the nickname. One he doesn’t use. Dem? Yes. Demi? No.
“What does that even mean?”
“You saw me remove women. You saw me hand them over to other men. Men you assumed were just as evil as your otetz .”
“Exactly! You sold those women to other men without any remorse or resistance!”
“Demitri, those men? They were government agents. I was helping those girls get out. To safety.”
Demitri’s head flings back like he’s been punched. I feel the blow, too.
“You killed Mika!”
“No, I didn’t. That wasn’t me. That was your father and Andrey.”
“What do you mean?”
He sighs, like the weight of the world has been on his shoulders for way too long. He gives me a look asking for forgiveness as he reaches for the bottle Aunt Linda left on the table and pours another shot. After downing it, he turns to Aunt Linda, who nods her head with a gentle smile on her face.
“I guess I should start at the beginning.”