15. Skye #3
“ What’s the matter ?” Mama signed, studying every inch of my face. I forced my feelings deep down, hiding them behind an invisible cloak.
“ Nothing. I just don’t feel like playing anymore .” It was the closest to the truth I dared to get. “ I’m sorry .”
“ Don’t apologize .” She wrapped her arms around my body, then pecked my cheek. She shifted slightly, then signed, “ I think you prefer to play for smaller groups, and that’s perfectly fine .”
Mama knew me even better than I knew myself.
Yes, I studied music, but unlike my mama, I didn’t want to be a professional pianist. I only liked to play it for my parents and when I was alone with Sasha and Branka.
Today was the first time I’d ever played in front of the entire Nikolaev family, and it became painfully evident that I wouldn’t follow my mama’s footsteps.
“ Are you disappointed, Mama? ”
“ Never. I just want you to do what makes you happy. That’s all Papa and I want for you. Happiness and love. Everything else is just needless noise. ”
She wrapped me in her arms and I buried my face in her chest, inhaling her comforting scent.
Family was everything to me, and this one made me feel like the luckiest girl in the world.
I vaguely remembered the loneliness of not having anyone, and it made me appreciate mine, along with the Nikolaevs, even more.
We joined the family in the library, but it wasn’t long until I excused myself, kissing my parents good night, then Sasha and Branka.
I slipped through the corridor, studying the paintings.
Aivazovsky. Repin. Malevich. Only to finish it with Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Monet, and an extended family portrait which included fifteen-year-old me.
My steps faltered as I studied our smiling faces. Unlike the others, I wasn’t smiling at the lens but at Nikola. The awed expression I wore had everything to do with the events that took place earlier in the day, before the photo was taken. I remembered it perfectly, even five years later.
Marietta and I were doing some last-minute Christmas shopping. The boys—Kostya and Nikola—gave us privacy, disappearing into the game store.
The mall was crowded, people rushing to get their Christmas shopping done. But I stood frozen with shock, oblivious to everything and everyone but the group in front of me.
My skin stretched and the anger burned bright as I watched the boy and a group of girls snicker. Some of them pointed judgmental fingers at me. Others laughed with superior expressions on their faces.
The boy who had asked me out merely ten minutes ago took the cake though.
The boy—Martin—went to school with Marietta. We’d crossed paths every time I visited New Orleans over the last few months, only to lead to this very point that left me confused.
“You think I would ever date a girl like you?” he said with a disgusted curl to his lips that had me reeling. Then he shoved me away, hard, uttering words that hurt more than they should. “I can do so much better.”
I felt… less.
My eyes stung and my bottom lip trembled. I blinked, then blinked again and again, willing the tears not to come.
The next few minutes were like a blur. One moment the boy was standing there, the next he was sprawled on the ground, his face bloodied by Nikola. The girls tried to scatter away, but Nikola didn’t let them.
He jumped swiftly to his feet and smiled viciously. “You wanted to have fun, now you’ll get it.”
He didn’t hit them, thank God. But he produced a zip tie from somewhere and tied their wrists and feet.
Someone tugged on my hand, and I turned to find Marietta smiling. She winked at me, then said, “I ran to get Nikola. He’ll teach this fucker a lesson.”
“You’re not supposed to cuss.” Although, considering what was going on, it was the least of our worries.
Marietta grinned. “If you don’t tell, I won’t either.”
Then we turned to watch the scene in front of us. Kostya and Nikola were busy glowering at the group of girls who dared make fun of me. Every so often, the boy would try to stand up and Nikola would punch him, making him stagger back onto his ass.
The cute boy forgotten, I suddenly noticed Nikola’s bulging muscles with each move he made. He had started getting tattoos, and he was well on his way to looking like a heartbreaker.
I liked it. A lot.
I was busy staring at my new hero with hearts in my eyes when the police showed up.
The next tears were for Nikola because they took him away in handcuffs while he looked on proudly at the wreck he’d caused in the middle of the mall.
Truthfully, I was proud too.
But I didn’t get to tell him—or thank him—until hours later.
I turned away from the photo and the memories, pressing my back against the wall, and dragged myself down the length of the wall, crouching against it and burying my face in my satin Givenchy dress.
A hand came to my shoulder, startling me, and my head whipped up to find Nikola towering over me like a dark, albeit protective, cloud.
“Here you are, zayka ,” Nikola signed. “Are you hiding?”
I lifted my chin in defiance. “ Why would I be hiding ?”
“You tell me.” I waved my hand as if to dismiss him. When I didn’t bother commenting, he crouched down and took my chin between his inked fingers. “No more ignoring me.”
A fire inside my chest burned hotter. “ So hypocritical. You get to ignore me whenever you want. ”
“It’s for your own good, Skye.”
“ Don’t pretend it’s for me. ” I brought my hands to his chest and pushed him with all my strength, only succeeding in shifting his muscles an inch.
His eyes darted between mine, searching. For what, I didn’t know. “What do you want?”
“ Kiss me again .”
“No.”
“ Wh y?”
“Why are you going out with Kostya?”
I didn’t have an answer for him. Not one he’d want to hear anyway.
“ Give me a reason not to, ” I signed with a defiant tilt to my chin.
“You want a reason, huh?” I nodded slowly. “How about keeping Kostya alive?”
“ That’s not good enough .” Firstly, he would never hurt Kostya.
Secondly, Kostya could hold his own. They both might come out slightly banged up, but it wouldn’t be the first time.
When Nikola didn’t react, just remained staring at me, almost as if he was willing me to do what he demanded, I signed slowly, “ Are you embarrassed by me ?”
I cringed inside as I asked what I swore never to ask anyone. It was their problem if they couldn’t see me for who I was, and I’d never let it bother me before. But somehow I knew it would bother me when it came to Nikola.
His face at eye level, he wrapped his hand around my nape and yanked me to him. Then he kissed me. Hard. Possessive. A vibration sounded from somewhere deep inside of him and traveled through me. Like I owned him as much as he owned me. His tongue slipped inside my mouth as he kissed me deeply.
A groan vibrated through his chest as he slipped his tongue into my mouth. He pulled my bottom lip between his teeth, sucking on it. Nipping it.
My hands wrapped around his neck and then traveled up. Nails scraped against his scalp, tugged his hair, then I brought them down to run them over the hard ridges of his muscles, desperate to touch him everywhere. I wanted to know every inch of his body like it was my sole purpose in life.
That familiar, hazy lust pooled in my stomach, but it was so much more than just that. It was lust wrapped in years of affection, protection, and love.
Suddenly he stopped, yanking himself away from me and straightening to his full height. His eyes bored into me, but there were things in them that I didn’t know how to read.
“Cancel your lunch with Kostya, zayka .”
And then he left me with a throbbing center, my head completely jumbled.