23. Match
23
MATCH
“Let’s start with the photograph.” Alice clasps her hands together and rests them on her knees. She sits on the edge of the couch, meeting Levi’s timid gaze. “Did you sleep with her?”
“I did.”
“Why?”
Levi flattens his expression. “Because I was stupid and not thinking straight.”
Cue the weak-ass apology .
Alice turns her head and deepens her gaze. “You threw it all away.”
“I know and, Alice, I’m so fucking sor?—”
“Ah,” interjects Lifesaver. “Alice didn’t invite you in to apologize. Spill.”
I sit back on the couch and try to relax because at least one of us should be, but it’s a difficult task when my head’s still catching up with the whole pregnancy situation.
This child can’t have the same unstable upbringing as me. Separation isn’t my concern here. Bratva complications are gonna tear this family apart, and it’s all Peter’s fault. That ignorant, stick-a-Band-Aid-over-it asshole. We wouldn’t be in this situation if the son of a bitch wasn’t so power hungry. The world’s biggest people pleaser too.
I hope he knows he’s not only put his daughter in danger, but his grandchild too.
On the subject of grandkids, how will he react if it ever gets out that Alice is pregnant?
I suppose it’s only a matter of time before the bump grows.
Until he’s asking which one of us oldies has working sperm so he can buy it off us and make his own creation, Peter Junior—next in line for mayor.
He strikes me as the kind of guy that’s into nepotism.
Prolonging the legacy and all that.
“It started when I…slept with his wife.”
“Whose wife?” presses Alice.
“Vlad’s wife.”
“The boss’ wife?” I snort. “Good form, man.”
“I didn’t think he’d find out.”
Like keeping secrets from the Bratva leader ever works out.
“Anyway,” Levi says. “He did. Then he tells me that he wants your father dead”—he turns to Alice—”and that I’m gonna help him if I value my own life.”
“You’ve been trying to kill my?—”
“No.” He sucks in a breath. “Believe it or not, Vlad doesn’t like death on his hands if he can help it. He prefers blackmail. So, he’s been ordering me to try and capture you.”
“That would explain the text,” Lifesaver says.
“The text?” Alice shoots him a look.
“Your father received an ultimatum from the Bratva—stop the campaign or never see his daughter again.”
This has Alice shifting uncomfortably in her seat.
“He should end it,” Levi says.
Silence stretches across the room, all eyes landing on the boy.
The dude slept with the boss’ wife, is in shit with the Bratva up to his eyeballs, and to top it all off, has since adopted a new role as Vlad’s fucking pet.
He needs to get himself back to school before he grows any more stupid.
“What do you mean he should stop the campaign?” Alice says. “Don’t you know how dangerous these guys are? You’ve seen what they do. How they operate. You’ve witnessed firsthand how Vlad orders you around, playing with your life and dangling it in front of you, playing cat and mouse. These people need to be gone.”
Levi hardens his jaw and looks around the room, displeased, especially as his eyes land on Brander, Lifesaver, and myself. The small eyes suggest insecurity. Like he’s looking at his superiors.
Superiors who stole his girl.
He drops his eyes to his hands. Fiddles with them for a moment. They’re dirty. Grime spreads thick under each fingernail (the bits of nail he has left anyway) and his palms look like they haven’t been washed for a couple days.
He’s not doing well. Alice’s disgusted face makes that clear. The Levi she once dated knew the definition of soap and didn’t run off in the middle of the night to the Bratva when Vlad whistled for his assistance. Levi was the computer guy, if I remember it right. The nerd. The dude who spent more time fingering computer keys than he did?—
I’ll stop there.
Point is—the guy has changed.
And I hate that Alice looks concerned for his well-being, because this is his own fucking fault.
May I also mention that he tried to kidnap her multiple times?
Why is she still fucking speaking to him?
“What do you mean he should end it?” Alice says. “You of all people know how dangerous the Bratva are. Look what they’ve done to you.” She gestures to his face. “You never wanted this.”
I narrow my eyes. There’s more to the story than this.
I know more than most what it’s like to experience the thrill of belonging to something, no matter how dangerous or immoral. IT guys live vicariously through individuals that actually move proactively through life. The ones that get up in the morning with a zest for life. A passion. Have IT guys ever rolled out of bed and not reached for the strongest coffee they can find to make it through the day?
Desk-sitting isn’t exhilarating.
I suppose it’s the same kind of “exhilarating” as working as a barista in Buffalo.
Things are quiet.
People see you, but not really.
I didn’t feel like myself until the Venom Vultures. Until I was revving the Harley and riding into the sunset with my boys down empty desert roads. Sure, from time to time, we act brutally, and if God was watching over us he’d be shaking his head and already enrolling us into Hell, but the exciting thump, thump in your chest makes you forget about coffee. You’re no longer slugging through life, letting the days pass.
Finally, you’re living them.
Levi is young.
And I think rallying around after Vlad has given him his first taste of freedom.
When there’s a risk, there’s a thrill.
But understanding his choices doesn’t make him any less of an asshole.
Levi looks around the room. He doesn’t have to lie. I know just as well as him that he wants this life. According to Brander, Russians recruit Americans only in very special circumstances.
Aside from being a dog, what else does Levi have to offer?
His inability to look directly at Alice suggests he’s done far worse than cheating. Murder, perhaps? That’s apparently how most Americans slither their way into Bratva networks, by carrying out dirty work, or as the Russians like to call it—“mundane tasks.”
“Levi?” Alice presses. “What’s wrong?”
“No. You’re right.” His eyes lift. “I never wanted this.”
Brander’s hard eyes catch mine.
“So then…what?” Lifesaver asks. “You decide you no longer want in with the Russians, and that’s it done and dusted?” Lifesaver snorts. “You’ve tangled Alice into this mess. You’re responsible for getting her out.”
Levi presses his lips together and looks around the room, surveying each one of us again. He’s probably picturing us naked or some shit to make this less intimidating.
“I can’t believe you married them,” he finally says.
“Right back at you,” Alice says, “with the fucking another girl.” Then a smile plays on her lips. “But I’m glad.”
Levi’s voice is grave. “What do you mean?”
“It brought me to Brander, Match, and Lifesaver.” She looks at each of us in turn. “It’s definitely the wrong time to be saying this, but I love you. All three of you.” Her green eyes expand, shimmering like the most expensive jewel. “I didn’t expect to find it so fast and I certainly didn’t expect three motorcyclists generations older than me to find special places in my heart, but you guys have taught me what love is.”
My heart swells.
Alice turns to Levi. “If not for your cheating, I would’ve been married to a guy that I thought I loved, but didn’t.”
“Alice—”
“It was attachment, not love.”
Levi’s jaw hardens.
“It was,” continues Alice. “Of course, at the time I didn’t realize, but in hindsight it’s very simple. Think about it.” She stares at Levi. “We started college together. We were alone, fishes in new ponds and all that, and we found comfort in each other. Everyone around had moms, and we didn’t, so we took that common ground and latched on to each other to make ourselves feel less alone.”
“I loved you, Alice.” The sincerity of Levi’s voice takes me by surprise.
Maybe he actually fucking did.
“And you loved me too,” Levi continues.
“No.” Alice shakes her head.
I stifle a laugh and see Lifesaver do the same.
“I’m sorry.” Alice rises from the couch and fans her hair away from her face. She sticks her hands in the air and stretches away all of the tension. “I think you should go. Tell Vlad you’re done with me. Tell him you want no part in his games anymore.” She heads to the door. “And when you’ve told him that, you can tell him to revoke his plans to murder my father.”
“I can’t! He’s gonna fucking kill me. Literally.”
“Own up to your mistake,” Brander says.
I send him a death glare because now’s not the time for a Brander intervention.
Although, seeing Levi’s brains explode out of his head would be satisfying. Almost as satisfying as waking up in the morning to a Breaking News broadcast, the words “Peter Dyson: Murdered” headlining below.
I should be less heartless.
This is Alice’s father, after all.
But he still put her life in danger.
“I can’t deal with this now.” Alice spins back around, heading to the door again. “I’m pregnant with fucking triplets probably. Give me a?—”
I frown. Alice always finishes her sentences.
Did she faint?
I turn around. She hasn’t, thought the distant eyes and paling face suggest she’s about to.
“Alice?” Lifesaver leans forward.
Something stands on the other side of the door.
And that something is Peter.