21. Evgeny
Evgeny
“Ithink you’ve stalled long enough,” I tell Detective Alvarez before given a pointed look at my watch. “My client is a free man, whether you like it or not. You’ve got five more minutes to have him sign whatever else you can dredge up, and then we’re leaving.”
I’m not sure if Alvarez is more pissed that Sasha’s being let go, or if it’s because he’s been made aware that there’s about to be a very unpleasant, very in-depth examination of the entire case, including how the most vital piece of evidence was conveniently misplaced.
Either way, the man looks like he’s about to blow an artery or shit himself. Maybe both. It’s an unpleasant look, and on any other day I’d probably take a great deal of pleasure in it, but not today, not when I feel like my heart has been ripped from my chest and stomped into the ground.
I half expect one of the officers to try and put the cuffs on me when they remove them from my cousin, but so far no one is acting like a breaking story has just been released about the sordid truth of who Ev Nikitin really is.
I stamp out the tiny spark of hope that tries to ignite, because no news isn’t good news.
It’s very possible she’s just waiting to write my tell-all story after she’s enjoyed the positive feedback from the breaking-news story she’ll write about Sasha.
“How much longer?” Cindy asks. She’s been pacing the small room we’re in while we wait for the police to finish processing Sasha out. She’s nervous and excited and terrified something will go wrong at the last minute. I know exactly how she feels. I’m just hiding it better.
“Not much longer,” I promise.
Since we’re not alone, we’ve been very careful to act like strangers instead of family members, and when the door finally opens and she sees her husband, unbound and free, she yells his name and runs to him.
A sob escapes her throat right as he catches her, lifting her off her toes so he can pull her tightly against his chest.
Alvarez looks disgusted at seeing the two reunite, so I take a step closer and say, “You can leave. If we need you for anything else, I’ll let you know.”
He turns the disgusted look on me, but there’s nothing he can do except bite his tongue and leave the room. Once he’s gone, I wish I’d joined him because the kiss my cousin is sharing with his wife is one I’d rather not see.
“Good to have you back, Sasha,” I say, hoping he’ll take the hint and back off. He doesn’t, and I briefly wonder why the hell I ever thought he would.
After a few more awkward seconds, he pulls back, but my relief is short-lived when all he says is, “Is this room being filmed?”
“No,” I say. “It’s clean.”
“Good. I’m gonna need a few minutes.”
“You can’t be serious,” I tell him.
“I’m very serious.” He looks down at his blushing wife and grins. “Guard the door, Ev. I’ll be as quick as I can.”
I’m not going to try and argue with a man who’s no doubt sporting an erection, so I avert my eyes and get the hell out of there, pulling the door closed behind me.
I get a few curious looks from some of the officers when I stay where I’m at, and when there’s a loud moan, I clear my throat to try and cover the sound.
When it happens again, I cough and remind myself that Sasha’s had a really difficult month. If anyone’s earned a few minutes with his wife, it’s him. Why it had to be at the police station, I’m not sure. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if Sasha planned it as a last fuck you to the entire force.
When ten minutes pass, I start to get really impatient.
I’m pretty sure it was implied that this would be a quickie, a very quick quickie from a man who hasn’t gotten laid in thirty days.
After fifteen minutes, I knock on the door and say, “Mr. Melnikov, I’m pretty sure you can continue discussing this with your wife at home. We really need to leave now.”
I hear one of the cops snicker from behind me, but no one says anything out loud.
Sasha’s voice is more relaxed than it had been the last time I talked to him when he says through the door, “Thanks, Mr. Nikitin. I just have one more thing I need to tell her. Shouldn’t take long.”
I groan and mutter a curse under my breath. Leaning my back against the door, I wait another ten minutes before I hear the door knob jiggle. Moving from it, I turn to face my grinning cousin when he opens it.
“It had to be done,” he says in Russian, and then has the gall to laugh. He’s the only person I’ve ever freed from jail who’s actively chosen to stay longer just so he could fuck his wife while in a building surrounded by cops.
I don’t answer. I’m too busy pretending I don’t understand Russian and trying not to punch his smug, happy face for making me stand guard and listen to the sounds that echoed through the cheap door.
“Come on, krovinka, let’s get out of here. I want to see our daughters.”
“They’ve missed you so much,” I hear Cindy say as I start to lead them down the hall.
“Reese has insisted on sleeping in the dog bed with Chort, and she’s been wearing one of your hoodies since the day you left.
I have to keep switching them out for new ones when she’s in the bath and can’t stop me.
Riley cries a lot and has basically glued herself to my side, Hazel is using Maude as an emotional support dog.
She takes her everywhere, and it seems to be working, so I’m not about to stop it, and Piper is carrying the weight of trying to make her little sisters happy, even though I keep telling her she doesn’t need to take on that responsibility. ”
“I’ll fix this,” Sasha tells her. “I swear I’ll fix this, Cyn.”
“They’re just scared, and as much as they want to believe this was all a simple mix-up, they know it’s more than that. They can sense it. Your parents have been great, by the way. I never would’ve survived this without them.”
When we get to the front of the station, Detective Alvarez is leaning against the wall with a few fellow officers. He smirks at Sasha. “Until next time, Melnikov.”
“There won’t be a next time,” Sasha says. “I can promise you that.”
Alvarez glares at him, not picking up on what my cousin is really promising him, and when I turn my head and shoot Sasha a don’t you dare fucking kill a cop look, he just grins at me while he flips off the line of cops watching us leave.
“That’s not helping,” I mutter.
“What the fuck are they going to do?” he asks. “Arrest me again?”
“I’d like them to forget all about you,” I tell him as I hold the door open for them to walk through. “But you’re making it personal, and that’s a lot harder to forget.”
“They were never going to let this go,” Sasha argues, keeping his arm tightly wrapped around Cindy as he keeps a close eye on our surroundings and follows me to my car.
When we’re safely inside my Audi, I start the car and look at him. “I’m not just saying this as your lawyer, but as your cousin as well. Please don’t kill any of them, Sasha. Just let it go.”
“He’s right,” Cindy says, putting her hand on his and leaning her head against his chest while he kisses the top of her head. “We got lucky this time. I don’t want to ever go through this again, Sasha.”
“You won’t,” he promises her, and I hope like hell he’s actually agreeing to what she said.
He would never lie to his wife, but I also know he just promised she’d never have to go through this again.
He didn’t promise to not kill anyone. I meet his gaze in the rearview mirror and raise a brow at him so he knows I’m onto his game.
I look away when I see the familiar playful grin tugging at the corner of his mouth.
Changing the subject, I say, “Everyone is waiting for you at your parents’ place. Cindy, did you text them to let them know we’re on our way?”
“I did, yeah,” she says. “They’re all so excited to see you, Sasha.”
“It’ll be good to see everyone,” he agrees and then nudges my shoulder. “You’re sticking around, right?”
“For a little bit,” I say, not wanting to go into detail about the shitstorm that is my personal life and how it might not be wise for me to stick around anywhere right now.
“More than a little bit,” Sasha argues. “You saved my ass, man. We need to celebrate, and I want you with me while we do it.”
“Niki saved the day,” I start to say, but he cuts me off.
“You both did. Stop short-changing what you did, Ev.”
“You did a great job,” Cindy says, chiming in with a big smile on her face. “I was too upset to appreciate it at the time, but you were amazing in the courtroom.”
“He was,” Sasha agrees, making me uncomfortable with all the praise that I still don’t think I deserve.
“I wanted to smile at seeing him all decked out in his nice suit and fully in lawyer mode, but I had to look like I wasn’t capable of murder and I thought a big smile might send the wrong message. ”
“Good call,” Cindy tells him. “That would’ve definitely sent the wrong message.”
When he ducks his head to kiss her, I pretend to get very interested in the traffic we’re currently sitting in.
While I ignore them, my ears stay alert for the sound of a zipper being pulled down, because I draw the fucking line at that.
I’m not driving them around in a limo where I can just push a button and a partition, a soundproof one, will just pop up and save the day.
Thankfully, I manage to get us to his parents’ without me having to yell at my cousin to put his dick back in his pants.
I can feel the excitement coming off Cindy as we ride the elevator to the penthouse.
I know she’s waiting and eager for the moment when their girls see their dad.
It’s been difficult for all of them, and even though it could’ve been a lot worse, it was still traumatic for everyone and not something they’ll ever forget.