Demyan
I slide my gaze across to him. “Of course I’m awake,” I grumble. “My eyes are open, aren’t they?”
“Well, just because they’re open doesn’t mean you’re present. You’ve been weird since the other night. What gives?” Natan is looking me over with partial interest now, like there might be something happening in my life for the first time ever.
Eduard does that slow lift of one of his eye brows he does when something interesting catches his attention.
“Nothing,” I bark and stretch my neck from side to side. It’s nothing. I know it’s nothing. I just need to get laid.
Yeah.
I think for a moment. When was the last time I even had a woman in my lap?
Months.
That’s what the problem is. Since my cousins all up and met women and got married, our nights out around the clubs have all but stopped entirely. And now Mechislav is wrapped up with Daisy, that just leaves me on my own.
I glance over the yard and wonder if any of the guys down there could be trusted on a night out in a strip club.
“What do you need from me today?” I demand.
“Well, Mechislav is still out because of the car accident—” Eduard begins.
“Pussy,” I grumble, and he gives me a look that tells me to rein it in.
“I’m heading home early,” he adds. “Misha kept us all up last night, and Sammie needs to be in the café more as Delilah gets closer to giving birth. Jasper is on light duties, just in case and Natan is holding down the yard impressively well.”
“Hey,” Natan complains. “I know how to do my job.”
“Yes,” Eduard agrees. “You’ve just always been better at beating the shit out of people. It’s weird to see the side of you that has actual business acumen.”
I snort.
“Anyway,” Eduard continues, “things are pretty quiet for a change, if you truly want to be helpful Demyan, you should head to the café and see if Sammie will show you the ropes.”
I can’t believe what I’m hearing. “You want me to learn to make coffee?”
Eduard shrugs. “It would help when Delilah takes time off to have the baby.”
I blink. Slowly. Because I must have shifted into some alternate universe.
“Coffee?”
“It’s fun,” Natan pipes up, causing me to swing my head to face him. “Delilah showed me how to make a little cat face in the froth.”
“You’ve lost your minds. First Mech with the bookstore, now you want us running the café?”
Eduard laughs. “Don’t be stupid. You’d never be able to run the whole café.”
Natan joins in with the laughter and I narrow my eyes at them both.
“This is insane,” I finally mutter. But I push up from the chair and head out.
Eduard is the head of this family. I accept and respect that. If he tells me to learn how to make coffee, I’ll learn how to make coffee. But only because I don’t want Delilah hurting herself or the baby by overworking.
It has nothing to do with the possibility of the increased chance of seeing Tamsin.
Fuck.
It has everything to do with that.
Ever since seeing her at the bookstore opening, I can’t stop thinking about her.
The way she moved through the shelves. The way she laughed with her friends.
I overheard Delilah and Sammie saying how they hadn’t seen Tamsin in so long.
That she had been away dancing on a cruise ship and they all fell out of touch.
The truth is, I’ve never seen anyone so beautiful in all my life. And the world is full of beautiful women. But Tamsin…
I park in the small parking lot on the corner. The café is already full of customers who are there for their breakfasts and to try to pet a cat. Part of me can’t believe I am doing this but a larger part of me is past caring.
The noise is the first thing that hits me when I open the door. Delilah is laughing that big, loud laugh that never fails to make Jasper grin like an idiot. I shake my head, question my sanity one last time, and make my way over to the counter.
“Eduard sent me,” I say, then add, “To help.”
Sammie stops whatever she is doing and turns to look at me; Misha tucked against her chest in a sling. “Demyan,” she says, putting the mug in her hand down. “Are you sure?”
I wonder what would be appropriate to say or do in this moment. Should I shrug? Should I tell her it’s fine and offer a smile? When was the last time I smiled? I probably shouldn’t in case it looks menacing or something.
Why am I overthinking this? Now it’s too late to answer at all.
“Yes. I can learn to make coffee.”
Delilah nods, somewhat solemnly. “Yes,” she says. “You can. And we appreciate it so very much…”
“But?” I demand, then realize that I’m not talking to the guys on the yard or someone my cousins have asked me to get money from. I’m talking to my cousins’ wives.
“But it’s fine, really, Daisy will help when the time comes, and Kimmie, if she can get over the whole nausea-at-the-scent-of-coffee thing. And Tamsin has offered too. Coming in today in fact, to learn the ropes.”
Tamsin.
That was fast.
I frown at Delilah. “Well, surely there’s something I can do to help. Eduard sent me, so it’s my duty now.”
“Right,” Sammie says slowly. “How about you dutifully sit your somewhat huge and menacing ass down in that chair over there, and I’ll bring you a slice of pecan. That’s your favorite, right?”
The fact that she knows my favorite type of pie shouldn’t surprise me, she has been married to Eduard for what feels like forever now, she is two kids in. But I also barely ever come here. Cats and socializing with random people are not my scene.
The bell above the door jingles. I fight the urge to wince at the sound, and I turn to find Tamsin walking into the café with her mother and the warmest smile I’ve ever seen on another human.
Everything fades away. The light frames her in a way that feels cinematic. I silently scold myself for being stupid, but I don’t stop looking.
Our eyes are locked together as she walks towards the counter, her smile faltering slightly when I don’t return it.
I want to.
I want to smile at this beautiful woman and tell her that life is only worth living if she is in it.
“Demyan?” Delilah says, I’m guessing it’s not the first time by the tone of her voice.
I turn back to find her ushering me towards the chair Sammie had originally suggested I sit in. From here, I can see the whole café, and all the cats in their various states of lounging. Apart from the one with the stripy tail. That one is grooming himself.
But mostly, I watch as Tamsin is offered an apron, which she ties around her waist fluidly.
Like she is made of softness and motion and grace.
I watch as Delilah takes her through the motions of making a coffee using that noisy, infernal machine, and talks about the best time to restock the pastry case.
I don’t immediately notice when Tamsin’s mother sits down opposite me.
“You’re one of the Federov’s,” she says. It’s not a question.
I turn to her and nod.
“Are you as good as the others?” This time, it is a question, and it gets my whole attention.
I would never have described any of us as good. We are Bratva, and we do bad shit all the time, even if it is for good reasons underneath. It wasn’t that long ago I was helping Natan clean up a very human-shaped mess after Jasper found the guy who was stalking Delilah…
His body hasn’t been found yet.
And then there’s the way we obtained most of the properties down this street…
Tamsin’s mother waits patiently for me to answer, sipping her tea and scratching the nose of a fat, red cat that’s appeared at her side.
“I don’t know how to answer that,” I finally say.
Her eyes sparkle. They are bright blue. I wonder if Tamsin’s are the same.
“She is fierce,” she adds after a moment of silence that stretched out too long. “I think she needs someone who can handle that. But if you can’t treat her like your cousins treat their partners, then I am going to ask you to step back, and hope that you’ll do the honorable thing.”
Tamsin appears at my elbow.
“Sammie told me to bring you this,” she says, sliding a mug of black coffee onto the table with a small plate holding a slice of pecan pie. “She also said to stop scowling, or you’ll scare off the customers.”
I lift an eyebrow and lean slightly to the side so I can see around Tamsin. Delilah and Sammie are both suppressing laughter.
“Thank you,” I say, looking back at Tamsin.
Her mother doesn’t say anything, but I can feel her watching the entire interaction.
“You were at the bookstore opening,” Tamsin says. “You were staring at me. Why?”
I try not to show my surprise at how forward she is. Women usually wouldn’t be so confident as to challenge a man, especially one of my size. Her mother is right, she is fierce. I like it.
“Because I like the way you move. It made me feel calm.” I blink a couple of times in surprise at my own admission. Where the fuck did that come from?
The big black cat, the one Eduard favors, walks over to the table and sits beside Tamsin’s feet.
“Well, Delilah and Sammie say you’re one of the good ones, so I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. For now.”
I watch her walk back to the counter and then turn to my coffee. I’d almost forgotten that her mother was sitting right there. She is grinning, the fat cat purring loudly beside her.