Demyan
Eduard sighs. “So you want to stay now?”
“Yes, if nothing has been arranged yet.”
The office door opens and Natan and Jasper walk through it and sit in their usual spots.
“If you don’t mind?” I say to them.
“Nah, we don’t mind, Cus,” Natan says with a grin.
Jasper crosses his ankle over his knee. “We need to know where you’re going and for how long because we’re going to have to cover your slack.”
“Ha, ha,” I deadpan. Then ask, “how do Kimmie and Delilah feel about what you guys do.”
“Don’t really talk about it much,” Natan offers with a shrug. “She knows me well enough to know I’d never do anything wrong wrong.”
“Wrong wrong?” I ask. “What does that even mean?”
“You know,” he says. “Like, I’m not going to go and blow up a hospital or a school or something. She knows I’d always endeavor to protect anyone who needs protecting, but mostly her. She knows our business works on the darker side of the line, but she knows I’m not a monster.”
“With Dee, it helped when I explained what the actual Bratva are. You know, like the origins and stuff.”
Eduard nods, his fingers steepled. “Same with Sammie, but she was so scared with what she witnessed that sometimes I worry that she trauma bonded to me, rather than fell for me in a more traditional sense.”
“Nah,” Jasper says. “She fell. Delilah told me.”
The three of them turn to face me. “You and Tamsin, huh?” Eduard says as the door opens again and Mechislav walks in.
“Jesus, do you three have no work to do?” I demand.
“What?” Mechislav asks. “Am I not allowed in the office now?”
I roll my eyes.
“What about you, Mech?” Natan probed. “How did you convince Daisy to give you a chance when she found out what you were.”
“I kept showing up. It was probably a bit much to be honest. After the crash, I thought that would be it, but for some reason she came around. Still not sure how but I’m glad.”
“She spent time at Patricia Kleine’s place, and for some reason Patricia is pro-Federov.”
Natan’s eyebrows flash in surprise.
“Shame we don’t have an uncle for her,” Jasper quips and Eduard’s mouth turns up in one corner. The closest he ever gets to an actual smile.
“So, your advice is something along the lines of Stockholm syndrome,” I point to Eduard, “stalk,” I point to Jasper, “be overbearing” I point at Natan, “and harass,” I finally point to Mechislav. “Sounds like a great plan.”
“Well,” Mechislav adds with a cock of his head. “You are a Federov… you have the other skill too.” He wiggles his eyebrows for effect.
I don’t dignify it with an answer.
“Have you told them about the other thing?” Eduard asks, back to business.
All three of my cousins turn to me now with varying levels of curiosity on their faces.
“I bought the gym off the corner of Yew and Linetti.”
Natan thinks for a moment. “The old run-down place?”
“That’s the one.”
Jasper slouches back, obviously dissatisfied with the news and expecting something juicier.
“Oh, I know the one you mean, the bro-hole,” Mechislav says.
“What the fuck is a bro-hole?” I ask.
Mechislav opens his mouth to answer but Eduard cuts him off. “You’re going to be busy getting it fixed up for the next few months, so I’m taking you off rotation for the yard.”
I nod. More grateful than I’m letting on. Hopefully that will give me the time I need to figure out stuff with Tamsin. And stuff with me.
Jasper looks thoughtful for a moment. “Hey, do you think Tamsin would want to run a dance class? Yulia was saying something about the kids not having enough activities outside of school hours…”
“That’s not a bad idea,” I say, standing up from the ridiculously uncomfortable chair. “Call me if you need me. I’m going to find Tamsin.”
The drive across the Bridge in rush hour is not fun and takes twice as long. Which is ridiculous.
I pull into the same parking lot as always, the one on the corner where one direction leads to Purr & Pour and the other leads towards the street where Tamsin is living with her mom. I quickly rush to the florist, walking through the door minutes before closing.
The woman who runs it is elderly, her fingers twisted with arthritis, but somehow, she still manages to make lovely bouquets if the ones on the shelves are anything to go by.
“Hello,” she says, looking at me over the top of her glasses. “How can I help you today.”
“I’m looking for two bouquets,” I say. “One needs to say ‘thank you’ and the other needs to say ‘I want forever with you,’ but not in a cliched way…” I trail off, hearing myself and thinking I sound insane.
“Okay,” the woman says with a knowing smile.
Within fifteen minutes she has created exactly what I need. I pay her and make my way to Patricia’s house.
Patricia answers my knock, and I hand her the first bouquet. It’s creams and yellows with green sprigs of something with a round leaf running up its stem.
“Well, Demyan, what a wonderful surprise.” Patricia takes the flowers and beckons me in. “Tamsin,” she calls. “We have a guest.” She turns back to me. “I’ll pop these in some water and put the coffee on.”
Tamsin appears at the top of the stairs, and then seems to float down them. That overwhelming sense of calm washes over me and I hand her the second bunch of flowers.
“I’m trying to woo you but I don’t really know what I’m doing.”
She laughs, lifting a hand to my face. She stretches onto her tip-toes and drops a kiss on my lips.
“Well,” she says. “Whatever you’re doing, it’s working.”
I follow her through to the kitchen where Patricia is pouring three mugs of coffee and plating a wedge of cake.
Tamsin opens the cupboard beneath the sink and pulls out a vase, filling it with water before putting her flowers in. Patricia sits and the table and signals for me to sit down.
“I know what a Federov looks like when he has something to say.” She slides the cake over to me.
“You got me,” I say, tucking into the cake while I wait for Tamsin to sit with us.
“Should I be worried?” she asks as she sits beside her mom.
I shake my head and swallow the cake down with a mouthful of coffee.
“I was talking to my cousins earlier, and Jasper wanted to know if you’d be interested in teaching a dance class to the kids at the school his sister teaches at?”
“God, how big is your family?” Tamsin asks.
I consider giving her a run down of all my family members, but then decide against it and settle on just saying, “Big.”
Patricia smiles and turns to her daughter. “Tamsin, have you ever thought about teaching classes before?”
Tamsin leans back in the chair slightly looking up to the ceiling as she thinks, pouting her lips. “Actually, yeah. It feels like it could be the right next step.”
I pluck a card out of my pocket and hand it to her.
“That’s Yulia’s information. I’m sure she would love to talk about any ideas or suggestions you have.”
Tamsin takes the card and nods.
“Was there anything else, Demyan?” Patricia asks. I narrow my eyes, wondering what she is looking for specifically.
“Not right now, but thank you for the cake.”