Mia
Takes Place Before the Time Jump in Chapter 37
“WHY DO I HAVE to take this class again?” I ask.
“Because you’re weak. We need to know if something happens, and you get pulled into some shit, you can take care of yourself,” Aunt Linda replies.
“What about me? Why am I here?” Demitri asks, narrowing his eyes at the woman.
“Because you’re supporting your woman, and I said so.”
He grins at her, shaking his head before looking at me and blowing a kiss.
“Don’t worry, you’ll get to blow up shit next.”
“Oh, now that I agree to do,” he enthusiastically tells her.
“Care to make a wager on the better shot?” I challenge.
“Nope. I know who the better shot is,” he replies. “It’s Aunt Linda.”
I stare at the woman, who bats her eyes and smiles innocently. Hmm. Has she forgotten where I grew up?
“I’ll take that challenge.” I smile back at the two of them.
“Not until you can prove you can take Demitri down,” Sasha chuckles.
“Have you thought about getting in touch with your siblings yet?” I ask Demitri, circling him, looking for his weak spot.
“No. I’m not sure what I want to do yet.”
“You should think about it.”
“You ever going to tell me about all those secret meetings and phone calls you had with Aunt Linda?”
“She better not!” Aunt Linda yells from across the gym she commandeered at the community center in Briar Mountain.
“Guess not” I shrug.
“Think I can get you to tell me with orgasms?”
“You can try.”
I know both of us are hitting each other with mental games, which is our strength. But I’ve had this type of training before. I know it’s crotch, eyes, and nose. Problem is, only two of those really work on women, and after Katya, we can’t be too careful.
I finally see my chance. Demitri’s arms are not as loose as they were. He’s plotting his next move. When he blinks, I go for it. I rush him, poking his eye protection, kicking him in his very well protected junk, and when he folds over, raising my knee to his face. He goes down but takes me with him, rolling until he’s on top of me.
“Never lose your focus, Krasotka,” he whispers, pulling off his face mask and kissing me.
“Alright, practice over. To the gun range!” Aunt Linda calls with an edge of annoyance and laughter in her voice.
“Time to kick your ass again.” I grin as Demitri helps me up.
“We’ll see.”
****
“How?” Demitri stares at me, his jaw slack, awe all over his face.
“Beginner’s luck?” I ask, shrugging my shoulders.
“Fuck that. How?”
“Grew up in Montana.”
“But you outshot Aunt Linda,” he whispers.
“She knows.” I smile.
“Guess we know you can handle yourself if you need to.”
“I’ve been able to handle myself for a while. Now you know it, too.”
“I think I’m going to like seeing this side of you, Aunt Mia.”
I laugh, shaking my head. “I think Uncle John fits.”
“I’d prefer Demitri.”
“I know you would. Maybe one day.”
He pulls me into his arms, my favorite place to be.
“Think I could talk you into taking me on that date you’ve been talking about for months?” he asks, kissing my neck in that spot that makes me melt.
“I think we could arrange that. How does Mexican sound?”
“Almost as good as waffles from Sandy’s.”
“Demitri, are you craving Sandy’s?”
“When am I not?”
“Children, we’ve got more training to get through before you start talking about food,” Aunt Linda interrupts.
“God, she’s a hard ass,” Demitri grumbles.
“I heard that! And I’m proud to say my ass is still quite hard.”
“Aunt Linda!” we both groan.
“I have another question for you.”
I look at Demitri, raising my brows. “What’s that?”
“What are your thoughts about kids?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t want any? You want twenty?”
“Dem. This is where you want to have this conversation?”
He shrugs. “Yeah. Why not?”
“Because your aunt and uncle are standing ten feet away from us, and I don’t know if they should be privy to that?”
“Honey, who do you think asked him to ask you?” Aunt Linda laughs.
“This is a trap, isn’t it?” I look at the three of them, Demitri genuinely curious, Aunt Linda suspicious, and Sasha expectant.
“Let me get this straight. You want to know after I spend two hours taking a self-defense refresher and then another hour at a gun range because this job might be dangerous if I want kids?”
“Umm-hmm,” all three of them reply.
“The short answer is I don’t know. I never thought I’d have someone I trusted enough to even think about it. And I didn’t want to do the ‘pick a daddy from a book’ and get inseminated. And now I’m Aunt Mia.”
“I know taking up this mantle is important. People need you. But that doesn’t mean you have to put your life on the line for it. You have options I didn’t have when I started doing this, and then it was too late. I was happy with my life and what I chose. That doesn’t mean you have to choose the same life.”
“What options do I have?”
“You have people you can trust and rely on. You aren’t doing this alone. You have your girls that have the same spark you do, theirs are just hiding a little. You are the one in charge of your own destiny now, Mia. You’ve made it through hell and have surrounded yourself with the best. Choose your life knowing that.”
“That’s why you gave me so many keys?”
“Maybe.”
Aunt Linda and her evasive answers.
“You haven’t answered my question,” Demitri whispers, pulling my attention back to him.
I take a deep breath and blow it out before answering him. “I’m not ready. I might be one day, but today isn’t that day. I think we have this new adventure we need to try out before we decide sleepless nights and poop are in our future. Is that something you can live with?”
“It’s absolutely something I can live with. But I’m open to it if it’s something you want.”
“You won’t hate me if it never happens?”
“Not even a chance. I love you. Right now. I don’t need anything more than that to make me a happy man.”
“You’re saying you want to spend the next couple of years practicing?”
“Oh, we’re practicing. As much as possible. We’re going to be pros when and if you decide it’s what you want.”
“I love you.”
“Together.” He smiles.
“Forever.”