Chapter 29 #2
“I’ll tell the family that he’s my lover. It’s the only excuse that makes sense.” Alexei glares down at the faded Emily the Strange hoodie that he’s wearing. He hates the hoodies and the graphic tees and all that. Hates them. He should’ve let me dye his hair pink though. That would’ve looked sick.
“What if they ask you to prove that? Huh? I would.” I fold my arms. “Are you prepared for whatever that brings?”
“What’s your idea then?” Alexei asks, looking at the other boys before settling on me. “Any better suggestions?”
“They’re going to kill me. Don’t tie yourself so close to me by saying that at all.” Ash’s stupid idea. He’s wide-eyed as he studies the tattoo inked into his skin. Him. Me. Us. We’re tangled threads now; there’s no such thing as undoing the knot.
“Tell them the truth: he’s the wrong twin and he’s been helping us.
We believe he’s useful and we’ll kill him ourselves if he’s not.
Admit to them what happened with Aspen.” I slap my palms together, like I’m shaking off more of Lemon’s dust. “They can research our story and the only thing they’ll discover is that it’s true. ”
“This is simpler,” Alexei sniffs, picking fake lint off his sweater. He changes his glove again after doing that. How he’s still alive after last night’s thorough contamination is to be determined. He had fuckboy fluids all over him.
“Tell them we’re all your men.” Bohnes is opening the front door to the warehouse, as if he thinks we’ve already wasted too much time on this conversation. “We work for you. Period. End of story. It’s really none of their business.”
“I will not pretend to be your lover. What are you going to say to explain my presence? Use that same excuse for Ash.” Widow waits tensely for Alexei to answer, likely because he knows he could end up dead as easily as Ash.
Even if Alexei and I are given clemency, the other three boys might not be. Bohnes did kill some of the mob’s men.
“Of course I’ll tell them you’re my employees.
” Alexei is getting frustrated. “But that won’t work for Ash specifically.
He’s the only living son of Jonas Kelly, one of the men I’m naming as the killer of my father.
As a saboteur. How ridiculous to claim his son is here because I need my own men.
Who would ever choose such a risky employee?
Love is chaotic. The family will realize that I am the one who was wronged in all this.
They’ll indulge me an odd lover. I don’t doubt the expertise of anyone in this room.
It’s only just that…my uncle is the current Boss. ”
Silence.
“So, this is you bringing your personal expertise to the table, huh?” I’m wary, but I nod my assent. “Okay. Fine. Do what you need to do.”
“They’re on the move,” Bohnes says finally, oozing back over to the table with a feral smile. “The family.”
“Today is the day.” I don’t ask it like a question. It’s just a statement. Ash is memorizing me with his gaze, like this is it. The final curtain. Idiot. It might be rough. This is the biggest risk I’ve ever taken, stepping into this when I should be running away.
The mob. The Russian mob. The goddamn fucking MOB.
“Today is the day,” Bohnes agrees, putting his phone away.
Widow stands behind his chair. Alexei’s eyes are closed.
“Load up the police chief,” I tell the boys, and they don’t argue with me. That’s good. That’s really good. “Put him in the trunk of the L88 but make sure he won’t suffocate in there.”
“Goodness,” Bohnes breathes, ice-blue eyes wide. “It’s like you think I’ve never done this before.”
“Teach me.” Widow is deadpan but possibly also serious. Bohnes shrugs and leads him outside.
Ash doesn’t seem to know what to do, pacing back and forth as KMZI fills the space with ‘Come Back Home’ by Seo Taiji and Boys.
He pauses beside me when I stand up, searching my face with his dark eyes before placing his hands on either side of my face.
His mouth is fervent and desperate and worshipful when he kisses me.
“Your confidence feels like optimism sometimes, Scarlett-chan.” Ash sighs as he steps back from me, rolling his head around on his neck and cursing psychotically in multiple languages. “I can handle extensive torture. It’ll be fine.”
I let him go when he takes off for the doors, joining Bohnes and Widow in dealing with the chief.
Alexei and I stand facing one another. My sister’s jar of ashes is resting gingerly on the table, a ghastly reminder of the stakes today.
“You can call Ash your lover if you want, but please, Alexei, don’t let anything happen to him.” I don’t often use the word please, but we’re committed to each other now. I’m doing my best here.
“If he dies, we all die,” Alexei promises, relaxing against me when I hug him unprompted.
“But we will not die. Tonight, we will fall asleep together in the master bedroom of that house. My Papa, he wouldn’t touch it.
Not without Mama there. He slept in a guestroom. It will be ours to claim and sully.”
Sully.
I close my eyes briefly, listening to the steady, even rhythm of his heart.
“Do you think we can pull the Miura out of the river?” I look up and open my eyes in time to catch a fleeting smile on Alexei’s face.
It’s gone like a ghost, and I watch him harden to stone right before my eyes.
Mobster Alexei. Hot.
“If we survive, rodnaya, I will get you whatever you want.” He casts a look down on me that says that in his own mind, he considers the other three boys one of those gifts.
Like a man handing precious jewels over to his wife.
A present. The edge of my lip lifts. He can think whatever he wants, but if that Russian word he just said means something I don’t like, he’s a dead man.
“Explain rodnaya.” I put my hands on either side of his neck, holding on but not squeezing.
His gaze is that same unflinching mobster-hot.
“It implies soulmate-level closeness. It is not a word I use lightly.” His hard mouth twitches. “Not a word I thought I would use ever. It means…you are a part of my blood, my spirit, and I will never let you go. Whatever it takes to appease the family, I will do it and I will do it with pride.”
He cups the side of my face with his palm, naked and bare and inked with the symbol of my ownership.
“Just so long as it doesn’t mean anything cutesy.” I drop my hands from his neck, but he doesn’t remove his own from my face.
“Scarlett-chan,” Ash calls from the doorway, and Alexei’s own brow rises this time. “Ernest is all packed up.”
“Nothing cutesy, of course not.” Alexei smirks as he slides his naked fingers across my skin and over my lips. “Never.”
“Ash isn’t a threat the way you three are,” I quip back at him, pausing as Ash himself comes up to stand beside me. He has RIP written all over his forehead. Metaphorically, speaking. “Keep yourself together, doki-doki boy, and let the adults handle this.”
“Hai, Scarlett-chan,” he murmurs, throwing his arms around me and surprising me. My fingers curl in the front of his sweatshirt and my eyes slide shut. Frog Aspen croaks in the background, the sound echoing around the metal warehouse. “Wakatteru-yo. Keep calm and carry on, right?”
He pulls back, face brilliant with tears, forcing a smile through the pain.
Yep. He’s worth it.
He’s always been worth it.
“Damn straight.” I throw an arm around Ash’s neck, dragging him outside to the Devil and then off to that hellhole we call a school.
Prescott High.