Chapter 17
DIMITRI
NUTSHELL - ALICE IN CHAINS
“D, man, I’m telling you, you’re going to want to get in on this.”
I roll my eyes as I take a drink of my beer, ignoring Alexei in favor of reading the article about the warehouse massacre.
I don’t generally give a flying fuck about the news or keeping current with literally anything outside of my orbit, but when my cousin pulled this up on his laptop, I couldn’t help but find it interesting.
About twenty men were murdered in a warehouse roughly one hundred and fifty miles from here and while that’s a pretty big fucking group, it’s the details that have me hooked.
Even to the reporters, it looked like some sort of auction or something was going on, and that’s why it caught my cousin’s attention.
The layout is the only reason he agrees with speculation.
It was arranged in sort of a ring with two platforms and somewhat medieval contraptions for display purposes, and I guess spectator seating was clear.
They found a lot of guns and various torture devices, mainly whips and floggers, some chains and the like but again, though interesting, none of that is why I’m reading.
Every single one of the men who were found were either torn to shreds by what the reporters are calling a bear or they were literally shot, beaten and mangled into human mush.
That’s pretty goddamn fascinating if you ask me.
Especially since there’s talk of the group being somehow connected to the Bratva out here.
Alexei disagrees with that part. He doesn’t think anyone from any branch of any mafia family, Russian or otherwise, would be so stupid as to organize an auction in his territory then have it go to hell in a hand basket.
It was definitely sloppy, I’ll give him that, but I don’t think the divide is as strong out this way as he thinks it is.
This is very different from how things are run in New York, there’s a different level of fear out here and it’s not strong enough for a group of idiots like those guys to know where they can and can’t do things.
My cousin has also worked very hard to keep things relatively quiet so he doesn’t draw unwanted attention and I bet those morons might not have even known this is Pushkin territory.
I don’t think it was an auction, though.
Not after reading everything I have.
The only men present seemed to belong to the same group of people, whatever organization was slaughtered, and none of them strike me as buyers.
Not to mention, anyone who has any idea how sex trafficking and auctions work wouldn’t have set up something in a shitty warehouse like that.
Not if they actually want to make any money.
No respectable alpha is going to go somewhere like that shithole expecting to find omegas who meet their standards; branding is a huge part of running the kind of event people want to be a part of.
Since what was left of them was found wearing relatively militant clothing, their vehicles were all at least ten years old, and the layout of the location, the murdered group only supports that line of thinking.
If anything, that was strictly some fucked up torture session that got busted by someone on the opposing team, so to speak.
“Dimitri,” my cousin whines like an idiot and I look up from the screen. “You need to loosen up. Get in on this.”
I sigh, long and loud, as I watch Alexei snort a line of something off of the tits of the naked female laying on his kitchen table while the male underneath it enthusiastically sucks his dick. “No.”
“You need it.”
“I really don’t.”
Alexei grunts as he does another line, his hand shooting out to aggressively grab the female’s throat while the other shoves the male so far down on his boner the dude starts to choke.
I hate this shit.
My cousin is older than me, not by much but he is, and I’ve always looked up to him because of it.
Even after he moved out here, he’d tell me about his life and the things he was doing, and I always thought he seemed so in control, so successful and focused.
Don’t get me wrong, Alexei is all of those things and more, but we are in our goddamn thirties and watching him do drugs and have meaningless hookups makes me want to punch him.
More because of the drugs than anything else. He’s single, never bonded with anyone and hasn’t ever really seemed like he was interested in the idea, so random flings are to be expected I guess.
Watching them happen is another thing entirely, and you add the cocaine, pills, whatever else he decides to throw in, and how much all of it annoys me, it makes me feel like I’m a hundred and fifty years old while my cousin is still a stupid teenager.
Honestly, it fucking hurts to witness this kind of shit because all it does is make me regret the way I fucked things up so royally two years ago.
Not because I wouldn’t be sitting here watching this, I sure as fuck wouldn’t, but because this could have been me if I hadn’t found my scent match.
I fucked it up and lost him, but I’m pretty goddamn grateful I’m not sitting in Alexei’s shoes right now.
I shake my head as I lift my hand to my chest, rubbing hard over my heart. My fingers slide up to the mark on my neck, mindlessly tracing the scar as I turn back to the laptop when it makes a weird pinging noise.
Apparently my cousin just got a DM.
“Open it,” he grunts, the sound of his hand slamming against the wood meeting my ears before I try drowning him out. “Read it.”
Because I want to pretend like he isn’t actively getting off, and I’m literally anywhere but here, I do what he says so I can make a solid attempt to ignore him.
RA: Three new hires.
I frown as I stare at the initials, scanning my recent history to find who they might belong to.
Ransom Adder.
The older of the two Irish brothers Alexei works with.
And while they do work together, it’s kind of odd that they keep my cousin this up to date on their staffing.
At least, that’s what I’m thinking until the next messages come through.
RA: Big fucker. Thinking of putting him on your doors.
RA: Bigger than you even.
X generally likes to keep his crew close to the doors of the basement auction house but maybe he means in the club portion. The goddamn closet you have to take to get downstairs.
A dude bigger than Alexei is hard to find but it seems like a valid reason to message him.
Still…
Couldn’t this have waited until the next time he was there?
It’s not like that’s some ridiculously long wait.
He goes back tomorrow afternoon once he’s finished inspecting the shipment he’s getting in the morning.
That should be plenty of time to go over some giant they hired and want to have standing at his doors.
RA: Pretty sure one of the new omegas is Russian. First generation maybe. Need you to check on them.
My stomach drops and my mouth goes dry as I read that message again.
Just those simple few words strung together in a sentence is enough to have my entire body reacting.
In pain.
The most excruciating pain I’ve ever felt, worse than any gunshot or stab wound I’ve had, and nearly having my face blown off is absolutely included.
None of that comes close to the pain of having a bonded mate out there in the aether, running scared and alone, feeling betrayed and broken, knowing damn well it’s all my fault.
It’s my fucking fault that he isn’t here with me now. My arrogance and loyalty, my ignorance. My fucking fear.
I destroyed the best thing that’s ever happened to me in less than fifteen minutes, possibly ruined the best human I’ve ever known, and for what? Just to sneak around and find the truth, to uncover some fucked up family secrets that have me on the run right now?
I will never forgive myself for that.
Never, and the pain that racks my entire body every time I’m reminded of all the ways I failed the only person I’ve ever truly loved is exactly what I deserve.
I clutch my shirt and start twisting the cotton in my hand, almost digging through the material, burrowing down deep to my cold, dead heart. It’s beating so hard it hurts. Thumping against my ribs in a rhythm that has my head starting to spin.
“You missed out, D.”
I glance toward the table again just as Alexei rolls his finger over the powder on the female’s tits, rubbing it on his teeth and gums as he stands.
I blink a few times, willing this pain to subside so he can’t see it, but it doesn’t.
If anything, it’s worse as I watch my cousin pull up his basketball shorts then push his fingers back through his hair before he grabs a beer.
Seconds after taking advantage of two people who would clearly give anything to have a real chance with Alexei.
They want him, they want love, and my cousin is so fucking self absorbed he can’t see what kind of gift that truly is.
“That was some high quality shit,” Alexei says as he takes a long pull from his bottle. “I can get more if you’re interested, it’s like fucking candy around here, but…” his words trail off as he scans my face. “You good?”
My fucking chest is heaving, my skin feels too tight. Whatever shit that DM triggered is getting worse and the longer I sit here with this ungrateful prick, the smaller the room feels.
“D?”
I blink a few times, trying to focus enough to answer him but before I can, my cousin sends me right over the edge into the downward spiral I’ve been waiting for.