by Stacy Gail
“I’m not surprised. A brutal name for a brutal man.”
I couldn’t help but blink. Until that moment, I’d had the impression Jubilee was that rare and wonderful kind of person who loved everyone. “What do you mean by that? Do you know Knives?”
“I’ve only had one run-in with him, but your daddy talked about him so much I feel like I know everything about him. So yes, I definitely know your brother. Enough, anyway, to know I don’t want him anywhere near here.”
My jaw dropped. “Why?”
Her perfectly made-up mouth tightened. “I know he’s your brother, and I’m sure you love him because you’re a sweetheart like your daddy, but I’m not going to lie to you. Your brother is not like you, or your daddy. He’s got a wire crossed somewhere, darlin’. That’s why I don’t ever want him here. He’s dangerous.”
That horrible chilling of my blood was happening again, and I couldn’t find a way to stop it. “Jubilee, what are you talking about?”
She hesitated once more, before she huffed out a breath. “You know what? I think you need to know about what he did when he was here. I mean, forewarned is forearmed, right? I wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to you. You need to know what you’re dealing with when you deal with that man you call brother, especially now that your daddy is gone.”
“Jubilee—”
“He murdered my Pussy.”
I stared at her, mouth open and frozen in mid-word.
She gave another eye-roll. “Not that pussy, darlin’. I had a cat. A silly, fluffy white Persian kitty I’d named Pussy as a kind of joke. I loved that spoiled little girl, you have no idea. I carried her everywhere in this cute bag that allowed her fuzzy noggin to stick out so she could see where we were going. Her tail would kind of shiver whenever she saw me, and she had the sweetest baby mew when she got excited for num-nums. You would have loved her.”
“I’m sure I would have. I love animals, and so does my brother. Are you sure—”
“You know your daddy chose me to, er…make a man of Polo, right?”
I nodded, no longer bothered by this. “Like I said, I’m a big fan of your work.”
At that Jubilee smiled, but it lacked its usual brilliance. “Since Borysko figured his brothel was the perfect place for Polo to lose his virginity, I’m sure you won’t be surprised to learn that he thought the same thing when it came to his son. In fact, he brought Nizhy here first, long before he brought Polo in. Unfortunately, it didn’t go very well.”
“Jubilee.” For a moment I hesitated, trying to find the right words. “I know you like to share…a lot…but since we’re talking about my brother, you should probably know that I don’t really need any, uh, details. We’re entering into some seriously weird territory and the creep factor could potentially go off the scales, if you know what I mean.”
“Oh, right. Of course, little bird, I hear you.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. “So, without details that’ll make me throw up in my mouth, can you tell me what went wrong?”
“It’s more a matter of what didn’t go wrong, and it started right from the get-go. When Borysko and Nizhy first got here, Borysko had us all line up like a smorgasbord. This was something that had worked countless times for important clients in the past, and something any teenage boy would certainly blow his wad over. Or so you’d think.”
I waited a beat. “Okay, so… you’re saying Knives wasn’t enthusiastic.”
“Not even a little.”
That was hard to imagine, since I knew Knives had had several girlfriends from the time that he was a teen. “Were you there?”
“Absolutely. And between you and me,” she added, lowering her voice as if she expected someone had bugged the room, “I thought I’d be the slam-dunk choice for the kid. You see, back in the day, my two girls here were bouncier than a couple of rubber balls at a dodgeball tournament. But Borysko’s son didn’t go for me. He didn’t seem to want to go for anyone.”
“He was probably embarrassed, or shy.”
“Darlin’, I’ve seen embarrassed, and I’ve seen shy. I know what they look like. Borysko’s boy looked… I don’t know. Aggravated, is the word that comes to mind. And the more he walked up and down the line of us girls, trying to make up his mind about what tripped his trigger, the more aggravated he became. Finally I took pity on him—at the time I was thinking along the same lines as you, and that he was suffering from a case of shyness—so I stepped out of line. I smiled my brightest smile and told him I’d be happy to take care of him in every way that he could imagine. He looked me up and down and said, ‘you’re too fat.’ I almost fainted dead from shock. Mother Nature has blessed me with generous proportions upstairs, sure, but I’m on the tiny side everywhere else and always have been.”
“You’re a knockout,” I blurted, horrified and embarrassed on my idiot brother’s behalf. “Hell, if I weren’t already head over heels into Polo, I’d totally go for you.”
“Oh honey, you are so Borysko’s daughter.” Jubilee laughed out loud, and it was a relief to see some of her sparkle return. “Just so you know, your daddy defended my honor by smacking Nizhy on the back of his head, and it was a good pop, too. Then he cussed the boy out for a while, which was awkward, before Borysko picked the skinniest girl in his stable and practically threw them in a room together to get the deed done.”
“Romantic,” I muttered.
“You’d think so, but no,” she said, her eyes as serious as I’d ever seen them. “About an hour later, Nizhy came barreling out of the room, as mad as a wet cat and swearing there was something wrong with that ‘whore’ because she didn’t know how to turn him on like a good whore should. He said he’d had to take care of it himself, and he was pissed off that he’d had to work so hard to get the job done.”
“Good grief,” I said faintly, baffled. My brother had an unstable temper, but that wasn’t a big deal. I did too. That was part of being a Vitaliev. “We’re getting into uncomfortably creepy waters here, because I’m not sure what he meant when he said that.” But I was sure I didn’t want to know.
“He meant he couldn’t get aroused until he’d smacked her ass so hard he bruised her, then back-doored her without lube until she was a bloody mess.”
“No.” The denial was out before I could stop it, and a flare of anger made my tone sharper than I’d intended. “Knives would never do that, Jubilee. I know he can be ruthless, but that’s only in business. I know my brother, and he’s not a cruel man. He’s not.”
“I’m glad he’s not cruel to you, and I know he’s your brother and you love him,” she said, looking distressed. “But you need to know that there’s another side to him—the side that lashes out in terrible ways.”
“Look, I understand the Vitaliev temper can be—”
“Dash, I saw the cruelty in him firsthand, after your father had me take Nizhy back to my room while he arranged for that poor girl’s care. The boy was perfectly polite as he sat on the side of my bed, petting my sweet kitty. Honest to God, he was the picture of innocence, and I began to wonder if we were all losing our minds. Eventually Borysko came in, and he looked… oh, it’s hard to describe. He looked ghastly. Like his eyes were screaming.”
I gritted my teeth together, trying not to picture what that must have looked like.
“For a while he just stood there, looking at his boy like he’d never seen him before, while those dark eyes of his screamed and screamed. Then he demanded to know what had happened. Nizhy explained his first time hadn’t been at all what he’d expected, and that the girl hadn’t done whatever he’d imagined she was supposed to do when it came to getting him off. And as he explained, he broke my cat’s neck. He just…just broke it while he was in the middle of a sentence, talking with your father. He didn’t even blink when he did it, Dash. He didn’t… even… blink.”
“My God.” I flinched back in my chair, staring at her in horror. “I don’t know what to say. I’m so sorry, Jubilee.”
“Sweet girl, don’t do that. It’s not your fault.”
“It’s just… I can’t even wrap my mind around it.” I pressed my fingers to my mouth, trying hard not to be sick. “I’ve never heard this story before. Not even a hint of it.”
“That’s not surprising, since you’re Nizhy’s baby sister. But I can tell you that from that point on, Borysko’s eyes were opened when it came to his firstborn. He was well aware there was a very real problem with his boy, and it was a problem that at times brought that sweet man to tears. He worried over it constantly, and what he worried about more than anything was you.”
“Me?”
Jubilee nodded her platinum-bright head. “Nizhy turned into a rabid dog if something triggered him—Borysko’s words, not mine—and your daddy never knew what was going to trigger that need for cruelty next. The only thing he could do was make sure someone was always with Nizhy to keep him in check. A kind of babysitter masquerading as a bodyguard.”
My eyes widened. “Seriously?”
“I remember the night Borysko decided that was what needed to be done,” she went on. “We stayed up all night talking about it, and that’s a rare thing for me. Usually when I’m up all night, talking is the last thing I’m doing. After a lot of soul-searching on whether or not he should institutionalize the son he loved so much, Borysko finally decided that the boy needed a watchdog. Someone who would always be there to make sure Nizhy was kept from doing the kind of damage that could never be undone, especially to you.”
Dear God. “I just can’t imagine my father ever believed things were that dire. Knives has never shown any aggression toward me.” But as I thought back over the years, I could only shake my head as I realized that when it came to having watchdogs, Jubilee was right. Grigor Dmitriyev—my brother’s personal bodyguard—or my bodyguards Polo and Konstantin Medvedev, had always been present whenever Knives and I were together. But I’d never once thought the danger they’d been guarding against had been my own brother. “Does Polo know about what happened to your cat?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never told him, if that helps.”
“I don’t know if anything could help, to be honest. I’m just kind of in shock.”
Jubilee reached over and squeezed my hand. “Listen to me, sweet girl. I didn’t tell you about this to upset you, or to make you dwell on awful, ugly things. The only reason I’m telling you about your brother now is because I’ve come to care about you, and when you mentioned Nizhy just now I almost had a heart attack. All I want is for you to know that your brother might not be the healthiest person you can have in your life, all right? That’s all I’m saying. If you can avoid him, do it. I have a feeling you’ll live longer.”
Chapter Nine
Holy shit, it was like Animals Gone Wild.
From my vantage point behind Celestial Bodies’ bar in the Gathering Room, I couldn’t help but gawk at the cosplay madness gyrating to a techno remix of Selena Gomez’s “Good for You.” Just about every animal in the Animal Kingdom—and some that weren’t, since I was pretty sure Godzilla wasn’t on Noah’s ark—was represented. Some were all-out Furries, like college mascots. Most were more of the sexy Halloween variety, and a few were downright disturbing, including a small herd of what appeared to be bare-chested, bare-assed versions of My Pretty Pony men, or “Bronies.”
I would be the first to admit that I had loosened up a lot since I had arrived at Celestial Bodies. But as I watched one of the Brony dudes prance by with a rainbow mane, banana-hammock and see-through plastic chaps that a rainbow tail was attached to—or at least I hoped that was what the tail was attached to—I was fairly positive I had reached my limit of mind-bending debauchery. If I could hobble away without being noticed, I had every intention of hiding in Polo’s rooms so I could cleanse my mental palate with a boatload of wholesome, happy cartoons.
“Yo.” Looming up beside me, Judd the bartender handed me a martini-style glass. “You look like you’re ready for this.”
“It’s like you’re a mind reader.” Carefully, so that my cheetah dress didn’t fall off my shoulders to leave me standing there stark naked, I moved to accept the delicious-looking Manhattan, all the while wishing I’d found a way to glue the thin material to my body. The dress was a sleeveless shift that hit at my upper thigh, and the neckline draped all the way to my navel. The back draped almost to the crack of my ass, and I didn’t quite get what the cut of it had to do with cats other than the print.
I did, however, understand perfectly that while the dress had very little to do with kitties, it had everything to do with sex, but that didn’t do me much good. I hadn’t seen Polo since this morning, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to go out there on the dance floor to bust a move. Who knew what “animal instincts” I’d inadvertently conjure up if I danced myself out of my clothes? The mere thought made me shudder.
“There goes another feather.” Judd filled drink orders on automatic pilot, his eyes glued to the dance floor. In the center of all the madness, flamingo-Jubilee gleefully shimmied and swayed without a care in the world, while one pink feather after another fluttered from her body. “That woman is going to be wearing nothing but a smile by the time the sun comes up. Then again, that’s usually the case, so whatever.”
His resigned tone made me grin. “Have you worked at Celestial Bodies long?”
He nodded while setting up a line of shots for a woman in a butterfly costume and a man dressed like a bee, with the stinger standing stiff and straight in front of the man’s crotch. Subtle, it wasn’t. “I started here as muscle back in the day, when it was a brothel. You know about that, right?”
I nodded, out of long habit keeping it to myself that it had been my father who’d once owned that very brothel.
Judd answered my nod with one of his own. “Yeah, figured you did, since you know Polo and he’s from that time. I thought this place was wild then, but man. Crazy shit happens in here all the time.”
“Crazier than brothel happenings?” That made me smile. “Damn, that’s saying something.”
“It was pretty wild back then. Working girls and gangsters rubbed elbows with all sorts of people, including some of the highest government officials in the region.”
“Ooh. Sounds juicy.”
Judd laughed, and the sound of it made me smile. Since he didn’t seem like the type to laugh a lot, I felt like I’d scored a victory for making it happen.
“Girl, I could tell you some sex scandals that went on here back in the day that you wouldn’t friggin’ believe, and it’s even crazier now. But I ain’t complaining. Sex sells, and I got me a nice retirement in a couple years’ time, complete with a beautiful fishing boat that I just put a down payment on. I might even start up a charter business. You know, be a small business owner while still doing something I love.”
“That sounds wonderful, Judd.” I smiled, gingerly pushing back the long blonde locks of the wig Jubilee had tugged onto my head. “In the meantime, you’re still luckier than a lot of people. With something different going on every night here at Celestial Bodies, at least your job’s never boring.”
“True that.” He glanced toward the end of the bar where a wolf man and a couple of women dressed as sheep had gathered. “Speaking of things not being boring, it’s kinda crazy in here tonight.”
I let loose a snort so powerful it nearly knocked my dress off my body. “You can say that again, pal.”
“Don’t have to. With that ankle, you’re going to stay behind the bar tonight until Polo shows up, right?”
I wrinkled my nose at him. “I’m actually hoping to sneak out entirely. Think Jubilee will notice?”
“Now listen up, girl. I don’t want you walking around out there, even to leave. Someone bigger and stronger than you’s gonna notice you’re on your own. Worse yet, they’re gonna notice you’re walking wounded. You’d best stay with me until your man shows up. Then you can bail.”
“Security’s pretty good around here, though, yeah?�
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“Jubilee doesn’t like the idea of violence, so it’s just me and a couple guys from the old days. Bouncers and hired muscle—you know the type. But I’ll be the first to admit we’ve all gotten soft as fuck. Best stay where you are where I can see you.”
A flash of frustration flattened my mouth, but Judd was a sweet, protective guy doing his best to look out for me. Since it would be the height of ingratitude to bitch about it, I looked for a change of subject. “Jubilee once told me a story about the former owner’s son hurting a working girl. But now that it’s a swingers’ club, there isn’t a lot of violence and stuff like that going on, is there?”
His quick head-snap my way spoke volumes of his surprise. “We’ve had one or two instances where I’ve had to go back to my bouncer roots. And every now and again we get some assclown down in the Spanking Room who doesn’t understand what the fuck a safety word is—”
“The Spanking Room?”
“Other sex clubs call them dungeons, but dark and scary’s not Jubilee’s thing, so she calls it called the Spanking Room. The woman has decorated it with about a ton of Christmas blinky lights.” He slid me a speculative glance. “She told you about that little shit, did she?”
I kept my face neutral as I took a healthy sip of my drink. “Yep.”
Judd shook his head. “Man, I’ll never forget that night. That poor girl.”
I was afraid to ask. “Was it bad, Judd?”
“Bad enough to land her in the hospital for three days, and after that we never saw her again. Boss man was furious, but he was also kind of freaked the fuck out. Guess I’d be freaked too if I had to face the fact that my kid was a monster.”
“I don’t suppose the kid had any explanation? Was he drunk, or on something, maybe?” I hoped the music was too loud to cover the hint of desperation in my voice. My brother was a lot of things. He had to be, in order to be the leader of the Vitaliev Bratva. But to deliberately hurt an innocent girl, then kill a cat while in the middle of a conversation with our father…I couldn’t wrap my mind around it.