by Belle Aurora
The urge to bark out a few choice expletives was there on the tip of my tongue, but I took a deep breath and quelled the impulse, looking around his office before I exhaled slowly and said, “I need money, but I’m not taking yours.” Just as he opened his mouth to argue, I cut him off with a wave of my hand. “Nonnegotiable. If you can help me out by giving me a name, I would appreciate it, but this is a mess I need to take care of myself, and man-to-man, I hope you can respect that.”
For a moment, he looked to be at war with himself, but after some thought, he opened his drawer, reached into it, and pulled out a business card. With a light sigh, he turned the card over, took his pen, and began to write on it as he spoke. “There is one outfit. Newish. Reckless. The kind of psychos who run big and hard, settle scores, and shoot before they speak. They have a reputation for being wild, because… well, they are.” He continued to jot down what I needed. “The guy in charge is Roam.”
Roam.
Never heard of him.
Sasha held the card out to me between two fingers, and just when I stretched for it, he pulled out of reach. “There are other ways.”
No, there weren’t. I tried. I really did. This was my last shot.
My stare must have conveyed my stance, and when he realized I wasn’t going to budge, he offered the card once more. Once it was in my grasp, I turned it over and saw Sasha had written the name Roam and a phone number on it. Nothing more.
“Who are these guys?”
And when Sasha replied, “The Disciples,” my head snapped up.
Excuse the fuck out of me?
Eyes wide, I wasn’t sure I heard him correctly. “The same guys who set fire to that house?”
I didn’t need to elaborate. It was a huge story. Made the news for months. Someone had to have seen something. Cops were looking for witnesses, but no one was willing to identify the men who went around wearing their intricate skull masks and the skull-painted cronies. Their weapon choices were barbaric. These guys were fucking animals.
“Same guys” was all he offered.
Right. I didn’t know how I felt about working with the same fiends who barbecued a priest in his home in the middle of the night. But, for all I knew, he deserved it.
So, I guess that only left one question. “They pay well?”
The only thing Sasha said to that was “Talk to Roam.”
Okay.
With that, I stood and moved to exit, only pausing at the door to twist back and say, “I’d appreciate if this didn’t get out.”
Sasha’s golden eyes searched me. I didn’t know what he was looking for, but when he found it, his lips thinned, and he muttered, “You can talk to me. You know that, right?”
“Sure.”
I don’t know why I lied. I guess sometimes it was easier than the truth.
Sasha gave me another onceover before turning back to his computer. “Watch your back out there, brother,” he warned, and I don’t know why, but I felt he might have underplayed the danger I was putting myself in.
But what other options did I have?
Screw it.
For the right price, I’d dive head-first into a shark’s mouth.
15
Nastasia
We all had secrets.
I had some. But Vik had more.
I thought I knew most all of his. Like, how he told people he didn’t like horror movies because they were predictable and they bored him, when in reality, he jumped and squirmed at every scare. Or how he hummed quietly to himself when he woke in the early morning. I wasn’t sure anybody knew how desperately he wanted a German Shepherd.
Even his body had its mysteries.
I might have been the only person in the world who knew of the single tawny freckle that resided on his left hip. I had pressed my lips to that spot more times than dawn had risen.
I worshipped him, a lonely apostle pledging herself to a divine, dark god.
All I wanted in return? The devotion of a man who may not have had the capacity to give it.
Thus was my problem.
It left me asking the question of whether I wanted a man who so openly denied his feelings. Denied me. I had never given part of myself to anyone expecting the same in return, but the older I got, my stance changed. And resentment built up until it made my usually sweet nature bitter.
From my bed, I leaned over and peeked inside the bathroom where Mina sat on the vanity with her legs crossed, watching Vik work. And she was helping. “You missed a spot.”
I heard him sigh. “Listen, wifey. I don’t mind you sitting in and watching me with a hawk’s eye, but”—the frustration rolled off him in waves, making me smirk—“if you don’t stop telling me how wrong I’m doing this shit, I’m gonna put a goddamn spatula in your hand and make you do it while I sit and watch. You feel me?”
“Well, you know what they say. Anything men can do,” she muttered, “women can do bleeding.”
I choked on a laugh.
“Fuck me” was his exasperated reply.
Mina sighed to herself, then said, “If I don’t tell you how wrong you’re doing it,” she paused a moment, then added a self-assured, “then how will you know?” When he growled, my shoulders shook in silent laughter, and Mina clucked, “Now, now. No need to get touchy. You shouldn’t have assigned me your supervisor—”
And Vik cut in with an irritated, “I didn’t!”
“—if you didn’t want my help.”
At his long, groaned, “Jesus Christ,” I saw Mina’s lips twitch and found my own stretching right along with them.
I had to admit. It was fun to rile him up. It was so fun, in fact, that I decided to join in on the game.
From my bed, I called out an impatient, “How much longer?”
And when Mina gasped out a light laugh, I got that piercing feeling in my solar plexus. The one that said I might have pushed too far.
Uh oh.
Vik slowly emerged from my bathroom holding a spatula in one hand and a bucket in the other. His sweats grout-stained, his glare was lethal. “You wanna get in here and do it yourself, princess?”
I blinked innocently. “The guy on the video got it done in like an hour.”
I swear, his jaw ticked, and I could almost see him contemplate how much a judge would give him if his defense was “but you should have heard her tone.”
He closed his eyes, breathed deeply, and might have counted to ten. When he opened his eyes once more, he explained mechanically, “The guy on the video has a magical thing called editing software that allows days of work to be comprised into one short video so the shleps at home don’t get discouraged.”
Should I have egged him on?
No.
Was it fun though?
Oh God, yes. The funnest.
Also, I might have had a death wish. “You could try a little harder, is all.”
Vik’s eyes narrowed on me, and I smiled sweetly. He stalked back into the bathroom, and the next thing I knew, Mina flew out, then stumbled as if he’d picked her up and thrown her. And when her face bunched and she let out a heated, “Uh, rude,” I was pretty sure that was exactly what he’d done.
The bathroom door was closed, leaving only a sliver open, and then music was playing on the inside. And Mina made a face. “Too far?”
“Too far,” I confirmed with a grim nod.
She shuffled over and threw herself down on the bed beside me. She blinked up at the ceiling and whispered, “He’s doing a good job.”
My response was equally hushed. “He really is.”
He is nothing.
Not good enough.
Poor excuse for a man.
The whispered words echoed through my mind. I shook my head as if to clear it. I hadn’t seen my mother visually in days. I took that as a good sign. She still, however, liked to taunt me from within, but the whispers were declining in volume.
It wasn’t easy, but I was marching on.
I refocused, and because Mina seemed s
omewhat faraway, I nudged her shoulder with my foot. She looked at me with tired eyes, and I frowned. “You okay?”
Her misery grew. “I want a baby.” She ran a feeble hand down her face and revealed quietly, “I want it so bad. And we’re trying, you know? We’re trying every chance we get.”
I tried not to gag at the image of my brother “trying.”
“But nothing’s happening.” Her lips pulled down in time with her brow as she looked up at me and wondered out loud, “What’s wrong with me?”
Oh, my sweet sister girl.
My expression of shared wretchedness was not feigned. “Oh God, Mina. Don’t do that to yourself, babe. Nothing is wrong with you,” I promised. “Sometimes, it takes a while.”
“I just thought we’d be pregnant by now.” Her forearm flopped over her eyes, and her voice gentled. “I’d hoped, anyway.”
I’d hoped the same. It was cruel, this waiting game.
“Hey, sometimes everything just needs to match up at the right time. Like, shit—” I rolled my eyes. “—the planets need to align in just the right way, or you didn’t sacrifice your goat at the right time.” She snuffled out a small laugh, and I asked carefully, “Did you sacrifice your goat at the right time?”
Her lips twitched. “I don’t know. I think it was a Saturday.”
I tutted. “Well, there’s your problem. That’s a Friday job.”
Mina’s chuckle had me grinning like an idiot. It felt good to make her laugh in the face of despair.
The front door opened, then closed, and I blinked. Running footsteps sounded, and Mina lifted her head, peeking up at the door with a frown. And when Cora panted out, “Holy shit,” she held a hand to her chest and huffed, “Why are you so bougee? Can’t you just live in a single-story house like everyone else?” Her brow creased as she gripped her side and winced, fighting through the pain of her cramp. “Those stairs are torture.”
Weird, but okay then.
Cora trudged over to the bed, knocking me with her knee. “Move over.”
I shifted to the right, and Cora dove into the place I had previously occupied, and without a second’s thought, she started to monologue at Mina. “Your brother has to be the most frustrating man on the planet. I mean, what is it going to take? Like, hello. Earth to Alessio. Nice, loyal, freaky-ass chick wanting to get down with your sullen ass, but no.” She shook her head. “And, I swear to God, the more he pushes me away, the more I want to dick down.” She emphasized the last two words with two solid claps.
Mina’s face screwed up. “Ew.”
Mine shot straight to the bathroom door. “Cora, no.”
But Cora did not listen. She didn’t even pause. “I mean, I get it. He’s this whole broody, damaged antihero kind of dude. And I am down for that. I mean, I didn’t even know it was a thing of mine, but those scars?” Her brows rose slowly. “They make me tingle, girls.”
“Cora,” I tried to warn her.
Alas, Cora did her. And she did it in the most Cora way possible. “Like, sir. I’ve got a back entrance and a front entrance, and I don’t care which one you come in through, as long as you paint my walls white when you leave. You know what I’m sayin’?”
Oh my God.
“Corinna!” was all Mina managed to cry.
The laughter that left me was a wheeze if I ever heard one. I could not even.
Not even a little.
When I heard the bathroom door squeak, I covered my suddenly hot cheeks with my hands and waited.
“I know I didn’t hear what I just heard,” Vik uttered collectedly, but his eyes lit in laughter.
And I watched Cora’s soul leave her body.
Eyes wide, she stuttered, “W-What are you doing here?” She then turned to me with a frown. “What is he doing here?”
“I tried to tell you,” I chuckled out with a shrug.
But Vik leaned against the bathroom doorway, undoubtedly fascinated. “Is that how chicks really talk about us guys? Because I gotta say, I thought it was all feelings and bullshit. But this?” His grin was cunning. “This, I like.”
“No,” I crowed, but my cheeks burned.
Mina shook her head and insisted, “I don’t talk like that.”
But Cora turned on me. “Yeah, right. Just a couple of weeks back, she said something. What was it again?”
My eyes snapped to her and begged. Her eyes narrowed on me in treachery. “Oh yeah. She was so horny that she wanted you to rearrange her guts, stroke her hair, and call her pretty.”
Are you freaking kidding me?
Oh no, she didn’t. Please tell me she didn’t.
My stomach ached.
Oh no.
“Nas,” Mina said in prude-like disbelief.
Embarrassment ate me whole. My palms began to sweat. I closed my eyes, contemplating whether if I laid still enough, they would think I was dead and just go away. “Vik, I didn’t—”
But Cora spoke over me, letting out a singsonged, “She so totally did.”
And when he began to chuckle, it was too much. I turned to Cora and scowled. “You’re an asshole.”
She shrugged. “No changing me, bitch.”
Vik’s laughter continued, and when it died, he uttered a lusty, “Now that’s something I’d make time for.”
The way he said it made memory after memory light up in my mind, a never-ending slideshow of sex. And my brow furrowed in humiliation. “You guys suck.”
“Not as much as you want to suck Vi—” Before Cora had a chance to finish what she was going to say, I flew across the bed and on top of her. She squeaked in surprise as I straddled her, and when I threw my hands over her mouth with a dangerous gaze, her laughter came out muffled.
Mina, lying by the edge of the bed, did not spare us a glance and did not give a single shit when she said mechanically, “No, guys. Stop. Don’t fight.”
Wide-eyed, I pressed down on Cora’s mouth and hissed, “Shut it!”
Her eyes danced, and being the gross person she was, her tongue darted out and licked my hands. My face screwed up, and I rolled off her with a cry of disgust. Cora smacked her lips and blew me a kiss.
Vik made a sound deep in his throat. “You lose some of your clothes, and this is basically the plot of the porn I watched last night.”
For the love of God.
I slowly lifted my head and glared at him. “Get back to work!”
Vik put up his hands and walked backward into the bathroom.
Meanwhile, Cora bit out, “You couldn’t have said he was here?”
“I tried, but you just kept yapping,” I told her, wiping my saliva-covered palm on my pants.
“‘Hey, Cora, Vik’s here.’” Her brows bunched. “Two seconds. That’s all it took.”
“You’re a putz.” I shook my head at her.
She sounded mildly offended when she spouted, “Nuh uh, you are.”
From the edge of the mattress, Mina murmured, “You both are.”
And Mina promptly rolled off the bed with a thud when I accidentally—on purpose—pushed her off.
It was hectic, so when Sasha approached the bar and yelled over the music, “What is she doing here?” I looked over at Cora, sitting calmly at the bar with her textbooks open, studying.
I thought it was pretty obvious. “Cramming.”
Sasha’s brows lowered. “Why is she studying at the bar?” He was not impressed. “She’s ruining the vibe.”
“I don’t know,” I said, forcing a wide smile, slinging drinks, and taking orders. “As you can see, I’m a little busy here.”
From beside me, Anika stilled when she saw my brother. A sweet smile graced her pretty, full lips. “Hi, Sash.”
And when Sasha looked her over a short moment, he did something I’d never seen him do. He turned and walked away, ignoring her. Anika’s shoulders slumped, and I wondered what the heck that was all about a split second before being pulled back into work.
I hadn’t noticed the strain until recently,
but now that I had, there was something very strange going on between the two of them. Whenever they were together, the pressure in the air seemed to change, grew thicker somehow.
The next time I passed her, I asked, “Are you two fighting or something?”
Anika blinked guilelessly and played dumb. “Who?”
I shot her a look, one that said I wasn’t stupid. “You and Sasha, that’s who.”
Her eyes darkened a notch, and the scoffed response surprised me, even more so when she cussed. “No, we’re not fighting. Sasha doesn’t do that. He is gracious, and polite, and uber respectful. In order for us to fight, he’d have to give a fuck first.”
The bitterness in her tone made me still, and quite suddenly, I thought back to what she said that night at The White Rabbit.
“Trust me. It’s finished. He tried, he fought, and all I did was reject him over and over. And this guy… he isn’t the type to forgive and forget.”
I looked to my brother, who was currently having a heated discussion with Cora, and as he attempted to relocate the stubborn broad into his office, I caught the way his eyes slid over Anika and stayed there.
No way.
My gut tightened with realization.
“Anika?” I asked cautiously, pouring a whisky. “The guy…” She paused beside me a moment. “The guy you were talking about, the one who doesn’t give second chances…”
Immediately, she began to walk away. “It’s busy tonight, huh?”
I caught her arm gently and reeled her back in, and the way she looked around, panicked, it screamed that she was backed into a corner. My brain malfunctioned a moment, and when I finally gained the ability to speak, I uttered in astonishment, “It’s Sasha. The guy. It’s him, isn’t it?”
Anika’s blue eyes darted around, looking everywhere but at me. After a second, she forced an eye roll. “No. That would be crazy.” She tried to hold it in, but her eyes revealed her misery. “I mean, what kind of person would that make me? Jumping from one brother to another.” Her breathing got heavy, and her lips trembled as she endeavored to joke, “I’d have to file myself under T for trash, right?”