Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 86177 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86177 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Nyet. “Yeah-yes, dah. Just came from church.” I nodded like an idiot, as if those beautiful brown eyes could stare into my soul from thousands of miles away.
While I pulled the phone away from my ear, I heard her snap, “Don’t lie to me, Vassili. I can hear it in your voice!”
36
LONG BEACH
Jamie
Sunlight slanted into my parents’ pool house. I adjusted the last gold button of Enzo’s Marine Corps Dress Blues with practiced hands. Every seam was crisp. The dark navy jacket hugged my broad chest. The white belt cinched at my waist. The medals—Enzo’s medals, too, since my dress blues had burned in Santa Barbara—were earned in deserts and jungles. I had removed two where I didn’t receive these exact metals. The others glistened across my chest like silent ghosts from the past.
I’d asked Enzo to bring his suit before he left North Carolina. I wanted to need it. Didn’t think I would … if Jordyn wasn’t interested in getting married. At least not so soon.
I smiled in the mirror. The cleaned gash at my cheekbone winked. More scrapes and bruises crossed my face. I didn’t care. Jordyn had seen me in worse shape. I tugged into Enzo’s white gloves and gave my reflection one last look.
Enzo stepped beside me in his tuxedo with a shot of Resnov Water.
I took the shot glass and cleared my throat. “This first one is to my brothers. I used to think all of you bawbags who saw me as a placenta.”
Camdyn blinked. “What?”
“Where is this even coming from?” Leith asked.
“I’m serious.” I half-laughed, half-cringed. “I had to come to terms with the fact that we all just coped with shame and guilt differently.”
“You were depressed,” Jake said gently, patting my shoulder. He looked like he was about to give the textbook mental health speech.
“You call it depression,” I cut in, “I call it a demon. One that whispered mean crap in my ear.”
“Like ‘you’re a placenta,’ ” Rory said, cracking up. “Bro, we love you. Can we pick up this party? Toast again to something more lively.”
“If that’s code word for ‘you wanna go live on social media,’ that’s a big fat nae. None of that today.” I shook my head, knocked back the shot, then held out the glass. Enzo poured me another. “Okay, that one was for all of you.” I stared at Enzo, my voice steadier this time. “This one is for you, Lorenzo.” I lifted my glass. “Thank you for picking up the slack when I ghosted my family. Being a good friend. A brother.”
Enzo gave a crooked grin. “I don’t know what to say, fra. You look good. Placenta and all.”
We all laughed, the kind of laugh that had a little ache beneath it.
Enzo clinked his drink with mine. “You just signed your own death certificate, though.”
I rolled my eyes and focused on the smooth taste of vodka.
Camdyn patted Enzo’s shoulder. “I used to sport the same scowl, Enzo.”
“You don’t know what you’re missing,” Rory said. Oh? All these years after falling in love with a new girl in high school each week, he still believed.
Jake lifted a brow as if unconvinced and shook his head, taking the shot glass Enzo offered him. “This is why you don’t have a job, Rory. Too focused on love.”
Camdyn looked like he wanted to agree but took the shot glass Enzo passed him. “Listen to me. Not Jake MacKenzie, PhD. He’ll have you somewhere in a corner, crying, regretting your mistakes. Or ‘Rory the Romeo idiot’ ”—he didn’t flinch when Rory pushed him—“falls in love so much I’m surprised his legs aren’t broken. But Enzo, some beautiful woman’s gonna wipe that prideful smirk from your face. Like I said. Happened to me, bro. Don’t let her get away.”
Enzo snorted. “All I pull are beautiful women. Don’t see how that’ll happen.”
“Okay, shuddup.” I gestured to our drinks. Brody and Lachlan, who’d been finishing something that had to do with a gazebo, strolled inside. Now, all my brothers in order of age—Brody, Leith, Camdyn, and my younger brothers Lachlan, Rory, and Jake—surrounded me, along with the new brother I inherited during war. We clinked glasses and drank vodka.
“Smooth,” Brody complimented. “Tell no one.”
Lachlan punched him playfully in the arm that wasn’t in a sling. “You’re gonna tell on yourself by the end of the night. The Resnovs gave us an entire box.”
“Resnovs?” Enzo asked, brows lifted. “I thought you had just this bottle.”
“Nope. I’m still shocked that Jordyn wanted to invite Natasha Resnov to our home.” Though her dad and uncle passed, the Bratva princess had wanted to attend our wedding. A Bratva that had a worse reputation than Chelomey’s. People were so afraid of the Resnovs that they didn’t need around-the-clock protection the way Chelomey had at his home in Tarzana Hills.
Still, Natasha had a good head on her shoulders. A quiet humility too. It seemed her entire family had that humility—if not crossed. When the Resnovs removed their daughter from her high school because of bullying years ago, they took the Chelomeys to dinner. While drinking champagne, her parents presented Aleksandr Chelomey with a gift and requested that their daughter attend school in Chelomey’s much tinier territory. Not in the heart of Los Angeles. Since Natasha didn’t want Resnov protection at school, Aleksandr had promised Adrian would watch over Natasha at her new school in Tarzana Hills. Vassili took the man at his word. Trusted him and promised never to allow Resnov enforcers to enter Chelomey territory—which was already a standing agreement. But I could tell the misguided trust vanished as we heard the story.