He looked up, his eyes red rimmed and hollow. For the thousandth time, I worried about what had happened between him and my little kitten.
“I don’t give a shit. This changes nothing for me,” he said before either of us could even get a word in. He gripped the bottle and poured himself another shot.
“Really? After everything between you two? You can walk away like it was nothing?”
“Fuck you, Reaper. She can go to hell, for all I care. Leave me alone.”
Ivan’s words only pissed me off more, and my muscles flexed as I formed fists. Nik put a hand on my arm, reminding me our mother was sitting a few feet away. A bitter taste filled my mouth, and a knot tightened in the pit of my stomach.
“I wish to god you would never have brought her into our lives,” he muttered, his voice full of venom and despair.
I stumbled back, shaken by his tone. How could he dismiss her so callously, as if she meant nothing to him, to us? As if the love we shared, the memories we’d made, weren’t real.
“I don’t even know you anymore,” I roared, the words heavy with anger and disbelief. “Who the hell are you? What have you done with my baby brother?”
Nik shoved me back while Ivan remained silent, closing his eyes. He retreated into himself, lost to whatever it was he was dealing with.
“Boys, what’s going on?” our mother asked.
Her beautiful green eyes landed on her youngest son, and her face filled with fear. None of us had seen this side of him in years.
“Nothing, nothing at all, Mother. These two want to reconnect with Kinsley. I think it’s a stupid fucking idea, but more power to them.”
Ivan rose and strode over to his room. Another door slammed, and my mother murmured something to my father.
Too stunned to do much else, I collapsed in the seat Ivan had vacated. Nik took a seat across from me and stared out the window. It was the longest flight of my life. With each passing hour, the longing to hold her, to kiss her, grew. I couldn’t concentrate. Knowing she was at home with Marcel and Sebastian had me aching for her in unexplainable ways.
Guilt had been killing me, and now the reality of what we knew only made it worse. Despite all I had done, I had failed to keep her safe, and because of that, I had shut down a little more each day. In order to function and not be angry like Ivan, I worked overtime and couldn’t even look at another woman. There was no one for me but her.
The tension was thick as we landed. The anticipation, layered with a heightened sense of knowing she was only a short drive away, was overwhelming. An Uber pulled up, and Ivan kissed our mother and then stormed over to it. He wasn’t coming straight home.
It took everything in me not to kick his ass. If our parents weren’t there, I would have gladly dragged him home myself, but as it was, I let it go and climbed in behind Nikolai. Both of us were quiet on the ride over, lost in our thoughts. Pulling through the gates, I tensed, my stomach in knots.
“Alek.” Nik’s eyes filled with emotion.
I hugged him. “I know, Brother, me too.”
Neither of us bothered to wait for our driver, nor Branson, for that matter. The minute we stepped through the door, Bash and Marcel were waiting.
“Follow us.” Marcel smirked.
He took us to the gym, and there she was, mid-dance with Pavel Lenkov. My heart dropped at the sight of her. The first thing I noticed was she’d lost weight. Wearing a pair of dance shorts and a sports bra showed how pronounced it was. What the fuck happened? I stepped forward, but a strong hand gripped my forearm.
“Watch them,” Marcel said in a hushed voice.
We were standing in the shadows, so they hadn’t noticed us yet. A completely different side of her unfolded as she moved in perfect rhythm with him. I had seen her dance—had danced with her myself—but those times didn’t even come close to showing her true ability or skill level.
“We do it again, Mouse,” Pavel barked.
She gave a determined nod. Her flexibility astounded me, and her fearlessness as he threw her in the air and caught her stole my breath. They fucking moved as one solid unit. It floored me. There was so much we didn’t yet know about her.
Nik and I stood there, dumbfounded and at a complete loss for words. She was sheer concentration, and the trust between the two of them as they moved, completely aware of one another and responding instantly to each movement the other made, was breathtaking.
“Holy fuck, she’s good,” I whispered.
Sebastian clapped me on the back, hard. “You have no idea how good.”
We watched, mesmerized, as their dance showcased how their bodies seemed to have their own language. With every move he made, her body responded. She was the Ying to his Yang. I couldn’t even be jealous. It was so fucking beautiful to behold. They finished their routine and started talking excitedly.
