Page 14 of Born into Blood

I look over at my dad, and when he stops at a red light, he turns to face me. “Don’t give me that look. I’m being serious.”

“You know why I’m not dating anyone.”

“Why is that?”

“Before Mom, did you ever let anyone get close to you?”

He scratches at his jaw before finally admitting, “No.”

“And why is that?”

“Well, that’s annoying,” he mutters when he knows I’ve got him and then puts his focus back on the road when the light turns green. “It’s not the same thing, though,” he tries to argue. “Things are safer now. It’s okay for you to go out and have a normal life.”

“I just killed a man less than fifteen minutes ago, Dad.”

“Don’t be a smartass, Luka. You can have as normal of a life as possible,” he corrects. “Better?”

“I just don’t see the point in endangering someone or having a quick fling with someone I don’t give a shit about.”

He’s quiet for the few remaining minutes that it takes to get to our building, and when he’s pulling into his reserved spot in the underground garage, he cuts the engine and turns to me.

“I know what it’s like to live your life alone, to cut yourself off and put a wall up between you and everyone else. My brothers were the only people I let get close to me, and that’s only because I knew they could handle it, that they could protect themselves and that we’d always have each other’s backs, but no one else got close to me.”

He sighs and looks back out the window. “I don’t regret my choices, because I’m glad your mom is the only woman I ever let get close to me, but once I met her,” he gives a soft laugh and shakes his head, “there was no way in hell I could keep her away. She dismantled every damn brick in the wall I’d spent my life building, just fucking demolished it.”

“Mom can be stubborn,” I admit.

“Fuck yes she can be.” He says it with a big smile and then reaches over to ruffle my hair like I’m still seven years old. “All I’m saying is the right woman will come along, and there won’t be a damn thing you can do to stop yourself from falling hard when it happens. Don’t run from it, Luka. Embrace it with both fucking hands and never let go.”

I nod, even though I know I’ll never put myself in the position to fall in the first place. Lara’s face pops in my head, and I immediately push it away. She’s just a girl, one I’ll never see again. With my brick wall firmly in place, I walk with my dad to the private elevator that takes us to the penthouse. As soon as the doors open, I can smell the cupcakes my mom’s baked.

“Smells good, solnishka,” my dad says, walking into the kitchen and wrapping her in a big hug.

“They’re apple cinnamon, and they just came out of the oven, so you have to wait for them to cool until I can ice them.”

“I wasn’t talking about the cupcakes,” my dad says, making her laugh before he cuts it off with a kiss.

“Thanks, Mom,” I tell her, grabbing two of the still-warm cupcakes. She knows I prefer them right out of the oven without icing.

She playfully swats my dad away so she can come give me a hug. Ever since I hit a growth spurt when I was twelve, I’ve been taller than my mom, and now I tower over her. It doesn’t stop her from squeezing me in a big bear hug. My family is affectionate and loud and nosy as hell, and I love them like crazy.

“I’m glad it went okay,” she whispers, giving me one more squeeze before pulling back so she can study my face. “You all right?”

I know my mom worries and wishes I could have a normal, safe life, but she fell in love with my dad, and this is the life she got in exchange for that. I can tell by the way she looks at him that she would’t have it any other way, but she still worries.

“I’m fine, Mom. I promise.”

She cups my face and pulls me down so she can kiss my cheek. “Tell your brother the rest of these will be iced in a few minutes.”

I stand back up and smile down at her. “I will.”

I walk through the large penthouse that my dad and uncles used to live in together and head downstairs to Damien’s room. He prefers the room my Uncle Matvey used to have, and I prefer the upstairs room that was once my Uncle Lev’s. It works for us, giving us both tons of privacy and plenty of room when our cousins come over.

My little brother’s door is shut, so I stop outside it and give a soft knock. I know better than to just barge into a sixteen-year-old boy’s room.

“Damien, you still awake?”

“Yeah, I’m up.”

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