Page 29 of Born into Blood

She huffs out a breath and looks to me for help. “Can you believe this guy? I saved his life and he wants to bitch about carrying a fucking can of spray paint for me? Ungrateful.”

I laugh at her tone, because she’s clearly joking around and trying to piss him off. The dark look he’s giving her has her smiling in triumph.

“We’d better get back.” She gives Yelena a quick hug and then points to Vitya. “He gets grumpy when he doesn’t get enough sleep. Well, grumpier.”

“See ya, Vitya,” I tell him.

He nods at us before following Sveta back to the SUV. He’s been with the Bratva for years, and is one of our best men, that’s why he was assigned to Sveta. It’s an honor, but it probably doesn’t feel like one right now. I don’t know much about his life before he came to us. My Uncle Danil approved him, though, so he’s been throughly vetted. He’s quiet and takes his job seriously. I know he’d give his life to protect my cousin, and that’s all I need to know about him.

“We’d better get back, too,” Val says. “Don’t forget we’re all getting together at Dominic’s next week.”

“I’ll be there.” I hug Yelena and give them both a wave before heading to my motorcycle. “Thanks for coming.”

Val grins back at me. “Anytime, man, you know that.”

He’s right. We’d do anything for one another. Anytime, any day, anything—no matter what.

They drive off while I grab my helmet. Before I leave, I send a text to Lara, knowing she’ll see it when she wakes up.

The stairwell is safe, kisa. See you at seven.

Chapter 5

Lara

Iwake to a meowing kitten kneading my stomach. The first thing I see is a pair of green eyes, but they’re not the ones I was just dreaming about. Instead of a dark-haired man with an intense stare that makes my insides flutter, there’s a furry little kitten with the cutest face I’ve ever seen.

“Hey, you,” I whisper, cupping his small body and bringing him up to my face. His tiny claws are like razors, but I’m used to marks on my body and don’t pay it any mind. “Are you hungry?”

I take his cute meows as a yes and hug him against me while I get up. Thankfully, my mom fell in love with Pip just as quickly as I had and didn’t make a fuss about me keeping him. All the supplies Luka had bought had been a little harder to explain, but I’d told her I’d caught a massive sale and that my tips had been better than usual this weekend, so I’d had extra cash to cover it. I didn’t mention the vet visit.

Sunlight streams into my room, because even though my mom did decide to foil all the windows last night, I’d torn them off my bedroom window. I will not live like that again. It’s bad enough that she’s done the living room, and as soon as I walk down the hall, my mood immediately sours when I see how dark it is. When I look up and see my mom making coffee, I gesture towards the window.

“Can we please take that off?”

“When it’s safe.” She pours me a mug and smiles at Pip, giving him a pet when I’m close enough. “I’ll get his formula.”

I take the mug and set Pip down so he can run off to the litter box while my mom mixes the formula with some warm water. When he comes running back out, she puts the saucer on the floor for him, and he goes right to it. He laps it up like he’s starving, and when it’s empty, I give him a little bit of kitten food to go with it.

“He’s so cute.” My mom bends down to get a better look at him. “I’m glad you brought him home. It’ll be good for us to have a pet.”

“Yeah,” I agree and then look back at the foiled windows. “The sunlight would be good for him too.”

Her smile falters, but she manages to keep it. “Soon,” she tells me, but I have my doubts. She’d once told me “Soon” every day for an entire year.

She changes the subject by saying, “Guess who finally got around to updating the locks around here?”

“Huh?”

Nodding towards the front door, she says, “Someone came this morning and said the owner of the building was updating the locks. About damn time, too, because those old ones were useless.”

I remember what Luka said last night and bite back the smile that wants to fill my entire face. I’m not used to anyone caring about me like that, and I’m certainly not used to gorgeous men getting me all hot and bothered in the hallway. God, he’d laugh his ass off if he knew that was my first kiss. I’m sure he has women falling all over him, but with my rules, I’ve never allowed anyone close enough. I couldn’t resist him, though. I’d wanted that kiss. Hell, I’d wanted so much more, and that thought scares the hell out of me.

What would I have done if he’d wanted to go further? What if we’d been somewhere private and he’d tried to take my shirt off? The thought of his gorgeous hands touching my scars makes me feel like I’m going to be sick. He’d be disgusted and repulsed and I’d be left mortified and alone.

I know I need to put a stop to this, but instead of doing just that, I look over at our foiled windows and tell myself that everyone is allowed a little bit of sunshine in their lives. One date, just one date with Luka Melnikov, and then I’ll put a stop to it.

Pleased with my plan, I grab some more coffee, and while Pip plays with his toys and investigates his new home, I toast a bagel and slather it in cream cheese. Stuffing a big bite in my mouth, I walk to my room, wanting to see if there are any responses from the message I’d put up yesterday about my dad.

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