Page 83 of Born into Blood

“I’d say one in a billion,” Max says from the backseat before smacking my shoulder. “But at least you didn’t unknowingly fall for your own cousin. I mean, our family is fucked up in many ways, but we’re not that fucked up.”

“Yeah,” Val agrees. “We draw the line at fucking blood relations.”

“It’s not a bad line to have,” I say, appreciating the way my cousins are trying to distract me. Nothing can take my mind off Lara, though, and by the time I pull into her garage, my heart is racing, and I’m working on my last nerve.

“What’s the plan?” Val asks.

“I’m going to go get her. We can take a taxi to my apartment while you guys grab her mom. When you’ve got her, swing by and pick me up. I’ll figure out something to say to Lara.”

“We’ll wait here then,” Val says, already checking his gun.

I hurry out and bypass the elevator not wanting to waste any time. Instead I take the stairs three at a time and race down the hall to Lara’s apartment. I don’t want to scare her, so instead of banging on the door and yelling her name, I force myself to take a calming breath while I knock on the door. My whole body tenses when I realize the door isn’t shut and it opens from the force of my knuckles hitting the wood.

Grabbing my gun, I lean against the doorframe and send a quick text to Val, telling him and Max to get up here. Unable to force myself to wait for them, I ease the door open with the toe of my boot and slip inside. By the time my cousins walk in, I’m barely holding onto my sanity because the only thing in this apartment is the tiny, scared kitten I’m clutching in my hands.

Chapter 13

Lara

It feels weird driving away and leaving Luka behind, but I tell myself that if I’m going to be married to a Bratva man, then I need to get used to shit like this. Svetlana turns around to give me a smile.

“Don’t worry. Luka will get back to you as soon as he can.” She laughs and adds, “I’ve never seen my cousin with a girl before.”

“I still find that hard to believe,” I admit.

“Yeah, but he’s just not like that. He’s always put the family first, and I think he thought that he couldn’t have both, you know? You really knocked him on his ass, though, and had him rethinking everything.”

I smile at her, still unable to fully believe how damn lucky I am. Svetlana turns her head when Vitya says something to her in Russian and uses his finger in a twirling motion to let her know she should turn around.

“I am wearing my seatbelt,” she mutters, “and I’m not going to fly through the fucking windshield. Just don’t get in a wreck. How about that?”

I’m not sure what he says in Russian, but it’s enough to have Svetlana narrowing her eyes at him and defiantly hiking a foot up to rest on the dashboard. He side-eyes her but doesn’t push her foot down. Based on the shit-eating grin she’s giving him, she’s just won this fight.

I didn’t hear Luka give my address, so after a few minutes, I ask, “Do you know where I live?”

Svetlana turns back around and flashes me another huge smile. “We’ve been there.” She laughs and asks, “Did you like the Grim Reaper I left in your stairwell?”

“That was you?”

“Yep.”

“That was amazing!” I tell her, remembering how great it had looked, even though she must’ve had to rush to do it.

“Thank you,” she says, smiling even bigger. “My mom’s a really talented artist, and I’ve been drawing for as long as I can remember. I designed the tattoo the guys have on their arm, too.”

“I love that tattoo,” I tell her, “so thank you for that.”

She laughs. “You’re welcome. Mia’s already put me to work designing some things for when she’s old enough to really mark her body up.”

“I’ve kind of been thinking about getting a tattoo,” I tell her, even though my thoughts on it have been very recent. After what Luka had told me about their Uncle Matvey, I was curious and looked at his arms today, and I’d been surprised by how much I liked the way the tattoos looked over his scarred skin. It felt like he had taken ownership over his scars and made them into something he wanted instead of just being content to keep them as a constant reminder of an awful and painful time in his life. I’d also loved that he didn’t seem even slightly self-conscious of them. I’d quickly decided that I want to be like that too. I’m sick of being embarrassed of my scars and hiding them. They’re a part of me, whether I like it or not, so I might as well make them into something beautiful. Plus, I’m sick of sweating my ass off, and Dominic’s pool had looked amazing. I’m tired of sitting my life on the sidelines. That’s not how I want my life with Luka to be.

Svetlana turns back to face me, ignoring the look Vitya gives her when she’s sitting sideways again and not safely tucked in her seat and facing forward like he obviously wants her to be.

“How many and where do you want them?” she asks, excitement pouring out of her in a way that’s so damn contagious I can’t help but laugh.

“I’m not sure what I want yet, but I was thinking about some arm sleeves, maybe my wrist to my elbow, and maybe something floral.”

Svetlana nods, a faraway look already in her honey-brown eyes like she’s mentally drawing some sketches in her head. “Give me a few days to draw up some mocks.” She smiles even bigger. “I promise we’ll be able to come up with something amazing.”

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