Page 118 of Volatile

The other two are carbon copies of their fathers and somehow so much fucking worse than I’ve ever witnessed my brothers being. They pause before running at me and jumping onto the bed. Vasy flexes and I’m sure he tries to wink at my woman. That pisses me off more than him swinging at me, so I grab his leg and turn him upside down as Verena drags Dom back by his collar. “No, nice.”

Stasi actually laughs and she speaks calmly to the psycho. “Dominic, don’t hit Tali, okay?”

He listens. He actually fucking listens to someone.

Holy fuck, she’s magic.

We all freeze in awe of her as he nods his head and sits his crazy ass down. I’m sure my jaw is touching my chin as she does the same to his partner in crime.

“Vasili, you’re not going to fight either, are you?”

His head moves in a blur with how quickly he nods, and Verena stands with her arms limp at her sides as I let go of his leg and he copies Dom at her other side.

My voice comes out low, with reverence, as I say, “Fuck, sweetness, if I didn’t already love you I definitely do now.”

She avoids my eyes and falls silent as Vasy makes kissy faces like a fucking idiot. I’ve never claimed to be mature and push my hand flat against his chest, so he falls backwards. Dom jumps up, screaming at a volume that has me wincing. “TALI LOVES STASI!”

His dipshit cousin keeps making kissy faces and they both jump around the bed, alternating between screaming and fake kissing gestures.

Verena holds her hand up, moving it side to side in a wave and orders us around shouting, “Mwah.”

Kissing her cheek because it’s her way of telling us she wants us to, Stasi does the same and the little traitor runs off, leaving the terrors behind as she hums to herself and calls out, “Addy? Want to play?”

I grab them both by their T-shirts and drag them closer as I deepen my voice.

“You have five seconds to run or I’m giving you a swirly.”

They look at each other before asking, “What’s swirly?”

“I’ll put your head in the toilet then flush it.”

My threat doesn’t work because they’re crazy and they restart their jumping and screaming.

“Yeah, swirly!” Vasili jumps up with both fists in the air.

“SWIRLY! Swirly. SWIRLY!” Dom sings.

I pick them up and place them on the floor as I lie, “Go downstairs and wait by the bathroom door and I’ll do it.”

They both take off running like idiots, it’s more like they’re waddling, and I take my phone to record so I have material to embarrass them with when they’re older. It looks stupid as fuck and I deflate against the headboard when they fuck off, hoping they haven’t scared Stasi off.

Turning to my woman when we’re alone, I pull her into my side and ignore the cup of doom.

“You going to give me a mwah too, fiancée?”

Her laugh is adorable, light, and carefree even if it’s at my expense. “Apparently you drink from the toilet, definitely not.”

I spat it out as soon as I knew but she laughs louder at her dumb-ass joke.

“Just like a puppy.”

There are tears in her eyes, and she falls into me. I love the sound of her laugh, and cup her cheek, watching her eyes dazzle me as I trace the edges of her smile.

“Ask me if I’d rather have food or you?”

Her laugh dies and her smile slowly straightens into an uneasy line as she whispers, “Food or me?”

“You,” I say without missing a beat. “I love you, sweetness, and,” I plant a noisy kiss on her cheek, “I know that you love me too, so shut up and accept it.”

---