“Do you want me to kick him out?” I whispered in her ear, placing a soft kiss just below it.
I liked that she showed no hesitation in responding. Her hands slid up my arms and her fingers linked behind my neck. I continued to pepper kisses along her neck as she pulled me in.
Ana moaned and leaned further into my body. “No,” came her breathy whisper.
“You should go see your brother...”
“Oh yeah?” My hands slid down from her waist to palm her ass. I flexed my fingers and gripped her fleshy globes. She moaned louder. Her fingertips danced through my hair, grabbing at the strands.
“Yeah.” My lips worked their way around to hers. They collided in an all-consuming struggle for dominance, her tongue swirling mine.
A noise to our right drew my attention but not enough to pull my lips from Anastasia’s. A second later it repeated, louder this time. I pulled back and looked towards the house. My happy mood was killed immediately when I spotted my brother standing in the doorway. His expectant raised eyebrow had me pissed.
Who the fuck did he think he was? This was my house, my property I could do whatever the hell I liked. Not to mention we were on a gated, fenced-off property. I could fuck Anastasia right here and now and no one would have a damn thing to fucking say about it.
Except maybe Anastasia.
I sighed as I let Ana go. I watched her scrape past Finch and scramble up the stairs. She was out of sight within seconds.
I turned my attention back to my brother and followed him inside. We clearly needed that talk about boundaries more than I’d originally thought and for that conversation to happen, I needed an ice-cold beer.
I was coming down the stairs when Finch caught my eye, making his way into the foyer. I gave him a tight-lipped smile as I attempted to pass him by, which he chose not to reciprocate.
Suddenly, my arm was yanked back holding me in place.
Here it came. As I turned around to face Finch, I knew this was it. Make or break. I’d been waiting for it since the first night we met.
“You’re still here.”
It was a statement, an accusatory one. It wasn’t a question. It didn’t require an answer. But I gave him one anyway. “Yes. Why wouldn’t I be?”
Surely he and Nikolai talked. Nikolai must have told him it was going good, that I was here to stay. Hell, I’d even given up the chance to leave and go back to my old life. It was safe to say, I was here for good this time.
“Because you’re more trouble than you’re worth. My brother is a fool to think you’re anything more than a spoiled brat. I don’t know why he’s so fascinated by you.”
“That’s mighty big of you. You looked in the mirror lately? You’d be nothing without your brothers, Finch. Your big empire, the shiny gold castle that you hide away in? Those walls rest on the backs of your brothers.” My neck clicked as it whipped to the side. The force of his hand against my cheek had blood rushing to the area. The taste of copper started to pool on my tongue causing the realization that I must’ve bitten into the soft flesh of my cheek. That had been a fucking hard hit, but still, I couldn’t help myself. After all, he had cut me off - I still had more to say.
“If only they could all realize what a waste of breath you are. You’d have nothing, you’d be the no one that you’ve been all along. I understand why you hate me, Finch. I’d hate me too because I can see through all of your bullshit. In fact, you should be scared.”
He moved very quickly, I stumbled back as fast as I could, but he was faster. With two hands, Finch reached out and shoved me back. My head thudding against the wall while my body took the brunt of the force. My eyes were locked onto Finch, I would not back down. I would not let him see me tremble. His hand raised for the second time. I braced myself for the hit, clenching my teeth and straightening my shoulders.
A cough to my left made me aware that Finch and I were no longer alone. “Finch. Outside, now.”
Somehow, someway, Nikolai had heard my thoughts, my silent cries for him. I didn’t want to admit it, but I wasn’t as strong as I wanted to be. I was a chaotic mess on the inside, just a damsel begging to be saved because at the end of the day, I didn’t want to be hit. Who did, it was fucking painful.
His voice made a shiver run down my spine. A jolt of pure relief shocked my body but I did my best to keep my resolve as Finch glared at me.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about. You have no idea what it takes to survive in this world. My brother won’t always be around to protect you.” His words could’ve easily been brushed off as an empty threat. He wasn’t the first thug to have threatened me - but he was the first to have scared me. Ice ran through my veins, fear staking my heart by the look in his eyes. He threatened me but I got the feeling it meant more, that this ran deeper than I was seeing.
After a moment he stepped back, his eyes finally dropping from mine. The front door slammed shut behind the brothers as they left me to my thoughts. I’d met a lot of bad dudes throughout my life, none of them had dressed as nice as Finch King. None of them had blended into society as well as him either. He was normal, and then he suddenly wasn’t.
I waited a minute to see if anything could be overheard but all I could hear was silence, and my own shallow breathing. Instead of hanging around, waiting for Nikolai, I climbed the stairs and made my way to my bathroom. I froze upon catching my reflection in the mirror. I moved closer to inspect the damage further, gently prodding at my skin. I could already see signs of my left cheek starting to swell. In only a few hours the cheek would be completely swollen, even possibly purpling.
I sighed at the state of me. I didn’t know if it was only because I felt like a pile of shit, but I looked like it too. My hair was a mess, blood had started to dry on my lips, my complexion paling.
I had barely stepped outside when I told him, “You’re no longer welcome here.”
“Nikolai.” This face took on a confused twist and it only made me angrier...like he didn’t know what he did. Impossible.
“Don’t.” I flew off the handle. I was sick of this… “I don’t want to hear your excuses. There’s no way for you to weasel your way out of this one.”
I paused as I caught sight of the man before me. When had my brother morphed into this monster?
“Nikolai, I can’t believe you’re going to let some woman come between us.”
“You know very well that Anastasia is not just some woman, Finch,” I spat. My fury was empowering me, emanating from my every word.
“Even still. I am your brother.”
“Not anymore.” My words shocked him. He hadn’t expected me to go there, to go that far. But the more I thought about it, the stronger my resolve was. “After everything I’ve just seen, I don’t know who you are. But you’re certainly no relation of mine.”
I would’ve thought that our parents would be infuriated with him as well but I wasn’t sure. Maybe he turned out to be the golden boy that they had wanted all along.
While I didn’t claim to be the most upstanding citizen there ever was, I still liked to believe that my conscience was clear and my moral compass pointing in the right direction.