AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You don’t trust him?” Nik asks.
I laugh bitterly. “I don’t trust anyone.”
51
LUNA
“I told you this would be fun!”
Mariya’s arms are over her head, body swaying with the music. We’re on the mezzanine level of the club. It’s just as crowded up here as it was on the dance floor, but sticking close to the railing helps me not want to vomit immediately.
“I never said it wouldn’t be fun!” I yell back. “I said it was a bad idea!”
“How can this be a bad idea?” She spins again, sipping on something pink with a cherry floating in the bottom.
Oh, let me count the ways.
I didn’t see her order anything, but her shitty fake ID must have been good enough to fool the bartender. I’ll just cut her off before she can get drunk.
“This has been fun, but we are still leaving in—” I check the neon clock above the DJ booth. “—twenty minutes.”
Mariya rolls her eyes. Her teeth glow in the black lights hanging from the ceiling. “You haven’t even danced yet. Or had a drink.”
“One of us needs to be the designated driver.” As the only one between us who is legal drinking age, I’m not sure how that became me. But welcome to my life.
“The hour doesn’t start until you have fun.”
The DJ rolls into a new song. I can feel the pounding bass line in my bones. I have to yell to even hear myself. “That wasn’t the deal!”
“Well, it is now.” She grabs my arms and swings them side to side. “Stop babysitting me, enjoy yourself, and then we can go.”
I want to argue, but stubbornness obviously runs deep in the Kulikov family. Mariya is going to get her way whether I like it or not. I might as well decide to like it.
A waitress squeezes past with a tray of drinks. I snag the closest one.
“Hey! That wasn’t for?—”
I toss it back before she can finish and wince against the burn.
“Oh my God, yes!” Mariya cheers and then flashes her ID to the waitress.
Her last name definitely means something around here. The waitress is annoyed, but she doesn’t say anything else as she turns away and disappears into the crowd.
I jab a finger against her sparkling chest. “The hour starts now.”
Mariya waves me off. “Yeah, yeah. Now, dance!”
She spins me into the crowd of people.
This time, instead of fighting against the mass of bodies and limbs, I flow into it. I let myself slide between people as they sway to the music. I close my eyes and let the bass thrum through me.
After so many days in Yakov’s mansion, wondering where I stand and what’s going to happen next, it’s nice to let it all go. Even if only for the space of one song.
When the music winds down, blending into something a little slower, I open my eyes. I look for Mariya along the railing where we were standing before.
But she’s not there.
Cue nervous sweats.
