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CHAPTERTHIRTY-THREE
Vadik
Niko steps from behind her.
I’m going to kill him. He may be my brother but I’m going to kill him, letting Charleigh take the first shot when Kir and I were pretty much sitting ducks?
“C’mon. We’ve gotta get out of here,” he says. “There are others on the way.”
We look outside and when the coast looks clear, sprint to the SUV and take off. Barely a word is uttered until we return to the compound, aside from Niko taking Charleigh’s gun away from her.
We pull into the drive in front of the house and I jam the car into park. I am out of my mind furious and before we even reach the front door, I explode.
“I’d like to know what the fuck happened back there,” I say, glaring at Niko and Charleigh.
My fists are balled so tightly it’s like my fingers are breaking. Despite the pain, I can’t force them to relax.
Kir puts a hand on my back. “Hey, let’s all go inside. We’ll talk in the library.”
Without a word, I storm into the house, the others following. I head straight to the bar cart, pour myself a scotch even though it’s still early morning, and realize as soon as I get a whiff of it, it’s the last thing I want right now. My stomach flips, and I can taste bile in my throat, and then, without even thinking about it, I heave the glass against the wood paneled wall, sending booze and slivers of glass all over.
Niko and Kir stand there, staring at me like they are daring me to do it again. They’re pissed at my tantrum.
Charleigh, however, vacillates between bravery and terror.
I pace the room a few times, trying to get my shit together. It’s not working.
“What the fuck was that?” I holler.
Niko raises his hands as if that’s going to help me calm down, then drops them and shakes his head.
Yeah, I’m hopeless when I’m like this. I know it. We all know it. I have to work through it.
“Now, Vad, you might think letting Charleigh take that guy down was some sort of rash decision, but it wasn’t. Look, you don’t know this, but I’ve been training her myself. I knew she could do it, so that’s why I let her. When the security guy came to take her away, I decided she didn’t need to go.”
Charleigh looks up from the club chair she settled into, her chin high. “Vadik, I’m ready, and I just proved that to you. If Niko hadn’t given me the chance, I never would have been able to show you.”
“Bullshit,” I yell. “It might have been a calculated risk, but there was no reason to take one to begin with. Kir and I could have been killed.”
“But you weren’t. You weren’t because I was there, acting as part of the team. I knew I could take that guy out and any other guys there. It’s what I’ve been training for, Vadik.”
Her soft voice helps my anger ebb, but only a little. Am I angry because I’m afraid Charleigh won’t need me anymore? That she’s taking away my ability to die defending her because she can fend for herself now?
Am I more worried about the danger all this poses to Charleigh herself than any of the three of us?
Goddamn, this is all so fucked.
I take a seat in the corner and drop my head into my hands. Fuck, I am so not in the mood for one of my migraines. I fish into my pocket for a pill and swallow it without water.
Tastes like shit.
I look up to see Charleigh standing over me and when she places a hand on my shoulder, my own immediately goes to hers as if she might transfer some peace to me.
Her fingers are small but warm, and I bring her hand to my lips for a kiss. Her skin is soft and smells fresh, lightly scented as if from simple drugstore hand lotion. It’s one of the things I like best about her. She doesn’t try too hard to be attractive, in fact, she barely makes any effort at all, which makes her all the more appealing. She’s so incredibly different from the usual tarted-up women I cross paths with.
Keeping this woman alive has not been an easy feat. Our rivals have found a chink in our armor, our affection for this woman, and they are exploiting it every way they can. If she’s to remain a part of our lives, which I hope to God she is, she needs to be able to defend herself.
