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All I wanted to doafter sixteen hours of hell was to grab a bottle of wine and waste my little brain cells on TikTok before the wine would kick in and knock my ass out. But no, I came home to my husband trying to beat his own brother up. I already got enough of this shit with drunk idiots in the ED, I did not want to deal with it at home. I was almost tempted to pretend I didn’t hear or see anything, but it was too late now.
Sighing heavily with a small groan, I looked at everyone with an ‘are you serious’ look. “Why the hell is Nikolai on the floor with Lev? I am way too tired and exhausted for this shit right now, so what the fuck is going on?”
“Well?” I urged impatiently as I hooked my hands onto my hips when no one dared to move an inch or utter a single sound.
“This doesn’t concern you, Angel. Go wait in the bedroom.” I could hear the strain in Nikolai’s voice, as if he held himself back. I could barely see his face from where I stood, but I could see his tense body and tightly clenched fists. He wasn’t done, and no doubt if he wasn’t being held back then he wouldn’t stop until his knuckles bled.
“Oh that’s rich coming from you and given the subject of this whole issue. This whole shit is about her, so no, she should very much stay.” Lev spat with a twisted smirk, making me wary of him when I caught sight of it.
“Someone tell me what the fuck is going on.” I demanded sternly, refusing to budge from my spot.
“Angel, right now isn’t the best time. We’ll explain things to you after we get this mess sorted out. Please, go somewhere safe for now.” Stepan looked back at me with pleading eyes and a soft smile. “Please. We just need to get these two simmered down and then we can all talk, but I don’t want you around here when it gets messy.”
“Go to the bedroom.” Nikolai repeated, glancing back at me with a hard gaze, making me shiver slightly.
“No.” Was I going to regret my defiance later? Yes, a hundred-percent yes, but I’ll take punishment later when it comes. “Either I am staying and you all chill the fuck out and tell me what is going on or I am going to go change and go out.”
“Like hell you are, just do as you’re told for once and go and wait in the bedroom, Angel.” Nikolai’s patience with me ran thin, and the reasonable side of my brain told me to listen to avoid less trouble later and to avoid whatever crap show I just walked in on. On the other hand, the other stupid brain with two functioning brain cells kept me rooted in my spot, challenging the raging bull. “Angel,I am not going to repeat myself one more time. Go wait in the bedroom, now.”
Scoffing, Lev dug his grave deeper. “Oh, or what Kolya? Threatening her now? What are you going to do if she doesn’t listen huh? Make her listen? Drag her around like a sack of shit? Beat a lesson into her? Do all the things that dad used to do to mom?” I guess Lev had a death wish tonight.
“Lev!” I shouted at him in disbelief. Even I knew better than to goad Nikolai on, especially usingthatsore subject.
With a roar, Nikolai quickly headbutted Stepan, breaking his nose with a crack and causing Stepan to reel back and hold his face. The twins were next, they were both promptly thrown off his arms with some effort. Nikolai got in two quick punches at Lev before I threw myself at him.
“Anh! Stop! Lev was way out of line but this is insane!” Did Lev deserve a few swings to the face? Probably, but it still didn’t make it right. But what the hell brought all of this on? I knew Lev was a hothead and liked to make too much trouble than he could handle, but this was way too far. Surely he knew better than to poke at a raging bear.
“Kolya, please, stop. He’s your brother, even if he deserves it, don’t.” I pleaded as I clung onto his cocked back arm for dear life as if it would make any difference. Nikolai could easily throw me off without any effort if he wanted, which is what he proceeded to do. He easily shook me off like I was some annoying little bug.
I didn’t know what came over me, my body moved before I could think the moment I saw Nikolai pull his arm back more to swing at Lev again. Lev was probably the biggest asshole in the world. He and I barely got along as it is, but he didn’t deserve to be beaten by his own brother. I knew I shouldn’t get between them, but I acted on impulse when I threw myself over Lev, shielding his body with mine and bracing myself for the impact of Nikolai’s punch.
“The fuck are you doing? Are you insane?” Lev scolded me with wide eyes as he stared at me in disbelief.
“I don’t know.” I laughed pathetically as I gripped at the fibers of the rug. “I don’t know.” Maybe I was certifiably insane, but I couldn’t let this little tiff of theirs continue like this.
Suddenly, my body was yanked up and away from Lev and spun around to face a seething Nikolai. “The fuck were you thinking, Angel?! Don’t you ever put yourself between me and a target like that. I could have hurt you.” He scolded me as both his hands gripped at my shoulders.
“Well, I couldn’t let you hit Lev again! I don’t care if he kicked your demons in the balls, but you shouldn’t have gone off on him like that. Just what the hell even brought it all on? Unless Lev really lost his damn mind and wanted to die tonight.” I replied with a harsh glare at Nikolai with an upward tilt of my chin and a small puff of my chest.
“You can punish me all you want later, I don’t give a fuck, but I am not going to let you keep doing something you’re going to regret later and beat yourself up about.” I said through gritted teeth as I clenched my fists together.
Shrugging Nikolai’s hold off, I stepped aside and looked at the coffee table where a file sat. Letting my curiosity kill me, I snatched it up and opened it. “What’s a file of me doing here?” My real file. Not going to lie, a part of me felt torn about seeing this file sitting there.
How long have they had this? How did they find out my real name? I hadn’t even told Nikolai my real name yet. How far did they read into this?
“That’s what we were talking about before Lev dug a hole to hell.” Arseny admitted shamefully, averting his eyes from me to the floor.
“What? About my file? What about it? There’s nothing in here that I haven’t told you guys about. Why is it even here after all this time? Were you trying to dig up dirt on me or something?” I have been pretty open with all of them, always answering their questions; I haven’t hidden anything from them besides my real last name and one moment in my life. The oneIdidn’t even want to look back on myself.
“It was stupid of me, but I did it out of habit when I found out about your real name.” Nikolai admitted shamefully while staring ahead.
“Tsk.” Scowling, I threw the file down on the table, letting the contents scatter across the surface. “Well, not that I have anything to hide, nor would I have lied to any of you about anything if you asked. But since you’re all so curious then go ahead, have fun reading about what schools I went to and how I got suspended in grade school for clocking a boy in the face.” I wasn’t worried about anything in the file because there was nothing to worry about.
Well, at least I thought I had nothing to worry about until I saw the edge of a picture peeking out of the scattered piles of paper. The urge to snatch the picture up along with anything pertaining to it chewed away at me, but it would only prove their point that I hid something. But I wasn’t ready for any of them to know aboutthatyet.
“Fuck this. I’m going out.” I hissed under my breath, the need to drink and dance the night away drove my attention away from snatching the file up to burn it. “And don’t you dare try to stop me.” I directed my glare at Nikolai who watched me out of the corner of his eyes.
Quickly and silently, I darted out of the living room and upstairs to the bedroom, discarding all my work gear in a pile on the floor, making a note to myself to bother with it tomorrow morning while I would be nursing a hangover.
