Demyan & Ana (5 page)

Huh. Ana never thought of it that way before.

“Besides,” Koldan drawled, grinning roguishly. “What I do for a living doesn’t stop me from having the same kind of interests and feelings as you, Ana. My hands might be a little dirtier than yours, but they dress up nice all the same. By the way, good deflection. I’m impressed, but not stupid or easily distracted.”

“What deflection?”

“Is there two of you to learn, or just the one?”

Ana gestured at the front door. “Maybe if you weren’t so busy staring at me in there, you might have noticed my parents are sporting the same attitude I have. Be good, smile, and get it done with. My family, we don’t have parties like this. We never have because my parents are too private and distrustful of outsiders. But, it’s not about us, right? It’s about Demyan and Gia. So—”

“You be good, smile, and get it done with,” Koldan interrupted softly. “I get it.”

“Do you?” Ana asked.

“Sure, just the same way Adrik forces me to the Temple though I’d rather chew glass.”

Ana giggled. It was completely inappropriate, but she did. “Nice. You’re honest. I like that.”

“Speaking of being honest, what are you doing for the next couple of hours?”

“You’re looking at it, Koldan.”

He gestured at the house. “Yeah, but you don’t really want to be here and that house is so full no one will notice you’re gone.”

Ana swallowed the thickness building in her throat, her nerves taking over. “Are you asking me out right now?”

“Absolutely,
right
now,” Koldan murmured. “If this party isn’t your kind of thing, I’d like for you to show me what is. What’s holding you back?”

Nothing, really.

“A boyfriend?” he asked.

Ana considered Cavan though only briefly. Really, she thought of him for Koldan’s sake more than her own. The guy wanted truthfulness, after all. Koldan was nothing like Cavan who couldn’t or wouldn’t let her in. She preferred Koldan’s no-nonsense attitude and straightforward intentions to Cavan’s distance and evasiveness.

“You want all the cards face up, right?” Ana asked. Koldan nodded. “I don’t play games. I’ve been seeing someone I met a couple of months ago, but it’s not serious, we’re not a couple, and we’re not intimately involved. Actually, we’ve gone on a few dates and he sometimes shows up after my classes to have coffee.”

“Anyone else?”

“I don’t do casual sex, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Koldan smirked. “It was, so thanks.”

“I’m not an easy lay, I won’t do a one-night stand, and my father is a mob boss with a short temper and a collection of guns. Still want to take me out?” Ana asked.

“Like crazy.”

Chapter Five

Demyan

The elbow jamming into Demyan’s side was really getting annoying.

“Demyan Avdonin, I swear to God if you don’t pick up that fucking phone of yours I’m going to smash it into the wall. I have to be up at five to get ready for work!”

Why was it that every time he began to fall asleep, something or someone was waking him up? It was starting to get ridiculous. Demyan turned to his side in an attempt to avoid another bony appendage ramming into his kidney, but instead, Gia simply smacked his bare back with her opened palm. The sting radiated over his skin like painful little fireworks

“Shit, ow,” Demyan hissed in the dark, finally semi-awake. “That hurt,
katyonak
.”

“You sleep like the dead. Pick up the phone or the next one is going to knock you onto the floor. Don’t test me. The couch isn’t comfortable, babe.”

Despite her obvious aggravation at him, Demyan chuckled. Gia was terribly sexy when she was angry. One of the better perks of having a fiery woman for his best friend and lover. “Love it when you get nasty.”

“Ugh, shut up. You’re such a pig.”

“You love it.”

“Pick up the phone!”

Groaning, Demyan rolled over in the bed and skimmed his hand over the nightstand to find his ringing phone. He didn’t bother to check the caller ID as he fell back into the bed. Putting his hand on Gia’s rounded stomach to feel his daughter’s movements, he answered the call.

“Yeah,
allo
.”

“Demyan, I need your help.”

“Ana?” Demyan sat up straight in the bed at the terror in his sister’s voice. “Ana, what’s wrong?”

“Can you let me in?” she asked barely above a breath. “Please, Demyan.”

“You’re at my place?”

Why would Ana be there?

“Yes, just
please
come open the door, Demyan.”

Fear seemed to saturate her every word. A cold chill ran down Demyan’s spine. “Yeah, yeah … shit, just give me a few minutes. I’m fucking indecent and in bed with Gia. Are you okay?”

“No,” Ana said, crying low. “I’m not.”

“All right. One minute, then,” Demyan muttered, pushing up from the bed to stand. Gia followed, not asking any questions.

“Please don’t hang up the phone.”

Demyan froze as he reached for his slacks hanging over the bedpost. He had never heard his little sister so entirely shaken and afraid before. She was stubborn as hell, sassy, and quick. They didn’t always get along, and maybe they weren’t close, but that didn’t mean he was oblivious to her good traits. The girl on the other end of the call was not the Ana he knew.

“Demyan?” Gia asked.

He swallowed hard, panic welling in his gut. He couldn’t answer Gia because his focus was entirely on his sister. “Thirty seconds, Ana, okay?”

“Just don’t hang up the phone,” she whispered.

“I won’t.”

Demyan wasted no time yanking on his slacks. He tossed a silk dress shirt to Gia for her to put on. In a blink, he was jogging through the apartment, turning on every light as he went with the phone still pressed to his ear. Ana didn’t say a word, but her soft sobbing sliced him straight down to the fucking bone.

“I’m coming, Ana,” he said, wanting her to know.

“Okay.”

Demyan flicked off the chain and turned the deadbolt before throwing open the front door. The phone dropped from his hand to the hardwood floor as he took in the sight of his baby sister. Her usually curly black hair was a mess, her makeup was smudged and ruined. Tears streaked down her face. Her short black dress was crumpled and disheveled and her entire body was shaking all over. She clenched her phone in one hand, held her bag to her chest with the other, and seemed to be literally trying to turn in on herself.

Worst of all, she wouldn’t meet his stare.

Demyan lurched forward out of instinct, needing to protect his sister from whatever had turned her into what was standing in front of him. A full-body flinch took over Ana when Demyan held her wet, messy face in his palms, forcing her to look at him. Redness and puffiness littered her eyes. Teeth mark fissures cut across her bottom lip. Fingerprint bruises marred the left side of her jaw.

“Oh my God, Ana,” Demyan managed to croak. “Look at you.”

Ana sobbed. “I’m sorry, Demyan. I didn’t know where else to go.”

“No. Christ, it’s—” He stopped himself from saying fine, because clearly she was not. “Never mind, you know you can always come to me, Ana.
Always
.”

She nodded jerkily, more tears falling down to his hands. “I know.”

Demyan surveyed the bruises on Ana’s jaw one more time, rolling his thumb along the line of marks. Who had done this to his sister? Why would they do this to her? He didn’t like the looks of her injury added on to the mess of her clothes.

“You know you can tell me anything, right?” Demyan said, keeping his gaze locked on hers. “Anything, Ana. I’ll do whatever you need me to, but you need to tell me what happened.”

Ana whimpered a terrible sound before her knees gave out and she fell into his arms. Demyan didn’t hesitate to pick her up in a cradled embrace. She buried her face into his chest and bawled harder. The force of her sobs shook them both. Gia, who had stayed quiet behind Demyan, moved aside to let him pass into the living-room.

“Gia, close and lock the door, babe.”

“Yeah, okay,” Gia replied with a shake to her tone.

Demyan deposited Ana on the couch, kneeling down in front of her to fix her messy hair and clean her face. It didn’t help much, considering the tears kept coming every time he wiped them away. Her muscles felt as tight as a coiled wire ready to snap. He heard her teeth grinding beneath her clenched jaw. Every time he touched her, she folded inwards to get away from his hands.

“Ana, look at me,” Demyan ordered.

She wouldn’t.

The sick feeling pummeling his insides was a killer.

“Demyan, do you need me to call somebody?” Gia asked.

Ana flew into a round of hysterics. “No, no, no! You can’t, Demyan, you
can’t
!”

“Calm down,” Demyan whispered, his hands ghosting over Ana’s face to wipe away the wetness. “Ana, if something really bad happened, I need to call Papa. He’ll fucking kill me if I don’t. Okay?”

“No,” Ana wheezed, her eyes flying wide and her hands grabbing his wrists so hard her nails cut into his skin. “Please, you can’t call Papa.”

“Ana—”

“Please don’t tell him. He can’t know. I … I don’t want him to know.”

“Know what?” Demyan asked. “Just tell me what happened.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Ana said, shaking her head.

“It goddamn well does.”

“No, just promise me you won’t call anybody, Demyan. I needed a safe place to sleep, that’s all.”

Demyan’s heart was cracking and anxiety drove through his body like a wrecking ball. None of his sister’s words made any sense and by the way she appeared, something awful had gone down with her. Tears welled in Ana’s gaze as she stared at him, silently begging.

“Okay,” Demyan agreed quietly. “I won’t call, but you need to tell me what happened.”

Ana choked on her cries, her hands fisting into her lap. “I just want to sleep. Please let me sleep, Demyan.”

Over his shoulder, Demyan gave Gia a pleading look. His lover didn’t seem to have an answer for him, either. Not that his mind wasn’t drawing its own conclusions because it was. Unfortunately, the only thing Demyan’s thoughts were coming up with was practically fucking unthinkable.

Disgusting. Devastating. Horrible.

Not his sister. Not Ana.

“I’m so tired,” Ana said, gaining his attention again.

Demyan’s heart broke a little more. “Okay, you can sleep. You want a blanket or something?”

Ana nodded and he stood to go find what she needed, but Gia was already making her way to the spare room where the linens were kept. He sat down on the recliner across from his sister, stunned and unsure of his next move. By the time Gia got back, Ana was curled up in the fetal position on the couch using her arm as a pillow.

Demyan couldn’t stop watching the distant stare his sister sported. She wanted to sleep, but she wasn’t closing her eyes. It was only when Gia gasped quietly and the blanket she held fell over the arm of the couch did his attention focus elsewhere.

Straight to where Gia was staring.

Nausea swept Demyan under the current and rage hit him like a punch in the gut. The black dress Ana wore was club-style and popular to her age. Short, slinky material and tight. Demyan hadn’t noticed before because the fabric rode low enough across her thighs to hide it. The marks on Ana’s face were nothing compared to the palm and finger bruises curving around her inner thighs.

Like someone had forced them open.

Jesus fucking Christ.

God,
no
.

• • •

Demyan didn’t sleep. Not a fucking wink. He didn’t leave his sister’s sleeping side. He all but forced Gia to go back to bed well after three in the morning. When she got up at her regular time to get ready for work, he ordered his pregnant fiancée back to sleep. She had tossed a glance at Ana still and somber on the couch and didn’t argue.

Now, after she slept and could think, Gia stood toe to toe with him, angry.

“You have to call someone or the proper authorities. It’s your responsibility as her brother, Demyan!”

Demyan’s lips drew a thin line. “First off, she doesn’t want me to call. Did you see the same thing I did last night, Gia? She’s clearly terrified of my father finding out, for whatever reason. I need to calm her down first and—”

“And the longer you wait, the less she remembers and evidence gets contaminated. You’re letting her shower, for Christ’s sake!”

“Because she wants to. It was her choice and I don’t blame her for wanting to.”

“She shouldn’t shower, Demyan.”

“I’m sorry, Gia, but even when I do call someone, it will not be to the police. We can’t involve cops. Ever. If past experience is anything to go on, the officials are more interested in what they can get from a victim about the family they’re involved in rather than the attack. I know it sucks, but that’s how it is. I have to keep my family safe. We’ll take care of it just as soon as I get a name from her.”

“Take care of it,” Gia echoed.

“Yes. I know you don’t like that.”

“I don’t, but it’s the only option she has for retribution, so.” Gia shuddered, but her gaze steeled. “Promise me, even if it takes months to find out, you will take care of it, Demyan.”

Speechless at her demand, Demyan could only nod.

The knock on the apartment door interrupted their conversation from going further. Demyan knew it was Koldan, as he called the guy earlier in the morning to pick up something for him Ana might need. They worked the docks together. Koldan was solid to Demyan in the way he would keep his mouth shut. Plus, Demyan needed someone uninvolved with his father to do some poking around if Ana wouldn’t talk.

“Can you go check on her, get her something to wear, and make sure she’s comfortable while I deal with that?” Demyan asked.

“Sure, babe,” Gia said softly. “Are you okay?”

“Not really.”

“Yeah, I didn’t think so.”

Gia leaned up and kissed his cheek before leaving him alone. Demyan answered the door with a blank expression, not wanting to show his anger or panic. Koldan stood on the other side, looking inside a pharmacy bag he held and chuckling.

“Hey,” Demyan said.

“Morning.” Koldan glanced up with his brow lifted, laughing. “Man, you do know your girl is way too far along to be using this shit, right?”

Demyan understood Koldan was joking, but it didn’t stop the growl of warning forming in the back of his throat. Immediately, Koldan’s chuckles quieted and his amusement disappeared. “Whoa, Demyan. Chill. What did I miss?”

Stepping back, Demyan waved at the entranceway behind him. “Get inside.”

Koldan did, closing the door behind him and handing the pharmacy bag over. He gave Demyan a once over before asking, “Seriously, what the fuck is up? You look ready to kill.”

So, maybe Demyan still had issues with hiding his emotions.

Demyan didn’t answer Koldan. Instead, he pulled out the rectangular box from the pharmacy bag and read the fine print on the side.

Plan B. Christ. It made him sick just having to look at it and consider his sister might need what was in the box.

“You can just walk in and pick this shit up, huh?”

Koldan nodded. “Basically. Pharmacist gives you a run down on how to use it properly and the window of time it’s effective.”

“And how long is that?” Demyan asked.

“Anywhere from seventy-two hours to one-hundred-twenty, but the sooner it’s taken after unprotected sex, the better.”