Chapter 6

6

Dmitri

S tepping into Leah’s apartment fills me with a heady cocktail of outrage, jealousy, disgust, and arousal. I can’t believe she’s lived in this sad, tiny apartment with Shitstain Mick for so long, and I’m mad she didn’t get out sooner.

There are dirty clothes—all belonging to Mick—strewn across the sofa. Rumpled chip bags take up most of the coffee table’s surface area. The only nice thing that looks like it belongs to him is a gaming console and TV, next to a computer and monitor. I wrinkle my nose. Danica has told me Mick would rather game than do anything kind for Leah.

The one thing that doesn’t look like it belongs in this apartment? Leah herself. She’s dressed in a pink hoodie and jeans. Her brown hair is in two chunky braids fastened with matching pink bands. She looks so fucking pretty, my heart stops.

“I have boxes,” I announce. Unnecessarily. I’m holding them. She’s standing right there. She can see them with her own blue eyes.

“Thanks.” She takes one from me and starts assembling it.

“I have the tape.” Danica steps out from behind me. “How long until he gets back?”

“Not sure,” Leah says. “He said he had a date.”

My sister looks murderous. She looks like she hopes Mick will come back while we’re packing. She’s five-foot-three in heels. Maybe a buck-fifteen soaking wet. She’s unarmed. But right now, if I were Mick, I’d fear for my life. Those gray eyes of hers promise pain.

To avoid her wrath, I get to work on assembling boxes.

Working also keeps me from ogling Leah.

Fuck. If Danica finds out about the auction, she’ll kill me.

When Leah first moved in with our family because her asshole parents forced her out of their house, Danica begged me to keep my hands off her friend. “I share everything with you, big bro,” she had said, “but please don’t screw up my friendship with Leah. No flirting, no dating, no hookups. Please.”

And it sounded fair. Plus, I looked at Leah as a child at that time.

It was an easy promise to make.

Two nights ago, I broke that promise in the most epic way possible.

Two nights ago, I fully became myself. Dominating Leah was heaven. It doesn’t matter that Gage orchestrated the entire scene. I was there, above her. Where I really want to be.

Where I really should not be.

I am not a safe man. I have dark impulses, urges. Leah sees the good in people. Sometimes she only sees the good. When she looks at me, I don’t feel like a piece of shit. I feel noble, capable, heroic.

And it’s a fucking lie.

So I ignore Leah. It seems the safest course.

She mostly directs Danica on what to pack. My role is carting the packed boxes down the corridor and loading them into my borrowed truck.

It doesn’t take long, and soon Leah is grabbing her keys and coat.

Danica stops her at the door. “What about furniture?”

“Uh…” Leah says. “What about it?”

“I distinctly remember going shopping with you to buy the couch, the kitchen table, and chairs. The mattress is yours too, right?”

“We’re not taking that stuff,” Leah says. “I don’t want it.”

“Well, I don’t want him to have it,” Danica says. “Call me petty, but?—”

“ Petty ,” I cough into my hand.

She smacks me. “How much room is left in Vincent’s truck?”

I glance around. “We could fit the couch and dining set with a little reorganization.”

In the end, I’m able to find room for the mattress, too. As I’m maneuvering it out the door, Danica looks up at the ceiling and says to Leah, “Did you buy the light bulbs? The toilet paper? Those are coming with us.”

Remind me to never get on my sister’s bad side.

Leah

I thought Dmitri and I could act normal. I thought we could pack up boxes and joke around like we usually do.

Maybe it’s the fact that my friends are helping me leave what I now realize has been an emotionally abusive relationship. Maybe it’s the fact I had Dmitri’s cock in my mouth two nights ago. But for some reason, we’re more somber than usual.

Before, I might have joked about Dmitri’s muscles by insisting he give me a piggyback ride while carrying heavy boxes.

He would’ve done it, too.

Now, I’m worried that any glance or touch could remind him I’ve been naked and writhing in front of him.

When he’s out of earshot, loading the last box into the truck to fit around the mattress, Danica pulls me aside.

“Sooooo. I know you’ve been preoccupied, girly pop, but how did that auction thing go?”

“Fine,” I say.

“Fine? That’s it?” She pouts. “I know they have a scary NDA. I don’t want you to break the rules, but…did you bang a stranger?”

I choke, then force a laugh to cover it. “The guy wanted me to rub myself on his leg. That’s all I’ll say.”

Hopefully, that non-detail is boring enough for her to lose interest.

“It was okay, though?” Her voice is full of worry. She’s asking more out of concern than intrigue.

“Yeah. It was good.”

Her concern breaks into humor. “It must have been, if it helped get you out of Mick’s clutches.”

“You hated Mick all this time, didn’t you?” Humor forgotten, I glare at the ground. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

She turns me gently so I face her. She flips up her sunglasses. Her gray eyes have more blue in them than Dmitri’s. “I tried in the beginning. But he had me fooled for a minute, too, thinking he was an okay dude. Then once you’d really fallen for him, it was too late. Every negative thing I had to say—you always found an excuse for him. Remember?”

I look down because yeah. Now I remember.

“Hey, I’m not blaming you for his assholishness,” she says.

I huff out a mirthless laugh. “That’s not a word.”

“I know, but you look like you’re about to cry. I can’t stand that what I said hurt you.” She pulls me into a hug.

I take a deep breath, then another.

Behind me, Dmitri clears his throat. “We should get moving.”

Danica takes one of the tiny back seats in the cab of the truck. I sit in the passenger seat. I carefully don’t look at Dmitri while he drives. He’s unbelievably gorgeous. Strong. I’m really only fully realizing that now. I always had a little crush, but I wouldn’t allow myself to consider it.

Now I know what he tastes like.

And I want more.

I need to stop with the horny thoughts and focus on this move. A room in Danica’s house opened up last week in Old Thirty-Three. It’s a respectable neighborhood. Good rentals are hard to find in San Esteban. My apartment was on the fringes of safety. If the room at Danica’s wasn’t available, I’d be searching for a place in the sketchy Bellefleur district.

Dmitri pulls up to Danica’s place. The duplex looks homey and wholesome, a huge step up from my apartment.

The three of us pile out of the truck. As Dmitri unlatches the tailgate, one of Danica’s roommates, Elias, comes running out of their little duplex.

“What’s this?” Elias asks.

“We’re moving Leah into the spare room,” Danica says.

Elias gives me a weird, panicked smile. “Um, I just moved in my cousin. Like, an hour ago. I’m so sorry. The room was free, and?—”

“And I said my friend was coming.” Danica’s gray eyes spark with outrage.

“You said she might be coming.” Turning to me, Elias says, “I really am sorry. But you’re going to have to find somewhere else. Rita’s already paid and we got her stuff moved in.”

Danica turns around, a look of fury on her face. She takes a deep breath and I can tell she’s trying to keep her temper. After another deep breath, she faces a very uncomfortable-looking Elias. “In the future, all roommate replacements and situations will be voted on and discussed by all current roommates, prior to anyone else moving in. We’ll talk about this later.”

“Yeah…sorry, again.” Elias skulks back to the house.

Disappointment washes through me. I didn’t expect to be homeless. I don’t regret leaving Mick, not for a second. But I thought I had somewhere to go.

Dmitri leans against the back of his truck, arms folded. He looks like he wants to follow Elias and have some words with him. Like he could solve this problem.

“We could see if Rita would be willing to share the room,” I suggest. “I’d get a storage unit for the rest of my stuff. I need one anyway, for the couch and dining set.”

Danica shakes her head. “That room is the size of a shoebox. Goddamn it. Fuck Elias.”

“He was just looking out for his cousin.”

“Don’t excuse his shitty behavior.” Danica gives double middle fingers to the front of her house.

“I’ll get a hotel and figure out next steps tomorrow. Every problem has a solution.” I infuse confidence into my voice. I have to believe it.

“Maybe.” Danica gives her brother a calculating look. “Dmitri?”

“Yeah?” His eyes are half-closed and he looks up at the darkening evening sky.

I don’t think he realizes what Danica’s about to ask, but I can see the gleam in her eyes, the gleam of an idea. When she gives Dmitri a too-bright smile, the I-have-a-huge-request smile, I know I’m correct.

“No—Danica,” I say. “No, I can’t?—”

Dmitri’s eyes widen and he stands straight. He’s finally picked up on Danica’s plan. “I don’t think it’s a good idea?—”

“Leah’s going to stay with you until we find her an apartment.” Danica talks over us. “There. It’s decided. Let’s go.”

“My place has one room,” Dmitri says. “Even if I had an extra bed, where’s all her furniture going to fit?”

“The furniture can fit around your Mustang.” Danica claps her hands with an air of finality. “It’s only for a week or two while we find her another place.”

A week or two is fucking optimistic, and all three of us know it. San Esteban is notorious for being hard on renters—that’s the main reason Danica’s free room got snapped up before she and her roommates could get my arrangement finalized.

“What about Mom and Dad’s?” Dmitri asks.

I really don’t want to impose on their parents again. As kind as Mr. and Mrs. Montrose are, they downsized and moved to Fair Heights after Dmitri and Danica moved out. While they do have a small spare room, it’s a thirty-minute commute to San Esteban—more when there’s traffic. I meet a lot of students and my schedule is all over the place. Living in Fair Heights would be very inconvenient.

Danica points at him. “That’s a shit solution and you know it. What’s your problem? This is Leah we’re talking about.”

Leah, who is me. Who is standing right here. Feeling awkward as fuck.

“It’s okay,” I say. “If I could store some of my stuff for a week or two, I can stay at a hotel or something until I find an apartment.”

I have all that money from the auction, first of all. It isn’t enough to live on for long, but it’s a great opportunity to get started—first and last months’ rent, security deposit, and a few extra months taken care of. The problem is after it runs out. My tutoring gig won’t keep me afloat as a single renter in San Esteban.

“You guys,” Danica says. “Stop it. Leah’s staying with you, Dmitri. It won’t be for long. The three of us should get a place together, anyway. I’m pissed at Elias—he knew I had that room marked for you, Leah.”

Before the auction, finding a place to rent with Danica and Dmitri would’ve been fine. Fun, even. But now?

Nightmare fodder.

“Last thing I want to do, sis, is live with you again,” Dmitri says. “But Leah, yeah. You can stay for a bit while you find a place.”

There’s so much unspoken between us.

I’m not sure what we’ll end up saying. But I guess that’s a problem for Future Leah.

I worry about Future Leah. She has some hard times coming.