19. Daniela

NINETEEN

Daniela

I can't tear my eyes away from where I last saw Val as we make our way back to the table from the bar. The stupid bastard had his hand on my thigh and didn't even stop someone sitting on his lap. I'm not drunk but I'll use that to excuse my actions in the morning as I turn to Tali and hope he repays the favor I once did for him.

Keeping my voice low so no one overhears my petty plotting, I lean forward speaking into his ear, "Do you remember Jess?"

We were dumb teenagers, but she broke his heart by cheating on him. Understanding washes over him and he pulls me closer, remembering how I helped in his pettiness. He kisses my cheek as he asks, "Want love or lust?" The question is weird, until he explains further. "Lust will make them angry. Love will hurt." Kissing my cheek again he pulls me up, so I'm sat across his thighs and asks into my neck, "Who is it?"

I'm not going to tell him it's his brother. There'll be a whole conversation and I don't need to relive the night Tali tried to warn me away from Val by telling me every fucked up thing he's done bracketed by the words "cursed dick." When I don't answer he keeps his face in my neck, there's no movement against my skin but to everyone else's eyes we're doing more than having a conversation.

"Want me to beat the shit out of him?"

It's not a token offer and he gives me a warning before putting his hand on my thigh.

Anger parts the crowd as Val emerges, alone. Not looking away from him, I move back and become a toxic asshole using my own friend. There's no pause in his movements as I get further away, and Tali plays the role of a lifetime, banding an arm around my waist like he can't bear not to touch me as he pushes his head into my neck again and directs my toxicity.

"Hug my arms, laugh, then look up at me."

Blowing a raspberry on my neck to get the reaction he wants he winks down at me.The fake smile on his face doesn't match the violence laced between his words.

"Are they watching you?"

I turn in his arms so I can check, and Val is glaring not watching.

"Yeah, he's not looked away since you touched me." Being a nosy shithead, he tries to turn but I hook my arms around his neck to stop me getting caught.

The immaturity leaves as he turns serious, asking, "Did he hurt you?"

I don't know how to answer. Val hurt me and he didn't at the same time. I did it to myself by ignoring who he really is. I know what he's really asking though, and I don't have to lie.

"No," I say confidently, "he's moved on and I don't want him to think I can't."

I want Val to hurt, to know that I think as little of him as he does me.

Tali drops the topic, thankfully, and he holds my hips, discreetly positioning me how he wants me and leans down so I have an unobstructed view of his asshole brother. "Can you see him?"

He's all I can see, even with the crowd moving around us and the other people at the table. I could pick Valentin out of a line up blindfolded. My voice is low, and my lips don't move as I give one word in confirmation. "Yeah. "

Tali pulls me closer and plays his role, pretending to kiss up my neck. "Look in his eyes for a second, then pull my head back by my hair like you can't stand not touching me."

Soaking Val up one last time, I do as instructed.There's no lust coursing through my body, but jealousy and rage pour off Val in the final snapshot as Tali brings us face to face and sticks his tongue out at me. Their eyes are similar in hue, but they don't stir the same feelings inside me. I don't get lost in his eyes like I do with Val. There are no sandy parts, Tali's have darker edges of blue that are nearly black.

No one else can see me in our fucked up game and the dopey smile is the same as when we used to watch movies all night. One hand leaves my hip, slowly trailing up my body until he's threaded his fingers though my hair above my nape. Giving me a warning before he moves, he pulls me closer our lips are nearly touching. It's disgusting now that we're adults. As dumb fuck teenagers it was a joke and Tali grimaces while I try not to laugh in his face.He keeps us moving and he makes it harder to hide my laugh as he voices one of his theories.

"I think everyone has two soulmates, one is platonic like we are, then that undying love type. Don't let yours be a dick or I'll have to kill them."

His forehead touches mine and the lights move in long lines. It brings out the sadness in his eyes and I forgot about the asshole I'm trying to hurt when I ask, "Are you okay?"

Sadness doesn't look right in Tali's eyes, he's always happy and the person who works hard to make others feel that happiness. He nods and lies. "Just missed having my girl," he smiles but it's off. The distraction doesn't work on me, so he kisses the tip of my nose. "A lot of shit has happened in the years you've been gone."

I look down towards his knee, the scars are covered, and he hasn't told me how it happened. His hands are full of ink too, he might treat me the same but he's a different person. We all are.

He collects himself and blinks away his emotions before pressing his lips against my smile line, poking his tongue out and fucking licking me.

"Close your eyes and hold the back of my neck." I hold his nape loosely but he jolts my body, acting like a little shit. "Harder, no girl of mine would be bored when I've got my hands on her." I massage his nape stroke across his shoulders with my other hand .

Speaking against his face while we put on our play distracts me from staring at Val like I want to.

"Worried about your reputation?"

He tuts at my question and his answer is ridiculous. "Nah, I'm a Vartanov. We excel at three things." Moving to my other cheek he continues, "We fight, we fuck, and we know how to be a family." He wags his brows as he says, "The three most important F's."

He's got it wrong. Each brother excels at one of the things he's said. Vlad can fight, the snippets of his cage matches were enough for no sane person to go against him. Tali is the family, he welcomed me into it with open arms. And Valentin only fucks people before he fucks them up, he's not willing or capable of more.

Tali pulls my head back with his hold on my hair as he traces my neck with his nose and asks, "He still looking?"

Opening my eyes to check, Val is turned talking to a man I've seen a few times. I think his name is Braden, it's one of those names that ends in "-den." He's Zenith's security and I can't think of any reason they would be friends.

"No, he's turned around."

My voice comes out dejected with proof I failed at what I was attempting to do. I look away from the table as Tali unglues himself from me and turns into an owl, searching the club.He doesn't stop looking around as we walk back to our table. He grabs my hips pulling me onto his lap and Val tenses when I try to take my previous seat. There's no other reaction, just a slight pause with his eyes moving to the side and his shoulders getting bigger while he continues his conversation. I want to kick him in the shin, dig my heel into his calf and demand he feels the same way I do. Insignificant.

But I act like a lady and focus on the other people around the table as Tali pretends to be obsessed with me. There's a new face in Ana, she didn't grow up in their house but there's a familiarity in her mannerisms that I can't put my finger on. Her eyes are blank as she looks between Tali and me with a smirk, but she doesn't lower her voice or have any emotion in it as she asks, "You two fucking?"

My face heats and I'm cut off from denying anything as Tali opens his fat mouth. "Don't be upset that you missed your chance. When Dani breaks my heart, I'll come to you to fix it, malysh. "

I elbow him in the ribs, and he traces my spine with his fingertips knowing I hate it. The sensation is like little spiders are crawling on me and I twist my shoulder out of instinct to shake it off.

Val turns back to the table but doesn't say anything as Ana asks more questions. "Have you ever? You seemed really close over there."

I quickly slap a hand over Tali's mouth because I know what he's going to say before the he can finish the first word and I say, "No, we never will."

Him spewing an embarrassing story of when I couldn't find my tampon isn't what has my heart racing. Valentin looks at every part of my body that's touching Tali, his anger increasing as he does, and his entire body is rigid as his eyes keep flicking to me. He doesn't turn his head; it remains fixed forward.

My hand goes limp and, without the guard, my best friend acts like a dickhead. The observing stare is still focused on the crowd as he tucks my hair behind my ear cooing, "Don't worry baby, I won't tell anyone our little secret."

I hate him and Ana seems to be enjoying the twenty-one questions she's started. "What?—"

A heavy thud lands on the table cutting her off and Val's tone is brutal, killing everyone's good mood. "Learn when to shut the fuck up or I'll stop you being able to speak."

It's humiliating to be associated with the rude cunt. If the angry stare was directed at me I'd probably crumble after being spoken to like that. Ana does better than I would and matches his dead eyes as she clenches her jaw and slowly stands. Her voice is deadly and she's not fighting tears as she clenches her fists. "Try it and we'll see who wins."

There isn't a single sound from anyone else and she walks away. Alone. Because Valentin is a fucking prick and has to make people feel like shit.

I kick into his leg as I stand, aiming my heel into his calf and disappointment laces my words "Learn how to act like a human fucking being, and not speak to people like shit."

Stupid prick. It's always been his preferred weapon of hurting someone, public humiliation. The asshole doesn't like to inflict pain without an audience.

It doesn't take me long to find Ana as she stands at the bar with a row of shots in front of her. She's only a few years younger than me but her anger makes her seem older. I don't say anything and take one of the glasses from the line. She tilts her head back with her brows together and it takes too long for her to smile. Has no one ever been there for this girl that she's wary of my proximity for fuck's sake.

She loosens up after she's done three shots without a wince, and she sounds her age for once as she says, "Thank you, you didn't have to follow me."

I wrap my arm around her shoulders and hug her to my side before ordering another round so we don't have to sit with the dickhead.

"I wanted to. Ignore Val, he's a dumb prick."

Her smile comes back, and she laughs like I'm brave or stupid for cursing at him. Her lips move but no sound comes out, I think she's talking to herself and there's no emotion in her eyes but protectiveness rises in me because she's not sane and her thin white hair moves away from her neck, revealing a burn behind her ear.

I'm going to fucking kill him.

It requires effort to soften my voice as I ask, "Did he do that?"

I'm staring at the mottled raised skin, but she laughs as though it didn't cause her any pain. Her answer is confusing as fuck as she strokes behind her ear and says, "It was a present."

The woman who was sat on Valentin's thigh catches my attention as she storms through a hallway behind the bar and Ana notices where I'm looking. Her cheek touches her shoulder as she tilts her head, eyes narrowing at the man following the woman.

"That's Lilah," she says as her hands ball into fists, "I think she's my friend and she's nice." She relaxes when the woman, Lilah, grabs the man's arm. "She doesn't like Valentin though, she just does things like hug people and give them cake because she likes to."