Charlie
I’m gettingout of the shower when my phone dances on the sink. Wrapping the lush towel around me, I pad over to it and snatch it up right away.
“Oliver! Where are you?” I press the phone to my ear and creep further back into the bathroom. Nikolai wasn’t in the bedroom when I came in here, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t returned. And I’m not sure if it’s okay for him to know where Oliver is.
“I had to leave town for a few days.” He sounds annoyed.
“I’ve been trying to get a hold of you. Why wouldn’t you answer?” I tuck the towel in further when it starts to slip off my chest. My hair drips onto my skin.
“I was busy,” he says, completely dismissing me. “I just wanted to be sure you gave that cash to who it needed to get to.” He’s talking like there’s someone around him who he doesn’t want to know what’s going on.
“I tried,” I snap. “They wouldn’t take it.”
“Shit. I was worried about that.”
“You knew they wouldn’t?” There’s a small puddle forming at my feet, so I step back onto the bathmat. “Hold on a second.” I grab the second towel and quickly wind my hair up in it, so I don’t make a complete mess out of his bathroom.
“Okay.” I pick up the phone again. “What was your plan then?”
“Well, they left, right? And I haven’t heard from them, so what did they say?”
The bathroom door opens, and Nikolai is there, standing in a pair of loose-fitting jeans and a black button-down. The first two buttons are open, and a small piece of his chest tattoo peeks out. His hair is combed but has that run-through look to it and his beard is thicker today. His eyes pierce me, like he’s caught me being naughty and wants to see how I handle the situation.
“I took care of it.” I hold the towel around my chest with an iron fist. I haven’t seen Nikolai since we arrived at his condo last night. He had my bag brought to the bedroom and told me to unpack, he had a meeting. I went to bed around midnight, still no sign of him.
“You just said they wouldn’t take the money. What did you do?” he asks.
Nikolai takes three steps into the bathroom, his eyes still fixated on me. How can I answer Oliver without letting on who I’m talking with?
“I just took care of it.” I’m too much of a wimp to admit to him what I’ve traded for his safety. I have more questions, like where did he run off to and why did he have to go? If I was taking care of his debt with the Romanovs, what other problems did he have?
“They didn’t mention the deli, did they?”
My ears burn with this question.
“Why?” Instantly my stomach knots up. Nikolai takes another step toward me; he’s in reaching range now.
“No reason. I just wondered.”
“Why?” He’s avoiding my question, which makes my anxiety ramp up.
Nikolai slowly reaches his hand up and takes the phone from me. I try to snag it back, but he’s already put it to his ear.
“Oliver. This is Nikolai Romanov.” He pauses a minute. I want to hear my brother’s reaction, but I can’t. Nikolai has the phone pressed too hard against him; it’s muffled.
“Where are you hiding?” he asks, his tone deep. There’s a darkness to the way he asks the question, and I hope Oliver is far away from the city. I may have made this deal with the devil, but if there are other problems besides the debt, I’m not going to be able to help.
Nikolai pulls the phone away and hands it back to me. “The coward hung up.”
I look down at the phone. “Why did you do that? I needed him to answer me.” I fold my arms over my chest, holding up the towel while keeping my phone from him.
“Why do you cover for him? He’s your older brother. He’s supposed to protect you.”
I move my stare away from his face. There’s judgment there I don’t have the energy to unpack and deal with.
“He’s family. You should know better than anyone you do what you do to protect family.” He has as much loyalty to his brothers as I do.
“My brothers would never allow me to suffer for their sins. And.” He takes another step to me, erasing the space between us. “If we had a sister, we would never allow our enemy to touch her for any reason, not even to save our own necks.” He looks like he wants to pull the towel off of me, but he doesn’t, he just keeps staring at me.