She doesn’t see the shit-eating grin he gives me. My brothers have been teasing me about finding someone. I admit I’ve given them hell about turning into big softies for their wives, but the truth is I love my sisters-in-law, and I’m thrilled they’re so happy. I’m about to eat a huge fucking slice of humble pie, though, and I oddly don’t give a fuck.
“Hurry up and eat that,” Vasily says. “We need to get going.”
I shovel in the last of the food, putting my plate in the sink as I holler out in Russian, “Dmitri, come give me a hug goodbye!”
He comes running back to me with Ruslan right behind him. His hands are filled with building blocks, and the big smile on his face is infectious. I love being an uncle. I scoop him up again and tell him I love him and that I’ll be back to see him again soon.
“Maybe he’ll bring a friend next time,” Nina says, because her Russian is really getting damn good.
Vasily laughs and smacks her ass before lifting her up in a big hug. I turn my back on them to give them some privacy and walk with Dmitri into the other room. He shows me what he’s making with his blocks, and when his parents walk in a few minutes later, Nina’s hair is messed up and she’s as red as Evie gets. Vasily just looks smug.
“That’s fast even for you,” I tell him and then laugh at the look he gives me.
“Keep it up, little brother. You’re going to need my help Friday night to run interference.”
He’s not wrong. I’ve picked up a lot of women at that club, and my hope is that they’ll all stay home this weekend. I should’ve told Evie I’d take her somewhere else, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell her no. Hopefully that won’t come back to bite me in the ass.
After we say our goodbyes, I follow Vasily down to his boathouse. The sun has already set by the time we get on his boat and he steers us further out, but there’s still enough light for me to see the stretch of beach that I took Evie to. The memory of her grinding against my cock makes my damn mouth water. I’m going to have to rethink this whole no masturbation thing.
“I’m glad you met someone,” Vasily says, speeding the boat up while I sit in one of the chairs and stretch my legs out.
“Her dad hits her, and I’m going to have to kill him at some point.”
“Yeah, good luck with that. Nina wouldn’t let me kill her dad, even though I still say the bastard deserved it.”
“I have to ask permission?”
He laughs. “I’m just saying that she may never forgive you if you kill him. You can always hurt him, though. That’ll make you feel a little bit better.”
“Well, I’m definitely getting her the fuck out of there as soon as I think she’ll let me. Her dad is an abusive drunk, and his friend is a pervert who likes to hit on her. The only reason she’s still there is because I don’t want to terrify her by kidnapping her and bringing her to my place.”
“It worked for Volodya,” he says with a laugh.
“True.”
“Just don’t do anything crazy, and if you do decide to take him out, bring one of us with you.”
“I know I’m the youngest, but you’ve got to stop worrying about me so damn much.”
He smiles and ruffles my hair like he used to do when we were little. “Never going to happen, little brother.”
I find it impossible to be angry at my brothers, and they take full advantage of it. I do push his hand away, though, even if I am smiling when I do it.
“So tell me what’s going on tonight.”
“Volodya and some of the other guys are already there, watching for the shipment, and we have shooters on the rooftops to make sure no one else decides to join us.”
“Still no idea who it was that interfered?”
“Not yet.”
When we get closer to the docks, an old, rundown part of the city where you’re more likely to get stabbed in one of the back alleys than make it out unscathed, a wave of déjà vu hits me. This is almost the exact same spot where I was shot last year. Vasily slows the boat down, letting us drift closer as we both scan the area. Most of the lights aren’t working, but there’s still enough of them to allow us to see the crates that are being unloaded from the one and only docked boat.
Vasily checks his phone. “Volodya’s men are unloading the shipment. He says everything looks good so far.”
Grabbing a pair of night vision binoculars, I scan the water around us, making sure there aren’t any other boats creeping around. The water is clear, so I turn my attention back to land. The boat is nearly unloaded, and as soon as it’s empty, I watch Volodya hand the dealer a large duffel bag stuffed full of money. Once the boat leaves, I see movement near one of the vacant buildings on the right.
“Right side,” I tell Vasily. “Two men sneaking around the building.”
