It had been another long day of working with Kaleb. More meetings with important clients and more note-taking. I was exhausted after dinner but I wasn’t sleepy tired. So instead of going straight to sleep I put the telly on in my room. I barely made it through half an episode of Gilmore Girls before I felt my eyes start to droop. I readjusted so that I was laying down, the soft noise from the telly lulling me to sleep.
I woke hours later with a start at the sound of a crash. I’d been dreaming about Nik, cliche as hell but, still, it was a good dream. It helped that the bed was so damn comfortable.
I wondered for a second if I’d been hearing things. I shook myself awake and listened for the noise. Only seconds later there was another crash but this time followed by shouting. What the fuck?
A sense of deja vu reverberated through me. Instinctually, I reached for my phone. I checked the time but it was still early, only eleven o’clock. A text from Nikolai appeared on the screen, a final goodnight from our short conversation earlier. I clicked the number on the screen to call him.
“You okay?” he asked with urgency and in lieu of greeting. I was surprised he was awake, I had half expected it to go to voicemail - that hadn’t drenched the urge to hear his voice though.
The last time I’d heard a noise, it was Nikolai’s house getting shot up. I needed Nik.
“I, uh... there was a crash downstairs. It woke me up.” It freaked me out more than I wanted to admit, so instead I didn’t mention my fear at all.
“It’s okay. It was just Ambrose coming home,” he said.
Of course it was Ambrose.I sighed with unchecked relief. “I’m in my truck outside, I saw him staggering down the street.”
“Okay, I guess I’m going to try and get back to sleep. I just saw you’d texted me, I needed to hear your voice,” I admitted.
“It’s alright, Ana, don’t worry. You try and go back to sleep. I’ll see you tomorrow. Bright and early, so you better make sure you get enough sleep. I have a big day planned, remember?” He soothed me. I could hear the smile in his voice, it made me grin.
He was happy to be getting to see me, and so was I. When we’d made this date, I hadn’t realised just how much I had missed him. I knew that he was never too far away but I had missed his physical presence. The sight of him, the feel of his arms, the warmth of his kisses...
I didn’t want to hang up. I could’ve spent forever just listening to him talk, it wouldn’t have even mattered what he was saying. I sighed with longing, “Goodnight, Nikolai.”
“Goodnight, Anastasia.”
After hanging up another disturbance came from the ground floor. Looking up to the bedroom door, I switched my bedside lamp on. It was clear that something was going on and I wouldn’t be getting any sleep soon.
I heard rash footsteps and Rachel yelling up the stairs but her words were lost in Ambrose’s slurred retort. I gritted my teeth, climbing out of the bed and throwing open the bedroom door. A part of me didn’t want to get involved. But a bigger part of me felt responsible for the tension between them.
Peeking into the hallway I saw Ambrose leaning over the bannister. No doubt readying to yell something else at poor Rachel.
“Hey!” I shouted. It startled him enough that he jerked upright. Glaring, he turned to face me. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“You! You little bitch, coming back in here just fucking ruin everything. This all could have been mine if it weren’t for you!” he railed. “I was ready for this! Born for this! I would have taken dad’s place. They’re not your parents, they’re mine!”
Oh wow. He may have been drunk, but he was an immature child. I was surprised he even managed to get served alcohol.
“Ambrose!” A red-faced Rachel was halfway up the stairs, she looked horrified, embarrassed and absolutely fuming. I’d never seen Rachel angry yet and boy, I was glad I wasn’t on the receiving end of that. She was fucking scary.
“How dare you talk to your sister like that! I can’t believe you’d even say such a thing. It’s a blessing that your sister found her way home. After all these years, it was a damn miracle!” She sounded close to tears. I wondered if this was the way it had to be. He snarled down at her, a guttural, aggressive noise that made her recoil like a spring ready to pop and knock him the fuck out.
“Hey, this isn’t mom’s fault.” I wanted to defend her, but it felt strange. After everything that had happened, I wasn’t sure where I stood with either Rachel or Kaleb. But I knew that they didn’t deserve Ambrose turning on them.
And then Ambrose rounded on me again. “You don’t get to call her that!”
He stalked towards me, pointing, teeth bared. Finally, in range, I braced myself. His voice dropped, and he spoke quietly so that I was the only one able to hear him. “You’ll get what’s coming to you, bitch, mark my words.”
“Consider them marked,” I said, calmly as I stood my ground. “Now get out of my face.”
He stood there a moment longer, swaying on his feet, and I could have sworn he was going to hit me. But he didn’t. Instead, he turned on his heel and stomped down the hall to his bedroom, slamming the door behind him.
“Are you alright?” she asked quickly, searching my face. Rachel rushed up the stairs to me.
“I’m fine,” I said. “Just mad about what he said. Are you guys okay?”
She nodded and looked at me sadly, eyes red but still holding dry. “It’s not like him to be so aggressive… He’s been drinking more recently, and—”
