Her eyes glitter with mischief. "That's a yes. What do you think, Val? It sounded a little too defensive."
Nikita is laughing even harder now. She wiggles off my lap and shakes her head, holding her hand over her belly. "I'm really going to pee a little if they don't stop."
But her face is so lit up that I can't help laughing with them.
Matvei comes over and scans over us. "What's going on here? It sounds like the whole party is in this corner," he asks.
"We were just hearing about how Bardil likes getting golden showers from your sister," Talia informs him.
Matvei's blush is dark red, and the horror on his face is brilliantly amusing. His discomfort at the topic of conversation bursts a new roll of laughter from everyone.
"What is wrong with you guys? I don't need to know those things, sheesh, you know I can't stop picturing it now. Dammit. I'll never get that image out of my head, Talia!" Matvei groans.
He shakes his head, but when Valery and Talia are laughing so hard they're crying, he realizes they're joking and joins in too.
"Dammit, I almost believed you," he complains. "I mean, I love you, man, but seriously, I don't need to know that stuff."
I put my hands in the air, gasping for air. "Dude, I'm right there with you. Certain things are not for family discussions," I agree.
"What is not for family discussions?" Diomid asks, arriving at the conversation late.
"No!" Matvei and I spout at the same time, cutting Valery and Talia off.
"Alrighty then, I guess I didn't want to know," Diomid smirks. "The steaks are almost ready to come off. Who's hungry?"
"I'll help you," I say, standing up and kissing Nikita on the forehead. "You ok? You need a bucket or something?"
She gasps in horror and grabs my arm to bite the flesh bit. I yelp and jump back. "Sorry, I was just trying to be helpful," I chuckle, rubbing the red teeth marks.
Secretly, I love it when she gets feisty. Her little nips and gently slaps. They're all a bit kinky. And she knows that the feistier she gets, the feistier I get in return. So whenever she does it, it's like an invitation for me. Her silent request to be bent over the bed and spanked.
"I'll help too. But first I'm going to pee," she says.
"No, little rabbit. Sit, relax. I will bring you a plate of food the moment it's ready," I tell her, declining her offer.
Behind us, there is a loud splash, a squeal of laughter, and a yelp.
We turn to see Jaroslav throwing Timofei in the pool, clothes and all.
Marlen is standing with his phone out, filming it.
Everyone is laughing.
Timofei surfaces and shouts, "I cannot believe you actually did it!"
"You lost the bet, man. Fair and square."
Tim throws his hands in the air. "Fair enough. Jeez, the water is great. Who wants to join me?"
Nikita was right all along. These are good people. Her family, the Shevs, they're all good people. I'm trying hard to earn their trust after everything that happened, and they are returning the favor by earning mine. It's taking time, but mostly, we're there. We're a family.
Marlen and Simon have completely let go of all the bullshit I did in the past. They're my brothers. They always wereand always will be, and I think that going through this taught us that our family is much stronger than we gave it credit for.
The barbecue is a lot of fun.
But shortly after eating, I glance at Nikita's face, and she immediately throws methe look. She's done so well. Anyone here wouldn't guess how tired she was this afternoon. She's bubbly and happy and talkative. But now she's run out of steam, and I imagine a tummy full of food has her wishing she could crawl into bed. I nod, grinning.
Standing up, I take her hand and pull her to her feet.
