Page 3 of Cherished By the BRATVA Grump

“Nothing,” I bark and stretch my neck from side to side. It’s nothing. I know it’s nothing. I just need to get laid.

Yeah.

I think for a moment. When was the last time I even had a woman in my lap?

Months.

That’s what the problem is. Since my cousins all up and met women and got married, our nights out around the clubs have all but stopped entirely. And now Mechislav is wrapped up with Daisy, that just leaves me on my own.

I glance over the yard and wonder if any of the guys down there could be trusted on a night out in a strip club.

“What do you need from me today?” I demand.

“Well, Mechislav is still out because of the car accident—” Eduard begins.

“Pussy,” I grumble, and he gives me a look that tells me to rein it in.

“I’m heading home early,” he adds. “Misha kept us all up last night, and Sammie needs to be in the café more as Delilah gets closer to giving birth. Jasper is on light duties, just in case and Natan is holding down the yard impressively well.”

“Hey,” Natan complains. “I know how to do my job.”

“Yes,” Eduard agrees. “You’ve just always been better at beating the shit out of people. It’s weird to see the side of you that has actual business acumen.”

I snort.

“Anyway,” Eduard continues, “things are pretty quiet for a change, if you truly want to be helpful Demyan, you should head to the café and see if Sammie will show you the ropes.”

I can’t believe what I’m hearing. “You want me to learn to make coffee?”

Eduard shrugs. “It would help when Delilah takes time off to have the baby.”

I blink. Slowly. Because I must have shifted into some alternate universe.

“Coffee?”

“It’s fun,” Natan pipes up, causing me to swing my head to face him. “Delilah showed me how to make a little cat face in the froth.”

“You’ve lost your minds. First Mech with the bookstore, now you want us running the café?”

Eduard laughs. “Don’t be stupid. You’d never be able to run the whole café.”

Natan joins in with the laughter and I narrow my eyes at them both.

“This is insane,” I finally mutter. But I push up from the chair and head out.

Eduard is the head of this family. I accept and respect that. If he tells me to learn how to make coffee, I’ll learn how to make coffee. But only because I don’t want Delilah hurting herself or the baby by overworking.

It has nothing to do with the possibility of the increased chance of seeing Tamsin.

Fuck.

It has everything to do with that.

Ever since seeing her at the bookstore opening, I can’t stop thinking about her. The way she moved through the shelves. The way she laughed with her friends. I overheard Delilah and Sammie saying how they hadn’t seen Tamsin in so long. That she had been away dancing on a cruise ship and they all fell out of touch.

The truth is, I’ve never seen anyone so beautiful in all my life. And the world is full of beautiful women. But Tamsin…

I park in the small parking lot on the corner. The café is already full of customers who are there for their breakfasts and to try to pet a cat. Part of me can’t believe I am doing this but a larger part of me is past caring.