Let Me In-Dragan's Tale: The Mikhailov Brothers (12 page)

The Dragan

I hated that I had such a shitty shower for Toni to get washed up in but at least it was clean. There wasn’t room for both of us, so she went first and I returned some phone calls.

While I listened to messages, I gathered her clothes from around the room and laid them out on the bed for her. When she reappeared she was wrapped in one of the towels Evie bought me.

She spotted her clothes on the bed and thanked me.

“Give me five minutes and we’ll head to Sergey and Evie’s.”

“Okay,” she said without de
manding more details. So, I’d figured out how to get Toni Hume to comply.

Six minutes later we were out the door and headed to Sergey’s. My brother called to tell me the Grand Jury deliberations were complete. Arrest warrants were going out for both Alina and Sofia’s husbands. In addition,
sixty-year old pawnbroker Baron “Dobo” Drobski was being charged for forty counts of racketeering. He and four of his lieutenants from around Texas and New York were being charged with grand larceny. Irina was another story.

New York was requesting extradition for Drobski. With the old man
about to be in custody, Sergey had some details he needed to share with Evelyn that he couldn’t before.

Antonina was in the passenger seat of my car and she smelled like my soap. And in spite of the fact that I’d just come harder than I had in years, I wanted to pull over and fuck her again.

She’d been everything my warped mind imagined and more. Flawless skin, tight, feminine body and her tits were perfection. And no games. She enjoyed sex and didn’t hide her need behind bogus diffidence or sexual passivity. Like I said, fucking flawless. Glancing over, I caught her staring at me.

“You okay?
”

She laughed. “Oh, I’m good. Thinking about what I’m goin’
to do to you next time I get you naked.”

Barking out a laugh,
I let go of the gearshift to squeeze her thigh.

Perfection
.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

TEST

Evie

I was throwing up again and it made no sense. No one else was sick from last night’s lasagna. But there I was, slumped over the toilet, dry heaving into the bowl. Sergey had tried to help but I hate to have an audience when I throw-up. Instead I ordered him to leave the room and let me be.

My body retched and I heard a knock on the door. “Go away, please. I’m okay,” I called out. Please let me puke in private.

The door opened behind me and I felt someone sitting on the floor to my side. A small hand touched my back.

“Hey, Evie. What’s goin’ on?” Toni.

My hair was pulled away from my face and twisted into a knot behind me. A hand went to my forehead. “No fever, babe?”

I shook my head and the movement had me
nauseous. My tongue started to sweat again and I tried not to breathe too deep. The muscles in my stomach started constricting and the wave slammed up and out again. Nothing came out. But I felt the spasms in the soles of my feet. I spit into the toilet bowl and rested my head on the seat.

Toni continued to sit there in silence, rubbing gentle circles on my back. Whispering nonsensical words of encouragement. After a few minutes, I sat back on my
haunches and glanced her way. My eyes were tearing up, my nose ran. Because she is the most awesome friend in the world, she wiped the tears away with one thumb and dabbed my nose with some toilet paper.

Finally she spoke. “Evie, honey. Don’t freak out on me, but do you think you could be pregnant?”

I took a deeper breath to test the waters. So far so good. “No way, Toni. I am always faithful about taking my pill. I’m just having a bad reaction to something.”

Toni didn’t disagree. “You’ve been under a lot of stress. This is probably your body saying it’s had enough.”

I managed a tiny nod and licked my front teeth. “Today’s been a trip. Yeah?”

Toni chuckled. “It has. Everything will be okay, Evie. Don’t worry.”

“Frick, Toni. I’m supposed to say that to you.” I looked over at her then. “Sergey told me Dragan bought The Booth. I’m so sorry, sweetie.” I flopped on my butt and put my arms out for a hug. Toni immediately fell into them.

“I don’t think it’s hit me yet. All my plans, Evie.” Her voice cracked. “I’ve been working my ass off and it was for nothing.”

“No,” she answered. “Not for nothing. You got a heck of a savings account now. Why not look into another business in town?”

“
Another business isn’t going to work for me. You know that. I wanted The Booth. Ugh...” she groaned. “I don’t want to talk about it. Rosa’s freaked about her brother so I can’t be mad at her. And it’s not Dragan fault,” she admitted.

“Now, I thought for sure you would want his head on a spike. How very magnanimous of you Antonina.”

“Fuck off,” she laughed. “I don’t have a benevolent bone in my body except for you and Momma.” She gave me a sideways glare and sighed. “I like the man, all right. He’s super hawt and a great lay.”

I stopped her there. “A great
lay? Why wasn’t I informed you done the deed?”

She
snorted. “‘Done the deed!’ You nerd. We went to his apartment after that thing at The Booth.”

“
Just now?” I squealed.

“Yep.”

And?” I prompted.

“No way!
You won’t tell me what kind of lay Sergey is. I’m not telling you dick about his brother.”

I puffed in excitement. “Oh my God, Toni. We could both
—”

She
interrupted me. “Don’t start on that double wedding stuff, Evie. God, you’re such a girl.”

I chuckled and it
felt so good to laugh. “I’ve missed you so much Toni. Don’t disappear again!”

We pinky swore and hugged.

“Can you do me a favor,” I asked.

“Of course! Anything,
” she answered.

“Would you go get me a pregnancy test?”

Toni

I found the Mikhailov brothers in the kitchen. Sergey on the phone and the other two were deep in conversation. Dragan biting down on the foot of a cigar. All eyes came to me.

“Later,” Sergey barked in the phone. I heard the beep as he ended the call. He stood and walked to me. “How is she, Toni? She need me?”

I gave his middle a squeeze. “She’s fine, Sergey. I think it’s stress.” I lied. “Can someone run me to the drugstore? I want to get her something to ease her stomach?”

Dragan stood and put his hand on Nico’s shoulder who was trying to stand
to volunteer. “I’ll take her,” he ordered.

Nico laughed and I gave him a wink.

“Yo, Toni! I got a date tonight. Will you pick me up some condoms?”

“No, she fucking won’t,” Dragan answered for me. Nico howled and I giggled.

I looked at him shocked. “You have a date already? You’ve been in town for day!”

He grinned and rubbed his hands over his chest. “I don’t mess around, baby girl.”

“No you don’t,” I replied. A germ of an idea, taking root in my mind.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

GARDEN SHED

I asked Dragan to wait in his car and I ran into the store. I bought three pregnancy tests (just in case), some ginger tea and a twelve pack of the smallest condoms I could find for Nico.

When I hopped back in the car, Dragan eyed the
brown paper bag.

“Got everything you needed?

“Yup.”

He pulled away from the curb and we headed back toward Sergey. “Your car is ready. Mike’s delivering it to Sergey’s in about an hour.”

I looked over at him confused. “What? Who’s Mike?”

“A friend.”

“What was wrong with it?” I asked.

“What’s it matter. Fixed now.”

I frowned. “It matters because repairs on a 2000 Nissan Stanza could kill my budget.” I needed to get a few more years out of that car. I hated spending money on car repairs.

“Not goin’
to cost you anything. Mikey owed me a favor. He fixed your car. Now he doesn’t owe me a favor anymore.”

I stared at him with my mouth hanging open.
What could I say?

He gave me a double take. “What? Issat a problem?”

“Well…” I didn’t know how to ask the question. “Did you, like, strong arm him to do it? Or blackmail him?”

Dragan laughed. “What the fuck do you watch on TV
, Toni? Did you seriously just ask me if I blackmailed a mechanic to work on your old ass car?”

That offended me. She wasn’t an old ass car. I told him so.

“Ok, so you can offend me but I can’t offend your car? Right?”

“Why are you offended?”

“What the fuck do you think I do for a living, Antonina?”

I felt my face flush. “I assumed a mobster?” I guessed, my voice tapering into a whisper.

Dragan laughed again. Harder this time. By the time he’d calmed down we were back at Sergey’s.

“Sweetheart, I’m not a mobster.”

“So what do you do?” I answered. I’d been afraid to know what he was.

“I work…I work for the
government,” he replied.

Relief washed over me. He wasn’t a criminal mastermind. Then a thought popped into my mind. “Do you mean you work for
our
government?” I asked for clarification.

He smiled. “Yeah, sweetheart,
I worked for our government,” he said. “In a manner of speaking,” he added under his breath.

“What?”

He ignored me and came around to open the door and help me out of the car. “Come on! Let’s get that pregnancy test in there to Evelyn.”

“Dragan! Don’t—”

“Don’t worry. We mobsters can keep secrets.” He put his finger to his nose and turned away from me.

I grabbed his arm to stop him. My strength didn’t work but he eventually noticed my hand on him. He stopped and looked down at my arm and then my face. “I’m not goin’ say a word, Toni.”

“No, I’m just…I’m sorry about thinking you were a gangster. It was stupid, I guess. The way you look. The way you carry yourself. I apologize if I misjudged you.”

He stopped walking and turned to me. The smirk from earlier was gone. “The way I look?”

“Yeah,” I answered.

“How do I look to you Antonina? Explain.” He looked pissed again and I didn’t understand why.

“Expensive Italian suits and a permanent scowl on your face. It’s how every successful gangster looks in Guy Ritchie movies.”

His lips parted in a smile. “Okay,” he said but he sounded unconvinced.

“Look, Dragan… my asking what you do, it’s not a judgment thing. People do what they have to do in order to survive every day. Forget I asked. It doesn’t matter.”

“It does matter, Antonina. I get that a woman needs to know what she is getting into when she starts something with a man. I’ll be straight with you, if you’re straight with me.”

“Deal.” I held my hand and he took it into his and kissed my knuckles. “Deal,” he replied.

I left Dragan in the kitchen and took the tests into Evie. She was sitting on the end of the bed, downing something in a cup.

“Figured I’d need to pee, so I’ve been drinking water.”

Nodding, I could tell she was nervous so I ushered her into the bathroom. It was better to get it over with anyway. Without ceremony she dropped her yoga pants and took a seat. I read through the directions for my own edification, ripped open a testing stick and handed it to my best friend.

“I’m not pregnant,” she said as she stuck her hand between her legs and did her business.

I handed her the cap, she snapped it on the wet end of the test and sat it on the back of the toilet.

After she’d put herself back together and washed her hands, we perched ourselves on the tub’s edge, laced fingers and waited.

She and I had been through this scenario once before. It was my first time and a terrible experience. It hurt and I’d left the boy half-naked in his parents’ garden shed begging me not to tell his mom. I was so scared. I ran all the way to Evie. She and her brother were living with David and his parents. Just seeing her open the door made me feel better. I’d regretted having sex with the boy. He had a piece of me that he didn’t deserve. And there was no way to ever get it back. She’d said all the right things to me. A few weeks later, I missed my period. I was fifteen. I’d asked the boy to take Evie and me to get tested. He refused. David drove us all the way to Houston so no one we knew would see us go into a clinic.

Her voice brought me out of my memory. “
You thinkin’ about Houston?”

I smiled. Of course she knew what I was thinking. “Yep,” I answered with a grin.

I watched her as she leaned over and picked up the pee stick. Together we looked down at the little oval indicator window.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

DEAD RABBITS

The Dragan

Sergey had been on a conference call with Marcus Newland for the better part of an hour
. Irina was MIA. I knew federal agents were supposed to have eyes on my grandmother. But Marcus had gotten word that when the Grand Jury had dealt out the indictments, federal agents swarmed in to put Irina into protective custody. They found her house empty. No one saw her leave. Highly fucking unlikely. I hadn’t said word one to the woman in twenty years, even when we were in the same room but I knew her well enough to know what she would do.

I tried to warn them that this would happen. Marcus had asked for county sheriff de
puties to be posted at her house. So I knew there had been a couple pairs of eyes on her. But the feds were convinced she stayed the frail, cooperative witness that she showed them in her testimony. What a joke!

My mind went back to the last time I’d spoken to that woman. I was a ten-year-old kid in a hospital. The knife that had slit my throat cut deep but didn’t sever my jugular. The blade that I had just
watched slice my mom’s neck in front of me, struck across my flesh too high and hit the little bone that supported my tongue. So I got a deep cut into muscle but the knife failed to kill when it hit bone instead of vein.

My mother hadn’t been so luck
y. She’d been pressed deep into the assailant’s chest. He’d taken the time to run the blade from ear to ear with her. She wasn’t dead when she hit the floor but blood was coming so furiously she didn’t have time to be scared. A fact that has kept me from losing it on many occasions.

I knew
, the man who killed my mom and tried to kill me, stayed in my sights. I’d made certain of that a long time ago. But I wanted Irina. She was the one who’d arranged to get my father, her son, out of the United States twenty years ago. It was her idea to send Nico and I to him in Moscow once I was out of the hospital. She’d told me seeing me would be too upsetting to Sergey and the girls. Said I needed to learn what it meant to be a Russian. What a crock of shit that was.

A hand of my shoulder smoked the memories playing in my head. Sergey was standing next to me. Toni had just come out of the bathroom where she and Evelyn had been sequestered for the last twenty minutes.

“Sergey,” she purred. She walked over to him and brought his head down to kiss his cheek. “You better go talk to your woman.” She smiled.

Sergey jetted out of the kitchen and down the hall. Toni looked at me and a huge grin spread across her face. She’d been crying. But they were clearly happy tears.

Nico had taken Sergey’s motorcycle to pick up his date. How or when he’d had time to meet a woman was beyond me. But that was Nicolai all the way. The dude could be lost in the desert and still find a way to fall dick first into some pussy.

“Toni went to
the frig
and pulled two beers out. Handing me one, she eased onto my lap and popped the cap on her bottle. Taking a long, hard pull she sighed. “This is Evie’s favorite kind of beer,” she said thoughtfully.

“Oh, yeah?” I answered, popping my top and willing the erection that threatened
to go down.

“Yeah!” she smiled again. “Might as well drink them up for her,” she hinted.

My eyes widened but before I could ask I heard a loud
Whoop
from the other side of the house. And screeches of laughter from Evie.

“Yeah?” I asked Toni.

She nodded and took a drink of her beer. It occurred to me to ask Antonina about birth control but an evil little voice in my head told me not too. I didn’t want to consider what that meant and tried to enjoy having her close.             

She’d piled her
hair on her head and I started pulling it from its tie.

“What are you doing?
” she asked trying to stop my hands.

“I want you
r hair down, sweetheart.”

“Well, I don’t. It’s hot.”

I growled into her neck and pulled her closer. I was losing the battle with my hard-on again.