Page 24 of Cherished By the BRATVA Grump

“My gut is all in,” I say, quietly.

His mouth comes to mine in a slow, deep kiss. He finally moves his hand from between my legs and pulls me over him, my hair falling around his face.

I pull back long enough that he opens his eyes and I look into his for a long time. Gray. Clear.

“Promise you’ll never lie to me. Even if it’s scary or insane. Always tell me the honest truth.”

“I’d never lie to you, Tamsin. Not about anything, but that means you’re going to hear about stuff that you won’t like.”

“Just keep me safe from it, please.”

“I will.”

***

Demyan drives me back to my mom’s house around lunchtime. I invite him in but he says he needs to talk to Eduard and to say hi to my mom for him.

“Well?” she says, as soon as I walk through the door. “You don’t need to give me explicit details,” she says when I give her the side eye. “Just the crib notes.”

“I think we’re going to see where it goes. But before you start knitting, we fell asleep watching a movie.”

“And didn’t wake up until lunch?” she asks with a knowing look.

“Well… we didn’t watch a movie this morning.”

My mother lets out that cackle of hers and returns to the kitchen.

“Mom, there’s something else,” I say, following her.

“What is it sweetie?” she asks, pulling a pie from the oven.

“I think I’d like to stay. Longer I mean. Maybe for a while. Would that be okay?”

“Of course!” she beams when she says it. “Nothing would make me happier than having you here, as long as you’re happy.”

I think I am. At least, I think I’m allowing myself to consider being happy here. “Thank you,” I say. “For giving me a soft place to land but also for pushing me outside my comfort zone.”

Mom smiles and tilts her head slightly. “You don’t need to thank me, Tamsin. I’ll always be here for you and I’ll always try to be exactly what you need.”

Demyan

Eduard sighs. “So you want to stay now?”

“Yes, if nothing has been arranged yet.”

The office door opens and Natan and Jasper walk through it and sit in their usual spots.

“If you don’t mind?” I say to them.

“Nah, we don’t mind, Cus,” Natan says with a grin.

Jasper crosses his ankle over his knee. “We need to know where you’re going and for how long because we’re going to have to cover your slack.”

“Ha, ha,” I deadpan. Then ask, “how do Kimmie and Delilah feel about what you guys do.”

“Don’t really talk about it much,” Natan offers with a shrug. “She knows me well enough to know I’d never do anything wrong wrong.”

“Wrong wrong?” I ask. “What does that even mean?”