Roses & Ruin

Chapter 106 (Lexi)

Anthony didn't come home last night. For the past several weeks things had been fine. We didn't have another bug out about needing space and remembering this whole marriage is fake. We never talked about our feelings either. But still, we'd been living harmoniously and having sex regularly. Him not coming home last night didn't feel right.

When I texted him to be sure he wasn't in any trouble he just told me he had a work thing. That's it. Do I even have the right to ask any more than that? Not really.

Work is work. I've never been a part of it before. Unless you wanna count me almost hitting Liam O Riley with a shovel when he had Anthony down at the construction site at gunpoint. Even then, Anthony had already well and handled it by the time I got there. He whipped him in the face twice with a stapler and knocked the dude out.

This morning I had my brother Andrei with me again. We never hashed out what we'd screamed at each other the other week, but we made amends in our own way. He's sorta been around lately. And I hate to admit that I sorta like that. I hate Vitaly and Dmitriy, but Andrei's different to me for whatever reason.

Maybe it's in knowing that he and I were close before I left Russia, or how he and Anthony got along in their own way, or maybe it's because he protected me against our father that's softened me to the idea of knowing my brother on an actual brother/sister level. Well, as close to that as Andrei Petrov can manage. He's still nuts.

My father and Dmitriy will be heading back to Russia, and I am absolutely giddy about it. I can't wait. Andrei however will be here for a while longer. Bouncing between here and Philly I think.

        Andrei tells me he comes here because I have the only coffee he can stand to drink here in America. He says that's why he's here. So when I let him in this morning I asked him if he'd had any work to attend to last night. When he said no I didn't ask anything else of it.

Clearly Anthony wasn't with my brother. But that's not surprising either. They have plenty of Italian business my brother would have no part in.

For now, Andrei and I were sitting across the table from each other not necessarily talking, but just sorta hanging there, eating breakfast and what not. He'd asked about my 'hubby', but I told him he wasn't home. I didn't let on that I actually had no idea where he was. He didn't ask beyond that either.

        "Have you gone clubbing anywhere good around here aside from De Luca's place?" He asked me through a bite of food. "I'm not 21" I rolled my eyes at him. He chuckled when he remembered who he was talking to. "I wanna know where the prime locations are. It's an awfully big city. No need to stay in one place" he said.

I shrugged, but a thought crossed my mind. I almost didn't bring it up, but I couldn't hold my tongue. "You should know anyhow. You spy on me" I deadpanned. Andrei stopped chewing. "I was just talking bullshit" he lied to me.

"Then how'd you know about me and Anthony?" I called him out. "It was obvious between you two. And we did have eyes here for a few weeks to be sure no traps were being set for us when we touched ground in the U.S. You know how paranoid dad is" he told me.

        He's not wrong. Vitaly is cautious. Maybe that is the extent of it. I don't know. But it's the way Andrei belted it out in the heat of the moment that he's had spies, even before Vitaly did, that rubbed me the wrong way.

It's been on my mind for weeks. Not that I can prove anything. It's why I let it go and have hung out with my brother without any more screaming matches.

"What're you gonna do for your birthday anyways? Clubbing" he grinned. It'll be my 21st. "No" I shot that right down. "Why not?" He scoffed. "Because I don't like people, never mind birthday parties. No thanks" I declined.