Thick As Blood - Nestor Oceteva

11. Moment Of Truth

"I guess all those years of assault courses in the Navy paid off. Now to choose my prize."

I felt like punching that smug look from his face. The asshole had played with me, winning by a hair's breadth. I pushed him into the foam pit as we walked past but he grabbed my waist and pulled me in with a laugh.

"You're a dick and I am going to call you Nessy-boo for the rest of my life."

"It will be considerably shorter if you do." He threatened.

"Nessy-boo."

I felt his hands move up to my ribs before he started tickling them. My body spasmed as I reacted and tried to get away from him. I was trapped under the pool of foam cubes and they made it near impossible to escape his arms. I made the decision to fight fire with fire and rolled on top of him.

The weight of being on top sunk us further into pit. The movement made his hands slip up past my ribs to my stop on my breasts. My hands were resting on his hard abs and we were both frozen. My conscience was screaming at me to move but my body refused to. I thought I heard a sound over the music and it sprung me from my stupor. I jumped off him and climbed out of the pit to distance myself.

I looked around the gym but there wasn't anyone here so I must have imagined the sound. I turned the music off before locking myself in the bathroom. What was I thinking? Bratva was for life. We could be killed if anyone thought Nestor and I were sleeping together. I welcomed the cold water that cleared my mind, washing away thoughts of the infatuation.

When I came out of the bathroom the gym was empty. The sun had risen and I took the long pathway that travelled through the forest. I wasn't ready to deal with today, not just yet. The forest became denser before hitting a clearing with a lone tree. I made my way to the tree and climbed the ladder up to the treehouse KJ had built for Alex. I had been sitting on the planks meditating for a while when a body sat beside me.

"What's going on with you and the bodyguard?"

"Nothing Tahlia. You know there will never be anything with anyone for me. There is no 'until death do us part' for us."

"I would have jumped that man's bones the second I laid eyes on him. I bet he is a good fuck, like real good."

I could feel my face going red from anger, jealously and a bit of a blush from imagining it myself.

"Probably. He speaks English by the way. I don't know why I said he didn't." I shrugged, trying to seem indifferent although my face burnt hot.

"I know why. You know, he never took his eyes off you while we danced."

I didn't know what to respond so I didn't. It made me happy though, to hear he wasn't interested in her. I knew she would stop trying to chase him now, she had no interest in competing. It was either she is everything to a man or nothing. At least she keeps it simple.

We made our way back to the house silently and went our separate ways. I pulled my laptop from my suitcase and booked flights home for tomorrow. I knew we were going to the mausoleum today and then there was a dinner planned for tonight. I sat on the edge of my bed after showering this time in hot water.

I looked down at my bare thigh, tracing the Russian nesting doll tattoo. A reminder of the many layers and faces of a person the deeper you dig. I was broken from my trance when my phone vibrated beside me. I groaned when I saw my brothers name lighting up the screen.

"What?" I heard the internal door connecting mine and Nestor's room open.

"I need you to set up a meeting with Mr Sokolov."

"No. I am leaving tomorrow and I won't have to see you for another 15 years."

I ended the call and a moment later Nestor answered his phone. It was frustrating only hearing one side of the conversation.

"Mikey?" His eyes never left mine as he listened to Miguel. "No, she's not with me. I'll see what I can do."

He ended the call and pocketed the phone. I couldn't understand why he was lying to my brother, not that it would make a difference.

"Why does Miguel want to meet with Kirill?" I watched as he sighed and sat on the chair facing the bed.

"We have a partnership with the Mayans M.C. Their Stockton chapter are having difficulty with shipments being jacked by the Russians."

What a fucking shit show. The Bratva that were in the area were there because of me and taking my brothers drugs. Feeling the headache this mess would cause coming on I lay back on the bed. The exhaustion from last night and the training session was just too much at this point. I pulled a pillow over my head and thought of my family.

"Just get it over with."

"I'm not going to kill you Lily." He groaned almost painfully.

I pushed the pillow back to see him staring at the length of skin the had been bared from the towel when I laid back. A red and gold dragon covered my side from thigh to shoulder. It's tail gripped around the Russian nesting doll, the dragon a symbol of my husband and his status, the tail was his brotherhood Bratva and the hold it had on me.

"They can't meet. Ever." I sat up and leaned in close to Nestor so I could whisper. "They will know he is working with the Feds."

Nestor's head shot back away from me in shock while I sat back more casually. I wasn't 100% sure on it being Feds but I knew he had to have help from a government agency. There was no way he could have found me without help. Miguel had to have someone track my phone or someone dig into the Russian side to find my legal name. I knew it had to be the former since he hadn't known I was married. Also, my phone was not something that could be easily tracked since it was heavily encrypted.

"You are very clever."

"Well you don't survive long running with the Russian mafia and a Mexican cartel being stupid. So stop my brother from asking me to be stupid on his behalf."

I was angry and I was turned on, two emotions that either went together really well or really bad. I stood, letting the towel fall away and made my way to the walk in wardrobe. His hand grabbed my wrist to stop me so I turned to punch him. He caught my fist in his large hand before kissing my knuckles.

"This would be really stupid."

It was more aimed at myself than Nestor. I was putting our lives in danger but I couldn't stop myself. I hoped he would say something to stop this going further since I couldn't.

"Call it my prize."