Page 101 of Clap Back (Carter Brothers)

Not that I would ask her.

She looked ready to murder me.

I sat back down in my spot.

She cleaned me up for the next ten minutes until she was satisfied with her work.

It was as she was gathering up her things that I heard rapid fire Russian coming from my bedroom.

I glanced out of the bathroom doorway to see what had to be the other Semyonov brother—they all looked a lot alike—in my bedroom on the phone. He was halfway between me and the door, staring at me. Yet he was speaking in Russian so fast that one syllable flowed right into the next.

“I wonder what he’s saying,” I mused.

“He’s telling whomever he’s on the phone with to get a private investigator on the ‘fake brother’ who just assaulted his sister’s fiancé,” the medic replied.

I looked at her. “You know Russian?”

“I know Russian,” she confirmed.

“What’s your first name?” I asked.

Her eyes narrowed. “Don’t you have a fiancée?”

“Not a fiancée. Yet.” I grinned. “But I have a brother who’s just as grumpy as you.”

She and Garrett would be perfect together.

No joke.

“I’ll pass,” she said. “But thanks for thinking of me.”

I also noticed she hadn’t given me her first name.

She shouldered past me with her large bag.

The brother, whom I assumed was Dima, stepped out of her way, allowing her to pass.

Once we were alone, he ended his phone call and stared at me. “My sister is currently about to be arrested if you don’t get out there and help.”

Any hint of Russian was gone, replaced with a man who sounded so solidly American I never would’ve assumed he knew a second language, let alone one he spoke with perfect clarity.

I ignored my curiosity and headed out of the room, finding Maven screaming her head off outside, windmilling her arms and legs as she tried in vain to get to her ‘brother’ who was sitting on the dirt next to one of the squad cars.

My brother, Garrett, held onto Maven easily—it wasn’t hard to do when she was so small and cute.

Boss watched from his perch next to my mother, tongue lolling.

What was a surprise was to find the paramedic staring avidly at Garrett.

My lips quirked as I made my way into the fray, stopping in front of Maven.

“You thought it was okay to shoot him in the face?” Maven screeched. “I’ll fucking k…”

I covered her mouth before she could finish the death threat in front of a yard full of law enforcement.

She glared hard at me, then melted against my brother once she saw who it was.

“Calm down, baby,” I said. “Let’s go to the hospital so I can get this checked out.”

---