Page 2 of Sweet Child of Mine

I blinked at her several times, taking in her words. My brothers and I knew exactly what our father did. He ran the Baranov Bratva with an iron fist. He’d sent Daniil and me along with our Mom to the US to keep us safe while the bratvas were at war. He’d kept Kostya with me since our brother was older and would soon run the Bratva as Father’s heir.

I always knew he’d eventually call us home. I just didn’t expect it to happen in the middle of my Junior year of high school. “When do we leave?” I asked. I was hoping I’d have enough time to say goodbye to the girl I loved.

“Tomorrow night. I have already taken you both out of school. Say goodbye to your friends but tell them nothing. Go get ready.”

Daniil and I nodded at her before we headed upstairs to our rooms. Once inside, I closed my bedroom door and pulled out my cell phone. “Can we meet at our bench in 30 minutes?” I sent to Leilani.

“I’ll be there,” came her reply. I grabbed my switchblade and put it into my pocket before heading out to meet up with Lei. Iknew she’d be upset and probably hurt but I had no choice. What she didn’t know was that while I didn’t know how long it would take, I would come back to her. She was mine and mine alone.

I finally arrived at the bench and waited for her to arrive. I couldn’t help the smile when I saw her walking towards me with a smile on her face. She was so beautiful.

“Hey Nik, what’s up?” she asked as she sat down next to me.

I took a deep breath and said the words I hated, “I found out that we’re leaving. I wanted to tell you so that you didn’t think I was ghosting you.”

The pain on her face broke my heart. I’d never wanted to cause her any pain at all. “You’re leaving? Back to Russia? When?”

“Tomorrow. I don’t want to leave but I have no say in things.”

I watched as tears filled her eyes as she replied, “I know. I’m going to miss you so much. Do you think you’ll ever come back? Can I write to you?”

“I don’t know, moy tsvetok. It would be best if you didn’t. I can’t say anymore but I don’t want anything to ever happen to you, my flower.” She nodded as her head bent and her tears fell. I pulled her into my arms and held the girl that would forever own my heart. “Think of me, moy tsvetok. Talk to the stars. They will bring your heart to me.”

Her arms wrapped tightly around me as I continued to hold her close. We stayed like that as the sky started to turn dark. Knowing we both had to go home, I pulled back and reached up to hold her cheeks, my thumbs caressing her soft skin. “Ya lyublyu tebya, moy tsvetok, vsegda.” Placing a soft kiss on her lips, I let her go and stood up before heading home.

“I love you, too, Nikandr Baranov.” They were the last words I heard her say to me. Whatever it would take, I would come back to this girl. She was mine and mine alone.

Chapter 1

10 years later

Leilani

My head throbbed as I pulled the blanket over my head, trying to block out the sunlight streaming through the opening of the curtains. My tongue was dry and stuck to the roof of my mouth as I tried to swallow. As I finally swallowed, the taste hit. I wasn’t sure any amount of brushing would ever get rid of that god-awful taste. I groaned loudly before realizing even that was painful.

Last night, I had way too much to drink with my coworkers. Every Saturday night, after the bar closed, we celebrated the end of another good week. This one had been crazier than normal as we’d had a fantastic month as well. It was a tradition that could lead to Sunday morning misery.

“You’re awake,” a deep, gravelly, and accented voice said beside me. I froze as my eyes widened. Who the fuck was next to me? I knew I was hungover, but I didn’t think I’d had so many shots that I wouldn’t remember inviting someone back to my home, but clearly, I did. As I lay there, thinking about last night, I remembered laughing with my coworkers and I remembered the bouncer, Andrei, bringing out a bottle of vodka. But for the life of me, I didn’t remember going home.

“Fuck. This could be bad. Like, really bad,” I thought to myself. I squeezed my eyes shut and said a silent prayer, hoping like hell I didn’t sleep with one of the guys I worked with. This had to be one of the dumbest moments of my entire life. Well, at least the second dumbest because that time in college in the boy's locker room held onto first place with pride.

My mind was wandering, back to the dumb moment at hand. Maybe the guy and I passed out, and neither of us would remember a thing about last night. That would be the best-case scenario at this point. I could at least hope that would be what happened.

A hand slid across my bare thigh and put all doubt and hope I had to rest. “Please, God,” I whispered. After I’d lost my family, I rarely called on a supreme being to come to my aid, but there had never been a time I needed him more than right now. The bed dipped as the stranger rolled closer. When his bare skin touched mine, I knew my prayers had most certainly not been answered. The way his morning wood was digging into my thigh, I knew my fears were in fact what had happened.

“Morning, moy tsvetok,” he said with a thick accent that rolled over my skin. Oh shit. No, no, no. There was no way the only boy I’d ever loved was back and was in my bed. This had to be a horrible hallucination. I hadn’t seen Nikandr in ten years. He may have regularly starred in my dreams and even my nightmares but there was no way I was in bed naked with him. I refused to believe it.

I closed my eyes again, and flashes of leaving the bar came flooding back like giant slaps in the face, with each flash my head throbbed as if it was going to explode. My entire body went rigid. Nikandr was naked. I was naked. His cock was touching me, and I couldn’t remember a damn thing. Fuck.

“Did we…?” I suddenly felt sick. Before he had time to answer I rolled off the bed and ran toward the bathroom, knowing I was about to hurl everything that was in my stomach. Leaning over the porcelain goddess, I gagged and dry-heaved, but nothing came. My chest heaved, and tears stung my eyes with the realization I’d fucked up by sleeping with him. Not just alittle, but so damn big. After growing up way too fast when my parents were killed in a car explosion, I told myself I’d never get romantically involved with anyone who worked for the Bratva or Mafia Families.

I knew who owned the club I worked at. I made my excuses so that I could work where the pay and tips were some of the best. My excuse was that the Baranov Bratva owned most, if not all, of the places I could bartend at. I made sure to stay far, far away from the men themselves. They were dangerous as fuck.

I’d spent the night with Nikandr. Fuck. Even I’d heard the whispers of Nikandr the Executioner. With every rumor that was whispered, I hoped and prayed that it wasn’t my Nik. But there was only one Nikandr Baranov, and he was naked in my home.

The tears fell fast and hard as the stupidity of the situation hit me. “Are you okay in there?” Nik asked from the other side of the door. I couldn’t help myself. My crazed emotions mixed with my hangover and suddenly I started to laugh as the tears continued to fall onto the seat of the toilet. The doorknob jiggled and my manic emotions became mixed with panic. “I’m coming in,” he called out.

“No!” I yelled as the crazed mixture of panic, tears, and laughter continued. I bit down on my lip, trying to regain control of myself. “I’m fine. Go away.”

---