Page 47 of No Longer Safe

“But then you might have second-guessed your decision for a while. You might have wondered if you did the right thing or not, even though you weren’t happy.” She put the foundation brush down and picked up a sponge to dab more concealer on my face. I was going to look like a clown. I almost wished I was brave enough to show off what he did. But I wasn’t. Not with the grandmothers and the rest of the brothers downstairs.

I nodded and closed my eyes as she continued with her makeup application. I could do this. I could face them. I was brave.

“What are you going to do with the ring?”

I looked down at the damned thing. It was so ugly. “I thought about giving it back to him.”

“You’d willingly see him again after he slapped you like a bitch and then held onto your face in a death grip?” Carina shook her head. “I don’t think so. I will not allow it. I’m putting my foot down. Men who try to break women are broken men. That broken man could try to kill you next time. You don’t know how deranged he is or could be, given the right motivation.”

I didn’t think Brian would kill me, but then again, I hadn’t thought he would ever hit me. I hadn’t thought he would even yell at me and here we were. “You’re right.”

She planted her closed fists on her hips. “I know I am. I’m glad you’re finally seeing that.”

I rolled my eyes.

“So what about Alexei?”

I jerked away from her. “Absolutely not.”

She waggled her black brows at me before she began rifling through my clothes. “He’s cute and you told me yourself that you’re attracted to him.”

“Alexei likes things he can’t have. The last thing he’s going to want is me.” I waved a hand around my face. “Especially now.” I gulped. “I feel like damaged goods, Carina. I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to see anyone until I start going to therapy or at least start taking care of and loving myself again.”

She nodded before she pulled out a light mauve dress that cinched at my waist and accentuated all of my best assets. It was one of the dresses she bought for me. I loved it but I didn’t know if it was a good idea for me to try to dress up. I wasn’t exactly in the mood to be flirty and thriving. All I really wanted to do was climb back under the covers and wallow in self-pity. My best friend would never allow that to happen. For some reason, I knew Alexei wouldn’t let me do that either. He would continuously bang on the door until I opened it. He would continue to annoy me until he broke down all my walls and barriers and that was the last thing I needed. I needed to be strong or I was going to fall. And I knew more than anything else that could not happen.

I’d been so numb after everything with Brian but as I walked down the stairs and prepared for utter doom and disaster, I found that I hated him. The feeling quickly filled my gut and I fought to not spill said gut all over the stairs and probably at the grannies below. For one, I knew with absolute certainty that I could not afford the long carpet runner on the stairs and I also knew that if my vomit landed on one of the grandmothers I would not live to see another day. They were two beings I would not be able to escape from and I hadn’t even met Nana yet.

Much to my surprise and pleasure, the men were gone and the grannies were nowhere to be found. Which meant, I had some kind of peace after the disaster of a night I had. I’d expected chaos and hellfire. The house being practically empty was a new one.

“What would you like to do today?” Carina grinned as she spun around the elaborate entryway.

I frowned. “This is your wedding celebration time. This should be about what you want to do.”

She beamed at me and shook her head. The black tendrils of her hair bounced around her shoulders as she happily bobbed around the room. “Nope. Today isAudrey lost 250 pounds of deadweight celebration day! We should make it a holiday.”

“I’ll get fireworks.” Ivan leaned against the doorway with a sly look. So much for no audience. I didn’t know Ivan very well as he was the quiet one who didn’t care for much, but he seemed nice enough. His brown hair was slicked back on his forehead and he wore an oversized Pearl Jam sweatshirt with some baggy ripped jeans. Surprisingly enough, he was barefooted. “We could blow up the ring in the sky. Do a proper send-off for something so hideous.”

I didn’t know what to say. All I could do was stare. These men probably thought I was the dumbest bitch on the planet. I shrugged and Carina giggled. “To be determined, Ivan. We are having a girl’s day. Lots of drinks, music, dancing, and no dicks.”

“What about dildos?” He cocked his head suggestively.

My cheeks flamed but I was pretty sure no one could tell with all the makeup plastered on my face. I continued to stay silent while Carina shrieked in absolute pure joy. She belonged in this family, it seemed.

“Ivan, your brother would totally kill you for that comment.”

His lips twitched into a smirk. “Our little secret.” Then he turned toward me and winked. “If you still want the fireworks, we don’t have to include anyone else. It can be a proper send-off with just you and Carina.”

As he walked away, I leaned toward my chosen sister and whispered, “Where would he get fireworks so last-minute?”

She snickered. “He has more explosives than anyone really knows. At least that’s what Ace told me. Apparently, he’s a pyro and Dimitri is a psychopath, whatever that means. Brothers love to joke, right?”

For some reason, I didn’t think Ace was much of a comedian.

The drinks kept comingand we didn’t stop them. The butler, Jarvis—how cliche, right?— was under strict orders to let us get absolutely shitfaced. Which was great when we watched Dimitri drive his golf cart across the lawn at a speed, I was pretty sure, wasn’t normal for such a small craft. It bumped across small decorative rocks and teetered around several bushes. There were so many things to do here and they chose to ride golf carts around the yard like buffoons? There was a tennis court, a basketball court, racketball, a movie theater—which we would be heading to next—, a bowling alley, and a salon. I was sure there were plenty more things to do that I’d tuned out as Carina droned on and on about all the things we could occupy ourselves with.

But this seemed like the best thing to do until we were ready to gorge ourselves on pretzels, popcorn, and pizza while being able to watch whatever was playing in the theaters out in the real world. I really wasn’t complaining as I watched with slight horror and amusement as Dimitri drove the golf cart straight through one of Emeline’s precious overgrown hedges. It was like something out of a movie. The branches fought to bend and almost pushed the vehicle backwards—like it was trying to spit it back out. Just as quickly, the branches gave away and the little cart shot through the foliage with a vengeance. There was a collective holler as Dimitri held his beer up and picked the leaves out of his hair, all without steering the golf cart. It veered hard to the left before he overcorrected and swiped against anotherhedge. What a mess these men were. But I guessed, as we fell over in a fit of giggles, they were the perfect remedy to the disaster Brian caused on my heart and face.

My stomach hurtfrom the gourmet food that was supposed to be bad for us and all the laughter from the rom-com we’d found. Jarvis insisted it was trash concession food tier, but I knew better. The people that lived here were too rich for such novelties. It was the perfect day. No one bothered us, even though a few of the brothers randomly popped up or would casually walk by. This place was too huge for them to conveniently pass, as if they hadn’t known where we would be. The only ones who hadn’t tried to spy on our party were Ace and Alexei.

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