Page 32 of Vasily the Nail

Today’s site is a weld shop three miles away. That’s the one silver lining. It’s close enough that I don’t need to get a ride from Kostya. I suck down a couple of cigarettes and a cup of coffee on the walk to level myself out.

It doesn’t work.

The shop has five employees working, doing what they need to do in order to keep the business on the up-and-up to cover for the chopping that happens in Bay 6. Three of them don’t notice my presence, not for anything except a nod of acknowledgment, but the other two are staring at me. One of them murmurs something quietly to the other, who smirks at me like I’ve just been ratted out.

I’m starting to think I’d rather be taking advantage of the time I have left with Ana than dealing with this shit. If nothing else, Ana likes my cock. She might not care for the rest of me, but that doesn’t matter when I’m buried five rungs inside her.

Mikhael shows up with the truck, this haul coming up from Phoenix. He whistles low when he sees me, but the sound makes my temple pulse. “Boy, I wasn’t sure if you were still alive,” he calls out with a rough laugh.

“Yeah, just keeps happening, I guess,” I mutter as I approach the tailgate.

“Figured I’d pass you on 17 as the mob boys were escorting you to your castration,” he jokes, not getting the hint when Inarrow my eyes at him. No, he pushes it further by opening his door, pausing to spit on the ground, then looking up and waggling an eyebrow. “That’s your thing, right?”

I walk right up to him with my hand out like I’m reaching for his keys, but as soon as he hops out of the cab and hands them to me, I pull my other fist back and clock him right in the cheek. He holds his hands up in surrender as I slam my forearm over his neck and walk him back against the side of the truck.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about, you got me?” I snarl at him. “You saw nothing, and you never will. It doesn’t exist in that shit rat brain of yours.”

I release him once his chin presses into my arm, the best nod he can manage. This time when he spits, it’s tinged with red.

“Fine, fuck. Whatever. But what I’m seeing, I was expecting your brother to be the one driving you to Phoenix.” He huffs his way back to the tailgate, and we start unloading. He usually runs off the first chance he gets, but he’s sticking to me like dog shit on my shoe, constantly firing off texts, intercepting the men who arrive to get their goods. I’d love to say he’s just keeping everyone away so I don’t flip out on anyone else, but I’m not as stupid as he is. He’s moving slow as fuck, dragging the process out, jumbling up shit and making more work for me. He’s keeping me here.

And obviously he’s texting with Artyom. I’m not surprised, only furious when he shows up an hour after I would have finished the truck if Mikhael hadn’t fucked everything up.

Artyom likes to think he’s not as hot-headed as me, that everything he does is deliberate and if he attacks, it’s alwaysjustified, but he’s as fucked as I am. He just doesn’t have the voices to silence, so he doesn’t need drugs to manage himself.

Oh, other than today, apparently, because he barely has his Mazda 3 in park before he’s flying out of it and slamming into me like a goddamn rabid coyote. My morning cocktail is starting to wear off, so my legs are shaky enough, my reflexes dulled enough, that he knocks me on my ass.

“You stupid piece of shit!” Artyom snarls. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

I could fight back. Since we’re on the ground already and gravity’s no longer working against me, it wouldn’t be anything to pin him. But I just lie there as he gets himself together.

“You pull a stunt like that and then turn off your phone? I was stuck having to figure out where your head was from stupid ass Mikhael.”

“Hey!” Mikhael peeps out as though he’s offended, but he knows exactly how dumb he is.

Artyom isn’t having any of that either, and only when he lays off me for a second to glare at Mikhael do I notice his hair’s wild from running his fingers through it and his eyes are bloodshot. He’s had a rough night, and yeah, that’s probably on me, but he also didn’t make any big effort to get back early from Vegas. It’s gotta be past noon, and it’s only a four-hour drive. I don’t even know why he was there to begin with. He’s not a gambler, and he’s been serious about his girlfriend, Jana, for ages.

He pops up onto his feet and grabs me by the collar to get me up as well, but I’m dead weight. Lying down like that gave me the chance to think about how much better my life would be if I waslying down in a bed, dozing under the massive pile of blankets that Ana has added to every day and seems to think I won’t notice because she sandwiches them between the sheet and the duvet.

“If you don’t get up, I am going to run over your legs,” Artyom threatens.

I snort and mutter, “Not until you get a lift kit,” but I’m already dragging my ass up so he doesn’t respond to that, instead leading me into the weld shop and bellowing for everyone to get out. The workers shut down their equipment and scatter as quickly as they can without ruining their current projects, but it’s another five minutes before the bays have been emptied.

Artyom takes that time to pat down my pockets. I’m not sure what he’s looking for, but he comes up with the usual suspects: my billfold, my cigarettes and lighter, and my phone. He turns it on, holding it up to my face to force it to unlock, and starts to scroll through it as it vibrates wildly with incoming texts. “You’ve fucked up,” he mutters, more to himself than me, I think. “You have fucked up. Fucking shit, you have fucked up.” When he pushes the phone back at me, I stick it right back in my pocket. “You’re getting rid of her.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“They’re threatening retaliation.”

“There’s nothing to retaliate for. I told Tony she’s mine for fifteen days. I am taking what’s mine.”

“You raped her on camera! You sent it to them so they could all see it. You sent it tome! What the fuck am I supposed to do with this?”

I narrow my eyes at him. “DidI rape her on camera? Do you truly think that’s what happened?”

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