Page 36 of Vasily the Nail

“We love you, brother,” she says in English before letting herself out.

Silence follows the slamming of the door. There’s so much I need to say to Vasily. What Kseniya’s told me is the reality check I’ve desperately needed, and now I need to both push Vasily for some essential truths about him and also set up boundaries that I have no choice except hope he’ll respect.

But he’s so damn warm.

I fit so damn well against him.

His hold on me feels so damn vital.

I need this right now before the harsh truth of reality does its damage. So I ease into it with the gentlest, “Kseniya’s my friend, and she loves you. You need to apologize to her.”

“It seems I need to apologize to my entire family,” he mutters. “Do I need to take you to the emergency room?”

I rear back, so startled by the question that I gasp and end up choking on my own spit. “I’m sorry, what?” I bark out, only afterward realizing it could be a threat. Tony doesthat sometimes, acts all sweet with me only to punish me for something I didn’t know I’d even done.

He puts his hand on my shoulder, and again I have to have faith in the way he rubs it and looks at me with kind eyes hinting at the blue they once were and could be again. “Kseniya told me,” he says with a level, calming tone. “Don’t be upset with her. She’s just making sure I get you whatever you need.”

I run through the conversation I just had with Kseniya, and nope, nothing in it indicated I was sick or hurt. Very much the opposite. “I’m sorry, what did she tell you?”

“That you’re bleeding.”

Laughter erupts from me so aggressively I accidentally spit on Vasily’s shirt. “Oh. Oh! Oh, no. Not—I’m bleedingdown there.”

“Right. Because I was too rough last night.”

“Because I started my period, dum-dum.”

Vasily, whose coloring was already returning from whatever Kseniya told him, mottles into angry shade. He mutters in Russian, making me think the anger is directed at his siblings. Maybe Kseniya’s wrong about him taking heroin, and this whole thing has been an awful misunderstanding.

He again takes my shoulders. “Zvyozdochka,are you positive it’s your period?”

“Oh my God, why does no one think I can tell the difference between a period and a medical emergency?” I huff even though I had the exact same thought process. For, like, half a second. “Trust me. It was time. I’m fine. She was supposed to be askingyou to pick me up pads. Or, not even you. Someone. I just needed them, and I’m stuck here.”

He looks around the apartment, the prison he’s given me. Not quite gilded but comfortable. Not quite a cage, but a tether. He’s denied me nothing so far, but I don’t know if it’s because he won’t or because I’ve only ever asked for what I expected him to agree to. Perhaps I’ve behaved myself enough that, just like at home, I get special privileges, but perhaps what I’ve just said, he takes to heart when he says, “Would you like to go out?”

“You mean now?”

“If you want. Or later. We can go get dinner, stop by the store, pick up whatever you need. Or if we go now, there’s a bakery right down the street that’s still open. We can pick you up something sweet.”

I was in enough of a state yesterday that I ignored the homework I need to do, but it’s Wednesday, which means I’m already late on a schematic for Lighting Production. I have an essay due in Shakespeare II tomorrow, and I’m only halfway throughTwelfth Night.I have no idea what I’m going to write about. But I take one look at the carnage from my breakfast binge and know the choice I’m going to make.

“I can think of nothing I want more.”

“Perfect,” he says so happily that there’s no way I’m going to ruin this moment with questions about his pass. But then he snatches the pack of Pop-Tarts and dumps it right in the trash.

“Hey! I was still going to eat those!”

“No, you weren’t. Strawberry.” He smacks my butt playfully and says, “Go get dressed for outside. We’ll take a walk around the park after we get some pastries and hot chocolate.”

Vasily

It comes asno surprise that Artyom ruins my day.

Again.

I apparently ruined a big day for him yesterday, but that only makes me angrier.

While I was fucking Ana on camera for my entire world to see, my brother was getting married to the girl he’s been seeing for nearly a decade, and he didn’t bother to tell me, let alone invite me. Apparently, I’m that embarrassing for him now, kept around solely to clean up messes.

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