Page 83 of Vulnerate

No one talks about the elephant in the room. Any guilt over giving the details of where Carly is staying to Valentin is chased away by protectiveness of Viktor. His dad and uncles have disappeared, but Inessa keeps us both busy as she throws the inflatables in the pool. She’s like a female version of Vlad without the violence and double the authority as she lifts her chin in the air, relaying the rules, “You’re not allowed in the deep end unless an adult is in the pool with you, rypka.”

He doesn’t argue with her as he stops beside her in his swimming shorts. She softens as she wraps her arm around his shoulders and he’s definitely his father’s son, thankfully, as he smiles up at her. “Does Ana count as the adult?”

Inessa flicks her eyes to the side, assessing Ana who is kicking the head of the swan inflatable. “Not today, wait for Katya.”

His shoulders dip but he quickly picks his mood up before he leans up, kissing her cheek, then runs to jump onto one of the floating loungers with his hands behind his head and his ankles crossed.

She comes to my side and gestures toward the house. “You can wear something of mine if you want to go in the pool, they’re new and even have the stickers on.”

I take her up on her offer and follow her in, ignoring the fact that we go to Vlad’s floor when it’s always been the one place I steer clear of. She’s calmer than her husband and I instantly regret it when we reach her closet. They’re all two pieces. Carly’s fist left its mark on my stomach and it’s embarrassing as fuck to know it’s there, someone else seeing it will only make the situation worse.

Inessa leaves her closet and I quickly change and pull my overalls on top of the bikini. I’m buckling the strap when she walks back in and gasps. She’s frightening as her hard stare fixates on the bruise and she demands, “Who did that?”

I understand how she deals with Vlad when she gently moves my wrist out of the way to get a better look at the bruise.

Keeping my tone light, I step back and cover myself. “I was working and tried to catch a marble block.”

The lie forms easily. It’s something I’ve done before, and that bruise was a bitch going across my thigh. She doesn’t question me further and hooks her arm in mine, leading us out. It’s weird as fuck seeing Vlad’s bedroom, I always imagined a graveyard aesthetic rather than an actual bed with normal furniture in the room and a pair of orange fleece sweats folded on the edge of the bed.

I don’t look at the surroundings too deeply in case there’s some freaky shit I shouldn’t see lying around. I have zero desire of ever knowing what that psycho does for fun, but Inessa is full of questions as we get in the elevator.

“I know you and Tali are friends, but you slept in his room. Are you together? Or is it like a mutually beneficial arrangement?”

This is the slowest elevator in the world and my face contorts in disgust at the thought of touching that weirdo. She laughs lightly and nods in understanding. “Okay, just friends then.”

I spent my teenage years listening to Tali’s theories about what Vlad’s type is, now I know he’s right because she fits every single assumption. She’s not timid or meek, which he would bulldoze over, but she’s able to anticipate what other people around her need as she proves by stopping her questions.

The noise reaches us as soon as the doors open, and I haven’t seen Katya since I’ve come back.

“Don’t splash me, you little shit.”

She’s arguing with Ana who sits cross legged beside the pool flicking water in her face. Ana just laughs, dips her palms against the surface of the water then claps in her face so the droplets spray outwards. The actual child manages to get her to stop as he creates some game for them to play and I take a seat beside Ana as Inessa gets in the water to join his game. I feel at home as I dip my toes in the water, so I don’t have any other reactions to my stomach. Katya hasn’t changed, she’s still competitive and kicks water onto the lounger when Inessa favors Viktor when giving their points.

There’s no other way to describe it, the only thing that’s missing is Valentin.

Like my thoughts have conjured him up, he steps out of the kitchen with his brothers at his side. Dima makes up their group and he grimaces at Ana beside me. I don’t know why everyone hates her until I see that she’s doing it back at him, mouthing,“little bitch.”When she sees me looking at them, she shrugs to herself and lets a little of her crazy show.

“He tapped when we were sparring, and he threw my best knife out of the window,” she extends her voice, making sure that he hears her say, “the big, ugly ogre.”

Okay then. No part of that sentence was normal.

I look towards Val, incapable of stopping myself. He’s so handsome, his anger drops away as soon as he sees us all. It’s like a physical weight has been removed from his shoulders with having gotten his message through and knowing he’s kept Viktor safe from Carly. She’ll be running away, hiding again, and I can breathe easier.

His rage comes back when Tali drags me up to stand at his side and hooks his arm around my neck. There’s an apology in his eyes that doesn’t reach his tongue.

“You staying tonight?” he asks. “I’ll let you beat me this time.”

He’s a cheat and pinned me down when I was winning the same zombie game we’ve been playing since we were ten. Pushing away from him, I cross my arms over my chest about to argue that I would have won when he’s suddenly pushed to the side.

There’s a loud splash and water hits my leg as Tali falls into the pool. Inessa replaces the spot he was in and leans down as he breaches the surface, spluttering. I can’t hear what she’s saying over Val’s loud bark of laughter, but her face is in hard lines.

Extending his voice, Val keeps covering her threat as he declares, “I’ve always liked you.”

She straightens with a smirk, accepting his compliment.

Wet hands grab my biceps and I’m pulled away by a soaking Tali. He doesn’t say anything, but his jaw is clenched so hard that the bones are popping out. Stopping abruptly out of sight from everyone else, he tries to undo the buckle on my shoulders while I slap at his hands.

“What are you doing, you weirdo?”

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