Page 107 of Volatile

Val slows down and he looks at me. “I shouldn’t have said that.” Then speeds back up while I just stare because I think it was an apology.

It’s not until we get closer to Kristi and Becca’s house that we interact, both of us looking from the open front door then to each other. He scowls at the door, his voice slow and unsure as he asks, “Who lives here?”

“Kristi.” I unclip my belt, place the donuts on the dash, and get out before he can fully stop.

The bad feeling I had is real because I find her at the side of the house, bent in half and holding on to the wall as she throws up. Softening my steps, I announce myself so I don’t scare her. “Hey, what happened?”

Her head snaps up, eyes angry and brimming with tears, but it’s her voice that breaks me as she croaks, “She’s dead.”

Val’s muted curse comes next. “Fuck. Stasi, don’t come inside.”

I gently lay my hand between Kristi’s shoulder blades and hold her hair out of her face as she sniffles, “She killed herself and I thought she was a bitch for sending me to live with my mom.”

The teenager full of attitude is nowhere in sight as she wraps her arms around me so tightly that my ribs hurt. Despite my cactus-like care, I stroke her back and allow her to cry against me. The truth won’t comfort her and I can’t imagine what her sister has been through when the craziest person I know is terrified of the man that kept Becca. Vanya wouldn’t even tell Vitali how she knows the man, Vlad and Dima were the same when I offered to find someone close to him. They wouldn’t even give me the man’s name when they’ve never kept shit about our side project a secret from me.

Heavy, rushed footsteps charge around the house and I turn my head in time to see Val grimace as he pinches his nose like he’s trying to get rid of the smell. He has the sense to lower his voice and show a trait that the two of us don’t have as he says, “She can’t stay in there.”

I nod and guide her to his car. For some reason, he follows me and he opens the passenger door. “Take her to the house and send Tali back with my car.”

I nod, again.

What the fuck am I supposed to do with a crying teenager?

I ignoreVlad’s staring as I carry Kristi’s bag through the house to the pool house. She hasn’t come out since Tali went inside and I can’t hear screaming, so I assume he hasn’t managed to piss her off.

But gut-wrenching sobs come through the glass door as I hover at the threshold and Tali softly says, “Shh, it’s okay, I’ve got you. I promise I won’t let you go.”

She continues crying but he just calmly soothes her.

“You’ll be good again, donuts, remember?”

I hesitantly knock on the glass to hand him the bag but he says, “It’s Stasi, we’re not going anywhere.” Then shouts, “Come in, sweetness.”

I don’t know what to expect when I walk in but it isn’t blood and Vitali sitting behind Kristi on the floor of the bathroom with his ankles crossed over her shins and his arms crossed over her chest. He has hold of her wrists, keeping them locked against her waist, as he slowly rocks her. “Open your hand, Crusty.”

Dropping the bag by her bedroom door, I go to her and kneel in front of them. I can’t work out where the blood is coming from as her face twists in pain and I stare, uselessly.

“Right hand,” Tali whispers. “Open her fingers for me.”

Her cries get louder as she screws her eyes shut, tightening her fist so there’s barely a gap for me to pry her fingers open. “Leave me alone.”

“Not fucking happening,” Tali snaps. “I promised the bitchy kid that I’d always be there and she promised to be my lawyer when she’s older, so you’re not allowed to break the promise she made me.”

“Tali, I can’t,” she sobs, stuttering around her pain. “I can’t, I can’t.”

“I know,” he says as he continues rocking her.

The sobs exhaust her and she loosens her fingers enough for me to open her hand. But the razor blade has already done damage and the blood is from her forearm. The cuts are deep, angry, going in different directions around other scars that have healed to a faint white.

Carefully taking the blade, I step back and drop it into the sink then step around them to wet towels and find something to clean her cuts. Tali simply rocks her and rests his cheek on her hair while repeating his promises. “I’ve got you for however long you need me.”

“I can’t do it, not again. I don’t want to be here.”

My throat constricts and I’m misty eyed watching them. Watching Vitali do the same thing he did for me for someone else like he’s been placed on this planet as a guide for every lost soul that wants to leave it.

“Tough shit. I’ve lost too many sisters, too many people already, so you don’t get to add yourself to the list.”

I remain frozen as he argues about her life and waits for her to stop crying. The tears don’t stop though, they keep falling even when she’s depleted her energy and falls limp against his chest. Slowly unwrapping the barrier of his limbs from her body, he winces as he picks her up then stands. His limp is more pronounced too as he carries her to the bed and lays her on the sheets.

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