Page 4 of Watched and Bred By the Bratva
I mumble under my breath. I probably should have kept it to myself until I was sure.
“Exactly,” she says. “Which is why I’m going to hound you until I know every detail. Now stop stalling and tell me what happened.”
“I met with Doctor Overton—she’s the last step—and she assessed that I’m mentally stable enough to do this.”
“Oh my God,” she screeches. “You’re serious? You’re really going through with it?”
“I think I am.”
“Why? Why are you doing this? Why can’t you just find some rando, get pregnant, and live your life?”
“Because I don’t want the mess, Amani. This is easier, smooth, and clean. Nobody involved except me and my baby. I don’t want ties, or visitation fights. What if twenty years later he shows up demanding custody?”
“Twenty years later, your baby will be twenty, and an adult.”
“Fine. Twenty months later. I still won’t chance it.”
“Then find some foreign exchange student about to go home. Enjoy a sexy weekend together, and let him get you pregnant. When he leaves, you move on.”
“This is easier. And there’s no one I want to sleep with anyway.”
“No one?” Her tone rises in a way that usually means her eyebrow is climbing.
I roll my eyes toward the ceiling. “Fine. Lately, I’ve been thinking about Nikolai.”
Her screech is so loud I pull the phone from my ear. “No. Absolutely not. Stay far away from any Ismailov. If you got pregnant by one and kept the baby from him, he’d consider it stealing. An Olympian wouldn’t be able to run fast or far enough away.”
“You said any rando. At least he’s a rando I’m attracted to.”
“When did you even see him?”
“He comes in at least once a week. Sometimes more.”
“Interesting. A man that wealthy, choosing a tiny coffee shop near a college campus. Does he talk to any other girls?”
“No. And it’s not like with you and Dimitri. He barely speaks to me. Gets his coffee and leaves.”
She makes a noise. “That’s what I thought about Dimitri, and he was low-key stalking me.”
“Well, Nikolai isn’t stalking me. And he’s not breaking anyone’s fingers over me.”
“Mhm.” She gets quiet. We don’t usually talk about Josh and the punishment Dimitri doled out for touching his woman. “Alright, I’ll drop it. But before you get knocked up by a lab vial, consider your other option and just go for it.”
I hesitate a beat, then say softly, “And no… I haven’t talked to my mom about this.”
“Zara,” she sighs, knowingly.
“She’s still enjoying being a newlywed,” I add. “I don’t want to put this on her—not yet. She’s taken care of me my whole life. She deserves a break.”
Water splashes in the background. “Gotta go rescue my floors,” Amani says.
“Kiss my nephew for me,” I grin into the phone. “Tell Sandy I said goodnight.”
“Girl, hush, don’t let Dimitri hear you call him that.” We laugh and hang up. Dimitri’s aversion to the nickname is well known.
Dr. Overton’s words echo in my head—try flirting with him a little. Maybe if I walk myself through it...
I set the phone on the kitchen counter, pretending I’m at the coffee shop. I fiddle with my blouse, slowly unbuttoning one button. “Here’s your coffee, Nikolai,” I murmur aloud, leaning forward so he can see the swell of my breasts, pressing them together as I pretend to pour his drink. “Is there any other way I can serve you?” My voice dips husky as I toss my imaginary hair.
