In the Beginning (Volkov Bratva #1)(30)

“What’s wrong?”

“I think I should be asking you that. Sounded serious.”

He pocketed his phone. “Running a club is not easy.”

“I thought it was just long nights and loud music,” she said jokingly, walking with him back out into the living room.

This week’s food of choice was burgers from a place in Brooklyn. Eight-ounce patty, pretzel buns, tomatoes, lettuce, with varying toppings that made them an experience all on their own.

Tristan finally put on some pants, abandoning hope for his hair for the moment while he indulged in the food. Mishca fit in easily with the guys, finally get the full story out of Tristan as to what happened to him. In the shortest sense, an angry body builder came home to find Tristan in bed with his girlfriend.

According to him, he barely escaped with his life.

After eating, they all crashed on the couch. When Lauren made to sit next to Mishca, he tugged her down onto his lap. He turned her hand over, tracing the lines there as Tristan was popping the DVD in.

The screen went dark for a few seconds then turned white, the feature starting.

“What the f*ck? Seriously!” Matt exclaimed as the first few seconds of Tristan’s selection began.

Lauren hadn’t noticed at first, too busy enjoying the way Mishca was rubbing his thumb across the palm of her hand. At Matt’s outburst, she blinked up at the screen and immediately focused her gaze on Mishca’s shirt, blood rushing to her face at the sight of the couple on the screen.

Mishca looked from her to the screen, his lips curling slowly when he realized what made her blush.

“Don’t be a f*cking prude, Matt,” Tristan shouted back at him, but from the way he was biting his lip, he was trying not to laugh.

“This is the last time we let you pick the movie,” Lauren said dryly, fighting past her embarrassment to sound normal.

“I love this movie!” Tristan complained. “It’s a classic and shit, I got the lite version, you don’t even see the good bits.”

Yea, he definitely did this all on purpose. “Is anyone going to actually change the movie?”

Tristan booed and threw a pillow at her, throwing his hands up when Mishca caught it easily. He did eject the movie, preparing to put another one in when Matt shoved him out of the way, checking the disc before putting it in.

But no one was watching the movie.

“So how did you two meet?” Matt asked.

“I spilled coffee on him,” she said at the same time as Mishca said, “She spilled coffee on me.”

Tristan chuckled. “Classic.”

“Then, your friend spilled food on me,” Lauren said smiling at him. “I think we’re even.”

Piper looked confused. “Wait, what?”

For the next two hours, Lauren launched into the tale of how they had met and the weeks following, Mishca interjecting his side of things every so often, launching a back and forth argument between Amber and Rob about who was wrong.

“It wasn’t his fault this Rebecca girl decided she wanted to make a scene.”

“Exactly,” Mishca agreed, holding his bottle of beer up in salute.

Amber rolled her eyes. “How was Lauren supposed to know she was psychotic and what does that say about him—no offense.”

Mishca was too busy laughing to take offense. “Are they always like this?” Mishca asked in her ear.

“Normally.”

“For the record, I find their courtship to be quite romantic.”

Everyone stopped and looked at Matt, his unexpected outburst making them smile.

“Aw, Matt. I didn’t you were so romantic,” Tristan said in an unusually high voice. “Wanna pour some of that charm on me? I’m an easy lay.”

***

At the end of the night, Lauren walked Mishca out, pulling the door up behind them so they could talk privately. He had his hands tucked into his front pockets, an easy smile on his lips.

“How did I do?”

She shrugged a shoulder. “I liked you.”

“Good.”

She hesitated, not ready for him to leave yet. “Same time and place as always?”

He seemed to notice her reluctance, taking a step closer to her. She met his eyes, saw the curiosity in them and it was enough to make her do something she had never done before.

Going up onto the tips of her toes, she kissed him. When he gave no reaction, she pulled away.

She took a step back, feeling the blush in her cheeks, not sure what else to do after doing something so bold, but he didn’t let her get far, tugging her back by the front of her shirt until they were flush against each other. Cupping her cheek, he tilted her face up until they were just a whisper apart.

She wanted to think that because she initiated the kiss, he would have known that she wasn’t going to back out of it now, but he still hesitated, giving her the chance to back out before he kissed her. First, he pressed his lips to hers gently, then pulled away like she had done, but in the next moment, he was coaxing her lips to part, twining his tongue with hers.

Lauren fisted her hands in his shirt, just above his waist, holding him against her, but she couldn’t seem to get close enough as she arched against him. He returned the sentiment, one hand sifting through the heavy fall of her hair, gripping the strands. His other arm went around her waist, his hand at the small of her back.