Infini (Aerial Ethereal #2)(128)

She crumples them in a fist and stares faraway at the urinals.

“Hey.” I touch her cheek gently. “What happened to living in sin city and being fazed by nothing, huh?” (Come on, Kat. Talk to me.) “Did he hurt you? Katya—”

“Not like you think.” She sniffs and lifts her glassy gaze. “I…” Our heads turn as the door opens, all three of our brothers coming inside.

Nikolai stands uptight by a sink, and he crosses his arms, his authority masking every inch of his face. Body. And eyes.

Katya barely glances at him or Sergei, who leans against a stall, his jaw hardened in severe lines. Timo hops on the counter next to Katya, and he asks under his breath, “Did you use it?”

She sniffs harder. “No.”

“Use what?” Nik asks.

“Yeah, what,” I say, my brows furrowed.

Nik frowns darkly at me. “You don’t know.”

“No.” I give Timo a look. “What happened to the three of us?” I gesture between us.

Timo brings up a foot to the counter. “John’s cousin, Camila, you all know her—she kept calling you the cool brother.” He picks his fingernail but gestures to me. “And I thought I’d officially become cooler. I gave Katya a condom. I wanted her to be safe.”

I watch Katya stare off again, and I worry about that dazed look in her eye.

“Timo,” Nikolai groans, his hand to his forehead.

“What?” Timo touches his chest. “Do we all not want our little sister to be safe? How am I being reprimanded for this?”

“So you didn’t use a condom,” I say to her, flying past Timo’s words.

“Not because I didn’t want to,” Katya says, “and for the record, after Nik’s sex talk I bought a huge box of condoms. I was eleven.”

“Those are expired,” Nikolai says. “Throw them out.”

Katya bows forward, heels of the palms to her eyes. “I can’t do anything right!”

We all tense. I edge forward to the counter and put a hand on Katya’s back. “It’s okay, Kat.” We give her a minute of quiet, and then she lifts her head.

“I’ll share details, but…” Her big orb-like eyes grow on Nik. “Don’t be mad.”

Nikolai looks like he’s swallowing shrapnel. “I’ll try not to be.”

I don’t know where this is going anymore than Nik.

Katya taps her knees with two fingers, nervous. “He complimented my flexibility, which was kind of nice. I thought it was suggestive. I mean, that’s suggestive. Right?”

I don’t want to be the one to answer these, so I look at Timo and then Nikolai.

“In what context?” Timo asks with a shrug. “I mean if he said I want to hike your leg—”

“Let’s stay on course,” Nikolai interjects.

“And we wonder why we can’t solve crimes by dinner time,” Timo quips.

Katya sniffs and says, “He saw Viva. He kind of knew about me, and he’s from Vegas. I thought…the date was nice.” She shrugs. “He paid for lunch, and since Teddy is a waiter at Imperial, he’s never seen the top suites at the Masquerade. I knew…um, I knew you were all at the pool party. So I thought…”

Nik is rigid.

I’m a statue.

Timo is frozen.

And Sergei has his hand to his mouth in concern.

“You took him up to our suite,” Nikolai says angrily. “How old is he?”

“Nineteen.”

“You’re only seventeen, Katya.”

“That’s old enough!”

Nik’s already intense gaze darkens more. “You don’t even know this guy.”

“We chatted. He’s not a stranger, okay? I wouldn’t do that. I know the rules.” She growls at the incoming tears and rubs her eyes with her arm.

(What the fuck happened.)

Sergei keeps shaking his head, and he mutters some words in Russian that sound like, “…not safe.”

My hand falls off her back, and I grip the sink counter.

“He didn’t hurt me like you think, Luk,” she repeats a sentiment she expressed earlier. “Just…” She makes a motion with her hands around her head like I need space.

Timo jumps off the counter, and I step back with him and Nik. Until we’re all facing Kat, giving her room.

“Teddy just made me feel…” Her chin quivers, face twisting. “You’re going to hate me more than him.” Her voice cracks. “And I didn’t do anything wrong. I didn’t.”

“We’re your brothers,” Timo says, “no judgment. I’ve probably done worse.”

“Me too,” I say.

Nikolai doesn’t add himself into the mix. He is pretty squeaky clean.

But in Russian, Sergei chimes in, “Me, as well.”

Katya rips the paper towel into pieces. “Teddy was impressed by the suite, and we were definitely flirting. I think.” She frowns. “No, I know we were.”

Timo whispers to me, “I’m scared.” He’s not joking.

“Same.”

Kat blinks, silent tears falling, and she says, “I got on my knees, went for his zipper, and he freaked out.”