Two years ago

Three days ago, Seri would have willingly given up her entire collection of anime if it would mean Vassi returning earlier than scheduled from his six-month modeling gig.

But now---

She covered her ears, pressing her hands on the sides of her face as hard as she could.

But it was no use.

Sounds from Vassi’s bedroom next door still reached her, and if she had known this was going to happen, she would rather kick his butt back to France.

Sure, he was here, and he was even early enough to spend Christmas with the family.

That was great.

But he hadn’t come alone, and that was not great.

“Oh, yes, yes!”

Instead he had with him a girl he had met at work, an eighteen-year-old sorority blonde whose throaty voice grated on Seri’s nerves.

“You’re soooo good!”

Vassi had introduced her simply as Shelby. Not as his girlfriend, but then what else could Shelby be? Vassi had never brought a girl home before.

“More, God, more!”

Shelby had been panting for forty-five minutes now, making Seri wonder with uncharacteristic nastiness if the older girl needed to exercise more.

They were just having sex, she thought coldly. It wasn’t like they were running a marathon or something.

“Yes. Like that. Harder! Harder! Harder!”

Seri shook with anger.

“HARDER!”

She snatched a pillow from her bed and gripped it as tightly as she could as she started pacing her bedroom.

“Oh my God, so hard----”

Seri sank her teeth into the pillow like a rabid dog.

“Your cock is so---”

Seri bit hard on the pillow with a muffled snarl.

“HAAAAAAARDER---”

Piz ‘da.

She threw the pillow across the room. If Shelby wanted it so hard, maybe Seri should do her a favor and snatch Vassi out of her nymphomaniac claws to give her a baseball bat. It couldn’t get any harder than that, could it?

The thought was pleasurable, and she allowed herself a moment to fantasize---

But then she heard another sound, lower, heavier, earthlier, drowning out Shelby’s irritating panting.

Seri whitened.

It was Vassi.

Growling.

But not out of anger.

No, there could only be one reason for him to sound like that.

Seri snatched the phone off her bedside table and locked herself in the bathroom. She dialed Davey’s number with shaking fingers. “Get me out of here, Davey. Please.”

In thirty minutes, Davey was in her living room, and Seri had her overnight bag ready with her. Before he could say one word, she hissed under her breath, “We’ll talk later. But I haven’t lied this time, and Misha’s even the one driving us to your place.”

He closed his mouth. That was all he was concerned about really. As long as Seri could ensure that he would leave the Grachyov mansion with his head still connected to his neck, everything else could wait.

Seri kept a steady flow of conversation inside the car, pretending all the while she didn’t notice the way Davey and Misha were constantly giving her odd looks. She wasn’t exactly the most talkative person in the world, and yet here she was, acting like having her own talk show was her greatest dream.

When they got to Davey’s apartment, Misha insisted on walking her to the front door.

“You’re certain you need to stay here?”

She nodded. “I’m too mad at Vassi right now.” She had thought about this carefully and decided that sticking to the truth was her safest bet. “He promised he’d take me to the Japanese cinema festival when he came home but he’s obviously busy with…other things.” She couldn’t stop her lip curling at the last word.

Misha said slowly, “Would you rather not talk---”

She glared at him.

“Well, take care then,” he said instead. He hesitated a moment before ruffling her hair. “Call me when you need to talk, da?”

She nodded and gave her brother a quick hug. “Thanks for driving me here.”

He kissed her forehead. “Anything for you, little dove.”

He stepped back.

His gaze went to Davey’s.

Davey’s knees quivered, half out of terror, half out of love.

Oh, these Grachyov brothers.

They were just too hot for normal people like Davey to handle.

He knew that Misha was seriously contemplating whether it would be more economical to threaten the shit out of him and ensure his beloved sister’s safety, but even so---

It still felt so nice to have one of the Grachyov brothers looking at him and just him.

Misha was smiling politely now.

Yup, Davey thought, having recognized the look. The middle brother was definitely going to threaten him.

“Davey?”

“Yes, Misha?”

“You will look after my sister, won’t you?”

“Of course.”

“Good.” His smile widened. “Because if you don’t…” Misha’s voice became dangerously soft, and his Russian accent thickened as he promised, “I will break every bone in your body.” He took hold of Davey’s shoulder. “Eto panyatno?”

Seri’s eyes widened when Davey suddenly winced. Her gaze flew to where Misha was holding him, and she realized that he was squeezing her friend a bit too hard.

“Umm, Misha---”

But Misha shook his head, and his gaze remained on Davey as he asked, “Vy menya panimayete?” Do you understand me?

Davey let out a strangled cry that sounded like a weird mix of pain and pleasure.

“Prastite, chto vy skazali?”

Unable to bear it, Seri cried out, “Stop it, Misha! You know Davey doesn’t speak Russian!”

Misha released his hold on Davey’s shoulder.

She started to apologize to Davey, but her jaw dropped when she saw her friend gazing at her brother with stars in her eyes. What? She looked at Misha, who was smiling angelically, and then back at Davey, who was now promising her brother fervently he would guard Seri with his life.

Misha nodded with obvious satisfaction. “That’s what I want to hear.”

Okaaaaay. Seri felt like she was missing something. Davey should be calling for 911 now, but instead he was still looking at her brother like he had given Davey the Miss Universe crown.

When Misha drove away, she whirled around to face Davey, demanding, “What was that about?”

“Your brother is adorable,” Davey sighed as he unlocked the door for her.

She stepped inside, muttering crossly, “You’re so weird.”

But Davey didn’t seem to hear her. He was humming happily as he carried her overnight bag inside and locked the door.

Seri stomped up the stairs, knowing that it would just be the two of them since Davey’s parents were always jetting to one country or another.

Davey followed behind her, still humming.

“Will you stop that?” she snarled as she threw herself on the sofa bed in Davey’s room.

Davey threw himself on his bed, too, but he did so with a dreamy sigh.

“Oh my God, Davey, I’m going to kill you if you don’t stop grinning---”

“Okay, okay!” Davey reluctantly stopped replaying his masochistic fantasies about Misha Grachyov and forced himself to focus on his friend. She was lying on her back, her furious gaze trying to burn a hole through his ceiling.

“That bad?” he asked in surprise.

“Yeah,” she said flatly. “That bad.” And wasn’t that the understatement of the year.

Davey turned on his side, propping his head up with his hand while he studied her friend. “I heard you tell Misha about Vassi being busy,” he prompted.

Nothing.

“Things, you said?”

“Yeah.” Seri’s voice was even flatter. “Things that have boobs and pussies.”

Davey choked. “Seri!”

She turned to face him.

His laughter faded.

Seri was crying.

He sat up in panic. “Seri! What happened?”

Her lips moved, but no sound came out. Only the tears continued to fall, and it was as if her pain had rendered her voiceless.

He climbed off his bed and hugged her, and Seri threw her arms around him. It was Davey’s first time to see her cry ever since Marianna’s funeral, and the feel of her tears wetting the side of his neck made him want to cry.

Seri’s tears were heartbreaking.

A bit gross, but still.

Heartbreaking.

It was past midnight when she finally spoke her first word. “Davey?”

“What is it?” he asked immediately, hoping that she would ask him to do something. Anything. Because even though she had stopped crying, the pain was still there, the elephant in the room that neither of them could ignore.

“Vassi’s not a virgin anymore.”

“What?” Startled at her words, Davey switched the bedside lamp on so he could see her face.

She turned to him with a glassy smile. “And you know what’s so silly?” She laughed and cried at the same time, and the sound was so painful Davey wished he could cover Seri’s ears and prevent her from hearing her own pain.

Maybe if she didn’t hear how hurt she was, she wouldn’t know her heart was broken.

“E-even though I knew it was impossible, t-there was a part of me that really believed w-we would be each other’s first.”

Her smile started to crack.

“S-silly, right?”

Her voice broke.

Seri reached for the bedside lamp to plunge the room back into the darkness.

And then she was crying, and this time---

Knowing that she was shattering into pieces right next to him---

Knowing that all he could do was hold his friend’s hand---

Davey’s heart did break.