Page 216 of The Devil We Crave
“Love you,” Yelena whispers, squeezing my hand as the door swings open.
Somethingdoeslaunch immediately into my face, but it’s not a weapon.
It’s a mini-Nero.
“So!” Yelena’s brother drawls withwaytoo much swagger. “You the guy plowing my sister?”
“Jesus, Massimo!” Yelena yells, shoving her brother in the chest.
He immediately cracks up. “It’s them!” he roars into the rest of the house before grinning at me. “So, listen, dude, since youareboning my sister?—”
“Could you pleasenot,” Yelena groans. “Gross!”
“You’re telling me.” Massimo makes a face before turning his attention back to me. “Anyway, I need two favors. I think you owe me.”
My brow cocks. “Highly debatable but go ahead.”
“One, I’ll be at Knightsblood next year. And I feel you’re in agreatposition to, you know…” He inclines his head eloquently.
I frown. “To what?”
“Get me into Para Bellum, dude!”
I smile wryly.
“It’s not quite that simple,” I say. “But I can lean on the scales a bit.Maybe.”
“My guy,” he grins.
“And the second?”
Massimo winks. “You know Yelena's hot friend Wren?”
Oh boy.
“We’ve…met.”
I’m pretty sure Wren and the rest of Yelena’s friends still want to stab me in the dick with a fork.
Yelena and I might be good. But we haven’t clearedeverythingup yet, mainly because she hasn’tlet me.
It’s been five days since I cut Kyle’s throat open and watched Yelena torch his boat. She’s been in my bed every night since. But any time I try to bring up what Ineedto, she shuts the conversation down.
I know what she’s doing. She's taking what she thinks is “better than nothing”.
But she can doso much betterthan “better than nothing”. And I’m going to show her that, right after I, fingers crossed, survive dinner with her father.
Maybe then her friends will stop plotting the demise of my dick via cutlery.
“Well, hello!”
A face that’s obviously familiar, since I’ve been in Times Square and I have eyes, smiles warmly as Yelena’s mother rounds the corner to the entryway.
According to an interview inVoguethat I read as part of “Operation: Stalk Yelena”, Milena Kalishnik kept her maiden name rather than taking “De Luca” for professional reasons. She gently told the interviewer that she wasn’t trying to distance herself from her infamous husband or what he “allegedly” did for a living. It was just that by the time they got married, her ballet career wassoaring.
You do have to admit that for whatever reason Russian last names just lookwaybetter for professional ballerinas, same as a Brazilian or Spanish last name feels more legit for a professional soccer player, or a French surname suits a chef.
Milena beams radiantly as she floats over and wraps her daughter in a tight, loving squeeze.
