Page 6 of Bratva Holiday

I rolled over, glaring at the bedroom door. Lukyan’s voice echoed in from the other side, the excitement in my younger brother’s words abundantly clear.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

“Hurry up! It’s 7 a.m! You know we can’t open the presents until everyone is awake! Move your ass!”

The banging continued, Lukyan’s fist no doubt hammering into the door over and over and over⁠—

I snarled, shooting upward in bed. “I’m fucking coming!”

There was a beat of silence. “What kind of coming are we talking about here?” Lukyan asked through the door.

“Oh my fucking God.” I cursed under my breath. “Go. Away.”

“Ahhh. That kind. Okay. I’ll give you five minutes. Is that enough time?”

I picked up the lamp sitting on the bedside table, ripping it straight from the outlet, and hurled it at the door. The lamp smashed into the wood, glass shattering and raining down onto the floor.

“Fine. Seven minutes, then. But that’s all you’re getting!” The sound of his retreating footsteps came through, and I almost sighed in fucking relief. That kid was going to be the goddamn death of me.

Exhaling heavily, I glanced beside me, only just noticing Drea was no longer in the bed.

“Baby?” I called out, throwing the blankets off my body and climbing off the mattress.

The light from the bathroom caught my attention, and I made my way over. Drea was hunched over the sink, heaving uncontrollably.

“Oh, baby.” I rushed forward, barely making it to her in time to hold her hair back as she threw up again.

Drea groaned, her head lolling onto her arm clutched around the sink. “Ugh. I feel like ass.”

I rubbed small circles into her lower back, not saying a word.

“Go on. Say it. I know you want to.” She groaned again, sitting back on her haunches, her arms coming down to wrap around her middle.

“I think you’re suffering enough.”

“Don’t eat it, Drea. Grunt,” she said, her voice pitching lower, deeper, in an attempt to imitate me. “Sushi out of the trunk of a car will give you food poisoning. Grunt, grunt, grunt.”

I frowned. “I don’t sound like that.”

“You kinda do. But with more grunting.”

“Fine.” I chuckled, continuing to run my hand over her back. “I told you not to eat sushi from the trunk of some random guy’s car.”

“But he was so nice,” she whined. “And he was just trying to earn money for his family for Christmas.”

My kind-hearted queen.

I wound my arm around her, picking her up off the floor. “Come on. Let’s get you back to bed.”

“No, no, no,” she immediately protested, wiggling in my grip. “It’s Christmas morning. I heard Lukyan. They’re waiting for us.”

“You need to rest.”

“I feel better after throwing everything up! Honest. Put me down.”

I already knew from past experiences that arguing with Drea was pointless. That woman would always do whatever she wanted, regardless of what I had to say. Case in point: the sushi in the trunk incident.

With a reluctant sigh, I put her down. Her feet touched the floor, and she swayed slightly. I went to grab her again to keep her from falling, and she shooed me off.