Page 7 of Bratva Holiday

“I’m fine. I’m fine. I just need to brush my teeth, wash the vomit out of my hair, and I’ll be good.”

I gave her a very unconvinced look but didn’t argue with her because, like I said, it was bloody pointless.

Once she was dressed and ready to go, we made our way downstairs.

In the living area, the entire family was waiting. Father, Autumn, Nikolai, Tatiana, the twins, Aleksei and Ivana, Lukyan, Lyla, Illayana, and Arturo. The furniture that had once been expertly arranged for maximum effect was pushed to the far corners of the room to allow for one big open space in the middle. Father stood by the tree, waiting to begin, while Autumn sat in a chair beside him. A bowl of popcorn was in her lap, and there was this giddy expression on her face as if she was looking forward to something.

Strange.

The rest of the family was spread out in the space, leaving plenty of room in between each other.

“Finally!” Lukyan exclaimed, sitting off to the far right. “Hurry up and take your seat. We’ve been waiting forever for you.”

“Stop overexaggerating. It’s been twenty minutes,” Nikolai commented, lightly bouncing Aleksei on his lap. He and Tatiana, who was holding a squirmy Ivana, were sitting square in the middle.

“Maybe for you. Illayana and I have been up since 5 a.m.”

“Why?” I grunted, taking my spot at the top point of the room. “You know we don’t open presents until 7 a.m.” Drea sat down beside me, looking a little pale. I narrowed my eyes at her, but she waved off my concern with a flick of her fingers.

“No. That’s not the rule,” Illayana interjected, sitting to the left. Arturo sat cross-legged beside her, surprisingly flexible for a man his size. “The rule is everyone has to be awake. And if they’re not awake by 7 a.m., we get to wake them up.”

“Whatever. You know what I meant.”

“But it’s not what you said,” Lukyan sang, flicking imaginary lint off his bent knees.

“Shut up before I shut you up.” I grunted.

Lukyan gave me a self-satisfied smirk. “You’re not allowed to,” he tauntingly sang again. “No fighting on Christmas, remember?”

Smug little asshole.

“I’ll still thump you upside the head.”

Lukyan shot to his feet. “Try it and see what happens! Your big behemoth ass won’t be able to catch me.”

“Oh, yes I will, and when I do, I’m going to cut all your pretty long hair off!”

Lukyan gasped, his fingers flying to his hair protectively. “You wouldn’t.”

My eyes flicked to a pair of scissors on a side table. Lukyan’s gaze followed, seeing what I saw. Our eyes returned to each other and locked. There was a beat of silence as we stared at one another, both of us waiting to see who would make the first move…

CHAPTER FOUR

Autumn DeValos

Oh, yeah. Here we go.

I picked up a handful of popcorn, shoving it into my mouth as I watched the chaos unfold between the Volkov siblings.

Aleksandr had Lukyan in some sort of headlock, his arm curled around his neck while his other hand held a pair of scissors, inching closer and closer to his brother’s head. Illayana had both hands latched onto Aleksandr’s arm, trying to keep the scissors back. Despite her attempts, Aleksandr continued advancing, the scissors snip-snip-snipping in the air as their brother screeched and fought, twisted, and shouted.

It was the best thing I’d ever witnessed.

Although Dimitri had explained there would be no fighting on Christmas morning since it was a long-cemented rule within their family, I knew it was going to happen. Could almost feel it in the air. It was inevitable with this lot, hence the giant bowl of popcorn. You put Aleksandr, Nikolai, Lukyan, and Illayana in a room, and they were going to bicker and fight. The situation or event didn’t matter; It was going to happen. I wasn’t going to catch myself unprepared again. Too many times, I’d sat back, watching them go at each other with nothing to snack on.

It was like watching an out-of-control movie where the main characters kept trying to kill each other. And one couldn’t watch a movie without popcorn, could they?

“Stay. Still!” Aleksandr grunted. He held Lukyan in such a tight hold, I was sure his head was going to pop off.