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Now I had two reasons to keep her locked behind my apartment door. My unreasonable possessiveness and her fucking lunatic father. It was unlikely that Armstrong would move tonight, but just the idea had my neck muscles turning to steel.
And I lied to her. Fuck, I hated it. Hated it. And she knew. She knew something was up, she’d read my body language, which blew my fucking mind because since when did I have fucking readable body language?
I debated telling her, I definitely hadn’t wanted to lie to her, but fuck, the last couple of days she’d had? Awful, crazy, traumatic. How could I add to that? There’d be time to tell her. In fact, I made an internal decision to tell her tomorrow. Fuck this lying bullshit.
As we walked further into the bar, Emmy was instantly surrounded by Hannah, Katya, and Anya, hugging and crying and laughing in relief that she was safe. Their enthusiastic greeting pulled her away from me and though I understood it, I hated having to release my hold on her.
“Oh my god, I feel like I can finally relax now,” Hannah said as she hugged Emmy tightly. It was hard not to notice their physical similarities between the two sisters—pale skin, long dark brown hair, same smile.
However, I could also see their differences. Emmy was taller and more slender than Hannah, whose body type was more similar to their mother. Emmy’s eye color didn’t match anyone in her family.
I was curious to see how Hannah would respond to the news that Emmy was only her half-sister. Based on this tearful reunion, I didn’t imagine it would have much impact on their feelings for each other. And it wasn’t like I hadn’t already been taught that blood didn’t necessarily mean shit.
“Jesus, Hannah, I think you’re going to break my ribs,” Emmy jokingly complained as she pulled away from her sister. I took the opportunity to slide my arm around her waist when she was free, my muscles instantly relaxing at having my hands back on her.
Hannah laughed. “I know, but I’m just so sorry. I feel so freaking stupid for all the drama I caused.”
“I’m sorry, too, Emmy,” Katya said, her red gold eyebrows puckered in remorse. “I shouldn’t have jumped to so many conclusions when I saw Nikolai on the surveillance camera.”
“It’s not your fault. You were just looking out for Hannah,” Emmy said, patting Katya’s shoulder consolingly. “I mean, we all would have done the same thing.”
“Well, I learned my lesson. Believe me, Drago made me pay for calling Hannah and stirring all this stuff up,” Katya said, rubbing her backside. I cringed, not wanting to hear another word of this conversation about my sister and her boyfriend.
Hannah chuckled. “I think we had a similar experience,” she replied with an elbow nudge and a wink.
Christ.
“Hey, Ivan, why don’t you get your girl a drink?” Will's voice boomed from the bar.
My hand tightened reflexively on Emmy’s hip, but I definitely did not want to hear any more of the conversation the girls were having. Emmy turned to me, her beautiful eyes brightening with Will’s suggestion. “That would be great! Would you mind getting me a drink?
I nodded my head but was astonished at my own resistance to moving away from her. I couldn’t literally stay chained to her side all night, looking like some kind of pussy. But fuck if I didn’t want to.
“Sure, malyshka. What do you want?”
Her brow puckered, reminding me of how young she was. She didn’t know what she liked to drink because all she’d drunk was terrible frat house beer, jello shots, and whatever shit Anya fed her the last time she was here.
I leaned in and kissed her neck. “I’ll figure out something for you.”
She gave me a relieved smile. “Thank you. I don’t know much about alcohol.”
Fuck if her innocent little smile didn’t have me looking for a secluded spot to drag her into so I could yank up her cute little skirt and fuck her. Again. My desire for her was nearly incomprehensible.
Instead, I gritted my teeth and reined in my newly out of control libido, simultaneously shelving my nearly unmanageable possessiveness. “I know. I’ll get you something you’ll like.”
Shooting me a smile that was anything but innocent, Emmy leaned in and whispered in my ear, “You always do.”
Unable to resist, my hand slid to her ass and pulled her against me. “You’re playing with fire, naughty girl. If you don’t think I’ll find a way to fuck you here, you don’t know me well enough yet.”
She gasped and blushed but didn’t look offended. No, she looked turned the hell on. Christ, I needed to get her that drink before I lost my mind and dragged her out of here and right back into my bed.
I slammed a hard kiss on her mouth, my hand tightening on her ass, before releasing her and walking to the bar. My dick protested leaving her, but I wasn’t ready to deal with the consequences of lingering.
“Hey, man, how’s your girl doing?” Will asked after I ordered a strawberry margarita for Emmy. The bartender had stared at me for a full three seconds before walking away and shaking his head. Asshole.
“Good, all things considered.” I angled myself next to Will in a way that kept Emmy in my sight at all times. This way I wouldn’t look like too much of a pathetic asshole.
“Yeah, I can’t wait for the ratfuck Orlov to wake the fuck up, just so we can knock him the fuck out again,” Will said, taking a healthy gulp of his beer as he looked around the bar.