Page 57 of No Longer Mine (Rags & Riches #2)

Chapter Forty-Eight

Scarlett

I found myself bored, for the first time in my entire life. I wasn’t able to go anywhere. I wasn’t able to do anything. All I could focus on was healing, so when the grannies showed up on my doorstep with a bottle of wine and two other women, I wasn’t sure what to think.

They beamed at me.

“We’ve been waiting to meet you!” The dark-haired, exotically gorgeous woman exclaimed as she peeked around Grandmother.

The other woman, who was just as beautiful but in more of a girl-next-door way, squealed as she rushed forward. She wrapped her arms around my waist and I let out a hiss. She stepped back, and Grandmother whacked her with her cane. “I told you she was shot.”

“Sorry,” the brunette said as she stepped back next to the exotic beauty.

“Um, hello? To what do I owe the pleasure?” I asked both of the older women.

“Dimitri wouldn’t tell us anything about you, and the grannies here know everything, so, of course, we had to call in a favor!” The brunette giggled as she shimmied her shoulders excitedly. She reminded me of a golden retriever. I liked her instantly.

The exotic beauty walked around all of us, and her gaze covering every square inch of my penthouse. “You have a beautiful home.”

I took a step back. “Uh, please make yourself at home?”

The golden retriever girl clapped her hands together, beaming. “Oh, don’t mind us! We fully intend to.”

The exotic beauty shot her a dry look but smiled all the same before turning her gaze back to me. “I’m Carina, by the way.” Her voice was smooth, confident.

“And the one with absolutely no sense of personal space is Audrey.”

Audrey wiggled her fingers in a wave, undeterred. “Nice to officially meet you, Scarlett! We knew that Dimitri would probably never introduce us, so we figured it was high time we met the new woman in his life!”

I let out a small laugh, despite myself. “So, this is an ambush then?”

“An ambush,” Nana echoed, stepping past me into the living room, settling onto my couch like she belonged there. “No, no, dear. We prefer to call it a… social visit.”

“With wine,” Audrey added, lifting the bottle. “Lots of wine.”

I glanced at the bottle and then at all of them, before sighing. “I’m recovering from a bullet wound.”

Carina arched a brow. “So? Wine is good for the blood.”

I let out a dry chuckle. “That’s… not how that works.”

Grandmother tapped her cane against the floor. “Enough standing around. If we’re going to interrogate this poor girl, we may as well do it comfortably.”

Carina’s smirk widened. “Agreed.”

I sighed and shook my head. “I have a feeling I’m not going to win this, am I?”

Audrey grinned. “Not a chance.”

Resigned, I turned toward the kitchen. “Fine. I’ll get the glasses.”

Behind me, the women shared a victorious look.

Carina grinned at me as I brought the corkscrew and the glasses out of the kitchen. “He’s had you hidden and all to himself for entirely too long! This is such a good night!”

Nana poured herself a huge helping of wine before she took a deep sip. “It took that poor guy long enough to leave!”

My brows raised. “You’ve been watching my apartment.”

Grandmother shook her head. “Absolutely not. We had Benson do it.”

This night was getting stranger and stranger. My eyes widened. “And Benson is?”

Carina closed her eyes as she laughed quietly to herself. “Benson is Dimitri’s best friend. Have you not met him?”

I shook my head. “Not exactly.”

Audrey’s brows pulled together. “Are we sure we have the right girl?”

Carina cocked her head and watched me for a moment. “Bullet wound fits the bill.”

Grandmother’s lips thinned out. “We are old, but we aren’t senile. We remembered where she lived.”

Her hand twitched toward her cane, and both girls raised their hands in surrender. “Fine! Fine!”

I cleared my throat. “Dimitri and I aren’t dating.”

Nana rolled her eyes. “That’s what they keep saying.”

Audrey leaned forward. “Alexei and I used to say the same thing, but he was in my panties, soooo kind of the same thing.”

Carina leaned back in her chair and watched me as she sipped out of her glass. “Have you two done the horizontal tango?”

My face flamed. “No.”

Carina’s perfectly manicured brow rose. “No, but he’s definitely been in your panties.”

“I don’t think this is appropriate conversation around his grandmothers…”

Audrey snorted. “They took us to male strip clubs.”

Carina frowned. “Why aren’t we doing that tonight?”

Audrey rolled her eyes. “Alexei would have my head if he found me in there, but also, we can’t pay the strippers to bring Scarlett here on stage until she’s all healed up.”

“Why exactly would you pay the strippers to bring me on stage?” This conversation was the strangest one I’d ever had.

My eyes bounced between the women, wondering how long they were going to stay and just how much trouble I would be in with Dimitri for having them over.

But I hadn’t invited them, so not too much trouble, right?

The grannies just smiled and sipped their wine as they watched the girls interrogate me. Audrey sighed dramatically. “It makes the men go absolute bat shit and then they turn cave man and claim what’s their’s.”

“Ummm,” I was about to reply when a text pinged on the phone in my lap.

Dimitri

Would you like to go to dinner tomorrow?

Really? I didn’t think you wanted to see me again.

Dimitri

When did I say that?

When you gave me an orgasm and then left like nothing happened, then sent a security detail and didn’t show up again?

Dimitri

I have to keep you safe from my father, which means being distant. I’m sorry.

Fine. Dinner, but I have questions of my own.

Dimitri

I can’t wait.

When I looked up from my phone, all four women were grinning at me like lunatics. “What?”

“Who’s that?” Carina prodded.

“Dimitri.”

The grannies shared a smile. “The girl has it bad.”

“Has what bad?” I asked, worried.

Carina sipped her wine, her eyes gleaming with mischief. “You have it bad for Dimitri. We know that look anywhere.”

I shook my head. “I don’t think you do. He just invited me for dinner.”

“That’s a huge step! He’s never invited anyone but his mother to dinner.” Audrey mused.

“Not true,” Carina interjected. “He did bring that stripper to dinner a lot.”

“We aren’t supposed to know about that,” Audrey elbowed her in the side, and her wine sloshed at the rim.

“Know about the stripper?” I asked.

The grannies shared another look, then Nana spoke up. “He was in a serious relationship that only the two of us knew about. We happened to spill the beans to these two yahoos and well..”

“They have big mouths,” Grandmother said, with a frown to her lips.

It didn’t seem to faze either Audrey or Carina. They shrugged at me as if to say oh well.

“So does this happen often?” I motioned to all of them with my glass.

I hadn’t taken a sip out of mine yet. I hadn’t taken the painkillers in a few days.

Though I still didn’t know if I trusted myself completely on the stairs just yet, and if I was tipsy?

I knew I would be sleeping on the couch, which was the last place I wanted to be tonight.

I wanted the warmth of my bed and possibly a vibrator to keep me company.

I’d had to order new ones since Dimitri confiscated all of my others.

Audrey nodded, giddy. “Yes, the grannies love to take us out, though we aren’t allowed to go to the strip clubs anymore or the banana hammock restaurants.”

“Banana…” I shook my head. “Never mind.” I had a feeling I didn’t want to know.

I was being a little harsh on Dimitri for the leaving bit as he had left a note on my nightstand that said— You won’t be needing your toys anymore. If you need your fix, you call me and I’ll come take care of you.

I didn’t bother with texting him or calling as I felt shitty about his departure and then the new babysitter.

Vance was easy on the eyes, but he didn’t say a single word and just stood there like a statue.

It was creepy and boring. I would have preferred Don any day of the week.

But I knew he was watching over Dimitri, and Dimitri probably needed him more than I did.

I wasn’t so sure now that these women had forced their way into my life.

“Tell us about yourself.” Audrey smiled as she crossed one leg over the other.

“Um, I don’t do these kinds of things.”

Carina’s lips curled. “You are perfect for Dimitri. You’re both steel vaults. I’ve been trying to get to know him for two years now. Do you know what I know about him? Everything from the press.”

“I made him tater tot casserole for dinner tonight.”

I sat up a little straighter. “You saw him tonight?”

Audrey’s grin was all-knowing. “You’re so far gone it isn’t even funny.”

Carina leaned into her. “I think it’s a little funny.”

Nana took a sip of her wine. “This is the best thing that could have ever happened to Dimitri. He’s been through entirely too much. He needs someone to love him.”

For some reason, I found myself frowning. Grandmother reached forward and grabbed my hand in hers—the comment from the other night about blood on my hands came to the forefront of my mind. “I think if anyone needs love, it’s our Scarlett here.”

“Oh, um,” I didn’t know what to say. “Maybe.”

“Everyone needs love. I was lost before Ace.” Carina leaned back and sighed happily.

Audrey’s lips twisted. “Alexei was lost before me.”

I swallowed hard, my fingers tightening around my wine glass. Love? That wasn’t in the cards for me. That wasn’t something I ever let myself think about—not in any real way. Love was for people who had the luxury of being soft. Of being safe.

Carina smirked at me, watching my reaction too closely. “That made you uncomfortable.”

I forced a light chuckle, but it felt hollow. “It’s just not something I spend much time thinking about.”

“Why not?” Audrey pressed, tilting her head like she was trying to figure me out. “You’re gorgeous, obviously intelligent, and I assume men trip over themselves for you.”

I huffed out a laugh. “Men trip over themselves because they’re idiots. That’s not love.”

Carina arched a brow. “So you’ve never been in love before?”

I lifted my wine glass to my lips, using it as a shield before murmuring, “No.”

Audrey’s face scrunched. “Not even puppy love? A silly little high school crush?”

I hesitated, thinking back to Vanewood, to the ways I’d been manipulated, the way my body had never truly felt like my own.

The idea of love had been tainted for so long, warped into something ugly.

I didn’t even know what real love looked like.

The only men I’d ever had sexual relationships with were because I was using them, or they had used me.

There was no romantic interest, not before Dimitri at least.

Grandmother squeezed my hand again, and when I met her eyes, there was something knowing in her gaze. Something kind. “Well, dear, you deserve it.”

My throat tightened. I took a sip of my wine to push it down.

Carina wasn’t done with me yet. She leaned forward, her dark eyes gleaming with interest. “And what about Dimitri? Do you think you could fall in love with him?”

Wow, talk about a loaded question. I looked between them all and I chose the easiest way out. “I steal from rich men who want to use me for sex.”

But based on their expressions, I hadn’t chosen the easy way out at all.

Audrey’s eyes sparkled. “You’re a cat burglar?!”

I tilted my head. “Something like that.”

Carina’s eyes lit up while the grannies leaned forward. “Oh, this is good.”

This was very bad.