Page 8 of Deviant Need

I shoot him a look.

“Really?” I say, already annoyed.

“My bad,” he says, flashing that stupid grin that’s impossible to stay mad at.

Handing him his food, I grab the remote and flip through to find our show. We’re slowly working through Futurama again, somewhere in season two. Emphasis on slowly since his attention span lasts about ten minutes before he’s bouncing off the walls again.

The food’s good when I dig in. Perfect, even with the thought sitting in the back of my head. The test. The results. I can’t stop thinking I’ll regret it, wondering if I even want to know.

“Danya.”

Blinking, I glance over. He’s holding up a joint and a lighter with that look on his face.

He catches my chin and brings the joint to my lips, holding it there while I drag long and hard. I take another pull before closing my eyes and sinking into the couch, the smoke leaving my lungs slowly as my shoulders drop. Tension unwinds from my body, and I realize how badly I needed this and how wound up I’ve been all day.

We end up on opposite ends of the couch with our legs tangled somewhere in the middle. I’m stuffed, warm, high, and could pass out right here. Mikhail rubs my feet absently while staring at the ceiling, restless even when he’s supposed to be calm. His fingers work into the arch, and it feels too good, makes me want things I shouldn’t be thinking about.

He pushes himself up suddenly and looms over me, the family pendant hanging from his neck and glinting in the light—a sleeping wolf with a skeleton key in its mouth.

It’s old, been the Avrorin symbol for as long as anyone knows, and the key means we hold the power. Everyone else in the family has the rings, but we have these necklaces instead.

I remember the weeks I spent having these made, working with the jeweler to get every detail exactly right so it matched our family signet ring perfectly. He’d lost his ring, and our father had torn into him for hours about responsibility and family pride, calling him careless, worthless, a disgrace to the name while I watched him try to hold it together.

So I lied and said I lost mine too, then had necklaces commissioned for both of us, a permanent reminder that we belonged to each other and to the family equally.

“I’m so pissed at Yulian,” he says, sighing.

I glare at him. Having four brothers is exhausting. Everyone’s fighting, scheming, making everything worse. Mikhail gets blamed for most of it and takes the fall even when it’s my idea, which makes me feel horrible every time.

“What did he do now?” I ask.

He lifts both hands and runs them over his buzzcut, already pacing. “He stole a document I need for the club event and won’t give it back. He’s holding it hostage at his house. And I’m still pissed at him for throwing that fucking knife at you.”

He still hasn’t let that go…

Both of us have been avoiding our parents’ house since the whole Christmas disaster when Alexei brought Kelly home, who’s his husband now. Mikhail lost his mind when Yulian threw that knife, and it nearly hit me. It took four of us to drag him off Yulian’s throat. The whole thing was a mess.

“Why don’t you just break in and steal that document back?” I say, shrugging as I stand up from the couch.

He spins around, eyebrows shooting up. “This is why you’re my best friend.”

My chest tightens. Best friend. Never anything more. This crush is slowly killing me.

“I can pull up his schedule and tell you when he’s not home.”

His blue eyes lock onto mine. “Sure, but you’re coming with me. His house is huge. I can’t search the whole thing alone.”

“No thanks, I’d rather not get murdered,” I mumble.

I try to back up, but he grabs my shoulder, picks me up, and crashes us both into the couch so I land on top of him with my back pressed against his stomach. His arm wraps around my throat in a headlock, legs wrapping around mine to lock me in place.

“Then you’re in bicep jail until you say you’re in.”

“Let me go.” I twist, trying to get free, but his grip doesn’t budge. He shakes beneath me, whole body vibrating with laughter as his arms lock down tighter, muscles flexing around me.

Fuck.

He does this to me constantly and has no idea what it does to me, and it drives me insane.