*Sephie*
“All of Vitaliy’s guys are coming to dinner, too?” Andrei asked. I’d put him to work helping me and I think he was protesting at the amount of work in front of him.
“I assume so, but I don’t know for sure. I never really asked, now that I think about it. But I figure if they don’t, then there will be leftovers for you guys,” I said.
“I’m going to tell him not to bring them, then,” Misha said.
“Is it just because of the leftovers or you don’t like his men?” I asked, curious.
“Mostly the leftovers, but I think we’re all still unsure about unknown people since Trino’s guys,” Misha said.
“It’s obvious that Aleksei is the only one that Vitaliy trusts completely. That makes me nervous for the rest of them,” Andrei said.
“Did something happen that you’re not telling me about?” I asked. I could understand they were nervous since having to deal with Trino’s guys, but it seemed like they were overly nervous.
They both looked at each other like they were trying to talk the other one into answering my question. “You realize I can fish it out of your head if you don’t tell me…,” I said, stopping what I was doing and crossing my arms across my chest.
“I would like to see you try,” Misha said, a sly grin on his face.
“Challenge accepted, my adorable Russian guardian.” I walked over to him, searching his eyes the same way I would with Adrik. It took me longer, but once I got past his very weak internal protests, I could read him like a book. He was still smirking at me, thinking that I was struggling, so I let him think he could shut me out for a few more moments.
When I turned to walk away from him, I caught Andrei’s eye. He had picked up on what was happening and was waiting for me to tell Misha everything. Those two were like brothers. They enjoyed seeing the other one not be able to get away with something.
“It’s not all his men. It’s only the new ones. The guys that have been with him for years are still solid, but the two new guys are a bit too braggadocious for your liking. They targeted you and Bubba when we were in Panama since you two are the youngest. That’s why you don’t like them. They’re assholes and picked on you when they don’t even know you,” I said. I was actually starting to get angry at the thought of them being mean to Andrei and Misha for no reason. I knew my eyes were going dark, but they wouldn’t be able to see through the contacts. I took a deep breath, trying to stay calm, so Adrik wouldn’t rush upstairs as well. “We have a couple of options here. Either I can find the perfect way to emasculate them in front of everyone, or I can tell Vitaliy they’re not allowed to come, or you two put them in their places.”
Andrei chuckled. “You’re mad that they picked on us, aren’t you?”
“Yes, I am. I didn’t know about it when we were down there. Otherwise I would’ve put a stop to it then.”
“It always happened when you were away with Boss and Vitaliy,” Misha said.
“What kind of training do they have? Same as you guys?”
“I don’t know. I know the guys that have been with him for a while have much the same training as we do, but I don’t know about these guys. They haven’t been with Vitaliy for very long. They were with him the last time we saw him, but that was a couple of years ago,” Andrei said. He was trying to be subtle about it, but I could tell he was watching my eyes as we talked. I knew it was only a matter of time before they noticed that my demon eyes had stopped making appearances when I got angry and I’d have to come clean about my untamed eyes.
I thought for a few minutes while I went back to working on dinner. “I think it’ll stick if you two find a way to put them in their place. In front of everyone. If they don’t have the same training as you do, then it should be quite easy. That’s the best way. Much like with Mike, guys like them respect brute strength more than anything. I also can’t see Vitaliy putting up with them being disrespectful toward you guys, but he likely doesn’t know about it yet.”
Adrik walked into the penthouse, looking slightly concerned. I knew he’d felt my anger. I smiled at him. “It’s okay. I was just angry because I found out a couple of your father’s guys were assholes to the Wonder Twins while we were in Panama.”
“Which guys?” he asked, as he walked to me. He immediately bristled as well.
“The new guys. The guys that have been with Vitaliy for a while are fine, as always. The two new guys were jerks to Bubba and Misha because they’re the youngest,” I said, leaning into Adrik as he slid his arms around my waist from behind. He softly kissed my neck.
“When did this happen?”
“Usually when you were gone with Vitaliy,” Andrei said.
I could feel Adrik’s anger rise another notch. “Because they know my father would never allow that so they did it while he was away. Did Aleksei or any of his other men see it?”
“Not that I know of. They were usually talking with the other guys,” Misha said.
“They were just assholes toward you two? Did they say anything else about anyone else?” Adrik asked.
Andrei sighed. “They never said it out loud. Does that count?”
“What did you pick up on, Bubba?” I asked. Andrei seemed nervous suddenly.
“I swear I wasn’t poking around in anyone’s head,” he said. He looked legitimately worried we’d be mad.
I laughed. “I believe you, Bubba. Sometimes people’s thoughts scream at me. It’s hard to ignore.”
“Oh, thank God it’s not just me,” he said.
“What were they thinking?” Adrik asked.
“Lots of animosity toward you, some toward Sephie. One of them thinks Sephie is going to make Vitaliy weak,” Andrei said.
Adrik and I both stood silent for a few moments. I could feel his anger, feeding into mine. I knew he was more worried about them thinking anything negatively toward me, but I also knew he wouldn’t stand for them disrespecting his men either. It didn’t matter that they were his father’s men.
“Gazelle, have you mastered keeping your demon eyes back now? I can tell you’re angry right now, but your eyes are normal,” Misha asked, clearly curious.
Adrik looked down at me, a small smile on his face. “She’s wearing contacts,” he said.
“I knew it!” Andrei said.
Both Adrik and I laughed. “Her eyes have been doing more than just going dark, but I was struggling with feeling jealous after she was hurt for so long, so we kept it a secret. Ivan is the only one who knows, because he felt her panic and saw them before she could hide it. We knew it was only a matter of time before the rest of you figured it out.”
“What else are they doing?” Misha asked.
I looked to Adrik to explain, since he was the one that saw it happening. “Much like when her eyes go dark, the other colors of her eyes take over for different emotions. The only one that’s completely different is when she’s afraid. They go almost white when she’s scared. It’s scarier than her demon eyes and the reason we decided to get her contacts. She struggles with controlling her fear when it comes on. The other emotions she can control, much like her demon eyes,” he said.
“Is it the same color for the same emotion each time?” Andrei asked.
I nodded my head. “So far, green means sarcasm, blue means I’m thinking about how much I love him, light brown means I’m sad, white means I’m scared, and black means run.” Adrik laughed as he kissed my temple.
“They also sometimes constantly change, like they can’t pick a color to stick to. That’s happened a few times recently,” he said.
“You had the contacts when we were in Panama, gazelle?” Misha asked.
“Yep. I got them the day before we left.”
Both Andrei and Misha exhaled loudly, looking at each other. “Good call. We’re glad you did that. I don’t think it would’ve gone well if they saw your eyes change,” Andrei said.
I couldn’t help but laugh. I looked at Adrik. “See, I told you they would scare everyone.”
“They don’t scare us, gazelle. But everyone else is clearly not as smart as we are,” Misha said, grinning at me.
“You make a strong argument, Misha,” I said, winking at him.