*Adrik*
Ilya had informed her that something was happening in the kitchen, so we all met Sephie there. There were guys holding down a girl in the back of the kitchen. She was struggling as much as she could, but she didn’t stand a chance. She was little anyway, but she had three guys holding her.
I don’t like this one bit. Every single one of us went on high alert, trying to figure out what was happening. Sephie gave one glance to Ivan and he promptly picked up every single one of the guys holding the girl down and tossed them aside.
Sephie knelt down in front of the girl, trying to find out more information. We were all surprised that she was seeing my mother and Kostya. I didn’t even know my mother followed Vitaliy around.
In the way that only Sephie could, she calmed the girl down while explaining to her what she was seeing. She even told the girl that she had angels watching over her. I didn’t expect her to out Ivan, but she did. The girl could clearly see there was something different about Ivan, but she looked fascinated by him rather than the fearful girl we saw when we walked in.
She asked Sephie why she believed her and Sephie reached out and touched the girl’s arm. Her eyes went wide as she saw Sephie. Everything about Sephie. Sephie went to remove her arm, but the girl grabbed her hand. She was completely captivated by what she was seeing.
“You’re different from the others. How?” she asked Sephie.
“It’s a very long story. My point, Jessica, is that not everything you see that’s different from what we think of as normal is going to be bad. Did you have a bad feeling when you saw the angels earlier this evening?” she asked.
The girl shook her head no. “No, it got bad when I told people what I saw. They called me crazy. I kept trying to tell them I wasn’t and explain what I saw, but it got worse. That’s when they held me down.”
We could feel Sephie’s sadness at the way this girl was treated. “You’re going to need to be very careful who you tell about this from now on. For your own safety.”
The girl nodded in agreement. “I don’t want to tell anyone now. They’re going to lock me up. My parents already think I’m crazy,” she said quietly.
Sephie silently asked Ivan if he had a card she could give her. He handed her one. Sephie then handed it to the girl. “Jessica, if you ever get in trouble or they try and lock you up, I want you to call me.”
Her eyes went wide again as she took the card from Sephie. “You would help me? You don’t even know me.”
“No, but I know what it’s like to be going through what you’re going through right now. It’s not easy. Just knowing you have someone to call is sometimes very comforting,” she said.
We could see the tears welling up in her eyes again. She looked at Sephie and quickly hugged her, holding on to her for dear life. Sephie chuckled, but she hugged her back, stroking her hair lightly as the girl worked to calm herself down.
“Can you leave tonight? I think it’s best if you get out of here right now. You’re safe at home?” Sephie asked.
“I’m safe at home; I live by myself. I was working tonight for extra cash though. This isn’t my normal job,” she said.
I walked to her, pulling what Battista, Vitaliy, and the rest of the guys had given me earlier for winning the bet pool on when Henry was going to show out of my pocket. “This should cover it. Go home. You don’t need to be around those people anymore tonight,” I said.
Her eyes went wide again. “You’re like her,” she said quietly. I couldn’t help but smirk at her. I just nodded once.
Sephie turned and looked at Ilya and Misha, who were standing close by. “Would you two mind escorting her to her car?”
“Of course,” Misha said.
Sephie turned back to the girl, who was still in shock. “They’re going to make sure you get to your car safe. Are you okay to drive yourself home? We can take you home as well if you’re worried about driving.”
“No, I’m okay. You’ve done so much already. Thank you,” she said. She quickly ran to get her bag and then came back. Misha and Ilya walked her out the back way to take her to her car.
As soon as they were gone, I wrapped my arms around Sephie. She leaned into me, her body completely relaxing as soon as she felt my touch. “I love you. You’re incredible,” I said, kissing the top of her head.
She sighed, looking up at me. “Once Misha and Ilya get back, I think it’s time to go. I’ve had enough fun for one night.” Her lips curled up into a half smile as she added, *“at least the kind of fun you have in front of people. I have other fun activities I’d like to pursue once we’re alone.”*
“I could not agree more,” I said, leaning down to kiss her.
We walked back to find Vitaliy and Battista. We told them both that we were planning to leave once Misha and Ilya came back.
“Come to my house first. Battista can finish telling us his conversation with the representative and you can fill us in on everything else. It won’t take long, but we need a place to speak freely,” Vitaliy said in Russian. I wasn’t happy with the idea of having to wait longer to get Sephie out of her dress, but I also wasn’t mad at the opportunity to look at her in it for a little while longer. It was a conundrum.
Misha and Ilya returned, both of them had grins on their faces.
“Do I want to know what those grins mean?” Sephie asked.
“She was cute. She apparently talks when she’s nervous. She was very nervous,” Misha said.
“Cute enough to get her number?” Sephie asked, unable to hide her own grin.
“You should ask Ilya that question, not me,” Misha said, his wide smile stretching across his face.
“Ilya, you dog. Did you get her number?” Sephie asked.
The shade of red that his face turned was a very clear answer. “What? She’s really cute. I’m a sucker for short blonde girls,” he said.
Sephie looked at him for a few moments, smiling at him. She finally said, “I’m just glad you feel good enough to consider it. She seems like a sweet girl, but you tell me the first moment she shows you otherwise.” We could all feel her hackles going up as she felt protective of Ilya. It wasn’t surprising in the least that she felt that way about the guys, but it did surprise me just a little that she already felt that way about Ilya. I was still happy to see it.
Vitaliy caught it too. He laughed. “Sladkaya, it’s his job to protect you, not the other way around,” he said. She just turned to look at him, squinting her eyes at him, silently reprimanding him for teasing her.
We all quietly left the fundraiser, making our way back to Vitaliy’s house. The guys were all happy to ditch our jackets and ties while Sephie was only able to ditch her shoes. Sephie looked at all of us as we walked into Vitaliy’s house. “It’s just not fair that you’re all still so handsome with just half your tux on,” she said, smiling at everyone.
“We can’t help it, spider monkey. We just woke up like this,” Andrei said, his wide smile across his face.
She walked to him, sliding her arm around his waist as we walked up the steps to the front door. “I just kind of love you,” she said wistfully, leaning her head on his shoulder.