Rocking With The Bratva Brat

Short Shorts

After changing into a pair of silk shorts and a matching tank style t-shirt, she wrapped a short dressing gown around her shoulders and made her way back downstairs. More than an hour passed since she’d come up and she knew by now her entire family would have retired to the formal sitting room at the front of the house. She could easily sneak down the back stairs towards the kitchen and get a snack because since she’d lost her cool at dinner, she was ravenous.

She made it to the second floor when the powder room near the top of the stairs opened and Eric stepped out. His eyes swept over her, and he frowned.

“Hadlee, what are you doing walking around with guests in the house dressed like this? You look ready for bed.”

“I am ready for bed. Nobody is supposed to be up here. I’m avoiding the front of the house and heading to the kitchen to get a drink and a snack.” She bristled at the way he was looking around as if disgusted by even seeing her legs. “Jesus, you’re an idiot.” She mumbled under her breath and wondered why it was she was trying so hard to get his attention when he clearly appeared revolted by the sight of her skin. Her thoughts which started a week and a half ago about this whole making him fall in love with her possibly being a huge mistake started to swirl again. He was gorgeous but as she looked at the way he scowled at her like a truant child she considered he was a giant prick. He was as bad as her father. All that was missing from him in this moment was him passing her a lollipop and telling her to go back to her room like a good girl, so the adults didn’t see she was still awake. Three years of her planning were starting to feel more and more like an endeavor in stupidity.

“Did you call me an i***t?”

“No. I called myself an idiot.” She admitted and sighed, “Eric, why are you up here?”

“I said I need to use the washroom, and Tina was making a show of following me. I let her think I was heading to the powder room near the front hall and then I diverted and came up here.”

“Worried about warts?” she poked her tongue in her cheek trying not to laugh.

“Funny.” He rolled his eyes. “You were rude at dinner.”

“So what? I’m not your child to reprimand, Eric. I have enough with two overbearing parents. I don’t need a third.”

“Your mother mentioned you tried to get into the concert the other night.” He changed the subject. “A night club isn’t the appropriate place for you. There are lots of older people there and it can be dangerous.”

“Sure.” She looked him over and sighed wondering again why her silly heart wanted him. He might be all tattooed up under his t-shirt, which she knew because of his Vanity Fair spread, and he might be sporting the best looking six pack and ridge lines known to womankind but based on the way he was scolding her, he thought of her as nothing more than a kid sister and it irked.

“Look, if you’re wanting a private performance, I’m sure your father would arrange something with my manager, and we can set something up which is a bit more age appropriate for you and your girlfriends.”

Age appropriate? “Eric, how old do you think I am?”

“Not old enough to get into a club in New York.”

“I’m nineteen, six and a half weeks off twenty. In Canada, in most countries actually, I can drink legally. I can vote here in the US, and I did in the last election. I can drive a car. I am in college. Do you know how many college kids go to bars and clubs Eric?”

“Look, you’re young and –”

“Save it, dumbass.” She pushed past him.

He reached out and grabbed her arm, “I can’t let you go downstairs with your ass hanging out in your pyjamas. Your father would be pissed if any of his company saw you like this.”

“My father, not you Eric. You are not my dad. You’re not even my brother. Hell, you’re not even a blood relative,” she saw the shock on his face as she ripped her arm away from him furiously. She was starting to really believe she’d wasted nearly three years. “So back off and mind your own damn business.”

“Hadlee, the guards are in the house.”

“No s**t!” she pulled a face, planting her hands on either side of her cheeks mocking him. “Ooh, the guards might see my ass. You do know when I go to the beach I wear a thong bikini right?” She turned flounced down the flight of stairs and bounded towards the kitchen area.

The noisy conversation from the front of the house carried towards the back, where the kitchen area was located, and she heard her uncle’s loud laugh followed by her grandfather’s. She paused wondering when her grandparents arrived. They were supposed to be in Russia. Not her circus and not her monkeys she decided, and she pulled open the refrigerator door.

She noted one of the guards who was normally assigned to her when she was in Europe, Dima, entering the room and checking out her legs and she grinned into the fridge.

“Hadlee, you came back down.”

“Hey Dima, just for a snack.”

“You are the snack,” the man stepped closer. “Does your father know you wander the house full of guests like this?”

“No.” She turned and batted her lashes, knowing Eric was coming towards them. She rested her hand on his chest, “are you going to tattle?”

“Maybe. Maybe not,” he winked at her, his accent thick and rough. “What do I get if I don’t?” He tapped his cheek.

She giggled and kissed his cheek, “you know Dima, I have a birthday coming up in a couple of months. I’m hoping for a trip to London to take in some shows. If Dad adds to my protection detail.”

“Not in a million f*****g years,” Eric interrupted as he walked in and pointed at Dima. “Do not make me tell Liev you’re flirting with his underage daughter.”

“I’m nineteen not fifteen, Eric. f**k me, you’re uptight.”

“What gives you the right to dictate to her? You are not her family.” Dima glowered at him as he moved to stand between her and Eric protectively.

“I’m the closest thing to a big brother she has, and Liev trusts me to protect her the way I protect my own younger sister.”

“You think because Liev uses you,” Dima spat at him.

“Enough,” he gave a warning glance at the man and then at Hadlee who was hanging onto the words. “One word from me telling Liev the daughter he prizes above all of his sons is being sexually harassed by one of his lower-level guards who is on a tryout for the first time in the home, and you’ll be making a one-way trip back to whatever little shithole of a village he pulled you from.” Eric was in his face. “Try me, fuckwad. Liev is like a dad to me so guess what this makes Hadlee? My kid sister. Mess with my kid sister and see what it gets you.”

Hadlee stepped between the two men and pushed them apart, her heart furiously pounding at his words. Futile. The word was ringing in her head as she grasped her attempt to make him think her more than a kid was anything other than futile. “Good grief boys. Put your d***s away until someone actually has a ruler around to measure.”

Eric’s head swivelled and glared at her, “your language.”

“f**k off,” she held up her middle finger right in his face, furious with him now. He’d called her his kid sister. She wanted to vomit. “You’re not my family, Eric.” She saw the hurt on his face at her comment and let her frustrations loose, “we don’t share blood and I’m not your responsibility. If I want to flirt, make out with, or even f**k all of my father’s guards, it’s none of your business.”

“You’d send the guy to his death?”

She stepped closer to Eric not breaking eye contact, “he’s a big boy and can make his own decisions but what a way to go. I’m a dancer Eric, flexible as hell and I’m not shy in the least. He’s not going to die unsatisfied, guaranteed.” She shot a look over her shoulder at Dima, “However, this might be the point in the story where you tell Eric you weren’t really interested in me because you bat for the other team.”

Eric’s eyes widened and Dima smirked.

“Dima,” she patted his chest as she hugged one of the premade snack boxes the housekeeper always kept in the fridge for her brothers to grab. Cheese, crackers, grapes, and cured meats. “It’s been lovely to see you again and welcome back to the US. Tell your husband and little girl I said hello.”

“Thanks for the show, Hadlee,” he grinned back and saluted Eric as he spun on his heel. “You might want to take those gorgeous legs up the stairs though before big brother here has a stroke.” Dima shot him a look, “jackoff.” He whistled as he walked back towards the room he was supposed to be guarding.

Hadlee held her snacks, grabbed a bottle of water, and then groaned when she dropped the bottle. “s**t,” she bent down, ignoring the loud hiss she heard escaping Eric’s lips as her ass was likely on full display. She rolled her eyes, “if you don’t like it, don’t look.”

“You cannot be dressed like this.”

“It’s my house. Piss off.” She shot him another annoyed look and walked back towards the stairs. Seeing Tina looking around the hall she shot her a smirk, “Eric’s in the kitchen if you’re looking for him Tina.” She heard his curse at her words and took the stairs two at a time knowing he had a view of her legs and perhaps other exposed parts all the way up. His strangled breath made her laugh all the way back to her room.