“How’s she doing?”
Nastasia smiled too widely, and it came across more like a grimace. “She’s only broken four glasses so far, so—” The sound of glass smashing followed by Mina’s “Ah, crap. Sorry!” sounded. My sister shook her head. “Five glasses in two hours. Is she trying to set some kind of record or some shit?”
“She’ll get the hang of it.” I didn’t sound as confident as I hoped.
I watched Mina closely as she listened to Anika. She was concentrating hard, nodding on occasion. I couldn’t understand why this was so hard for her. Her shoulders looked tight with tension.
“Listen,” Nas broke into my thoughts. “I gotta tell you, Lev, telling Vik and Ani that you met Mina when she was stealing Sasha’s wallet…” She winced. “Ouch.”
I was suddenly confused. “What?”
My sister had always been patient with me, but tonight, she sighed. “It’s not cool, bro. You only get one chance to make a good impression, and before Mina had the chance to do that, you tore it out from under her feet.”
“I don’t understand.” I really didn’t.
Nastasia leveled me with a hard stare. “You introduced her to our closest friends as a thief.”
Oh.
I was beginning to comprehend what I’d done. “I see.”
“No, you don’t.” Nastasia took my hand in her own and squeezed. “You’re a wonderful person, Lev. But you don’t see.”
Panic welled up inside of me. I lowered my gaze, training my eyes on my feet. What was I to do now? I didn’t know how to react. I felt wrong.
Releasing my hand, Nas assisted me in my unspoken query. “When you get the chance, apologize to Mina.”
My stomach ached. I hated this, unintentionally hurting people. I nodded.
My sister kissed my cheek and assured, “You’re a good man, Lev. You just need a little help sometimes. No biggie.”
But it was a big deal, to me more than most.
***
Mina
“Mina.”
It was childish, but I ignored him. “Mina, please look at me.”
I took a moment from reading my handy little guide to mixers and turned my face toward him, but my eyes strayed, focusing on his chin. He spoke softly. “Nastasia informed me that what I said in front of Anika and Viktor was inappropriate and I likely embarrassed you.” My brow furrowed in confusion. He spoke about it as if he didn’t know why I would be embarrassed about it. He went on, “It wasn’t my intention to cause you distress, and I now understand why you called me an asshole. I apologize.”
Saying sorry was one of the hardest things to say to a person, and Lev had done it in such a sincere manner that my anger ebbed away. Mostly. “I suppose you’re going to go around telling everyone that I’m a homeless thief?”
He tilted his head in that way of his and concentrated hard, searching my face. “You’re ashamed of your past.”
My eyes went down to the book in front of me and I uttered quietly, “There’s a stigma behind vagrants. Everyone looks down on the homeless. Of course I’m ashamed of my past.”
“I’m not ashamed of who you are. And the only time I would look down on you is if I were helping you back up.”
He had a way with words. I’d give him that. I wondered how he could say something, essentially stealing the breath from me. He seemed to enjoy doing it. He had to, otherwise he wouldn’t do it so often.
“Stop doing that,” I whispered.
His honeyed eyes narrowed in confusion. “Doing what?”
“Being so nice to me.” I’d had enough. Slapping the book down on the bar, I gave in to myself and said what I’d been thinking. “Why am I here, Lev? Why have you brought me here? Here specifically? Why am I staying in your house, in you bed?” I paused. “Am I…” I swallowed hard. “You work in a gentleman’s club, surrounded by gorgeous women, I…” My voice hushed, I asked hesitantly, “Am I being groomed into prostitution?”