Hopelessly Devoted

Chapter 48: Paths of Glory

"You look like shit." Matvei groaned at the sight of Winter on his front steps. "Thanks, Winter. You can leave now." He attempted to close his front door but she stopped him. "No can do, mister. I'm riding with your ass to Houston."

"The fuck you are!" Winter shrugged passed him with her luggage in tow. "Seriously, Winter, I don't want you coming with me." She gave him a sarcastic smirk. "Seriously, Matvei, I don't give a fuck what you want."

Matvei groaned loudly as Winter continued her verbal assault. "Mikhail is obviously pissed at your ass because he agreed to take your fucking mother to Houston to avoid you. Arseny, Keisha and Konstantin flew due to Keisha's car sickness with long drives. Vlad and your uncles are already there and I'm not putting those unnecessary miles on my baby."

She moved to be in front of him. "So, yes, we're driving together. Yes, I'm going to berate you the entire time about how you fucked things up with the one woman that could understand everything that you are. And yes, you're going to have to fucking deal with it."

Matvei glared at her before turning and heading upstairs to finish packing. The drive would be long because he knew Winter was a woman of her word and every minute in his truck would be a miserable one.

"I'm surprised you called me last night." Margarita said with a smile as Mikhail drove past the Welcome to Houston sign. He simply shrugged and kept his eyes on the road. He had been quiet a majority of the trip with simple one word responses to questions that needed an answer.

"You okay, moy rebenok (my baby)?" Mikhail was tired of his mother. Things changed for them a long time ago but he entertained her because like her he was lonely.

The night Alyssa called her out on her shit, he felt called out too. He didn't necessarily want a relationship with her and he knew she was aware of that.

He called to offer a ride because he needed to ensure that Matvei would leave him alone this weekend. He couldn't deal with him and keep the composure needed to ensure Jenna's wedding went off without a hitch. Margarita Melnik was his weapon of choice to keep Matvei at bay.

"Mikhail..." He looked at his mother. "No, I'm not okay but I don't want to talk to you about it, so leave it." Margarita huffed. "This has to do with your brother, right? That Matvei. He was always trouble." Mikhail stopped abruptly at the stoplight.

"Matvei was and is an angel for killing the monster you still obviously love. You watched him beat us, mom. He beat us badly, Matvei more than me, and you barely did shit. If anyone is troubled, it's your ass. Now sit there and shut up."

"You can't talk to me that way!" Mikhail laughed lowly as he drove. "I can't? Would you rather I slap you around a few times to get my point across? That always seemed to work when he did it."

Margarita shut her mouth instantly and turned to the window. Mikhail didn't like the way he was behaving. He was on edge. Angry all the time. Discombobulated. He knew it was because things were up in the air with Alyssa.

She told him she loved him and he believed her. He saw it in her eyes. He felt it in the way they held each other, but Matvei...Matvei was a torn in his side and would remain that way until Alyssa could walk away from him or he could make honest amends.

The wedding was beautiful. Mikhail knew it would be. He loved all of his cousins, but Jenna the most. They were the same. Lovers who never thought they'd find their happily ever after and she had. She deserved it.