“Every second of what?” I ask, directing my glare at him.
He shakes his head, and when Demitri hands him his plate, he immediately digs in.
I stare at Alexei as he wolfs the food down until Demitri sits down again. When I give Demitri a what’s-going-on look, he reaches for my hand and gives it a squeeze. “Eat, Malyshka.”
Letting out a sigh, I pick up a strip of bacon and nibble on it.
My life has become the freaking twilight zone.
Chapter 18
DEMITRI
“No,” Ariana snaps, glaring at me.
Alexei crosses his arms over his chest, a huge-ass smile on his face as he watches us.
“You only have to wear it until we get on the plane,” I explain.
She points at the blindfold in my hand. “I swear if you try to put that on me, we’re probably going to have a repeat of the first day we met.”
“Think of it as foreplay with Demitri,” Alexei suddenly says.
Both Ariana and I stare at Alexei.
“Seriously, shut up,” I warn him. I turn my attention back to Ariana. “You can’t know where the island is.”
Ariana narrows her eyes on me, and then she takes a threatening step toward me. “Just so there’s no misunderstanding between us, you want me to trust you with my life, but I can’t know where this freaking island is?”
Fuck. Valid point.
“Slam. Dunk,” Alexei mutters.
Alexei is getting way too much pleasure from this. Shooting him a glare, I throw the blindfold at him. “This is your island. You want her blindfolded, do it yourself.”
He lowers his arms and walks to Ariana. She immediately stiffens, her body tensing. Instead of blindfolding her, Alexei tilts his head and locks eyes with her. “If you tell anyone where this island is –”
“Yeah-yeah,” Ariana interrupts him. “You’ll slice and dice me like yesterday’s salad and drown me in the lake.” She turns away from Alexei and shoots me an angry glare, and then walks to the front door, grumbling, “I’m so over this shit. I swear to God I’m going to end up killing one of them before this is all over. Blindfold me. Ha. Little too late for that, jerks. I know I’m somewhere on Lake Superior.”
Her grumbling fades away as she leaves the house, and then Alexei shakes his head at me. He places his hand on my shoulder. “I fucking love her. If you don’t marry her, I will.”
Taking a deep breath, I glance up at the ceiling and pray for strength, so I don’t punch my best friend. “Why the fuck do you keep pushing this?” Locking eyes with Alexei, I shake my head.
“In three days, we’ll kill her brother, probably in front of her. We’ll meet with the Bratva, and we’ll have to have a solid plan in place.” Alexei takes a step closer to me, his expression dead serious. “Ariana will never be able to return to her old life. They’ll keep coming after her.”
“You think I haven’t thought of that?” I ask, letting out a burst of incredulous laughter. “She’ll have enough money to get a custodian of her own.”
Alexei takes a step back and, wiping his thumb over his bottom lip, he stares at me. “Is that really what you want, Demitri?” He shakes his head. “No one knows you better than I do. I see the way you look at her. You’re a fucking hard man, yet you hover around her, ready to rip my head off for just looking at her.” Concern settles on his face. “You call her Malyshka.”
“So what? You call every woman you meet ‘little one’.”
A chuckle escapes him. “Yeah, but I don’t call them ‘baby’.” He steps right up to me. “You’ve never given a single fuck for a woman. You’ve fallen fucking hard and fast for Ariana. Why are you fighting it?”
“I’m not,” I bite the words out. Alexei just stares at me until I admit, “This isn’t about me. Over the past ten days, Ariana was kidnapped, lost her father, and learned her brother wants her dead. She’s barely holding on as is. Yes, I can take her and force her to marry me.” I shake my head. “I won’t do that to Ariana, so don’t even mention it to her.”
“So you’re just going to get her a custodian and wash your hands of her?” Alexei still keeps fucking pushing.
“I’m going to give her time until she comes to me out of her own free will.” I lean closer to Alexei, and my voice rumbles low, “We don’t force women, remember?”
He holds my gaze and then finally nods. “I just want the best for you, brother.”
“I know,” I say, and I let out a tired breath. I place my hand on Alexei’s shoulder. “I appreciate you wanting to make this happen for me, but like you said yesterday, the control is in Ariana’s hands. I won’t take her freedom. It’s all she has left. Once the dust has settled, I’ll tell her how I feel.”