I felt my throat constrict in anticipation. I just knew right now, she was the one I wanted to see more than anyone else in the world. I wanted to touch her, smell her, hear her racing heart, take some of this tension of out my body by slamming into her. I thought of her bent over as she took all of me. Every fucking inch.
Just how high would that quiet voice of hers go when I finally had her? My cock twitched, I entirely missed the damn target. I put the gun down to get the blood back to my head.
I looked at the door. Where the hell was she?
A quiet knock sounded.
“Come,” I said turning towards the door.
It opened, but it wasn’t her. It was Alexander, my second in command, and best friend since we were in middle school. He’d clung to me from the moment I told him how dangerous my family was.
“How did your mom die?” our schoolmates had asked me.
“My father shot her,” I’d answered dryly.
Some had believed me and fled. Others had labeled me sick in the head, but this yellow-eyed, Godzilla of a boy had seen something in me, and stayed by my side. Whether he’d believed me then or not, I would never know, but either way as the years went by, he’d refused to leave and I realized no one else in my life could strike that deep note of affinity I had with him.
“What’s messing with you?” he spurted out in Russian, his eyes on the stray shot.
I let out a heavy sigh and picked up the gun once again. I pointed it at the silhouette. This time, I added a faultless hole to the rest I’d already shot through its head.
“Shit goes awry like this all the time,” he reasoned. “Why are you so on edge?”
“No reason,” I said, turning in time to see his eyebrows shoot up for the briefest of seconds, before he veiled his expression and studied me in silence.
It was at times like this when I hated him the most. I didn’t need his intelligence and silence. I needed a fucking gorilla who didn’t understand me so well.
The door opened again, but he didn’t take his gaze off me.
Cursing him silently, I turned to watch April walk in. She’d changed clothes. She wore a white polo T-shirt and dark blue jeans. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail and I could see the beginnings of a bruise on her throat.
I felt a jolt of possession. Fuck, I did that!
The door shut from behind her. She seemed unsure of what to do next.
Alex’s gaze turned to her for a brief second, then back to me.
I tried to keep my gaze neutral.
“Hello,” she greeted quietly, then turned to Alex, but seemingly without a clue as to how to address the fearsome stranger.
Alex scared the shit out of everyone. He had tattoos on his neck and face. And he was as big as a brick outhouse. He gazed unsmiling, at her.
For a moment, I pitied her. He would watch her until he’d seen what he was looking for.
Awkwardly, she avoided his stare by looking at me.
I turned away to pick up my gun. I needed to shave the edge off. “Pick a gun from that rack,” I ordered, and fired off a shot.
She jumped in fright at the deafening bang.
When I turned to see her hand clutching her chest and the extent of fear in her eyes, it filled me with remorse for my stupidity. Why did I do it? Because I didn’t want Alex to know? Because she was turning me into an addict for her body? I’d never needed anyone before. I wanted them, I took them and after I had them, I discarded them. I’d never felt this craving.
Aware of Alex leaning against the table in the corner, I filtered the concern out of my voice and asked, “Are you okay?”
“I’m not,” she answered. “I don’t want to be here.”
I felt a sudden fear that she would leave. Maybe I’d gone too far… and the fear shocked me senseless. I never cared if a woman stayed or left.
“You need to fuck her hard and quick,” Alex commented in Russian. “Get her out of your system, then dump her. She’s the wrong sort.”
His voice was like a bucket of ice dumped over my head.
With that, he rose to his feet and took his leave.
Chapter 15
April
She Drives Me Crazy
On my way to meet Yuri, I had run into what seemed to be a man who’d been beaten into a literal bloodied pulp being dragged carelessly across the concrete yard. I got a glimpse of his face. It was so battered his eyes were swollen shut and his mouth hung open. Actually, he might’ve even been dead. There was something heavy and inert about his body.