Chapter12
I knew I was in a medical bed before I even opened my eyes. Maybe it was the prick of the IVs in my arms or the sterile smells around me. Most likely it was the fucking soreness in my ribs.
Fuck.But why was that the only pain? And why had they bothered to give me IV fluids?
I needed to get out of here. Forcing my eyes open, I took in all possible exits and weapons available to me,
But my perusal stopped immediately when I saw the form draped over the foot of my medical bed.
It was Becks. She was sitting on a plastic folding chair, but the front half of her body was bent over the mattress, her neck bent to face away from me, her back rising and falling with gentle breaths.
If I were with Black Thorn, they wouldn’t let her be loose in here, that was for sure. Did Alek bring me here? It was a medical bed, but I wasn’t in a hospital. The room was a normal looking room. Was it in the mansion? I didn’t recognize the space.
Fuck, there were rooms in the mansion I didn’t recognize. It was a big place, and I couldn’t get myself to look away from Becks.
What had happened? Why wasn’t my memory filling in the blanks?
And why the hell was Becks here? I pushed myself up and beeps started to go off as censors fell away. I ignored the pain in my chest and shoulders. It didn’t feel like anything was broken, but there was probably a lot of bruising.
Though, if I was on heavy enough painkillers, I could be missing a limb and not feel it. After doublechecking that nothing was missing, I reached for Becks, running my fingers through her hair.
She was real and warm and here. The stupid girl hadn’t run like I told her to. I ran my fingers over her cheek and jaw, savoring her soft and warm skin.
She didn’t even stir as I continued to caress her. So unaware of her surroundings. Unable to wake up even when she was being touched.
Why didn’t she leave? Didn’t she know how hard it had been for me to watch her walk away? How impossible it had been for me to stay still and let her go?
It was never going to happen again.
A shadow fell over the room, and I knew Alek was standing in the doorway. “Hello, brother.”
He stepped into the room, his shoes softly clacking on the tile floor.
“Borya, I thought the next time I saw you would be at the end of my gun.”
My fingers tightened in Becks’ hair, but I was careful not to put any tension on her precious scalp.
“Things have changed.”
“Tell me about it. I see you’ve met Rebecca Banks. I would tell you she’s important to my fiancée, but I feel that would be a moot point.” I didn’t dignify that with a response. There was too much to discuss to waste words on pointless talk. “What the fuck happened in Russia?”
There were things I might never be ready to tell him. But so many things he deserved to know. “We should talk about this later.”
Alek scoffed. “You think she’s going to leave you alone anytime soon? She’s your own personal guard dog. Refused to leave your side. Even rode in the ambulance. Pretty surprising, considering all the shit you’ve done. Wanna tell me how you pulled all this off?”
Becks shifted on the bed, nestling further into my hand. She couldn’t be comfortable like this. Did I want to wake her up so she could get on the bed with me? Then she’d start asking a bunch of questions and be wide awake. She deserved to sleep.
But with her back in that position, she’d have kinks for days. And not the good kind of kinks.
“Help her up,” I ordered, not waiting for Alek to follow through as I reached beneath her arms and pulled her up.
Alek was immediately there, picking her up by the waist.
Her eyes snapped open, and her hands went to my chest as one leg instinctively went over my hip. Even as her weight added pressure to my injuries, my cock still responded to her.
“I’ve got you,” I promised as I pulled her close.
“What’s happening?” she mumbled as she came back to awareness.
“Just getting you comfortable, Kitten.”
“Kitten? Really?” scoffed Alek.
I gave Alek a scathing look. “Go fuck yourself. I saw the way you stare at your jailbait fiancée.”
Becks stiffened. “Fiancée? You and Daisy are getting married?” She started to pull away, but I tightened my grip.
“You’re not going anywhere, and the harder I have to hold you, the more you’ll disrupt my injuries.”
Yanking her head back, her big brown eyes gazed up at me. “Are you blackmailing me with your pain?”
“I’m not your kidnapper anymore. I have to work with what I’ve got.”
“You’re insane.”
“You already knew that. But you came back for me anyway, which was a big miscalculation on your part.”
She looked between Alek and me. “What the hell is wrong with you two?”
“That’s what we’re here to find out.” Alek took the chair that Becks had vacated. Bastard probably planned this. Here I was, laid out helpless on this bed with a bunch of bruised ribs and god knows what else wrong with me, and my biggest weakness laid out right between us.
Alek sat in all his glory like a king. He was ready to begin his interrogation.
“I’ll start at the beginning. I was born a poor Russian child.”
Alek rolled his eyes. “I can’t believe I ever missed you.”
I smirked. “I did get the brains in the family.”
“At least I got the looks.” He gave me a small smile of acknowledgement. It was a sign that maybe things could go back to normal someday. We just had to get past this initial conversation and awkwardness.
“No more stalling. Tell me what happened in Russia. You can have Rebecca leave if that would be more comfortable.”
Becks grabbed my arm, silently telling me she didn’t want to leave.
“She stays. She’s going to hear this eventually anyway. Might as well hear it now.”
SIX MONTHS AGO
The drinks were flowing,and the girls kept on spinning. Or maybe the room was spinning because of all the drinks I’d had.
Either way, it was the last night of my stay in St. Petersburg, and I was going to make the most of it. Sophie, the attaché from the VIP hotel service who was escorting me, had introduced me to what she called the “in crowd”.
Through the bits of Russian I understood, the in crowd included models, entrepreneurs and a few folks who earned their income through less than legal means.
Not that I gave a fuck.
I came here to get connected to my roots and get fucked up. Maybe not in that order. We finally had Miami under control to the point I could leave it under Alek’s supervision.
Dad had always talked about his ties to the old world, but after we’d killed the sorry bastard, we’d lost all possible connections he might’ve had.
So here I was, drunk off my ass beside a blonde with cocaine powder still on her nose grinding on my dick.
Who cared if she was high out of her mind? In a few minutes, I’d have my dick down that throat. As long as she could breathe out of her nose, I didn’t care what went up it.
The pounding EDM worked through me as the blonde turned and tugged me in for a kiss. Fuck it. I rubbed my hard-on against her, trying to imagine the quickest way to get my cock inside her somehow when something bitter made its way onto my tongue.
Pulling back, the blonde was smiling at me and held a finger up to my lips even as the bitter taste took over. She’d slipped me something.
Shoving her away I started to spit, falling against the crush of other dancers, none of whom cared about my freakout.
I stumbled away trying to clear my mouth, grabbing whatever drinks I could to wash out the dry feeling on my tongue, but I could already feel my body falling away.
I barely made it off the dance floor when my legs gave out. Then everything went black.
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