38. Lev
“So we’re in agreement?”
I look around the table where the twelve members of the bratva’s inner circle look back at me. All in suits. All nodding in agreement. Except for one.
Vadim.
We’ve just discussed cutting ties with The Pitt, an organized crime syndicate running out of Chicago. They’re becoming too high risk to maintain a relationship with because of their involvement outside of our interests. Dark trades such as trafficking, drugs, and guns. Three things the Zarkov name has never been associated with.
It’s going to cost us. But the financial loss will be a drop in the ocean compared to the prison time if we get caught up in the inevitable implosion of their organization.
But Vadim doesn’t want to sever ties.
He leans forward in his chair. “Our relationship with The Pitt stems back decades. It’s a good relationship.”
“No, it’s a toxic relationship. They think trafficking teenagers is acceptable. The Zarkov do not.”
“It’s the new head of the family, Solomon the Deerhunter. He’s stained the name with these new things. We need to press the family to take control back. Speak with some of the old-timers. When they know what is at stake—”
“Are you seriously telling me you want me to visit the inner sanctum of The Pitt and suggest a fucking coup? Since when do we get involved in the politics of our associates? I wouldn’t stand for it. Would you?”
“He’s new. Young. Ambitious. Too inexperienced to lead. Let’s wait it out before severing the alliance. He’s had enough rope to hang himself. Let him. There will be a new head of the organization soon enough.”
Now I’m wondering if we’re still talking about The Pitt.
“Is that life imitating your own designs, Uncle?” I snap.
Vadim’s cold eyes burn across the table at me.
“Who else shares Vadim’s belief?” My gaze moves over the face of every man in the room. “Who wants to wait it out until Solomon the Deerhunter hangs himself like Vadim says? Or who wants to ensure their lives don’t implode in the coming months because those mudaks are dealing in shit the Zarkov have never tolerated?”
I can’t keep the heat out of my voice.
“Don’t be afraid to speak up. I invite full transparency here.”
Vadim scoffs. “Where was the full transparency when you shot Aleks to death in his restaurant, huh?”
I swing my burning gaze to my uncle, my voice low and simmering with warning. “Aleks betrayed the bratva, and the only outcome of that can be death. Betrayal equals death. That is the rule we all live by, is it not?”
“The Pitt has become a liability,” Boris says to Vadim. “And we remove liabilities.”
Vadim’s cold eyes linger on his brother before sliding back to me. “It is true. We remove liabilities.”
My jaw clenches. Is that a threat?
I sharpen my gaze on him. “Is there something you want to add, Vadim? You got something you want to say to me or the others?”
“No, Nephew,” he says.
But I don’t lift my gaze. He will not address me as his nephew. I am his leader. His boss and he needs to remember that. “No, what..?”
He glares at me, his tongue dripping with venom as he adds, “Pakhan.”
I smile coldly at him, then break it to look at my men. “So it is settled. We break alliances with The Pitt.”
The inner circle all nod their approval.
“Good, I will make sure that happens this week.” I stand. “Oh, and before I go, I have news.”
Silence settles around the table as all twelve pairs of eyes settle on me.
“I’m getting married.”
I leave the meeting with the heat of my uncle’s words prickling under my collar.
The only silver lining was seeing the dissatisfaction on Vadim’s face and the snarl on his thin lips when he realized the title of pakhan just got even more out of reach.
A wife means an heir.
Which means he’s never going to run this bratva.
Even if the wife in this case is a fake wife and the heir is only implied. Because I’m pretty sure Brooke’s compliance in marrying me doesn’t extend to me actually putting a baby inside her.
A throb of lust runs through me.
Damn, why does the thought of making Brooke pregnant turn me on?
For the last couple of nights, we’ve barely kept our hands off one another. It’s like a dam has burst, and all the pent-up lust and sexual tension has been pouring out of us both.
I can barely keep my hands off her. Let alone my mind.
Thoughts of her sweet body riding me keep me hard all day, and knowing she is waiting for me at home makes me put my foot down harder on the accelerator.
Reaching for the dashboard, I hit the call button for the house, and Maria, the housekeeper, picks up on the third ring.
“Put me through to Brooke’s room,” I say.
“Oh, she’s not in her room, sir,” Maria says.
“Where is she?” I ask, wondering what nightmare the little pain is conjuring up for me now.
“She’s right here in the kitchen. I’ve been teaching her how to bake blini. Now she’s having afternoon tea with us.”
“Us?”
“Enya, Igor, and me.”
I can’t help but smile. Why doesn’t it surprise me that she’s made friends with the staff already? She’s easy to like. Easy to be around. I know firsthand.
“Put her on for me,” I say.
There’s a pause, then Brooke comes on the line. “I hope this is important because Igor was just about to tell me all about what you were like as a bratty bratva baby. Just kidding, I don’t think even the FBI interrogation team could pull that kind of information out of him.” She whispers playfully into the phone, “He’s half robot, you know.”
“You don’t give yourself enough credit, zayka. I think you could get a monk to talk. Even if only to say, please stop talking.”
“Aw, that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
“Don’t get used to it.”
“Too late. You’ve raised the bar now, monster.” She chuckles, and I like the sound of it. “Why are you calling me?”
“Choose somewhere to go for dinner. Speak to Maria or Enya, and they’ll be able to give you some suggestions.”
“You’re giving me the choice? Someone must be in a good mood.”
“The opposite, actually. It’s been a day to grate on my last nerve. Pick somewhere quiet. I’ll be home within the hour.”
I’m irritated by my uncle’s disrespect. So when I return home to find Brooke waiting for me wearing nothing but one of my shirts, I’m pleasantly surprised at how Vadim and his surliness disappear. My night is looking a whole lot better already.
“What is this?” I ask.
“You sounded stressed on the phone, and when you said you wanted some peace and quiet, I thought, why not eat in?” She walks over to where I’m standing in the doorway to her bedroom and peels my jacket off me, then places a palm on my chest and starts pushing me toward the bed. “And when I say eat in, I mean, I’m going to eat, and you’re going to sit down and enjoy it.”
She pushes me so I drop onto the bed, then kneels before me and looks up at me with those big bunny eyes.
I reach out and touch her jaw and drag my fingers across her cheek to her parted lips. Since she climbed on my lap and took her pleasure from me four nights ago, we’ve spent hours in this room, sucking and licking and fucking until our hearts are content.
And I’m not going to lie. They’re the favorite parts of my days.
I slide my thumb into her mouth, then pull it out to coat her lower lip with her saliva. She draws it back in and gently suckles it, a promise of what’s to come.
She moans, and my cock damn near busts out of my zipper.
I pull my thumb away. I’m as hard as fuck. I need her to touch me. I need to feel her skin on my skin.
She unzips my pants and eases me free, then leans forward and begins to tease the head of my cock with flirty, velvety licks. It’s torture. My cock aches to slide in her mouth, but she keeps me at bay, holding me at the base so she can continue to work me into a lather just by licking and suckling the head.
“Zayka…” I beg, pushing my hands through her hair.
I need her to take all of me into her mouth.
But she doesn’t. She keeps licking and swirling her tongue over the taut head, sliding it underneath the rim and driving me crazy until I can barely stand it anymore.
“Oh God…” I groan. “Fuck me with your hot little mouth…”
Finally, she sucks me deeper into her mouth, and my eyes roll.
Christ, I’m so hard I think I’m going to explode. My head falls back, and my fingers tighten in her hair as the little zayka on her knees in front of me fucks my cock with her luscious mouth. She slides it along the length of me, dragging her plump wet tongue along my flesh and up to the engorged head of my cock. Pleasure throbs through every nerve and fiber, and my cock swells in her mouth as she sucks me like I’m a goddamn lollipop.
“Fuck,” I growl, tugging on her hair. Only a couple of minutes with her, and I’m ready to come. “That’s it, zayka. Take me deep into your mouth.”
She does—she sucks me deep and hard and with the kind of suction I’ve only ever known in my fantasies. She can’t take all of me, but she feasts on the inches she can with fervor, and it feels so fucking good I have to breathe in through my nose and exhale roughly out my mouth to stop from coming.
“Fuck yes. Fuck my cock with that juicy little mouth of yours like a good girl.” I groan and grip her hair by the roots. I tilt her head back so she has to look up at me with those big eyes. “You make me so fucking hard…”
She smiles around my cock, and I swear I almost lose it. Because there is nothing like having my little bunny on her knees in front of me, devouring my cock, and smiling as she does it.
“You give good head, zayka.” Another groan rips out of me, and my cock throbs with pleasure in her mouth. “So fucking good…”
I rock my hips toward her and bite down my bottom lip to stop from coming. But the pain only adds to the pleasure, and I feel my balls tighten. Fuck. I’m going to come, and there’s nothing in this world that can stop me.
A primal growl roars out of me, and I throb against her lips, jerking in her mouth as my cum hits the back of her throat. Throb after throb, pulse after pulse. And like a good little bunny, she drinks it all up. Every last drop.
I’m panting and it takes me a moment to come back to myself.
Brooke looks up at me as she drags the back of her hand across her mouth and smiles wickedly.
My perfect little hell bunny.
But I’m not done.
I pick her up and throw her over my shoulder and slap her ass.
She squeals. “Lev!”
I drop her onto the bed, crawl along the covers toward her, and bury my face between her thighs. She softens, and her cries of protest quickly become cries of pleasure.
I return the torture with my tongue. Licking, sucking, fucking her drenched pussy with my mouth. And when she comes, she arches her back with a cry and comes on my face with her thighs clenching around my temples.
I lift my head, her slickness coating my lips.
My cock is hard again. I grip the base, and precum drips from the head and slides down the shaft.
Brooke parts her thighs further, opening her pussy for me, and I slide right in and fuck her until we’re both crying out with pleasure again.
When our panting evens out and our bodies are ready to sink heavily into the mattress, we take a shower together and enjoy one another’s bodies as we lather soap over wet flesh and kiss under a steady stream of water, lost in the hazy afterglow together.
I massage shampoo into her scalp and drag it through to the ends, savoring her soft moans as she softens beneath my touch.
“You know, I’m going to expect this kind of treatment every time I take a shower now,” she says.
And I want to give it to her. The thought hits me out of nowhere, and my stomach tightens with the possibility.
But I push the thought away and rinse off her hair. No point in wanting the impossible.
Afterward, when we’re dried off, we have dinner on the bed while watching Netflix on the TV on the wall. Then I pull her into my arms, and she eventually falls asleep, and her soft, rhythmic breath begins to lull me toward sleep. My sweet bratva lullaby.
But I can’t sleep here with her.
I can’t ever sleep here with her.
Because that will be another line I cross. A line that could destroy us both.
Because this isn’t real.
We’re not real.
It’s hard to leave the bed. To leave her. When everything in me begs me not to.
But I know how sweet her lullaby is, and I can’t risk becoming addicted to it. An addiction like that is a weakness, and now, more than ever, I can’t allow weakness into my life.
Both our lives depend on it.