Chapter Eighteen
LYLA VOZNESENSKY
Ismirked.
It couldn’t be any more fucking perfect.
What better way to bond and build a relationship than to kill a few people together?
It would be something that bound us together for life.
Something we could talk about for years to come, when we were sitting around the fire, reminiscing about the good old days.
Hey, remember that time a bunch of dickheads came into the café, and we slaughtered them?
Oh, yeah, that was fun.
Nothing established a meaningful connection quite like it.
The sound of my chair scraping across the floor hit the air. It was intentionally loud, and drew every set of eyes directly to us. Lukyan leaned back, spreading his thighs, watching me.
It was my time to fucking shine. To show him how perfect we would be together.
I stood and stretched my arms over my head, releasing a yawn.
“You. Come here,” the fucker with that ugly-ass mohawk demanded.
“Me?” I asked casually, hand to my chest.
“Yeah, you,” Ben answered instead.
“Okay.” Skipping, I made my way over to them. Cedric kept a close eye on me as I walked past him. With a subtle, barely recognizable shake of my head, I told him not to interfere.
Darrell ran his eyes up and down my body, hunger flaring in his eyes. “You’re a cute little thing.”
“Thank you! You’re so sweet!”
“Fucking hell.” One of the other men laughed. “She’s got no idea, does she?” He was missing a few teeth, the others stained yellow.
“Come sit down, cutie. No, not there. Here.” Darrell patted his thigh. I sat down, giggling.
“You’re handsome.”
“I know.” He buried his head into the crook of my neck, sniffing my hair. “You like a big, strong man, baby?”
I giggled again. “Yeah. But you know what I like more?”
Darrell’s hands came down onto my thighs, caressing.
The other men chuckled, eating their food, throwing each other knowing glances and winks.
I wasn’t an idiot. They might as well have been broadcasting their thoughts for the entire world to see.
They thought I would be an easy fuck, and if I wasn’t, they were going to take me for themselves.
I let them think whatever the fuck they wanted. They would soon see how it really was.
“I like having a strong man bend to my will.” I slipped off his lap, slow, sensual, dropping to my knees in between his legs. I turned so I was facing Darrell, my hands moving to the waistband of his jeans.
“Oh, fuck yeah. Look at this bitch.” A man with a receding hairline laughed. “She’s fucking thirsty for your cock, Darrell.”
I unsnapped Darrell’s belt and popped the button on his jeans, pulling down the zipper. A repugnant smell wafted into the air from his crotch. It made me want to fucking vomit.
“Dibs on next.” Ben sniffed, wiping his nose aggressively with the sleeve of his shirt.
“No, I’m next!” the man with the baseball bat at his side barked.
“Fuck off, Sawyer! I am!” Receding Hairline blasted.
“Gentlemen, gentlemen, calm down. We’ll all get a turn, won’t we, darling?” Darrell snickered, lifting his hips so I could pull his pants down. His dick was fully out, and growing harder and harder with each passing second. It was repulsive, to say the least.
“Yes, you will.” Discreetly, I pulled a karambit knife from my waistband. It was my favorite type of blade. Curved like a tiger’s claw, it had a safety ring embedded into the handle for secure gripping. “But you get first honors.”
I lowered my head. Darrell’s head tilted back, exposing his throat.
I gripped the knife tightly and swung up in a powerful arc.
The blade ripped through his throat, spraying blood in every direction.
I kicked back, flipping the table, which toppled, knocking the three remaining men to the ground.
I went to Ben first, jumping over the fallen table and landing on top of him, legs either side of his body, my knife to his throat.
“You said next, right?” My grin was wicked.
His eyes widened. “Wait! No!” I brought the sharp tip down right into his eye. He screamed.
Two down, two to go. This is going to be over too quickly.
A foot came flying toward my face. I blocked with my forearm, curled my hand to grip his shin, and twisted.
It was Receding Hairline. He let loose a howl of pain.
As he went down, I followed, using gravity and my body’s momentum to drive my blade deep into his stomach.
I ripped upward, his organs shredding beneath my weapon like paper.
The last man swung his baseball bat toward my head. I ducked and rolled forward, abandoning my blade. I had no choice. I spun, staying in a crouched position as he advanced, vengeance burning his eyes.
“You’re fucking dead!” he hissed.
I giggled maniacally, the smile on my face getting wider and wider. Blood dripped down my face, down my chin, splotches of it hitting the floor. The tiniest bit of fear flickered in his eyes. Behind him, I saw Lukyan. He was up on his feet, watching me with an almost entranced look on his face.
I remained low, slinking across the floor like a spider as I moved slowly to my left.
It just freaked the fuck out of Sawyer even more, his body frozen in place while he tracked me with his eyes, the bat beginning to tremble in his hands.
He looked around at his dead friends, the dark red blood pooling around them, and decided to cut his losses.
The bat clanged to the floor. He twirled and made a run for the exit.
Lukyan stepped into his path. A sexy-as-fuck, wickedly evil grin was on his face. “Where are you going? The fun is only just starting.”
“Get the fuck out of my way, man!”
Lukyan tutted. He took one step forward. Sawyer took a step back.
Intrigued, I stayed where I was, curious about what he would do next.
I’d seen Lukyan kill before. Watched him from the shadows as he dealt with people who stepped out of line. As an enforcer for the Bratva, that happened a lot. It was his job to dole out punishments and inflict pain on those who fucked with their business.
He enjoyed it.
And I enjoyed watching him.
Lukyan grabbed Sawyer by the scruff of his neck. Sawyer bent to his will immediately, pleading.
“Plea-please don’t kill me. I’m sorry, okay? I won’t come in here again, I swear.”
“You think I give a fuck about that?” Lukyan scoffed. “I just want to have some fun.”
Sawyer must have glimpsed something in Lukyan’s eyes because he dropped to his knees, as if his submission would somehow save him.
It wouldn’t. That twinkle in Lukyan’s eyes…I’d seen that before. He wanted blood.
Lukyan let Sawyer go with a rough shove. “Get the fuck up.”
“No, man, please. I—”
“I said, get the fuck up,” Lukyan demanded, his voice rising along with his anger.
Legs shaking, Sawyer got to his feet, his whole body trembling.
I approached, excitement thrumming through my bones. The idea of watching Lukyan in his element…Jesus, fuck…It made me feel things in places I probably shouldn’t be feeling them.
Oh, well.
“Want one of my knives, my love?” I asked, gazing up at him. I felt like a lovestruck teenager. All I could think about was the years to come…Us, killing people who wronged us, side by side…It would be perfection.
Lukyan’s eyes flared. “You’ll give me one?”
“Of course, silly! Here, I’ll give you my favorite one.” I pulled out another karambit knife. This one was bloodred, with an intricate pattern of lines and swirls engraved into the silver blade.
He held it up, admiring it. “What makes this one your favorite?”
I masked my excitement. He was asking questions. Wanting to know more about me. His interest in me was growing. I could tell. Why else would he ask such an intimate and personal question?
“This one holds great sentimental value. It’s the one I used to claim my first kill.”
His eyes lit up as if in understanding. “Ah. I have one of those too.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” He put his index through the ring on the handle and flipped it this way and that, testing the balance. “You stole it.”
The memory flashed through my head like a scene in a movie.
Me, creeping into his bedroom in the dead of night, seeing him passed out in bed.
There’d been a dagger on his bedside table.
In the past, I had tried to restrict myself from taking things he might otherwise need, only taking miscellaneous items, like his towel from the gym.
A random T-shirt. His toothbrush. A lock of his hair.
I couldn’t help the compulsion. I just wanted to keep him close to me, even when we were worlds apart, and by taking his possessions, it satiated that part of me. But there was just something about that shiny silver dagger that called to me.
So, I took it, climbed back out of his window, paused on the climb down the side of his house, and flashed it to the security camera.
I ran a finger softly down his lips. “Well, if you behave, I might just give it back.”
Lukyan didn’t move, eyes boring into mine. He cocked his head in intrigue. “How many times did you break into my room?”
“Far too many to count.”
“Why did you do it?”
Keeping my touch featherlight, I brushed a lock of hair out of his face, caressing his skin as I made my way down to the collar around his neck. “I like watching you sleep.”
His brows creased slightly. “Why?”
I didn’t really know why, if I was being honest. It just brought me peace.
Quietened my brain, if only for a little while.
And that was something I’d come heavily to rely on.
It was one of the reasons I installed hidden cameras in his room.
On those nights when I couldn’t make it in person, I could still watch him sleep from afar.
“Because I’m obsessed with you.” I winked. “But you know that already.”
“I’m beginning to see the depths of your obsession.”
“Oh, baby, you’ve just barely scratched the surface.” I wasn’t kidding. If Lukyan really, truly knew how deep my obsession for him ran, he’d probably run in the other direction.