Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
I snickered at the look of pure rage on my sister’s face. Even though monopoly was a game of complete chance, she still let herself get all worked up when she was losing.
After a huge dinner that was fit for a king, we all gathered in Father’s office to spend the night playing all the board games we used to play when we were kids. It had been a long time since we’d done this.
Since before my mother’s death.
The thought of my mother stirred up the same feelings it always did, and I locked them away, refusing to acknowledge them.
Father had rolled his big leather chair out from behind his desk so he could watch, a glass of vodka in one hand and a cigar in the other.
He didn’t play any of the games. Never did.
He just sat and watched, like he was committing everything to memory to look back on later.
Every so often, his lips would kick up in the smallest hint of a smile.
We were all sitting in a circle in the middle of the room, the Game of Thrones monopoly board smack dab in the centre of us.
All the furniture had been pushed up against the far wall, so we had enough space.
Lukyan sat across from me, a smug as fuck smile on his face as he took the cash from Illayana and fanned himself with it tauntingly.
My sister sat to my left, seething. Nik was on my right.
“He’s cheating,” Illayana bit out, rearranging her properties so they all lined up neatly.
Lukyan gasped. “Well, I never,” he said in a feminine tone. “I would never do such a thing. I’m just better than you,” he winked.
Illayana growled and threw the dice at him. “Shut up and take your turn.”
Lukyan scooped them up and rolled. He moved his piece, landing on Castle Black. “Buy!” he yelled, picking up his stack of cash.
“You can’t buy every property you land on, Lukyan! You don’t even need it!” Illayana fumed, her face going red.
“No, I don’t. But you do,” he laughed. It was true.
She had the two other corresponding properties—Pyke and Winterfell.
All she needed was Castle Black to finish the set and then she could have started putting Keeps and Villages on it.
But now that Lukyan had purchased it, it was too late.
He handed the money over to me and Nik gave him the card with Castle Black on it.
He put it with the rest of his properties.
Illayana looked like she was going to strangle him.
“Stop letting him rile you up so much,” I whispered as Nik took his turn. “He does it deliberately to piss you off.”
“I know,” she gritted out. But she couldn’t help it.
I understood. Lukyan had a real fucking knack for getting under your skin.
For making you want to stab him in the eye with a fork.
If pissing people off was a superpower, it would be his.
And he loved doing it too. It was like it was an integral part of his personality.
You couldn’t have Lukyan without also having his innate ability for making people mad. It was just who he was.
I looked down at my properties. Pentos. The Eyrie. Dragonstone. Braavos. Harrenhal. Astapor. All of mine were useless. I didn’t have a full set, and I never would. Each of my siblings had at least one of the others I needed that would make it complete. There was no way I was going to win.
Not that I cared. Like I said, monopoly was a game of complete chance, so I didn’t see the point in getting competitive over it. It was the luck of the dice.
I sneaked a glance at Illayana’s properties and smirked. Nik handed the dice to me and I handed them to Illayana.
She frowned. “What are you doing? It’s your turn.”
“I’m out,” I said, scooping my properties up and getting to my feet.
We’d been playing games for the last two hours, and I was done.
The entire time we’d been playing my mind hadn’t really been here.
It had been down in the pit with Drea. I wanted to go see her.
To fight with her. To hear that sexy as fuck accent as she cursed me out in Spanish.
I knew I shouldn’t. Knew it was only going to make it harder for me to fight my attraction towards her. But I didn’t care anymore. My body came alive at the thought of going down to see her. That was all the incentive I needed.
I was sick and tired of fighting myself. Denying myself. If I wanted to see her, I was damn well going to see her. No one was going to stop me. Not even myself.
I handed my properties to Illayana. “You can have these.”
Lukyan choked. “Whoa, you can’t do that! If you quit, the properties go back up for sale! Those are the rules.”
“They’re not our rules and you know it.” We followed the main set of rules that came with the game, but we also made up our own too.
Like if you ever had to pay tax or pay $100 because you picked up a card that said you had to, or pay to get out of jail, it all went in the centre of the board instead of in the bank, and whoever landed on FREE PARKING got all the money.
Well, this was another one of ours. If someone wanted to quit, they could choose to give all their cash and properties to someone else. I chose Illayana.
“But that’s not fair!” Lukyan yelled with all the grace of a toddler throwing a tantrum. “You’re giving her two full sets!”
Yeah, I was. I saw her properties. Three of mine would give her two complete sets, and one of them was the most expensive set in the game. King’s Landing and Braavos. If anyone landed on those when they were full of Keeps, they’d owe her thousands.
Illayana smiled evilly and snatched the cards and money from my hands. “You heard him, he’s giving them to me. No take backs.” She started counting out the cash she needed to add Keeps, her entire focus on the game.
I shook my head, a small chuckle in my throat. She was twenty-one and still acted like such a child sometimes. Both of them did.
I said my goodbyes to them all and left.
* * *
I walked down the hallway in the pit, excitement surging through my body.
My skin buzzed, a shiver of anticipation curling down my spine as I got closer and closer to the room that held Drea.
When I turned the corner, I saw Sasha and Pavel standing in front of her door as usual.
Their heads turned to me, a flash of confusion on Sasha’s face.
I knew why. For the last week I’d been coming to see Drea once a day at the same time. I wedged it into my daily routine. Wake up. Shower. Eat. Workout. Perimeter check. Visit Drea.
It was now 9:17pm.
Father and Illayana were both creatures of habit. I was one of structure. Order. My morning routine was not to be trifled with. Especially my workout. If I didn’t hit the gym at least once a day, very bad things would happen.
It was my release. My happy place. Where I went to rid myself of my inner demons. In a way, it was like therapy for me. The ache I got in my muscles after an intense workout was euphoria.
“Boss,” Sasha said, nodding his head in greeting.
“Any problems?” I asked, coming to a stop in front of them.
“Just the usual ranting and raving. Nothing out of the ordinary,” Sasha responded. “She did demand a shower though.”
“Did she?” Indecent thoughts streaked through my mind. Drea…wet. Soapy. Her hands running over her body.
I think a shower sounded like a good idea.
“Take the rest of the night off. Come back in the morning,” I ordered.
Sasha frowned. “Uh—”
I narrowed my eyes in warning.
Sasha straightened. “Sorry, boss. Let’s go, Pavel.” The younger man followed after Sasha, leaving me alone in the hall.
Sasha knew better than to question an order. All it took was a look to remind him of that.
I opened the door and stepped into the room.
I flicked the switch on the wall, light flooding the room.
Drea was slumped in the chair, head hanging forward, her dark hair curtaining her face.
She lifted her head at my arrival and squinted, like she was having trouble seeing me properly through the light.
She groaned, letting her head fall forward again.
“My, my, my, two visits in one day? Whatever did I do to earn such a privilege?” She sounded tired.
Trying to sleep in an upright position like that, with her hands cuffed behind the back of the chair, wouldn’t be comfortable.
I’d be surprised if she managed to sleep at all.
I didn’t like how exhausted she looked.
I tilted my head to the side. “How are you tonight, malyshka ?”
“Fan-fucking-tastic. And yourself?” She lifted her head. “Oh wait, I just realised I don’t care.”
“Lovely as always, I see.” I leaned against the doorframe, watching her intently. “Any thoughts on my offer?”
“Hmm, let me think.” She pursed her lips. “Nope. Still not a fucking snitch. Sorry. Now, can you leave? I’m trying to fucking sleep, in case you couldn’t tell.”
“You don’t want your shower then?”
She narrowed her eyes. She didn’t say a word, just looked at me suspiciously, like I had some ulterior motive.
Maybe I did.
I walked behind her and undid her cuffs. Red lines marred her wrists. She’d been fighting against them.
“What’s the catch?” she asked, lightly massaging her red and bruised wrists.
“No catch. Let’s go, before I change my mind.”
She went to stand and her knees buckled.
Before I even knew what I was doing, I rushed forward.
My arms wrapped around her almost without thought, shielding her from hitting the ground.
Her body pressed to mine. My mind went completely blank.
All I could think about was how good it felt having her so close, all those luscious curves pressed against me in all the right places.
Drea shoved at my chest. “Don’t touch me. I don’t need your help,” she snapped, but the moment I let her go she fell to the ground.
And I let her. If she wanted to be stubborn and reject my help, then fine.
She landed roughly on her hands and knees, breathing hard.
I walked to the door. “Hurry up, I don’t have all night.”