Chapter 20 #2
“The thought of you with those barbaric lunatics gave me enough stress to take years off my life.”
I winced. “Listen, Juan—”
“I have no idea how you managed to get away from those savages, but I’m glad you did. I was ready to knock their fucking door down and demand to know what they’d done to you. I fucking hate the Bratva. Pretentious, arrogant assholes.”
Aleksandr arched an eyebrow.
I chuckled dryly. “Juan—”
“Especially that big, brutish looking one. You know the one I’m talking about. Dad warned us to stay away from him. What was his name again? A—”
“Juan!” I yelled, cutting him off.
“Ow! What? Why the fuck are you yelling at me?”
“To shut you up before you say anything else stupid, cabrón .” I took a deep breath. “I didn’t get away from the Bratva. They took me from Nero’s and I’ve been with them ever since. In fact, that big, brutish guy you were talking about is here right now, listening to every word we’re saying.”
A beat of silence. “?Qué carajo estás diciendo?” What the hell are you talking about?
Aleksandr smirked, knowing full well Juan switched to Spanish in the hopes he wouldn’t be able to follow along with the conversation.
“He speaks Spanish, Juan.”
“What the fuck, Drea? You couldn’t warn me someone was listening in on our conversation?”
“I would have if you’d shut your damn mouth long enough for me to get a word in,” I snapped back.
“You—” Juan broke out in a flourish of Spanish and I responded, a heated argument between us quickly taking over.
No surprise there. Juan and I were too much alike. Stubborn. Hot-headed. Short tempered. We argued all the time.
“Enough!” I eventually shouted, making him go quiet. “We can fight later. Just shut up and listen to me. I need you to come for a meet.”
“They want to negotiate your release,” he stated.
“I assume so.”
“Where and when?” he asked without hesitation.
I looked at Aleksandr. He didn’t say a word, just studied me intently with that piercing gaze of his. The one that saw too much.
“I’ll, uh, text you the details.”
Aleksandr prowled towards me.
“I gotta go,” I whispered.
“Wait, Drea. Are you okay? They’re not hurting you, are they? Tell me you’re okay. Please, tell me you’re okay.” The concern in his voice was heartbreaking.
“I’m alright. Don’t worry about me. I’ll see you soon. Te amo.” I love you.
I waited for him to say the words back and then quickly hung up before he could say anything else.
It was an important family tradition of ours. We lived harsh, dangerous, violent lives that could end at any moment. So we made sure when we were saying goodbye to one another, whether that be in person or over the phone, we always said ‘I love you’.
If the worst should happen, if we died, our last words to each other would be of love. It was our mum’s idea, something she ingrained in us from a very young age. She was big on family.
When Aleksandr stopped in front of me, I offered him the phone. He grabbed it from my hand, his fingers brushing against my skin softly.
“You and your brother are close.” It wasn’t a question. He said it like he was stating a fact.
“Yes,” I sighed, suddenly feeling tired. Not just physically but mentally.
“You miss him.” Another fact.
I had no idea why Aleksandr was still here, talking to me. He wasn’t a talkative man. That much I knew about him. Yet here he was, towering over me, watching me, waiting for me to respond. Like he wanted us to have a conversation.
I had to tilt my head all the way back to look at him. It didn’t make me nervous, having him standing over me the way he was. In fact, I liked it. Which was exactly why I shimmied to the side and got to my feet, stepping back from him.
“If there’s nothing else, I’d like you to leave,” I said, waving a hand towards the door.
Annoyance flared in his eyes. He didn’t take the hint, remaining exactly where he was. Not that I was really expecting him to. Aleksandr wasn’t the kind of man to be ordered around. He did the ordering.
He strolled to the drink cart in the corner of the room and poured himself a drink.
He took a seat on the two-seater couch next to it, leaning back and stretching out his body, his thick, muscular thighs spreading wide.
He swirled the liquid in his glass before bringing it to his lips, taking a drink, then spread his arm out over the back of the couch, his eyes never leaving mine.
Why I found the whole thing attractive, I had no idea. But it was hot. As. Fuck.
I sighed irritably. “Guess you’re not leaving then. Whatever.” I plopped down on the bed and picked up the book I had been reading the night before from the bedside table, intent on ignoring him.
I couldn’t force him to leave, but maybe when he realised I had no intention of engaging him at all he would leave on his own.
The problem was, I was hyper aware of him, of every move he made.
Every time he lifted that glass to his lips.
The way his throat moved as he drank. His Adam’s apple bobbing up and down.
I noticed every minute movement he made.
It made it incredibly hard to focus on the words on the page.
Especially since he still hadn’t taken his eyes off me.
What the fuck did he want?
Just keep reading, Drea. Ignore him.
Easier said than done.
When I read the same sentence four times, I’d had enough. I slammed the book shut and scowled at him. “What?!” I snapped.
He shrugged one shoulder lazily. “Nothing.”
“Why are you still here? Why are you looking at me?”
“I can’t look at you now?”
“If you’re going to sit there and stare at someone, it should be your fiancé, not me.”
He rolled his eyes, an exasperated sigh falling from his mouth. “I told you, Mila isn’t my fiancé. She’s not my girlfriend. She’s nothing.”
“Sure seemed like someone,” I grumbled under my breath. Then I felt like a goddamn idiot.
Way to let him know you’re jealous, Drea. Really! Good going.
I had to recover quickly.
“Look, it doesn’t matter anyway. We hooked up, big whoop. It was fun, but that’s all it was. Who you spend your time with is no concern of mine.”
“No, it isn’t,” Aleksandr agreed.
I clenched my fists. Just because I said it didn’t mean I wanted to hear him agree with me.
“Exactly,” I ground out. “There’s no denying that we’re attracted to each other. Let’s just throw that one out there now and admit it. But attraction doesn’t mean shit. You don’t know me and I don’t know you. Except that you’re an asshole who likes to boss people around.”
He narrowed his eyes, a dark warning streaking across his face.
“Ordinarily, I’d be more than happy to indulge myself in you.
Ride the fuck out of you until I squeezed every ounce of cum out of your cock.
” His body stiffened, heat flashing in his eyes.
“But that’s never going to happen. Your brother walking in on us was the best thing that could have happened.
We’re enemies, you and I. Altering the status quo of our relationship is foolish, not to mention reckless. ”
The dark look on his face morphed into a predatory one. He straightened to his feet, somehow managing to look elegant and masculine all at the same time, and prowled towards me.
I tensed, sensing the change in him. It was like a switch had been flipped. The Aleksandr I was looking at now wasn’t the same one that walked into this room. It was a darker, filthier version—and I was all for it.
Everything I just said disappeared from my mind. All I could focus on was the way he moved. All those muscles. That sculpted face. Those mesmerising blue eyes. The way he looked at me as if he was about to devour me.
Despite the whole speech I just gave him, I suddenly didn’t care if indulging in this sexual attraction between us was foolish. I wanted it, and I was going to fucking take it.