Chapter 21
“ C an I move yet?” I ask, minutes after Rurik dumps me into the front seat of his SUV and tells me to not to move an inch.
If his jaw didn’t look ready to break off from the tension, I might have pushed my luck. But as I’d managed to have some fun this afternoon before he went all caveman, I’m willing to placate his ego.
“No.” He grips the steering wheel.
“I just wanted to text Megan and let her know that you didn’t whisk me off to kill me. She might wonder, you know, considering you just barged into Kaz’s house to kidnap me.” I pause for emphasis. “Again.”
His knuckles whiten.
“I was safe.”
“You weren’t where you were supposed to be.”
“But I was safe.” I point out again, risking everything by turning so I can glare at his profile.
He hasn’t looked at me since dumping me in the car. Maybe he’s afraid if he does, he’ll really lose his temper. Maybe this is him holding it together.
“You were safe at home.”
“Yes, but I was bored out of my mind there. Megan practically had an army with her. And Kaz has his own men at the house. Although, they let you through looking all murder, so maybe they aren’t that great.”
He draws in a deep breath that I think is him trying to calm himself.
“Alexander’s men know me. It’s not that you weren’t safe.”
“It’s that I didn’t listen again?” I’m seeing the pattern.
“You have my number; you should have called me.”
“You keep telling me no when I ask to leave. What choice did I really have?” It’s a fair point, even if he won’t give it to me.
In the past few days, I’ve watched television until my eyes burned. I’ve flipped through every book he owns, and if I had any interest in classical literature, it might have been entertaining.
“You went to Kaz’s house.”
Rolling my eyes, I sink back into the seat. He’s not going to be reasonable about any of this. I might as well be talking to a wall; I’d get a better response.
Unless.
“Wait. Are you jealous?” I spin to face him again so fast my head spins.
“No.” But he readjusts his position, rolling his shoulders and lifting his chin.
“You are. Of Kaz?”
“I’m not jealous.”
I want to laugh, but this is the most real thing I’ve seen from him in days. Every other encounter has been a grunt of disapproval or a nod of approval in between the long stretches of devouring each other’s bodies. The man at least knows how to talk with his tongue.
“Rurik, Kaz doesn’t even remember the one brief, and—I can’t stress this enough—non-sexual time we met.”
He stops at a red light, then looks over at me. “Non-sexual? Kaz?”
I laugh, because he’s right. Kaz isn’t exactly known for having platonic friendships with women. And with the way he looks, it’s understandable. It’s like the Greek gods went over to Russia and had a baby and named him Kaz.
“Fine. I’ll tell you, but you can’t laugh, and you can’t ever tell anyone else. It was horrible.”
“What was horrible? What did he do?” He’s getting himself all riled up already, and I haven’t even said anything yet.
“No, nothing bad. He didn’t do anything. ”
His jaw relaxes, but he’s still on edge. The man looks ready to fight any monster that comes out of the shadows.
And it’s for me.
“What’s wrong?” He questions when the light turns green, and I still haven’t spoken.
“Nothing. It’s just…you’d really stand up to Kaz for me? Even if what happened was two years ago?”
“I’d break every one of his fingers if he touched you in any way that hurt you.” The weight of his words is almost unbearable. I don’t deserve this sort of protection, this sort of loyalty.
“I guess it’s good that he didn’t, then.” I try to laugh it off, but he’s not giving up.
“What happened, Mira. Tell me.” He curses under his breath as the car rolls to a stop. There’s an accident in the intersection up ahead and we’re stuck behind the traffic.
“I was at Laceless, you know the club on the Southside, with some friends from work. I’d had way too many drinks. It was Cathy’s…she was my boss…birthday.”
“You were drinking at Laceless?” His voice gets tight.
“Are you going to let me tell you or are you going to stop every time you hear something makes you angry. Because if you do that, we’ll never get through this.”
He closes his eyes and draws in another slow breath. “Tell me.”
“Okay. So, I was drunk, like really really drunk. And I saw Kaz come into the club. I didn’t know who he was at the time, but he was cute—” I give him a second to reel in his irritation.
“ So, I went up to him, and we started talking. He was surrounded by guys who I now know were probably his henchmen. But at the time, the tequila was doing all the talking.”
“Tequila?” His jaw flexes. “Go on.”
“Thank you.” I sigh. “Anyway, I was going on and on, and he was talking but I have no idea about what because my stomach started hurting, and just as he leaned into me, I got sick.”
Heat floods my cheeks with the memory.
“You threw up on him?” His eyes go wide, but his mouth curls at the edges.
“It wasn’t funny.”
“I don’t doubt it. I’m sure he wasn’t thrilled.”
“To be honest. I’m not sure what he did. After I got sick, I ran to the bathroom. By the time I came out, Cathy and the rest of the girls were waiting for me, and I got a cab.”
“You took a cab home?” His voice goes hard. “Alone?”
“No! I shared one with Cathy. She lived only a few blocks south of me, so we dropped her on the way.”
He sighs and shakes his head.
“He doesn’t even remember me. There’s nothing there to worry about.” I turn back around. “Not that it matters, because again—and I wish you’d write this down, so you’d remember—we aren’t a thing.”
He huffs. “I’m not talking about that right now with you.”
He turns on the radio, switching over to his preset opera station. I watch him as he takes slow breaths, the muscles in his neck relaxing .
“We should probably stop having sex. It seems to be confusing you.”
His hands tighten around the steering wheel, and I’m sure he’s wishing it was my neck.
“No more talking, Mira.” He turns the music up.
Traffic finally clears enough for us to squeak through the intersection. It’s another half hour before we pull into Rurik’s garage.
When we enter the penthouse, Max is waiting for us in the foyer. Rurik stops short when he sees him, his demeanor hardening.
Max’s eyes flick to me but right back to Rurik before he starts speaking in Russian.
I have no idea what’s being said, but I can tell it has to do with me. Rurik’s response is fast and low. Max nods like he agrees with whatever Rurik’s saying and slides off his leather jacket.
Max pulls out a switch blade from his back pocket and flicks it open.
“Wait. What’s happening?” I step forward, but Max shakes his head no, like he doesn’t want me intervening.
“No. Wait.” I grab hold of Max’s wrist just before he presses that tip of his knife to his forearm. “Are you crazy? Why is he doing that?”
“He was tasked with keeping you safe. And here.” Rurik’s eyes don’t leave Max. “He failed.”
“He didn’t fail!” I shove Max’s hand away. “I did. I didn’t listen and stay put. It was me. You should punish me. ”
Max looks to Rurik, his eyebrows shooting up as he waits.
With a flick of his head, Max puts away his knife and tucks his arm back into his jacket.
They speak again in Russian, but it’s a softer tone this time, and I realize I’ve been played.
“You weren’t going to make him cut himself, were you?” I ask, once Max is gone.
“No.” Rurik walks past me, making me chase him through the foyer.
“Why would you scare me like that?”
“It was a lesson.”
“A lesson?” I nearly run into him when he comes to a dead stop at the bottom of the stairs.
“Yes, when you sneak around my men to get what you want, you put them in danger just as much as yourself. You’re lucky Max saw you enter the private elevator. He knew where you were headed when he got downstairs and spoke to Alexander’s driver.”
“So, you knew I’d left?”
“Only once you got to Kaz’s place.” He frowns. “I was across town when I realized it. I had an emergency at one of my buildings and had to send men there while I went to retrieve you.”
“What sort of an emergency?”
“A fire.”
“Was anyone hurt?”
“I don’t know yet. Max came back here to meet us. I should have more information soon. ”
“Do you need to go? I’m sure there’s a lot to deal with, right? I mean a police report and insurance stuff? I can help if you need.”
He shakes his head. “No police. No insurance. We’ll handle it.”
“You know how it started.” I swallow, trying to wet my dry throat. “And who started it.”
He looks at me. “I do.”