CHAPTER 5
MIKHAIL
I peer over the checkout line, searching for Leah. The hardware store is surprisingly packed, even thirty minutes from closing. On our way back to my place, she insisted we stop and pick up supplies for tomorrow.
Another glance at my watch confirms she’s been gone too long for what the item she was searching for requires. I try not to jump to conclusions but don’t take chances regarding people I care for. Stepping out of line, I pull out my phone and punch in her contact as groans rise from the customers behind me.
Fuck them.
I stalk toward the back of the store where she’s supposed to be, but there’s no one there but a petite woman stocking some items on a shelf. Leah’s voicemail adds to my growing anxiety.
“Did you see a young woman back here? Long, dark hair. About 5’5”. White shorts. Black top.”
The lady straightens, and her eyebrows crinkle as if recalling the memory.
“Oh, yeah. Pretty girl wearing Converse. Javier took her out back. Said something about extra stock on some palettes.”
A sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach steals my breath as I race toward a set of double doors that leads me down a short corridor before opening into an empty back lot. It’s dark, with just a dim light blinking in the distance.
I cup my mouth, ready to belt out her name, until I hear her voice.
“Don’t touch me. What the fuck is wrong with you?”
My feet move before the action even becomes a thought.
“Fuck you. You ain’t that pretty anyway.” A man’s scathing voice follows.
Oh, this type of fun wasn’t on my plans for tonight, but I’ll gladly add it.
“I said don’t touch me.” A low thud echoes from around the corner, immediately followed by the man’s roar of expletives.
In the next instant, Leah crashes into my arms. It takes another few seconds for her to realize I’m not a threat.
“Shit!” she squeaks, out of breath from nerves and the short sprint.
“Are you okay?”
She nods. “That asshole. I don’t know what he thought was going to happen, but—” “Go to the car,” I say, cutting her off and looking beyond her.
“Mikhail, let’s just go.”
Before I can argue, the bastard in question rounds the corner, blood gushing from the middle of his face. Scooting Leah behind me, I pull a blade from my pocket and approach a dead man walking. He must see the bloodlust written on my face because his eyes blow wide, and he puts his hands up in defense.
“Hey, I didn’t—”
I bury the knife in his stomach and shred across his flesh until he’s howling in my ear like a little bitch. Without a moment of reprieve, I fist his uniform vest and drag him toward a chain- link fence where cables of barbed wire lay on the ground.
“Fuck, man...I’m sorry, I didn’t know she was your girl... Just wanted her number.” Voice strangled, his arms hug his middle in a frantic fight to keep his intestines from flopping out of his body.
“Today is not a good day for you.”
The edges of sharp blades pierce my skin as I wind the wire around his neck. Three, four, five times, squeezing harder with every twist until it’s embedded deep into his throat, and he’s no longer moving.
When I turn around, Leah stands still, eyes fixed on me. I can’t tell if she’s breathing or blinking.
“Did he hurt you?” My blood stains her skin when I frame her face.
Her head moves from side to side as if in slow motion. Pain cuts through me, and my chest grows heavy with anguish at her silence.
Is she in shock? Disgusted by the fact I can brutally kill another man in cold blood.
For her.
But a heartbeat later, she’s in my arms, lips crushed against mine. And that’s when I know my life has a purpose.
My phone vibrates with a message, confirming that my clean-up crew has cleared the scene and removed Javier’s body.
I tighten the towel around my waist as I move through my kitchen, chugging a bottle of water, when the doorbell rings, catching me off guard. When I pull up the footage on my phone, I see Leah standing at my front entrance, nervously tucking loose strands of hair behind her ear.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming? I would have picked you up or been on alert. It’s late.”
“I’m sorry. I couldn’t sleep. I needed to see you.”
I pull her into a tight hug. “What’s on your mind, pretty girl?”
She looks up at me and offers a frail smile. “I need to know if this is real. You killed for me,
Mikhail. And I want you to know that I would kill for you, too.”
“I’d never ask you to do that.”
Leah backs out of my arms and lifts her shirt above her head. “You wouldn’t have to.” She isn’t wearing a bra, and when she drops her sweatpants, I learn she left her panties at home as well. My eyes rake over every beautiful inch of her.
“Are you sure?” I ask, dropping kisses onto her shoulder.
“I wouldn’t be naked in your living room if I wasn’t.”
Leah is nineteen. I’m twenty-seven. While she’s a full-fledged adult, there are still eight years between us and our experiences.
“I’m not a virgin, Mikhail. You don’t need to be gentle or feel weird,” she assures me,
possibly sensing my hesitancy.
“Who do I need to kill?” I chuckle against her lips.
Leah remains silent, a severe expression creasing her brow despite my joke. “I already killed him.”
I won’t lie; her confession shocks me for a moment. But I’m curious more than anything. “I’m listening.”
She huffs a breath and averts her gaze. “He took a video without my consent. And he threatened to post it online and make it go viral if I didn’t sleep with his friends and whoever else was willing to pay. He deserved it, Mikhail. And I don’t regret it.”
If he weren’t already dead, I’d be booking a flight to New York.
Lifting her chin, I bring her gaze back to mine and smile. “Good girl.”
It’s all the reassurance she needs. Leah unties the towel at my waist and strokes my cock. “I always knew your dick was perfect. It’s going to hurt like a bitch, but I’m up for the challenge.” She drops to her knees and takes me into her mouth. Slow licks and sucks at first until it’s wet enough for her to slide to the back of her throat as far as she can.
“Fuck,” I growl, closing my eyes and gripping her bun in a fist. I slam her down until she gags and pulls back, taking a short breath before she swallows me again. “My pretty girl, look at you, taking my cock so goddamn deep, like it was made for your throat.”
Leah grips my ass and pushes to the limit as tears streak down her cheeks.
“Oh, hell... Prosto tak. Ty tak khorosho menya prinimayesh’, krasavitsa. .” (Just like that. You’re taking me so good, beautiful.)
My balls coil the harder I pump into her warm mouth. But as much as I want to see my cum dripping from those skilled lips, the need to be inside her wins out. Pulling back, my cock pops out of her mouth, and she looks up at me like a goddess.
“Come here,” I say as I take her hand and help her up, then step behind her as I loosen her hair until it tumbles down her back. “I want you to know that I never thought of you this way before now. And I don’t regret that.”
“I know,” she whispers, tilting her head as I run my lips against the curve of her neck. “But you’re mine now.”
“I know,” she says again, voice breaking on a whimper as I slide my fingers between the seam of her wet little cunt.
“All this for me.” I walk us to the couch and sit with her in my lap, thighs spread wide over mine, and my cock at her entrance. “Take your time,” I murmur into her ear as she slides down my shaft.
“Mikhail... fuck ,” she moans and lets her head fall back onto my shoulder as I stretch her open, inch by inch. Her chest is heaving, mouth parted when I bottom out and grip her hips.
“Ride what’s yours, baby. You take care of me, and I take care of you.” Reaching around her pelvis, I find her swollen clit and stroke until she’s crying in my lap. “ Krasivaya devushka , you were made for me. This sweet pussy was made for me.” (Pretty girl.)
“I know...” she repeats for the third time, and I can’t help but laugh.
We’re riding a high together, finding the perfect rhythm as I thrust and she bounces. The moment is surreal as we tip over the edge, and I hold her tightly against my chest.
Coming home has a new meaning as the sound of my name flees her lips when she breaks.