Chapter 38 – VALENTINA
Thirty-Eight
VALENTINA
“He’s not answering his phone, Remi. Why did we leave him there? God, I’m so stupid.”
I clutch my cell as I pace the living room, Apollo and Hermes following me like I’m a fucking tennis match.
But I can’t stop. My thoughts are racing, filled with every worst-case scenario.
Maksim had that look in his eyes. He was out for blood, and I let him go.
But it’s not Balterra I’m worried about.
I just need to know Maksim is safe and not bleeding or sitting in some cell.
“Val, calm down. I’m sure he’s fine.”
I freeze, my mouth slack before my teeth grind in irritation. “Did you just tell me to calm down? After everything I’ve been through tonight?” I end the call before she can answer and drag in a breath.
The last thing I want is to be pissed at Remi. But she doesn’t understand what this feels like, what I feel for him.
But how I also want to kill him for scaring me like this. Losing Ivy is a gut-punch, but it’s metal. I can buy twenty more. Maksim, though…that stubborn bastard is mine.
Hermes suddenly rises, Apollo a second later, both zeroing in on the door. Hope swells in my chest.
The buzzer goes off, and I don’t bother checking the screen. I don’t need to. I feel him. Relief rises with every step until I’m tearing the thick metal open and throwing myself into his arms.
“I hate you.” My voice shakes as I bury my face in his neck, one hand fisting into his hair.
He chuckles, pulling me tighter, carrying me inside.
“If this is you hating me, baby…hate me harder.”
“Maksim,” I shake my head, still breathless. “I called you. Left messages. Were you purposely trying to piss me off?”
He drops onto the couch, dragging me with him so I end up straddling his lap.
“I’m sorry. I was taking care of something for you.”
He cups my face, and I close my eyes, covering them with mine. That’s when I feel it, the sting of broken skin beneath my fingers.
“Tell me,” I murmur, tugging at his hands to study the slashes and cuts across his knuckles.
Our eyes lock, and for a second, indecision flickers in his before he finally nods.
“You know you’re mine now. And I promised I’d never let anything or anyone hurt you. Doesn’t matter who.”
My gaze drops to the damage etched into his hands, the proof behind his words. “I know.”
“I need you to hear me.” His grip shifts, pulling me close, one hand pressing at the nape of my neck, thumb stroking slowly over my scalp. “It took everything in me to stand there and let you get your licks in. I wanted to tear his head off the second he laid eyes on you.”
He hesitates, jaw tight, like whatever he’s about to admit is too much even for him.
“Say it,” I whisper, kissing his ruined knuckles.
Our eyes meet again, and I let a small smile soften my lips, telling him he doesn’t need to hide from me.
What we are isn’t normal. Normal people don’t shrug off blood and bodies.
But neither of us were raised in that world.
We know the darkness, the price of survival, and the cost of weakness.
And truth is, I’m not afraid to kill. I did in college.
He was a guy who didn’t know the meaning of the word no. So I taught him. The hard way.
And I’d do it again. For Maksim, Remi, and for every last person I call mine. Just as they would for me. Maybe that makes us all broken. Beautifully, brutally broken. But I wouldn’t change a damn thing.
“Is that what you did, Maxy? Took his head…for me?”
“Something like that,” he says, eyes flicking over my face, searching for fear, for the faintest crack that says I might run.
But it’s the opposite. The thought of him breaking a man open in my name lights me up inside, and has me clenching around nothing, pussy throbbing, begging to be filled by him.
I’m not afraid of his darkness. I’m afraid of how much I crave it.
“So…” My smile stretches. “You do like me?”
He laughs and leans back against the couch, pulling me with him. His thumb brushes my shoulder, then hooks beneath the strap of my tank.
“More than that,” he murmurs, dropping soft kisses along my skin. “You’ve done something to me, Valentina. Made me feel things I don’t even have a name for.”
I close my eyes and breathe him in, reveling in his words, his touch, in the way he steals the air from my lungs. One word circles in my mind.
Love.
It didn’t just creep up on me. It’s always been there, quiet and constant. I’ve always loved him. Always had a soft spot for him. It just changed shape somewhere along the way, became something deeper, something…inevitable. The way it was always meant to be.
Maybe he’s not ready to hear me say it. Or ready to say it himself.
But that’s okay—for now.
I feel it anyway. His love, his passion, his devotion.
It hums beneath my skin in every touch and every word that leaves his mouth.
Nuzzling into his neck, I breathe in the mix of cologne and the night air and press soft kisses along his pulse.
“How’s your leg?”
“It’s fine. Just like I told you it was. Don’t kill the mood, Ruso. I’m swooning over here.”
When he laughs, the sound vibrates, sending a jolt straight to my pussy. I instinctively roll my hips into him, a moan rising.
“What do you want, Ptichka?”
“You,” I whisper, another slow grind against him.
His hands grip my ass cheeks, and he stands, holding me against him as he heads for the bathroom.
“I’m going to miss this, you carrying me around.”
“You think I did that just because of your leg? Maybe I just like having you close, your warm cunt wrapped around me.”
My bottom lip slips between my teeth as I try to steady my breath. Maksim leans in, catching it gently between his before pulling it free.
There isn’t a moment to think, to breathe. He claims my mouth in a greedy kiss, leaving no space between us, and no question of what he wants.
His boot kicks the door open, then slams it shut. A soft whine and light scratches echo from the other side. Hermes. Poor baby. He’ll have to learn to share, because if what I’m feeling is real, Maksim’s here for the long game. He’s mine. And he’s not going anywhere.
“You scared the hell out of me today,” he rasps, twisting the shower handle.
Steam curls through the air as he steps inside, pulling me with him. “When you didn’t come around that corner with everyone else, I thought the worst.”
My shirt hits the tile. His mouth finds my throat, my pulse, and trails down across my shoulder.
“I’m right here,” I whisper, eyes fluttering shut when his lips close over my nipple and his teeth tug at the piercing. “Fuck.”
“He deserved what he got. You have no idea how much restraint it took not to bash his skull in right there in the open, for everyone to see.”
“Thank you.” My nails dig into his scalp as he drops to his knees and slides my thong down my legs, tossing it beside my shirt. “For letting me handle him.”
“It wasn’t easy,” he groans, spreading me open and running his tongue up my slit. “I can see the way they respect you. And I know that was earned.”
I nod, clutching his hair between my fingers as he swirls his tongue around my belly button ring. “Respect is everything on that track.”
Maksim rises, mouth gliding up my abdomen. His hand wraps around my throat, and I meet his gaze.
“They look at you like you’re some prize, Valentina. But you’re not theirs to win—you’re mine to ruin.”
He spins me around, fists a hand in my ponytail, and shoves me forward. I brace against the bench as water cascades around us, dripping down my skin.
“Stay just like that,” he orders, palms gliding over my ass.
I glance over my shoulder as he strips off his soaked shirt.
The man is a goddamn dream. Ripples of muscles covered in intricate ink, veins carving along his forearms, that tapered waistline leading down to a very impressive cock.
My mouth waters at the sight. The urge to drop to my knees hits hard, and I reach between my thighs for relief.
One stroke in, and a sharp crack splits the air, his hand slamming down on my ass. The delicious sting blooms through me, and a moan slips out.
“I thought I said not to move.”
I grin, biting my lip, tempted to misbehave just for another punishment.
“You never said I couldn’t warm up while you took your time getting undressed.”
His low chuckle rolls through the steam. He fists himself slowly, eyes locked on the way I’m spread open for him.
“Do it, then. Get ready for me.”
Every instinct in me aches to feel him inside, but I play along, giving him the show he wants. When I start to turn, his palm cracks hard against my skin again. The sound echoes off the tile, but this time, I don’t hold back the moan. I let it roll free, let him hear what his touch does to me.
“You stay just like that.” His fingers thread through my hair, pulling until my head tilts back against his chest. “And touch your pretty pussy while I watch.” His cock presses against the curve of my ass, teasing the rim of tight muscles.
“One rule—you don’t come until I say so.”
His grip tightens, and a shiver rips through me. I’m trembling, desperate, and so fucking turned on I can cry. Anal was never on my list of fantasies, but with him…fuck, I’d give anything to feel full of him everywhere, to let him take every inch of me and still beg for more.
“Challenge accepted, Maxy. But maybe you’re the one who’ll come before you’re even inside me.”
He kisses down my spine, teeth grazing skin. I slide a finger over my clit, then another in slow, teasing strokes.
“Fuck, Kolibri,” he growls. “You should see how beautiful your cunt looks from here.”
Maksim’s voice is strained. When I glance back, he’s matching my rhythm, fist wrapped tight around his cock.
I slip a second finger inside, then a third, thrusting faster now, chasing the pressure building deep in my belly.
“Think I can do one more?” I ask, gripping the bench so hard my knuckles blanch.
“Yeah, you can.” He closes the space between us, one hand firm on my hip, guiding me. I rock back into him, needy. “One more.”
He spits between my ass cheeks, finger rubbing slow circles before sliding in.
My mouth falls open, the sensation leaving me breathless.
“Oh…fuck,” I gasp, slowing my own strokes.
A sharp slap lands for the third time, jolting me forward, almost sending me over the edge.
“Don’t you dare stop.”
He pushes deeper, and I cry out, tears spilling as the pleasure burns through me.
To be this exposed, this vulnerable, and still feel safe, wanted, and worshiped…It’s something I’ve never known. And the thought alone shatters me.
I come hard, clenching around my fingers and his, my body trembling, collapsing forward against the tile. But Maksim doesn’t stop. He presses my chest down and drives into me in one brutal thrust.
“You win, Maksim. Fuck, you win,” I cry. “Fuck me harder. Please.”
I meet his rhythm, a smile breaking on my lips as something shifts, something deep and dangerous.
Tonight changes everything. He killed in my name and carved himself into my heart.