Chapter 5Hazel
5
Hazel
“ I can tell you’re thinking about it.” David’s eyes are flint and steel as they stare into my soul, making my heart pound.
“What exactly will it entail? You said I would have to stay with you?” I ask.
“For now, it’s safer,” he explains, shifting his weight and leaning back in his chair. “Especially after those gun dealers who got away have seen your face. If they see you on the street, well let’s just say, they won’t be letting you slip through their fingers a second time.”
My heart slams against my ribcage. “You mean they might try to hurt me again? Kill me?”
“Oh, they won’t try . They will .”
My willpower turns to ashes. I sit back, digesting this information.
David’s expression softens and he leans forward as if he wants to cradle my hands in his. Part of me wonders if I might just let him get away with it.
“You don’t have to do anything.” The hardness in his features dissolves even more.
It seems like a cruel joke from the universe. Why do I have to be attracted to a man involved in and surrounded by so much crime and bloodshed? He’s so beautiful, and that’s a crime in itself. He keeps giving me that piercing stare that makes me feel like my insides are melting.
I look away because I don’t want him to have that kind of power over me. The problem with David, even though I’ve known him all of five minutes, is that he knows his power affects everyone around him, and gender roles have nothing to do with it.
“Well, if I did agree to your terms?” I hate to sound desperate, but if I want the story, David is going to make me earn the right to get it. And I certainly don’t want to be wiped off the map by those gun thugs. I would be paranoid and looking over my shoulder every time I had to leave my apartment.
“You’ll have to stay with me,” he says as casually as if stating the weather forecast.
“Stay with you, in your house.” I let the words marinate in the air between us.
“That’s right.” He continues giving me that intense stare down again.
I release a deep breath I don’t even realize I’m holding. “Why is that necessary?”
He shrugs, placing his pen down on his desk. His eyes finally leave mine. “If you want a full, immersive experience, you need to be there all the time. Besides, like I said, your life might depend on it, until I can find a solution to that problem.”
“Does finding a solution involve killing people?”
His smile is harmless on the surface, but like the sleek black ocean in the dead of night, it’s icy cold underneath. “Don’t trouble yourself with the details. It doesn’t suit you.”
But living in a crime boss’s house apparently does seem to fit me.
I straighten my spine. “Immersive experience?”
When his eyes flicker up to meet mine, his expression is serious. “If you want to know what my life is like, you have to be there to understand it. If you want the real story, there’s only one way to do it without getting yourself killed.”
My cheeks burn and I wring my hands in my lap. “I understand, but the threats are unnerving.”
“I’m not trying to scare you. I’m just trying to be truthful.”
I close my eyes and inhale a sharp breath. “Okay.”
“So, is that a yes?”
I gnaw on my bottom lip, contemplating his offer. It’s dangerous, yes, but so is going out there on my own when those other gangsters are still roaming the streets, probably looking for me so they can shut me up for good about what I saw.
There’s also a little voice inside my head chiming at me to do it. I’m a journalist through it all, and a damn good one. Life is about adventure and impulse sometimes. To get what you want, you need to take risks, and it’s not like I haven’t already dipped my toes into the water. Maybe it’s time to go all the way in.
I can see he’s mirroring my thoughts in the way that his eyes spark. “You’ll be taken care of, if you are worried about that.”
“Taken care of… how?” I ask.
“You will have a personal bodyguard to accompany you places when I am not able to.” His Russian accent is altering my brain chemistry. His sly grin is making it difficult to see straight. “But I advise you to just conduct your work and research in the safety of the condo for now.”
“You mean I’ll be followed around by that bald guy who was bullying me in the warehouse?” I can’t keep the sarcasm out of my voice.
David’s eyes darken, and he frowns, but in a flash, his demeanor is replaced with his diplomatic ‘businessman’ charm. “Miroslav is very sensitive about his hair.”
“You mean lack of hair?” I tease.
“Yes, right, whatever.” He fans a hand through the air as if he’s not in the mood to be patronized. His accent is going to destroy me, I know it. I’m already one word away from caving in and agreeing to do anything he wants me to do. I’m trying to hide the fact that I’m so easily persuaded by making jokes. It’s clearly not working.
“This is all a game to you.” I say it as a statement of fact, not as a question.
“Isn’t all of life just a game? Don’t you want to be on the winning side of it?” He declares it as if he’s the all-knowing prophet of the universe. With a jawline like that, who am I to question it? Maybe he is.
“I suppose you have a point.” I give him a half scowl, but I know he’s right. I want to make a name for myself, to be a well-respected, high-powered journalist who gets to the root of the hard-hitting stories. I want to be the one my boss Robert assigns all the top articles to, because he can trust me. I want to climb the rungs of the journalism ladder until I’m standing at the top, victorious and proud.
“You and I are alike,” David mutters.
My eyebrows shoot up my forehead. “In what way?
David’s lips purse into a smoldering grin. “The hunger. I see it in your eyes. You want this story, and I want my reputation to be less tainted. We both want to end gun running and violent crime in the city, so we make a good team.”
“What about what happened at the warehouse?” I ask in a quiet voice.
“Sometimes these things can’t be helped. That was a life-or-death situation,” he says.
My eyes jump into my lap, trying to avoid his. “You’re right, I guess.”
“I won’t hurt you. I promise. I will keep you safe. And I will assign you a bodyguard to protect you when I’m not around. You will be a comfortable guest in my home. How is it any different than a journalist going on assignment for a job, or traveling to where the story is? You have to engage, and act when you want something. Fight for your place in the world, and fight for your safety.”
I lift my posture and meet his gaze. “Alright, you’ve sold me. I’ll do it.”
David’s gray eyes brighten. “Excellent.”
“My boss keeps giving me clickbait pieces about celebrities. I don’t want to do that anymore,” I admit. “I’m better than that.”
There’s something like understanding that molds into David’s expression, and respect. “You want to be taken seriously.”
We maintain eye contact, and it’s at that moment that I know we are on the same page. “Exactly.”
My heart skips in my chest and a million butterflies erupt in my stomach. I’m excited, but I’m also nervous.
When I tell Robert about this, he’s never going to believe it. But if I pull this off, he’ll never be able to take me, or my ambitions for granted again.
We arrive at the same condo that Miroslav brought me to the other day, only this time I’m with David. Alone.
Sunlight spills in from the huge windows in the living room. The couches are black leather, and the décor is all sleek and modern. Angular brass that better resemble art pieces than anything functional, but they work all the same.
The kitchen is any chef’s dream, with industrial, stainless-steel appliances and a huge gas stove. “Wow,” I say as I brush my fingertips across the counter. “The island in here is bigger than the entire kitchen in my apartment.”
David’s eyes twinkle and he moves closer to me. I get a whiff of his cologne. My vision gets hazy in his presence. A swirly sensation runs through my stomach.
I release a slow breath as he continues hammering me with that sultry stare of his.
“Did you see the bedroom when you were here the other day?” he asks.
I swallow. My throat is dry. “Bedroom?”
David’s brows tip up. “The room where be you’ll sleeping?”
I lick my lips and shake my head. “I haven’t seen it. I only stayed in the living room.”
David places his hand on my lower back to guide me and I tremble with something that resembles delight and desire. “Come. I will show you.”
He doesn’t remove his hand from my lower back as he escorts me out of the kitchen. It’s only when we walk down a small hallway that he removes it, stopping in front of a closed door.
He swings it open, and I peer inside. David is standing right next to me. Our arms are so close they touch, and the heat from his body makes me dizzy, like a furnace turned up too high on a winter day.
“This is my room?” I ask, gesturing inside.
It’s huge, with a bed on a shiny black wood frame and a red headboard. The curtains are black too. The walls are painted a dark pine. Everything screams masculinity in this room. There are no traces of a woman at all.
“ Our room,” David clarifies.
My breath escapes my lips in a rush. “We will both be sleeping in here?”
David’s eyes scan over me, assessing. “Will that be a problem for you? It’s my only bedroom.”
The rushing noise of a freight train runs through my head, but I try to tame it. “It’s okay, I can sleep on the couch.”
“No female guest in my home will sleep on a couch. It’s barbaric.” His eyes trail over my body, making my blood hot.
“I really don’t mind,” I all but insist.
“You will sleep in here.” David declares like a gavel striking a broad wooden table.
I take a deep breath. “Are you sure ? We just met.”
“It’s a big bed.” David’s arm brushes mine. I can tell he’s touching me deliberately, even if he’s trying to make it seem subtle.
“Right.” I nod and stare at the bed, my mind going over a million scenarios of him on one side, me on the other, and the electrical current happening in the space between us.
I won’t be able to relax, but I agreed to all this, and I can’t back down. This is his home, after all.
“If you’re not comfortable, we can forget the whole thing,” he says as if it makes no difference to him. “It’s not my story I’m trying to get.”
“Yes, but you want a clean name for yourself,” I remind him.
“So, you will be fine with it?” His smile reaches his eyes, daring me to say no.
The butterflies return, full force, to my stomach. I squeak out a nervous, “yes,” hating myself for the effect he has over me and hating him for knowing it and using it to his advantage.
I plant on my most convincing smile. “This is strictly a professional arrangement.”
David’s amusement reflects in his grin. “Of course it is.”
“Sleeping will be the only thing we’ll be doing in that bed,” I say.
“Right.” His smirk grows wider.
I step into the room, checking it out. I run my fingers over the down comforter. It’s soft and pillowy. I’m so screwed. I feel David’s gaze patrolling me like a hawk.
I turn my back and walk toward the window, gazing out at the skyline. “It’s an incredible view from up here.”
“I know. I want you to feel comfortable and enjoy your time. My home is yours.”
I say nothing at first, but when I turn around a few seconds later to reply, David is already turning and walking away. “Let me know what food and drinks you like, and I’ll have them sent up.”
I take a deep breath. I just need to splash cold water on my face or something, to pacify the blazing flames on my cheeks.
I can handle this. I remind myself this is for my career. I’m on location, traveling for work, just like David explained before.
The risk will be worth the reward in the end. Now all I have to do is convince myself that I can trust the man associated with the biggest Russian mafia ring in the city, and that includes getting in a bed with him.