Chapter 19David
19
David
“ Y our move,” I grunt out, annoyance seeping into my bloodstream.
“You think I don’t know that?” Knox cuts me a dirty scowl. It’s difficult to register his facial expressions through his heavily tattooed face.
“Don’t cheat, either.” I grind my teeth.
Squares of sunlight filter in through the bars of the jail’s rec room where Knox and I are sitting at a table playing chess. It seems like all I ever do is play board games or read, or mop the floors, all day every day until they sound the alarm for lights out.
“I never cheat,” Knox declares.
“Oh yeah?” I raise an eyebrow. “How exactly did you get in here then?”
Knox shakes his head and props an elbow on a thigh, leaning forward, brows bridging in concentration. He puts a hand on a pawn but doesn’t move it.
“The second you move that you can’t take it back.” I point to it.
“I know how to play the damn game,” he hisses.
He hovers his fingers over the knight, his tongue sliding out of his lips. He moves it. “Check!”
For a moment, I pretend to be disappointed, sighing, putting on a show. Knox’s grin splits his face.
I move my queen to the empty space next to his king. “Check mate .”
Knox’s face collapses. He picks up the board and all the pieces go flying.
“Nice,” I drone. “Congratulations, you’re a toddler.”
“You set me up!” he shouts.
“I’m not picking up the pieces.” I tilt my chin to the floor.
“Petrov!” one of the guards calls out behind us.
“He started it,” Knox and I both declare in unison.
The guard grunts something under his breath I don’t hear and begins waddling over to us, red-faced, beefy-necked. He winces with every heavy step. He has a lot of weight to carry. His keys jingle on his belt with every move of his tired knees.
“You’re out of here.” He nudges a thumb over his shoulder, looking at me.
I stand up. “I still have half an hour of free time.”
“No, idiot, you’re getting released,” he explains, out of breath just from the twenty-foot trek across the room.
“I am?” I turn to Knox who is currently crouching on the floor picking up all the chess pieces. If he doesn’t, he’ll get laundry duty. There’s nothing Knox hates more in this world than laundry duty. “You’ll have to find a new chess partner.”
“You cheat anyway,” Knox grumbles under his breath. “Filthy Russians. You’re all the same.”
I pretend not to hear him because one wrong move and I’m back in solitary. I turn my back to him and start following the guard, strutting all the way. “How’d I make bail?”
“Lawyer,” the guard grunts, sliding his key into the lock and twisting it. “Get your things from your room. I don’t have all day.”
“I’m really going to miss your sunny disposition,” I grin at him.
His face reddens deeper, his lips thinning. “You’ll just be replaced by another smartass.”
“Lucky you.” After a month of being trapped inside this godforsaken place, with a few calls between Vlad and my lawyer, it’s time to put this place in my rearview mirror.
I grab my book and shower shoes, my few jail uniforms to be replaced with my real shoes and clothes. Then I march towards freedom.
Vlad is leaning on the hood of the car, the sun glinting down on him. His cigar smoke curls a trail up to the sky.
I spread my arms out and inhale a deep breath. “Ah, fresh air.”
I reach Vlad and he stands up, clapping me on the back as we draw in for a brotherly hug. “Good to see you at long last.”
“It’s been a minute,” I agree.
“You look well.” He pulls away. “Maybe a bit thinner.”
“Well, you know, all the cafeteria slop is so appealing I couldn’t get enough,” I joke.
Vlad laughs and hands me a cigar. “Congratulations on your release.”
“I owe you,” I say and cup my palm around the end of the cigar to light it against the wind.
“You know we can’t run things without you,” Vlad says.
“True, which means we need to get out of here and get to work.” I jump in the passenger seat.
“Where’s Hazel?” My stomach knots a little when I realize she isn’t here to pick me up.
Vlad cranks the engine, blowing more smoke out the open window. The only reason I ask is because Vlad told me he’s kept in touch with her. “She’s been staying at the condo.”
“ My condo?” I don’t hide my surprise.
“Yep.” Vlad nods, spinning the wheel as he backs out.
“Why?” I’ve been talking to Vlad frequently enough that this should have been something he mentioned to me before now.
Vlad glances at me. “Just relax. I didn’t want to stress you out any further than you already were.”
“Why did she want to stay at my condo?” I’m reeling at this information, trying not to lose my temper on my best captain, trying to understand why he wouldn’t tell me this from the start.
“She didn’t tell me.” Vlad makes a right turn.
“You didn’t ask?”
“She told me not to ask her too many questions.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I press.
“Like I said, you had enough worries on your plate inside,” Vlad explains.
I adjust myself in the seat, leaning back. “That’s something you should have told me during our first phone call.”
“I didn’t know how long she planned on staying. I didn’t want to get involved. She acts cautious around me, anyway. I didn’t want to make her more uncomfortable.”
“Did you stay at the house too?” I grill him with my eyes.
He briefly lifts his hands off the wheel. “Don’t take this the wrong way. I was staying at your condo after you got arrested. You know that already, so I could keep an eye on things while you were inside. She’s the one who came to me . She knocked on the door. I didn’t invite her over, but she looked so sad and desperate. She didn’t seem afraid of me, maybe just a little wary. I decided to let her inside because it seemed like she really wanted to talk.”
I narrow my eyes. “Talk about what?”
“ You of course.”
“What about me?” My shoulders form a straight rod.
“She wanted to know how to get in touch with you. Then she said she wanted to stay with me at the condo. I gave her the bedroom. I took the couch. She’s the one who decided to crash the place. I decided to stay there because she seemed a little paranoid.”
“Did she ask you to stay?”
A muscle in Vlad’s jaw jumps. He stares at the road. “She told me she wouldn’t mind it, as long as I gave her space, which, I can assure you, I respected.”
I grit my teeth. “You definitely should have told me.”
Vlad looks at me again. “She’s crazy about you, David. She won’t stop talking and fretting and worrying about you.”
“Then where is she?” I snarl. “If she cares so much, why didn’t she come with you to pick me up?”
Vlad sighs and rubs his jaw. “It’s complicated.”
I swivel and give him a hard look.
He gulps. “I swear, David, nothing happened between us. I insisted she go home, she insisted she stay. You can ask her yourself. She’s at the condo right now.”
I take a moment to process what David’s telling me. My brain is going a million miles an hour.
“Drive faster,” I growl.
“Wow,” Vlad chuckles. “You really are hard up for her, huh?”
“You need to learn the art of thinking before you speak,” I snap.
“I’m doomed either way,” he says.
“Yeah, you and me both.”
“You’ll get your answers, boss, I promise,” Vlad reassures.
“Yeah, well, I’ve been locked up for a month. Sorry if I’m a little irritable.”
“You’re allowed to be.”
“Don’t patronize me,” I snap.
Vlad looks at me. “I promise you, that’s not my motive. I didn’t do anything with her, didn’t try anything. I respected her boundaries. She misses you. Trust me.”
I still can’t understand why she would want to stay at my house, but Vlad assures me I’ll know soon enough.
Does she miss me? Is she too afraid to stay at her own apartment by herself?
“Did something happen?” When Vlad gives me a confused glance, I add, “I mean, did she say she was scared to stay at her place? Did someone from Oleg’s crew try to hurt her?”
“She didn’t mention anything like that.” The way he says it makes me wonder if there’s something he’s leaving out, but I don’t press him, because I’m getting frustrated, and I don’t want to take it out on him.
“Besides what she saw at the warehouse?” I ask.
Vlad nods. “I think that’s what prompted her to go to your condo in the first place.”
I take deep breaths and count to ten in my head. I can’t afford to explode on my number one guy right now. He’s the only one I can trust right now, judgement on women included.
Try as I might, I’m unwilling to admit aloud that I have no idea what I’m doing with Hazel, and I have no idea what she wants.
My stomach is in knots and my pulse is spiking. There’s a sour taste on my tongue as we get closer.
“I hate surprises,” I say. “You know that.”
“Just wait, boss.”
I sigh, resigned.
I want her, and it’s vibrating through my bones, an intense craving. Desire pulses through my veins, throbs between my legs, sends surges of excitement through my brain.
“I don’t want to screw this up,” I blurt.
Vlad parks in my garage, beside my car that is still there, unused in my absence. He doesn’t shut off the engine. He looks at me, his eyes darker than usual. His face is cast in shadows. “I’m going home to give you alone time to talk things over with Hazel. And just so you know, she has only been staying here a few days. Not the whole month.”
Nerves jump under my skin, but I haul myself from the car and start walking toward the door. Vlad opens the car window. “Hey boss?”
I stop and turn around. “Yes?”
Vlad has a somber look on his face, which confuses me. I don’t know what to expect when I go inside the house.
“Good luck.” He puts the gear in reverse. “I’ll call you later in the week. We can figure out how to handle the little problem with our buddy.”
He doesn’t say his name, but I know he’s referring to Oleg. I tip my chin at him. “Make it early in the week.”
“You’ve got it, boss.”
He backs out of the garage, leaving me to face whatever awaits me with Hazel, on my own.