Chapter 31 – Luka
M iseram pacem vel bello bene mutari— A bad peace is even worse than war. The sage of the ancients bubbled through my mind. For the first time, I questioned everything. Maybe I was a bad man. But this was the way the world worked. Be tough or be squashed. And if you were blessed with strength, you protected those near and dear to you from harm.
“Talk to me,” I demanded.
Vivian flexed her fingers, looking at the beds of her nails. Twisting her wrist, she curled her fingers over and pushed at the cuticles.
“He won’t know it was me,” I insisted. “No harm done.”
A short huff flared Vivian’s nostrils. Those full lips were pursed tight.
Two steps forward and one backward. In the elevator, she’d been ready to close the distance. I had to go fucking it up because some jackass called us trash.
But if—and it was a big if—Vivian worked for that pompous prick Greene, I wouldn’t have someone looking down at her. Should I have punched the snob from the elevator, stood my ground like a man, and allowed him the attempt to hit back?
Not that anyone bested me.
That was beside the point. “If I didn’t teach him a lesson, he would have made your work life hell.”
“And you don’t seem to think I can handle myself!” Vivian spun in her seat, eyes flaring.
For a moment, the picture of another juxtaposed over her. Instead of large mocha eyes, there were stormy grey ones. Instead of wild curly hair, there was thick brown hair. Two women from each period of my life, but the words were the same, uniting the past and present in a tangled web. The scars littering my heart reopened, and my insides bled.
I tightened my grip on the steering wheel as my foot sank into the peddle. “I won’t apologize for hurting those who are a threat to you.”
“He wasn’t a threat! I heard what he said too as we walked away. I chose to go into a law firm with jean shorts and a tee. I knew how they would look at me. And it didn’t matter, because Wes sees us for what we are.”
Wes. Wes!
My body shivered with an uncontrollable explosion. “I fucking hate that douche!”
“Oh, jeeze.” Vivian smacked her head back against the seat. “You going to beat him up too?”
Probably. “It goes against orders.”
“When have those ever stopped you before?” she seethed. “You do whatever you damn well please, Luka Vlasov, without any thought for anyone else. You’re a selfish bastard. A fucking selfish bastard.”
That was the final straw.
The brakes screamed in protest as the Wrangler skidded off the road. Gravel flew along the shoulder of the four-lane highway. Once I mastered control of the speed, I pulled into the cornfield, foot pressed on the accelerator. The Jeep rammed the stalks of corn, mowing them down under my fury. There was a momentary flicker of guilt for the farmer who’s crop I smashed, but I drove through the corn until we were surrounded by it.
Vivian’s protests filled the cab.
I jumped out, slamming my door. The hinges of the passenger door twanged in protest. The urge to grab her, to shake her, surged through my veins.
“Selfish? You know nothing,” I spat, and then my knife was in my hand.
Her eyes flashed, but she didn’t move away.
She didn’t fear me. Good. But it wasn’t enough.
The knife flipped, and the hilt slammed against her palm. Holding the blade and her hand around the hilt, ignoring where it cut into my fingers, I brought the blade to my throat.
“End this, Vivian.”
“You’re crazy,” she hissed through clenched teeth, trying and failing to pull her hand away.
I tugged the blade. My chest rose and fell with heavy breaths. “End it now. Kill the selfish bastard who took you.”
“No!”
Vivian tried to jerk the blade away, but I held it fast. Sticky drops fell from my fingers.
“But, darlin, you have to. That’s the only solution to the problem I’m presenting. Because this selfish bastard isn’t letting you go.”
“Stop it!” Her eyes pleaded.
Say it, baby. Tell me you want to stay. “It’s the only way. Kill me and flee. Escape to the other continents as you planned.”
“I can’t do it,” she whispered.
“Why?”
Her chest rose and fell rapidly. That sexy mouth worked back and forth as she no doubt ground the molars to stubs.
I pressed the blade into my throat. There was a sharp sting, and judging from her gasp, there was blood beading on my throat.
“Why, Vivian?” I demanded.
There was a moment where she hesitated. But then the answer flashed in those dark brown depths, right before she shouted, “I don’t want to think of a world where you aren’t in it driving me nuts!”
I released the knife, taking a step back.
Vivian held it loosely in her fingers. Oh, she looked pissed. Anger bloomed across her features, sharpening the ethereal beauty. Any moment lightning and thunder would crackle across the sky as this goddess rained fire and brimstone on me.
“Then that’s that. I’m a selfish bastard, and you belong to me.”
A short laugh of disdain blew from her lips. “Just like that.”
And then she leaned forward. So there could be no mistake, she drew the blade along the length of my white tee. It ripped. Only a little. But it was enough that she smacked her palm on my flesh.
She didn’t say it.
She didn’t have to.
That touch was the permission I needed.
I batted the knife away. Gripping her hips, I tugged her from the passenger seat. The jean shorts jerked down her thighs, tangling at her ankles. The elastic of her grey cotton panties tore. She angled toward me, reaching.
Catching her hands behind her back, I reached into the glove box. I’ve been waiting to use these.
The contact of the metal on her skin made Vivian gasp. A fiendish smile tugged at my lips. Two quick clicks, and my little captive was at my mercy. The metal handcuffs were a beautiful sight. My dick turned to iron as a possessive rush surged through me.
Blood from my cut fingers colored her tanned flesh. Her body bent of its own accord. Those tits rubbed against the edge of the cloth seat. I wanted to reach around and squeeze them, but my dick was screaming at me.
And I agreed with him—I was done waiting. She touched me. Message received. It was time to act.
“Saints, you’re tight, baby,” I hissed, working myself against her. The shorts at her feet were restraint enough, preventing her legs from spreading any wider. The challenge was beautiful.
“That’s because I’m not used to being taken like an animal in a field,” she snapped back.
Fuck, if fighting with her turned me on, sparring during sex was hotter than hell’s damning kiss.
I nudged my erection against her entrance. One, two three thrusts, and I sank to my balls. A needy moan escaped her throat.
She tried to rub against me, desperate for some friction.
But I was going to show her what kind of man she’d given herself to. I tugged on the handcuffs. She twisted, but I slid my touch up her arm while digging the fingers of my other hand into her hips.
“This is only for you.” As I spoke, I pulled back and snapped forward.
Her whimper was cut off when my fingers closed around her throat. I had her hands, I had her neck, and I had her pussy.
“Look at you, finally admitting you want the monster of the criminal underworld,” I crowed. My dick worked slowly in and out of her slick heat.
Vivian’s scream of protest was cut off by my hold. The suppressed air vibrated under my unforgiving touch. She could breathe, but that was it.
Still, even pinned against the Jeep, Vivian’s body moved frantically. Captured. Completely at my mercy. Fucking beautiful.
“You like that, huh?” I rasped.
Something garbled came out of her mouth.
My next thrust was nothing short of brutal. “What was that, darlin?”
“ Yyeeessshhh! ” she screamed, dragging the right amount of air into her lungs because I allowed it.
The squeeze of her tight pussy sent a zing of pleasure through my dick. I groaned in sweet pain as I drove into her with a punishing force. She met every thrust.
This was how it was meant to be. I was made to be hers. Every piece of me, even the darkest parts, belonged to her. I gave it of my own free will—without a drop of regret.
I released my hold of her neck and withdrew from her wet heat. Vivian barked in protest. Twin fingers plunged into her pussy, scissoring and curling.
Vivian’s objections turned into gasps of pleasure. She worked herself greedily against my touch.
With a dark chuckle, I pulled my fingers out. My dick nudged at her entrance, but I didn’t sink inside.
Not yet.
“Open that pretty little mouth, baby,” I growled.
She glared at me over her shoulder. Her bound hands jerked in protest.
I shoved my fingers between her lips. “Suck them while you come.”
I wasn’t asking.
I pumped into her with savage brutality. “You fucking love this, don’t you, baby? You love when my dick wrecks your tight little cunt.”
“Luka!” Vivian gasped, hot breath brushing over my fingers.
“Swallow that spit, baby, or I’ll do it for you,” I growled. That filthy idea suddenly had my balls tightening and my release shooting up my shaft. “That’s it, beautiful, take it. Take everything I’m giving you.”
Vivian screamed around my fingers as her orgasm tore through her. That tight pussy vised around my dick, and I roared as a delicious agony that nearly tore my dick off filled me.
This woman was the ocean, and I was drowning in her.