Chapter 9 - Rurik
The scent of her herbal shampoo lingered after she ran. I stood in my office, stunned that she took off like that. I was even more stunned by the force of my feelings after we finally kissed.
Wow. Nothing had ever knocked me back like finally getting Clem in my arms.
What I felt for her had been strong before, but now it was unbreakable. That kiss told me everything I needed to know, but why did she break away, like she’d been suddenly frightened?
More like terrified. I’d seen people being held at gunpoint who had less fear in their eyes.
I couldn’t have her out in the dark, and knowing Clem, she wouldn’t call herself a ride home, but stubbornly walk the fifteen or so blocks to her shabby apartment. Her move was still in the works as she waited for a better apartment to become available.
Following her as discreetly as I could in my flashy car, I parked at the curb and watched her go into the courtyard.
She kept her head down the entire way, walking fast and clearly agitated.
Every time she passed someone on the street or someone slowed their car anywhere near her, I tensed, my hand moving toward the gun in the glove compartment.
Would I really shoot someone on the street for so much as hassling her? Yes, I would.
I was going crazy worrying about her, but everything would be easier soon.
I didn’t leave until the new guy I had assigned to guard her arrived. My original man was positive she was onto him. “Be extra vigilant tonight,” I told him before heading home, full of regret and confusion.
She was whip smart and aware of everything if she spotted the guard, and was that truly fear I saw in her eyes when she jerked away from our fiery kiss? She couldn’t think she was in danger of being fired. It was because of her that my new company was about to make a fortune.
That kiss. God. Hot, needy, a release we both craved after working so closely together for days now.
The feel of her, the taste of her. I wanted more, and waiting was wearing on me hard.
She shouldn’t be in that little box, not now that my rings were on her finger.
I almost turned the car around, but laughed to myself at Clem’s reaction if I put the plan into action too soon.
She was worth the wait, and everything was lined up to fall into place in its own time.
My phone rang, and I glanced at the caller ID eagerly. Was it Clem, wanting to talk, or better yet, having second thoughts about leaving things hanging?
Just my brother Dan, and since he was recently married and his wife was about to give birth any day, I had a good feeling he wasn’t calling to meet up for a drink.
With a groan, I answered. Bratva through and through, born into a life I didn’t choose, I would still drop everything at the first sign of danger to my family.
“Don’t sound so happy to hear from me,” Dan said.
“What do you need?” I asked.
The bruise under my eye already throbbed less after Clem carefully applied the cream to it, and I had faith that the routine she gave me would do the trick and make it disappear in time for the big meeting. She’d kill me if I showed up tomorrow morning with fresh ones.
Though there was a very real chance someone I cared about would actually be killed if I didn’t show up to this most recent fight.
“We found out who’s been waylaying our trucks,” he told me.
This affected me, too, since Gavrik Imports used the same trucking company that was owned by one of our cousins. A few of my shipments had gone missing completely, and others had been delayed.
“Who?” I asked.
I could almost picture him shrugging. “Seems like just a gang of thugs.”
“Pretty organized if they’re getting the best of Dima’s drivers,” I said. “What’s the plan?”
“We’ve got a location for at least a few of them. Since we have no clear idea of who’s running their show, we’re just going to start picking off whoever we can find. Arkadi and Gavril are meeting us.
“Oh, good,” I said absently, turning my car to head toward the address he sent me. “I need to fill Gavril in on some things.”
“Two birds with one stone,” my brother said somewhat sarcastically. “How’s the legal side of life treating you?”
“It’d be a lot better if my shipments made it to their final destinations,” I said, getting worked up for the fight ahead.
Then, remembering Clem’s face if I got another black eye, and the millions that were at stake with the Koboyashi deal, in that order.
“Thing is, though, I need to just be backup on this one. I, uh, can’t get any visible bruises in the next forty-eight hours. ”
As I expected, he snorted a laugh. “You entering a beauty pageant?”
“Shut up. Now, what’s going on with the baby?”
That was a sure-fire way to get the subject off of me, and he eagerly spoke about how excited he was about his impending fatherhood. To hell with my face, he had a lot more to lose than I did.
Thankfully, once we arrived and stormed the broken-down trap house the thugs were hanging out in, they were too surprised, and probably high out of their minds, to put up too much of a fight.
A couple scattered like rats out the back, but Arkadi was happy with the outcome since he had a few to interrogate for more information.
Some of our guns that we’d been bringing in from Moscow were showily leaning up against the wall in a corner, so there was no way they could keep claiming they were innocent.
“You messed up, big time,” Dan said to the one he was currently zip-tying. Not that he’d be able to put in too much of an escape effort in the shape he was in. “You say you don’t know the Fokins? Well, now you know the Fokins.”
While he and Arkadi loaded their prisoners into the trunks of their cars, I took Gavril aside to tell him everything was on track for the Koboyashi meeting. I examined my knuckles for any new scrapes, and he grinned down at my new wedding band.
“Going the extra mile, I see.”
Arkadi and Dan sidled up, and Dan noticed the new addition right away. “What the hell is that?”
“It’s just for a deal the import company’s working on,” Gavril supplied for me.
“For now,” I said, making all of their jaws drop.
“What’s that supposed to mean, for now?” Dan asked.
I refused to say anything else, no matter how they cajoled me.
Everyone was always in a good mood after a successful fight, and they tried to get me to meet them at Aleks’s nightclub after they dropped off their prisoners in some scary shed or another, giving them time to stew before the real fun began. Fun for my side, anyway.
“Can’t,” I said. “Too much to do tomorrow. You should try running real businesses and see how much work it is. And not just as a silent partner,” I told Gavril pointedly.
“He’s just bitter about having to put that ring on his finger,” Gavril told them, filling them in on the arrangement as I left them to deal with the aftermath of the raid on our newest enemies.
Let them think it was fake. They’d get the memo soon enough.