Chapter 17 - Valery
As I wake up, the subtle throb of a headache shivers through my skull, and I groan loudly, shifting position, but instantly realizing I’m wrapped up around Jaroslav’s sleeping form, I freeze.
Ok. It’s not so bad. We’re just lying together.
It’s not the end of the world. My legs are intertwined with his, and I’m curled against him like a cat.
His gorgeous, bulky, tanned, perfect body is firm beneath my fingertips as I lie with my hand on his chest. Dammit, he smells amazing.
I swallow hard, and my throat aches for a sip of water. My mouth feels powdery from wine.
I close my eyes, wishing away the headache, and wishing for another small moment of peace, but sleep drifts further away, and I wake up fully, only to realize…my clothing is half gone.
I gasp in fright as my mind races to try and remember what happened last night. We had wine. A lot of wine. I remember laughing, dancing, talking…
Next to me, Jaroslav is also missing half his clothes.
He stirs awake and unconsciously wraps his arm tighter around my back.
“Morning,” I say politely, already trying to carefully wiggle free and move to my side of the bed, away from his scent and how incredibly good he feels against my naked skin.
My cheeks are starting to burn red because I can’t remember anything after the dancing, after we left the restaurant. Surely, I should remember something . But I’m not that much of a drinker, and like I said, we had a lot of wine last night.
“Good morning, beautiful raven,” he says, his eyes on me as I roll and pull the blankets up over my topless upper body.
After a moment of racing thoughts, I lift the blankets, peeking down my body, and sigh in relief because I am, at least, wearing sweatpants.
Sweatpants, I don’t remember changing into.
“Um,” I murmur, the heat growing in my cheeks.
Why the hell does he look so pleased with himself?
“Um?” he ventures, grinning gorgeously.
“Did you, um…sleep well?” I stammer.
He laughs, a deep, beautiful sound that rumbles through me.
“Nothing happened last night, little raven. You were very drunk and as much as you were teasing me and testing my self-control, I wasn’t going to take advantage of you in that state.”
A heavy sigh of relief bursts through my lips and makes him laugh harder. “You don’t remember, do you?” he asks. “Your very… playful attempt at a strip tease?”
My cheeks go from glowing warm to a raging furnace of heat. An image flashes through my mind, me standing on the foot of the bed looking down at Jaroslav, spinning my t-shirt over my head and laughing as I did what now comes across as the most appallingly embarrassing ass wiggle I can ever imagine.
“Not really. How much wine did we have?” I mumble, my headache growing worse. I lift my hand and press my fingers into my temple, massaging away the brief yet horrible image of my dance.
Jaroslav is unfazed by my embarrassment and rolls onto his side to face me with his head propped onto his elbow. The blanket slips further off his body, and my eyes roam over his muscular form. Dammit. He’s so freaking sexy. How is it legal to look that sexy first thing in the morning?
Self-consciously, I touch my hair, running my fingers through it and feeling the knots and kinks.
“Quite a bit. Can I make you some coffee? Maybe a headache tablet and a slice of toast?” If he’s offering me that, then he can see how hungover I am. Dammit. That means I look as bad as I feel.
For a second, I envision lying in bed with Jaroslav all day. Curled against him, sleeping the hangover off with his arms wrapped snuggly around me. My body spikes with emotions that flood my heart.
No! That’s a terrible idea!
My heart hammers against my chest, and I quickly throw the blankets off, grab a t-shirt from the bedroom floor, and slip it over my head.
“No, um, I have to go out for a bit this morning. I’m going to hop in the shower.” Without waiting for him to reply, I bolt from the bedroom into the bathroom and close the door.
With my back against the closed door, I rub my eyes, squeezing them shut and taking several deep breaths.
What is wrong with me? I flat-out panicked, and all he did was offer me coffee and a painkiller.
Ok, to be fair, I don’t think that’s why I’m panicking.
It’s more about last night. And about now .
What is going on with my heart? I press my hand against my chest. It’s not racing as much as I thought it was, but my emotions are running wild.
I try to push them away, to deny them, but I can’t.
It’s obvious what’s going on.
I’m falling for him all over again.
I scoff, snorting with laughter.
That’s ridiculous. I wouldn’t be that stupid. Right? Of course not.
Pushing away from the door, I turn the shower on.
Stripping my clothes off, I climb underneath the cold water, standing there for ages, waiting for goosebumps to glitter over my skin before I adjust the temperature to be a little warmer.
As I scrub my hair and my body, I keep denying what I already know to be true.
I’m struggling with way too many emotions here, and all of them are suggesting the same thing.
That I’m stupid enough to fall in love with Jaroslav again.
When I come downstairs, dressed and relieved that most of the hangover had disappeared when I downed two glasses of water, Jaroslav is waiting for me in the kitchen with coffee and a freshly warmed croissant.
“What do you want on your croissant? Jam?” he asks, pushing a plate toward me.
I bite my lip, studying his beautiful face and that gently, warm smile. My stomach grumbles with hunger, but I can’t be around him right now. I desperately need space to think.
“Nothing, thanks. I’ve got to run.”
“You’ve got to eat something, little raven. You drank a lot last night,” he argues.
“I’ll get something while I’m out.” I push a wide smile onto my face, although I can feel how fake it is as my heart flip-flops in my ribcage.
Grabbing my purse from the kitchen counter where I left it last night, I sling it over my shoulder and mutter a quick, nervous goodbye before running out of the house.
Without anywhere else to go, I head to the mall to walk aimless circles and do my best to clear my head of these silly notions of love. I need the distraction of people, noise, and different scenery to take my thoughts off Jaroslav and what might be happening to my heart.
But while I walk, all I can think about is him.
Since he came back into my life, so much has changed.
I was always aware that my heart still belonged to him, but I kept that part secret from everyone, even myself.
Because I was so angry at him for what he did.
Letting myself trust him again wasn’t something I was willing to entertain.
But now, over the past few weeks, my defenses have slowly, steadily been slipping, and he’s been stealing his way back into my life in a different kind of way. Different from our forced marriage.
The dangerous kind of way.
Not paying enough attention to what was happening, I let my guard down and when I realized it this morning…well…I panicked. And now I don’t know what to do.
My feet walk without awareness, and I roam, not even looking at the stores I’m passing.
Growing up in this world, the dangerous underworld of the bratva mafia, you learn certain ways to keep yourself safe. From things that are as simple as where to park your car, and which entrance to use, to more obvious safety measures like not walking down an alleyway alone at any time of the day…
But, because I am so damn distracted with these naive thoughts of love and whatever is going on between Jaroslav and me, I forget everything about safety.
I’m near the back of the mall, coming out of a quiet bathroom behind the food court, when I bump into one of the Popov brothers. I recognize Bardil Popov instantly, and my heart leaps into my throat. I can’t believe I slipped up so badly with regard to my own safety.
My heart beats so loud I’m certain he will hear it. I clench my hands at my side and bite down hard on my teeth. Shit. This is bad. This is very bad.
His grin and the cocky tilt of his head tell me he knows exactly who I am, even before he says my name.
“Valery Abashin. Or I guess it’s Shevchenko now, isn’t it? How is married life?” he muses, standing way too close to me. I can smell his cologne mixed with the faint scent of cigar smoke.
I glance left and right only to confirm just how alone we are back here.
“Bardil, what a pleasant surprise. Although it’s a bit of an odd place to bump into you…coming out of the ladies’ bathrooms.” I grin, trying to keep things light and friendly, hyper aware of the danger I’m in.
“I spotted you coming out here and thought to myself, what is such a beautiful girl doing all alone? Where is your husband?” His voice is husky and dangerous, his eyes alive with mischievous ideas.
“He’s probably home, or maybe at the office. My bodyguards accompanied me here.” I have no guards.
While I’m talking, I’m moving slowly around him, and when he realizes I’m trying to shift so that he isn’t blocking the path between me and the exit, he steps even closer to me, towering over me with menace in his eyes.
“Where are you rushing off to?” he asks, lifting his hand and brushing his fingers over my arm. My mind races as I try to piece together a plan, and as he moves, I move too, lifting my arms and pulling him into a hug, as though that’s what I thought he was trying to do when he reached for me.
He stammers as I wrap my arms around the back of his neck. “It’s really good to see you,” I laugh.
Taken by surprise, he hugs me back, and that’s when I thread my fingers through a section of his hair and tug.
He growls and pushes me away with an angry glare.
“Oh my word, I’m so sorry,” I gasp, feigning embarrassment. “My ring got caught in your hair. Did I hurt you?”
He reaches up and gingerly rubs his fingertips against his skull. “No,” he snaps, scowling.
Right on cue, a woman walks into the hallway, heading toward the ladies’ bathroom.
I laugh loudly and wave at her. “Samantha!” I shout, even though I have no idea who she is. “Sam!” I exclaim happily. Bardil scrunches his face, looking from me to the woman.
She looks behind herself, her face scrunched in confusion, too, when she sees no one there. “Sam, it’s me, Val. We went to school together.”
Bardil, caught completely off guard, doesn’t notice when I rush around him and hurry toward the woman.
She mutters something about only having moved to Miami a few months ago, and that she thinks I’m mistaken.
I get close to her and laugh again. “Oh my goodness, I’m so silly.
I thought you were someone else. Have a lovely day.
” I grab the opportunity and run out of the hallway, back into the busier section of the mall.
Behind me, Bardil follows, but as soon as I reach the crowded area, he backs off a bit.
My fingers are tightly grasping a knot of his hair, and my only thought, apart from getting away, is to get away with this important evidence that can be taken to the forensic guy who examined the scene of the attack.
But as I hurry through the mall, Bardil is still following me, and I have to come up with a plan to get rid of him.
Walking faster, I turn a corner, heading for the flower stand.
When I reach it, I trip, purposefully kicking over three large buckets of water and flowers.
“I’m so sorry!” I shout, loud enough to draw the attention of a lot of other shoppers.
Several people rush over to help, and Bardil hesitates, staying back.
The shopkeeper stands scowling at me while I mumble my apologies, then chases me away in frustration.
Rude, considering I made it look like an accident, but the situation caught the attention of so many people that it was all I needed to get away from Bardil without him being able to follow me out to my car.
Running the rest of the way through the mall and out into the parking lot, I rush to my car and tug the door open, practically diving inside and slamming it closed behind me.
My heart is beating a million miles an hour as I stare down at my hand.
I was gripping so tightly that my nails have left imprints in the palm of my hand where three strands of hair are sitting.
Opening my purse, I pull out a tissue and carefully wrap Bardil’s hair in it, then tuck it into the inside pocket, safe. I should take this straight to the office building. I can’t risk Bardil following me and realizing what I did.
This might be the only chance we have to prove he was at the scene of the attack. And we desperately need this evidence to prove our theory.
Plus, I don’t want to go home or see Jaroslav right now.
With my mind made up, I start the engine and pull out into the road, heading toward the city center, to see one of his brothers.