Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Zahkar
Dumdumdumdumdum.
Dumdumdumdumdum.
Dumdumdumdumdum.
My heart races and I can’t for the life of me figure out why. I’m drug free at the moment, much to my dismay. It’s not that…it’s something else.
Dumdumdumdumdum.
Unease. A feeling. A deep sense of…dread? Whatever it is, I don’t particularly like it.
“I’m bored,” Rodion grumbles from beside me as we ride from the airport to our hotel, dragging me from my inner thoughts.
I lift a brow and smirk. “You’re always bored.”
“I’m more bored than usual.” He points into the dark night. “Do you see anything?”
Squinting, I shake my head. “Not anything worth looking at.”
“Exactly. Remind me why we’re here again…”
Dumdumdumdumdum.
Turning my head, I look at my pouting brother. I can still smell the vodka on his breath from the plane. Makes me thirsty. Licking my lips, I lean forward to reach his ear. “I’ll entertain you later.”
Thoughts of later have my heartbeat slowing to a more familiar rhythm. One I’m comfortable with. It distracts me to the point I don’t feel like my chest is going to explode.
He chuckles and pats my thigh, leaving his palm there. His touch always calms me. “So help me if we get there and you try to drag my ass to a honky tonk bar, I will kill you. Don’t test me, brother.”
An image of sleek, filthy, wicked Rodion in a pair of tight jeans and shit kickers is almost too much. Add in a cowboy hat, and I’m biting back a grin. Perhaps we should find one of these country bars and look the part.
“Me?” I ask in faux annoyance. “You’re the one trying to buy up every shithole in every damn country.”
“I like money,” he offers with a shrug.
And money, we have plenty of it.
We don’t need it, though.
It’s the power and the influence we love. Having our fingers dipping in pots all over the globe delights us both to no end. So many nights, we lie in bed—long after our newest conquest between us has fallen asleep—tangled in our sheets with sweat still slick on our skin and plot.
We’ve been plotting since we were ten years old.
“You are right, the numbers don’t lie,” I tell him, nudging him with my shoulder. “Their website is pretty badass too. We may be in the middle of bumfuck nowhere, but it’s a cash cow. You just have to be a good little cowboy and milk it.”
His green eyes narrow as he inspects me, his lips quirked on one side in amusement. “You want me to milk what now?”
My brow lifts and I nod at my dick that’s now stiff in my slacks. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”
He lets out a chuckle, slapping my thigh, but refuses to give in. “Should we hit some bars or clubs tonight?”
“I’m not feeling it. I’m jet lagged.”
Dumdumdumdumdum.
And something else.
“You don’t look so hot,” he says, his brows furrowing in concern.
I shrug and turn my attention to the window. We pass by several hotels before arriving at the nicest one in this town. It’s a stately and historic hotel situated in the middle of the state’s biggest city.
We don’t plan on staying in a hotel for long.
After finding a house for sale online, I’ve already arranged for the purchase of the property with a real estate agent.
The location is perfect. It’s close enough to the new club that the commute won’t be tedious, and it’s nice enough that Rodion and I can call it home while we get things up and running here.
Dumdumdumdumdum.
I rub at my chest and take a deep breath. Rodion shoots me another confused look. Thankfully, the car stops before he can probe, and I bolt from the backseat. The air is hot and sticky outside, completely opposite from the crisp, icy air of Moscow.
Instantly, I hate this place.
I’m getting a hunch.
I learned when I was a boy to trust my gut. Then, later with her, I should have gone with the feeling too. Each time, I blindly ignored the stirring in the pit of my stomach.
Each time, my heart fucking broke.
One Mississippi…two Mississippi…
“Wait,” I rasp out as Rodion starts forward. I clasp my hand around his wrist, keeping him from moving toward the entrance of the hotel.
“What is it?” he demands under his breath, eyes darting all around searching for threats.
Dumdumdumdumdum.
“I just feel…I can’t fucking breathe.”
“No one can breathe in this temperature,” he says with a wink. “It’s fucking hotter than us here.”
“No, it’s something…else.”
He breaks from my hold to sling his arm over my shoulder. His breath is hot against my ear. “We’re fine. You’re fine. We’ll relax once we’re inside. It’s been a long journey.”
Dumdumdumdumdum.
I’m practically shaking by the time we check into our presidential suite. Before the door even closes, I shed out of my jacket and rip at the buttons on my dress shirt. They patter to the carpet at my feet, the shirt now ruined. The material sticks to my flesh and I want it off.
Dumdumdumdumdum.
There was a time when the cold bothered me.
Badly.
Now it’s what I crave.
I fucking miss it.
“Turn on the air,” I snarl, the heat driving me to the brink of madness.
Rodion is quiet as he adjusts the thermostat. I completely undress and rush to the shower. The water is cold the moment it hits my skin, making me moan in relief. While the icy water chills me to my bones, I wonder what the fuck is up with me.
Dumdumdumdumdum.
I’m cooler now, but my heart is racing out of control.
After quickly washing the sweat from my body, I rinse off and tie a towel around my waist. Music is now playing in our suite, slightly relaxing me.
I find Rodion sitting on the sofa with his now-bare feet kicked up on the table, sipping from a tumbler.
Another glass sits on the table waiting on me.
He’s thrown a pair of shorts on the bed, so I grab them and pull them on before joining him. Sitting next to him, I grab my glass and mimic his position. “We should buy some new shoes,” I say absently, nudging his foot with mine.
“Sure, right after you tell me what the fuck is up with you.”
I gulp down the shitty hotel vodka and grimace. “I don’t know.”
“Your half-ass answers don’t work with me,” he says gently—a tone he reserves for only me.
Letting out a heavy sigh, I tell him all I know. “My heart is racing. I have a sense of dread. Something about this place doesn’t sit right with me. Like it’s going to end badly, or something fucked up is going to happen.”
He sips his vodka and lets out a laugh. “Something fucked up for us is like unimaginable for most people. You really get a bad vibe from this place?”
“Not the hotel. The country. The state. I don’t know how to explain it. Like I said, I’m probably just jet lagged.”
Sliding a palm behind my neck, he rubs the tension away. A sappy love song comes on, making my heart thump harder in my chest. I don’t have to tell Rodion to change it, because he feels what I feel. We are the same. It gets switched to something else, but I’m already rattled.
“Your leg is bouncing, Z.”
“I’m irritable,” I confess.
“Hmmm, let’s go and find someone to play with. Viktor’s place isn’t far from here.”
Maybe that’s what I need.
“Fine.”