Chapter 6 #3
She softens against me, cupping the back of my head as she takes slow, even breaths through her mouth.
I know she’s fighting like hell to not get sick, and I really hope she can hang on until I get her upstairs.
Guilt races through me. I should’ve taken the bottle from her earlier.
I hadn’t realized it would hit her quite as hard as it did, but either way, I should’ve stopped it.
“Vasya,” she moans again.
The sound of her voice has me running the rest of the way, barely getting her into our bathroom and setting her down before her head is in the toilet and she’s bringing everything and then some back up.
I quickly grab her hair, pulling it out of the way and fisting it gently.
She cries and vomits, and I feel like an absolute dick for not taking better care of her.
“I’m so sorry,” I murmur, rubbing her back and wishing I could take it from her.
“It’s my fault,” she groans. “God, this is so embarrassing.”
“Don’t be embarrassed, zolotse. It doesn’t faze me, and believe me when I say I’ve seen way worse.”
When she’s finally empty, I get a wet washcloth and clean her up before sitting her on the counter.
I get her toothbrush ready and hand it to her, keeping a close eye on her as she brushes her teeth.
She’s pale but looks a lot better than she did a few minutes ago.
Her cheeks are tear-stained and she looks like she’s going to start crying again any second.
When she’s finished brushing, I cup her face and kiss her forehead.
“Come on, let’s get you to bed.”
“I’m never drinking again,” she whispers, “or eating hot dogs.”
I smile and pick her up again. “Ruslan will be very sorry to hear that.”
“You saw that?”
“I miss very little, zolotse.”
“It’s hard to deny that cute face of his anything.”
“It is,” I admit, “and he knows it.”
I sit her on the edge of the bed and walk to the closet, eyeing the small amount of clothes she has.
When I don’t find any pajamas, I grab a pair of flannel pajama bottoms that will be huge on her.
She’s still swaying a bit, and when I help her to stand, she starts to protest when I try to get her out of her wet jeans.
“Nina, please trust me. I’m just helping you get into some pajamas. That’s it.”
She looks at me for a second and then gives me a very slow nod so she doesn’t make herself nauseous again.
I unbutton her jeans and slowly pull them down, willing myself to be as clinical as possible.
There’s no denying my attraction to her, but I know I need to keep that part of myself locked away for now.
When the jeans are off, I can’t help but run my eyes over her as I help her into the pajama bottoms, quickly taking in the toned legs and brief glimpse of pink panties.
“I’m sorry they’re so big,” I say, tying the drawstring and rolling the cuffs up while making a point to completely ignore my quickly hardening cock.
“It’s okay,” she whispers, looking even smaller than usual in my large pants.
She sits back on the edge of the bed. I can tell she’s not sober yet and still feeling pretty bad, but she’s more coherent than she was, even if she is barely keeping her eyes open.
I’m still kneeling in front of her, and when she reaches out to run her fingers along the side of my face, I stay where I am, knowing she needs to be in charge of this.
“In Anna Karenina, she doesn’t get a happy ending, does she?”
Her dark eyes look so sad, and I hate to add to it, but I’m not going to lie to her. “No, she doesn’t, but you will, zolotse.”
She nods, but I can tell she doesn’t believe me. Stroking my face once more, she sighs and starts to get into bed. I help her, tucking the covers up over her. I kiss her cheek and say, “I’m going to get you some water and aspirin. I’ll be right back.”
“Okay,” she whispers, curling into a tighter ball.
I rush downstairs, not wanting to leave her alone for longer than I have to.
A quick glimpse out the window lets me know the others are still having a good time down on the beach, but I’m not worried.
I know they’ll clean up and make sure Ruslan gets let in.
I grab a bottle of water and the aspirin and head back upstairs.
Before I can get there, my phone vibrates in my pocket.
When I see who’s calling, I stop in the hallway and answer it.
“Colin, what’s up?” I ask, hoping it’s nothing important.
“I just heard about what happened at Ruby’s. What the fuck were you thinking, Vasily?”
“What the fuck was I thinking?” I growl, not in the mood for this bullshit right now. “I went there to find someone who owed me money, and instead I found a young woman who was being held there against her will and raped on a nightly basis.”
“What are you talking about? It’s a brothel. They’re prostitutes.”
“They’re not, Colin. They’re forced to be there.”
“Ruby says you barged in, threatened her and one of her employees, and then stole one of her girls, claiming you were going to marry her.”
“That’s about right,” I admit.
Colin groans and mutters “Fucking hell, man.”
“I couldn’t leave her there.”
“It’s neutral territory,” he reminds me in a tone that I don’t care for.
“And that’s the only reason I haven’t gone back there and burnt that goddamn place to the ground.”
“All right,” Colin says with a sigh, “I’ll look into this.
I had no idea they were being kept against their will.
I’ve always been told the women were willingly there and more than happy with the money they were making.
I’ll do some digging and see what I can find out, but for now, stay away from it. ”
“Fine,” I say, still pissed but eager to get back to Nina.
“Did you really marry her?”
“I did,” I say, and I make sure he understands me when I add, “and I inked her. She has the full protection of my Bratva, and any attack against her will be seen as a direct attack against me. Feel free to spread the fucking word on that.”
Too pissed to talk anymore, I hang up and walk back into the bedroom. Her big, dark eyes are staring at me from right above the covers. She follows my movements as I cross the room and shake out a couple of pills and open the bottle of water.
“Here, take these and drink some water. It’ll help some.”
She scoots up and takes the pills, managing to drink about half the water before pushing it away with a grimace. I start to back away and then smile when she reaches out for me, grabbing my wrist.
“Will you stay?”
“Of course, zolotse. Give me just a minute.”
She lets go of me so I can brush my teeth and strip out of my clothes.
I’d usually just sleep naked, but I’m not about to do that tonight.
I toss on a pair of sleep pants similar to the ones she’s wearing and get under the covers.
I’m all set to be a gentleman, being careful to put space between us so she doesn’t feel uncomfortable, but then she reaches an arm out and tries to pull me closer.
I roll on my side, careful to keep several inches between her ass and my hard cock, and wrap an arm around her.
I’m not a saint. I want more from her. The desire to roughly yank her pants down and slide into the wet heat of her is all I can fucking think about, but I refuse to act on it.
That’s not what she needs from me right now.
“Thank you for taking care of me,” she whispers, hugging my forearm against her chest.
“I will always take care of you,” I say, not even having to think about it.
She kisses my hand, and I smile at the sweet gesture. It’s the first time she’s kissed me, and I’m surprised by how badly I don’t want it to be the one and only time.
“What does suka mean?” she whispers.
I laugh, thinking that she must’ve heard it from Ilya when he was teasing Andrei. “You caught that, huh? Ilya was getting under Andrei’s skin by telling him he handled his alcohol like a little bitch.”
“So it means bitch?”
“Yes, or female dog, just like in English.”
“So Amerikanskaya suka means American bitch?”
My whole body goes cold at her words because Ilya sure as hell didn’t say that. “Why are you asking? Where did you hear that?”
“That’s what one of the men called me.”
“He was Russian?”
I feel her shoulders give a small shrug in the dark. “I guess.”
“Did he have any tattoos?” I ask, trying not to sound too angry or eager.
“He kept his shirt on. Most of them didn’t fully undress.”
I hold her tighter and kiss her temple before relaxing back into the pillow beside her. “I’m sorry I didn’t find you sooner,” I whisper against her hair. “All I can do is give you my word that I’m going to make every one of those fuckers pay for what they did to you.”
Her voice is heavy with sleep when she says, “It’s okay, Vasya. I’m safe now. That’s all that matters.”
“You are safe now. That I can promise you. Get some sleep, zolotse.”
I keep holding her long after she’s fallen asleep, my mind racing with what she’s just told me.
A fucking Russian? Sure there are other Russians in this city, but I don’t believe in coincidence, and this sure seems like a big fucking one.
When it’s close to dawn, I finally give up and carefully get out of bed.
Leaning over her, I pull the covers back up and kiss her forehead before leaving the room.
I need to burn off some steam, and I can’t do it here.