Chapter 55 Ransome
RANSOME
The gunshots may not have been fired by Tristan, but the bullets have his name written all over them.
As I drive back to the penthouse to be with Amara, I remind myself that what I told Mav and Baron is right. Sure, I could have left Yury thumbless and bleeding, but that would be like opening a cage before I’m ready for the hounds.
I have to be smarter than that. If we go to war, it has to be when we’re fully armed. Not to mention for the right reasons.
In other words, I need to be pakhan first. Then, I can take Tristan down without any resistance.
Do I like that my walking out looked like a white flag? Of course not. But Tristan is going to find out I was there. And he’s not going to like it.
And I will deal with that encounter accordingly.
When I get to the penthouse, the door is unlocked. I’m not exactly pleased with that.
“Amara?” I call out as I close the door behind me. She’s pacing by the window and rushes over to me, throwing her arms around me. “Why is the door unlocked?” I ask.
“The code was messed up,” she says, trembling in my arms.
That’s odd. I’ll have to shoot Ivan a text to see if he knows anything about it.
But what stuns me most right now is Amara’s behavior. Is she still this shaken up from the shooting? Has she been crying and trembling alone all this time?
Should I have been here?
No. Of course not. There were priorities to keep track of, and I had mine straight. I know I did.
Then why do I feel so goddamn awful?
“Why didn’t you come straight home?” she asks, still buried in my chest, as if reading my mind.
“I had things to attend to. People.”
“But we just got shot at!” she cries out.
“Exactly. Baron and Maverick and I went to look for Tristan.”
Amara pulls back a little, tipping her chin to look up at me. Her face is drained of color. “Did you find him?”
I pull all the way away from her and head to the kitchen. “No. But we went to a bar in Chadovich territory and threatened Daniil and Yury.”
“You went into a Chadovich bar?!”
“Yeah.” I grab a glass of water. “I think Tristan will get the picture that we need to have words.”
“Ransome, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Oh? And you suddenly became an expert in my affairs when exactly?”
The hint of a sassy look breaks through her tear-streaked face. “I’ve always been an expert in your affairs. Or have you forgotten what I do for a living?”
She has a point. But it still remains uneducated.
“Not these affairs. These affairs are mine to deal with.”
I loosen my tie as I make my way down the hallway. I need to get out of these starchy clothes. I need to clock out for once in my goddamn life.
“So where’s my part in all of this?” she asks, hot on my heels. “Because last I checked, I am very much involved. I’m parading around as your girlfriend. I know more about El Paso than I ever wanted to. Enough to get hurt. Enough to get shot at.”
“Nothing happened,” I snap as I undo my shirt and shrug out of it.
“He wants to kill you, Ransome!” she blurts out.
“He’s always wanted to kill me,” I say as I undo my pants.
“I mean for real,” she goes on frantically. “He knows you guys have something going on. Something big. And he wants you and Maverick and Baron and your dad out of the way. He even wants Dmitry out of the way.”
I step out of my pants and turn to face her. “How do you know all this?”
She blinks. “What do you mean?”
“How do you know he knows there’s a deal? How do you know he wants to turn on his own uncle?”
She swallows. Her gaze darts away from me. “It’s obvious, isn’t it?”
“Not that obvious.” I narrow my eyes and step closer. “Not unless you’ve been talking to him. Have you?”
“Have I what?” She avoids the question.
“Have you seen him?” I bark out. “Because people are talking.”
“What are people saying?”
“That you’ve been seen together. That you’ve been meeting in secret.”
“He was at the speakeasy,” she admits. “But I wasn’t meeting with him, Ransome. He ambushed me. And then today, he—”
“Stop,” I cut her off. I’m blazing with fury. She saw him and didn’t tell me. I trusted her to make her own choice, and she broke that trust. “You do realize how dangerous he is, right?”
Amara throws her hands up. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you!”
“I mean for you. For this.” I point between her and I. “He isn’t exactly a fan of you, considering you’re cockblocking me from his cousin.”
“Is that what you think? I’m a cockblock?” she demands. “Because last time I checked, your cock was just fucking fine.”
I grab her and pull her against me. “I could tear you apart right now,” I grit out.
“Oh, yeah?”
“Rip that dress clean off you. Have my way with you. Remind you who’s boss.”
“You could,” she says. “But I’m not in the mood. I got shot at today. While hungover.”
“The last part is your own fault,” I say, my fingers still tangled in her hair.
“I still blame you for it.”
This woman, I swear to fucking God.
I yank her against me, kissing her hard. Her body is rigid against mine—until it isn’t. Until it goes soft and pliant under my hands as always.
But as soon as that happens, I pull away.
“Wait,” she gasps. “Where are you going?”
“To bed.” I wait a moment and look back at her. “Unless you needed something.”
She turns away. “I don’t need it.”
I walk up behind her. I caress the hair away from her shoulder and slide the strap off as well. Then I kiss the base of her neck.
“But you want it,” I whisper into her skin, and feel the goosebumps against my lips.
Her head rolls back on my shoulder. I continue kissing her. Up her neck, behind her ear, at her pulse point. Meanwhile, my hands wander under her shirt, up to her breasts, so I can tease her nipples.
She arches against me and gasps.
“You need me,” I say into her neck as I play with her.
“I do,” she breathes.
“Say it,” I order as she dances in place, nearly coming just from the touch of my fingertips.
“I need you, Ransome.”
“What do you need from me?”
“Make me come,” she begs.
I smirk into her neck and nibble on her ear. “How do you want it?”
“Just… make me yours.”
This is what we are, I tell myself. Two warm bodies seeking each other, wanting to feel good off of each other. Fear, guilt, longing—they were never supposed to enter the mix. Those are feelings, and we don’t do feelings.
This is what we do.
And when we do it, the world catches on fire.
She attempts to go to the bed, but I grab her. Then I bend her over the dresser and flip her dress up.
“You want me?” I ask.
“Yes, Ransome. I want you.”
“You want me inside you?”
“Yes. I want you inside me. I need you. Please.”
I fucking love when she talks dirty. But I love it even more when she begs.
I run the tip of my cock over her several times to lube it up before thrusting up inside of her. Amara cries out, and I wonder if I should ease up.
But when she grips the dresser with a smile, I know she can handle me. And I’m going to give it to her.
I drive myself in and out, both of us gasping with each blow. It’s the roughest I’ve ever fucked her, and yet, her body language tells me it’s the best she’s ever had.
She wants to be claimed. Taken. Owned.
“You’ve been a bad girl, dorogoya,” I tell her.
“I know.”
“You question whether I can take care of you?”
“No.”
“You question if I can do my job?”
“No.”
“Who am I?”
“Ransome Rozanov.”
It’s enough to get me off then and there. My name on her lips, her pussy tight around me.
But I don’t want it to be over yet.
I slow down. Flip her around, pick her up, and lay her on the bed before climbing on top of her.
“I am going to take him down. And I am going to be pakhan.” I slide back inside her, my hips gliding against hers. “And everyone will know. I will be their boss. I will be their king.”
“Yes,” she moans, gripping my shoulders in her fists.
“Yes, what?” I start thrusting harder, making her gasp.
“Yes, sir.”
“That’s more like it. Now come.”
I grind my hips into her, driving myself deeper and deeper until she arches her head back, her jaw lax, her chin trembling. Then she tightens her legs around me and cries out as she comes.
I thrust until she goes limp, and then again just for good measure. So she knows I am in charge. Knows who she belongs to.
After she’s caught her breath, she turns to me. “Ransome… I need to tell you—”
“No.” I press a finger to her lips. “No more talking tonight. You need to rest.”
“But…”
“Rest,” I say more firmly as I pull her with me to the bed.
Amara sinks into the mattress. The second my body joins hers, she sinks into me. “It’s important, though.”
“Whatever it is, it can wait until morning.”
I can see her fighting sleep. Her eyelids keep falling and she keeps jerking awake.
I tuck her into my side. Stroke her back until her breaths even out.
And then, finally, she’s asleep.