Chapter 13 Reign
REIGN
Ididn’t say anything as I walked us over to the nearby lake. There was a small bench not too far away. When I was little, and my mom’s spirits hadn’t been completely crushed by my father, she would bring me out here to get away from everything and everyone.
It was one of my favorite childhood memories.
I sat down on the exact bench my mom and I had sat on before, but this time with Jamie on my lap.
She wiggled a little, and I tightened my arms around her.
“Reign.”
I could hear the soft protest in her voice.
“Would you just stay like this with me for a while?” I asked softly.
She froze, her eyes moving over to mine. I relaxed my arms, leaving the decision to her. If she wanted to get off my lap, she could do it. Surprisingly, she relaxed against me until her back was pressed against my chest.
I leaned down and kissed her shoulder. “Thank you.”
She was quiet as I draped the blanket over us.
“Are you okay?” she asked. “Why did it feel like the mood changed completely? If you’re worried about Rose, don’t be. Just do what I do. Pretend she’s not here.”
I smiled a little at her words. “It’s not that.”
She was frowning when she turned to look at me. “Then what is it?”
I shrugged. “Just thinking about stuff.”
“Oh.” She turned back around and looked out at the nearly frozen lake.
“Tell me, where would you go?” I asked.
“What was that?”
“You said before you wanted to get out of here. If you had a choice right now, where would you go?”
“Switzerland.”
How surprising. I didn’t expect that. I wasn’t sure what I had been expecting to begin with, but Switzerland felt so specific.
“Why?” I asked, resting my chin on her shoulder. She didn’t flinch away from me.
“Because I saw a documentary about it once, and I just thought it looked… magical.”
“Magical,” I repeated. “Aren’t you afraid you would be all alone there? Away from your family?”
“My family doesn’t really need me here. I’m more like a burden than anything else.”
“I’m sure that’s not true.”
“No, it is. I’m not just saying that so that you would refute me. I know it is. My brother and father… they’re so strong. And capable of protecting themselves. If they didn’t have me… they wouldn’t have to worry about their weakness walking out in the world. They—”
She quickly closed her mouth, as if she had just realized who she was sharing all of this with. I didn’t tell her that it didn’t matter what she told me.
It wasn’t something I didn’t already know.
Jamie was the weak link in the Caparelli.
The Mahankov had no weaknesses. If I were to get captured by the enemy at this very moment, it still wouldn’t change anything for my father or brother.
“Well, Switzerland wouldn’t be so lonely if you had someone with you,” I said.
Her shoulders shook with laughter. “Are you suggesting you’ll come with me?”
“Would that be such a bad thing?” I asked.
She didn’t answer me right away. Then she turned around and met my eyes. “No, I suppose it wouldn’t be such a bad thing.”
And, fuck me, if I didn’t know whether she was saying this because she was still playing her little game with me, or if she truly meant it.
It didn’t fucking matter because there was a part of me—a huge part of me—that just wanted to believe her.
I cupped her cheek and held it there. When she didn’t move away from me, I leaned forward and captured her lips in mine.
She managed to utter my name once before I swallowed it.
At first, she froze in my arms.
I gently molded my lips against hers, over and over again, until it felt like we were sharing the same breath, the same space, the same soul.
I kissed her in a way I never thought I could.
I kissed her reverently.
Desperately.
I didn’t want her to pull away from me.
The thought drove me into a frenzy, and I deepened the kiss, swiping my tongue over her bottom lip until she let out a small whimper that nearly made me come undone.
“Baby. Open your lips. Let me in,” I said, pulling away just enough to get the words out.
She didn’t open up for me. If anything, it felt as if she clamped down, denying my access to that sweet taste of hers that I had become addicted to. I pulled her lip between my teeth and gave her a small, gentle nip.
Another whimper escaped, and her lips softened against mine. I wasted no time, plunging my tongue inside.
Her taste instantly exploded on my tongue.
Fuck me.
I kissed her harder until her lips softened against mine, warm and yielding. I pulled her closer, one hand still cupping her cheek while the other slid around her waist, moving over to the hem of her shirt and sliding my finger inside.
She tensed.
I kissed her harder, not giving her a chance to think about that as I let my finger play with the softness there.
My hand wandered up.
She pressed her hand down on mine, trying to stop its progress. I kept my hand there for a bit, moving my fingers from side to side on her skin as I continued to kiss her. To devour her.
Fuck, but I didn’t think I would ever get enough of this. Of her.
I wanted more and more and more.
I needed more.
I moved my hand up until it reached the underwire of her bra.
She pulled away from the kiss then, her eyes darkening. But she didn’t stop me.
I slipped my finger underneath her bra, playing with the bottom swell of her tits—from one to the next, and back again.
Hell.
She pressed her hips down on me in surprise. I was sure she could feel my hardness like this.
“You’re so fucking beautiful,” I said, letting my hand move up until I found her nipple. Her back arched from the contact, and I roughly pinched the hardened nub between two fingers, twisting it a little.
“Reign. That hurts.” She swallowed but didn’t pull away from me.
I pinched her nipple a little harder. “Baby, it’s supposed to hurt a little. Does this feel good?”
“I… I don’t know.”
“You don’t? Are you wet for me?”
She gasped at my question, her cheeks turning a deeper shade of red.
I smiled and used my other hand to roam down her body beneath the blanket.
She shook her head slightly when she realized where I was going with this, but didn’t pull away from me. My fingers sought out the waistband of her leggings, pushing under that, then her panties, my palm coming across soft, bare skin.
Oh hell.
She clamped her legs together.
I easily pushed them apart and cupped her fully with my hand for the first time.
I groaned when I found her wet.
“Fuck, baby. You’re fucking drenched.”
She took in a deep breath from my words.
“Reign.”
“Don’t worry. I’m going to make you feel good. Okay?”
I circled her swollen clit with my middle finger, gently at first, before increasing the tempo.
Her mouth opened, but nothing came out.
I twisted my fingers a little harder around her nipple, feeling more wetness gushing out of her.
She let out a low groan before leaning back, her face buried in the crook of my neck. “What are you doing to me?” she said, her words slightly muffled.
“Driving you crazy,” I answered. The same fucking way she had been driving me crazy. “Come for me, baby,” I said, pushing one finger inside her. Fuck, but she was tight.
How would I ever keep my control when it came time for my dick to be inside her?
That didn’t seem possible right now.
I fucked her a little harder, a little faster, at the thought. It didn’t take her long to explode in my arms.
Her lips latched onto the skin of my neck, biting down hard as her entire body convulsed around me when she came.
I pulled out of her and wrapped my arms around her tightly, holding her to me, not wanting to let her go.
I couldn’t.
Fuck, but I really didn’t know how I could ever let her go.
It was past midnight when I pulled the blanket off and climbed out of bed.
Jamie was asleep soundly beside me.
She had been quiet for most of the day, and she barely looked at me when we finally got to my room and retired for the night.
I didn’t like it.
I didn’t like not having her eyes on me.
And I didn’t like the silence. While she wasn’t the most talkative person in the world, this silence felt almost oppressive.
I didn’t push her, wanting to give her some space to think about everything that had happened. Hell, I probably needed to think about it myself, wondering why the hell I was feeling like this for a girl I had barely just met.
Feeling like this about Davide Caparelli’s daughter, no less.
But it wasn’t the time to analyze my feelings. Not now, at least.
Right now, I had to go out and meet with the fucker to set up the goods transport.
By the time I walked out of the cabin, Baran, Makar, and Fabian were already waiting.
“Took you long enough,” Baran said. “Didn’t want to leave the sweet girl warming your bed?”
I didn’t answer him. Instead, I pushed his chest, feeling a sense of satisfaction when he stumbled back a bit.
Makar caught my eye and shook his head at Baran. “One of these days, that mouth of yours is going to get you in trouble.”
“My mouth has only ever gotten me into the good kind of trouble,” Baran said.
Makar said something back to him, but I was no longer paying attention. I walked over to my car parked nearby, noting Rose’s car was no longer here. I didn’t see her in the living room either, where she was supposed to sleep for the night.
Good.
Fabian caught up to me, noticing my eyes were on the empty spot where Rose had parked.
“She and Alani left about an hour ago.”
“Sorry, man,” I said, knowing Alani had come here with him.
He shrugged. “Doesn’t matter.”
I unlocked my car and was about to get inside when he stopped me with a hand on my shoulder. I looked at him.
“I’m guessing you already knew that’s Jamie Caparelli before you brought her here.”
I smiled. “You think I wouldn’t have recognized her?”
“Does she know who you are?”
“Without a doubt,” I said.
He didn’t say anything, seemingly lost in thought. “You know her best friend committed suicide three months ago, right?”
“I didn’t know that,” I said, keeping my face neutral despite my surprise. That was interesting. Three months wasn’t so long ago. She must still be grieving.
“Just something to think about,” Fabian said, getting into the back seat of the car.
I stood where I was for a moment, thinking. I hadn’t even known about that, but Fabian did? How did he know? And why was he telling me now?
Was he implying that was the reason Jamie had approached me in the first place?
But why would her friend’s death have anything to do with me?
I shook my head just as Makar and Baran caught up. Baran moved over to the passenger side while Makar got into the back with Fabian.
I climbed inside and started the car. Then we were off.
The meet took place at a run-down warehouse that had probably seen better days. It wasn’t abandoned, but the city would never issue an order for the owner to do something about the unsightly thing.
It was owned by the Bratva.
By the time we showed up, the man was already there. He only brought a handful of men with him, whom I quickly took stock of. If things went to shit, I was sure we would be able to handle the fuckers just fine.
Peter Cook was an unremarkable man.
He had the kind of features that would blend in with the wall. And he was sitting in the middle of the warehouse, drinking from a thermos cup, as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
He looked up briefly when he heard us but otherwise didn’t make a move to stand or say anything.
I walked over and grabbed the seat across from him while Makar, Baran, and Fabian spread out behind me.
“You should feel pretty special. I don’t get out of bed for just anyone. What happened to the meet happening tomorrow?” I said.
He looked over at me and smiled pleasantly. “I do feel special to meet you, Reign Mahankov. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
He hadn’t heard shit.
While I wasn’t fucking useless to the Bratva, I worked well in anonymity. I liked it that way, and I planned on keeping it like that for as long as I could.
I leaned back against the chair.
“Why don’t we get to the point? We each have what the other wants. The Bratva is willing to give you ten percent of the profit.”
He smiled. “Twenty. And I need assurance from Kingston that one of these days, when I need a favor—a huge favor—he is to help me, no questions asked.”
“No questions asked,” I repeated. “You really think that’s how it works?”
He shrugged. “That’s how it will be for us to work together.”
“What’s the favor?” I asked.
He shook his head. “You know better than anyone that we don’t reveal our cards all at once.”
“You want him to just blindly agree to that?”
“I’m sure you’ll find that working with me will be very beneficial to the Bratva. I now have connections and relations to every point of entry on the border between the US and Canada. There isn’t another like me around.”
I tapped my fingers on my thigh for a moment. “Fifteen percent,” I said. “And Kingston will owe you one.”
He smiled, showing off the top row of his teeth. I didn’t trust his smile one bit. “Deal.”