Chapter Seven
Alora
We were laughing so loud, the guys at the next table were smiling at us. I sat sandwiched between Dove and Mira in the booth, with Solene and Margot on the other side trying to snap a picture of us.
It was Mira’s birthday, and we were out celebrating at brunch. I’d just given her the gift we’d picked out from the Shiver Box. Actually, the second gift. After those men had kidnapped me and had their dirty hands all over the first toy, I didn’t feel right giving it to her. But after pawning my camera, I had some leftover money and got her something even better.
“The Octopussy,” Mira said with wide eyes. “Jesus, guys, this looks insane.” It was a silicone sex toy in the shape of an octopus. The tentacles had ridges on them that were supposed to be mind-blowing. Or so the clerk had said.
I hadn’t heard from Dylan in almost two weeks. If I didn’t know any better, I would say that Kreos might have done something to him. But Kreos had promised me he wouldn’t harm him, and for some reason, I believed him. As of yesterday, I was still eight hundred dollars short for rent, so I had no choice. Even with the figure modeling I was scheduled to do tonight, it still wouldn’t have been enough.
But that was OK. I would get my camera back within a week or two, and everything would be fine.
It had to be.
Solene raised her glass, and we all did the same. “To Mira. The best sister and friend we could ever ask for. Just don’t ever let her cut your hair.”
“Hey, it wasn’t that bad.” Mira chuckled and clinked her drink against ours. Dove typed furiously on her phone and held it up.
“You gave me a damn mullet. I’m still traumatized.”
The table roared with laughter, except Dove, who glared at her with a fake scowl before grinning.
“Who wants another round?” Solene looked over her shoulder at the server.
“No, no. None for me. I have a figure modeling job in an hour, and I can’t show up bloated and drunk or they won’t pay me.” I reached for more chips, then dropped my hand.
“I don’t know how you can sit still for that long.” Margot sipped her drink before digging into the nachos.
“It’s usually just twenty-minute poses, then I take a quick break. Really, the time goes by super-fast.”
And four hundred bucks for three hours? I definitely couldn’t afford to pass that up.
I stayed as long as I could, enjoying the warmth I felt being surrounded by my best friends. This was my crew. My ride-or-die gang. We all had each other’s back. I had no doubt in my mind that if I told them about Kreos, they would help me and Dove get away. Even if it put their lives in danger.
Which was exactly why I hadn’t told them and never would.
“To us.” I held up my glass .
“To the baddest bitches I know.” Solene and Mira howled, while Dove drummed her hands against the table and Margot took another slew of photographs.
Ten minutes later, I was walking down to the art studio. We’d taken the train earlier in the day, since we’d known we’d be drinking. Margot was going back to our apartment with Dove later, so I didn’t have to worry about her being out alone.
After two glasses of wine and three shots too many of whiskey, I just hoped I’d be able to hold all my poses today without falling asleep.
I was in a fairly good mood by the time I got to the art center. It didn’t register that the parking lot was mostly empty until I stepped inside and was met with silence. The familiar scent of turpentine and canvas greeted me, but the usual crowd of students roaming the center did not.
It was eerily silent, and I called out for the art director. “Miss Bradshaw?” My voice echoed down the empty hall, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. There was a light coming from the painting room I normally posed in, so I made my way down there.
Had it been cancelled, and she hadn’t told me?
I pushed the door open and stopped at the figure standing in the center of the room.
Kreos.
The sight of him sent a jolt through me. I still didn’t understand his weird outburst the other night. He’d been so angry over what I was wearing. It wasn’t like I would ever believe he was jealous. That would be absurd.
I took a step forward, and he turned to face me. God, why did he have to look so damn beautiful? The way the sun hit his chiseled jaw made him look like a Greek god, like he should be the one being painted, not me.
His suit clung to him, emphasizing his powerful physique. I didn’t miss the Audemars Piguet watch he had on either. He must be insane to walk around New York City with that on; that was easily worth a hundred grand.
A fantasy ran through my mind of me seducing him, then drugging him, stealing his watch and moving with Dove to the Caribbean, but I quickly dismissed the idea. “What are you doing here?”
He studied me for a moment, his jaw clenched. “Have you been drinking?”
The question surprised me, and I scoffed. “It’s four in the afternoon on a Saturday. Of course I’ve been drinking.” I dropped my bag to the ground.
Oh, that didn’t make him happy.
He prowled over and towered over me. I had to lift my head to meet his hard gaze. “You shouldn’t be drinking; someone could take advantage of you.”
I grinned, the little bit of alcohol in my system making me bolder than usual. Right now, I wasn’t afraid of him. Besides, it was kind of fun pushing his buttons. “Maybe I want someone to take advantage of me.”
I gasped as he gripped me by the upper arms and brought me close to his chest. His nostrils flared with anger, and I realized too late that poking the bear wasn’t actually as fun as I’d thought it would be. “Kreos, relax. I’m just joking. It was my friend’s birthday. I barely had anything to drink.”
He let me wiggle free from his grip, and I stood with my hands on my hips. “Now explain to me why you’re here. I’m supposed to be working.”
“Isn’t it obvious? I’m here to paint.” He loosened his silver cufflinks, rolling up his sleeves.
“Are you serious?” I looked around the room. “Where are the other students?”
“I’m the only student you need to be concerned about.” He walked over to his canvas. That was when I saw the purple velvet chaise with black pillows in the center of the room.
Hm. That was new. Something told me the art director hadn’t brought that in. He must have.
“Go change, Miss Wolfe. We don’t have all day.”
The snappiness in his voice sent a wave of irritation through me. So he’d hijacked an entire art class, and I was supposed to just—lie naked in front of him?
Fuck my life.
It was a good thing I’d had those few drinks earlier, otherwise I probably would have tried to run from him. I knew exactly what would happen if I did that.
I huffed, grabbed my bag, and headed behind the changing curtain. Once I wrapped myself up in a silk robe, I walked slowly over to the chaise and put my hand on it.
“How do you want me?”
He stopped and turned to face me with a smirk. Heat rushed up my neck as I realized how that came out.
“My pose, I mean. How should I pose?” I swallowed the lump in my throat. Why did it seem like I hadn’t drunk anything in days?
Water. I needed a bottle of water .
“Take off your robe.” His voice was low, smooth like silk, and I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment.
Scratch the bottle. I needed a bucket of ice-cold water to be thrown at me. No, wait. A fire hose. Yes, that was it.
I could do this. There was nothing embarrassing about being naked in front of him. It wasn’t like he hadn’t seen it all before. Even though that had been a hundred cupcakes ago.
Without hesitating, I tugged on the sash, letting the robe slide down my shoulders and land in a pile at my feet. His gaze traveled from my toes, up my calves, to my probably bloated stomach, up my bare breasts, lingering on my lips, and then finally, my eyes. By the time he met my gaze, I was hyperaware of every inch of my body, and I was five seconds away from running out of there.
But I didn’t because I wasn’t a chicken. And the look he was giving me was one I would never forget. Desire. Lust. Like he wanted to taste every inch of my skin. I shook my head, snapping myself out of it, and stared down at the floor.
“Beautiful,” he murmured, and walked over with something white in his hands. “May I?” He reached over as if to pose me.
I nodded and let him guide me to the chaise. The velvet was soft against my skin as he sat me down. Unlike what I’d been thinking, his gaze didn’t linger on my breasts, or between my thighs. He was solely focused on holding my gaze as he moved me the way he wanted.
He bent my legs, spreading my thighs apart, feet flat on the cushion. I bit my bottom lip at how exposed I was, shivering at his touch. One of my hands was moved behind me for support, the other placed in my hair as he had me arch my back and tilt my head backwards.
The silk wrap he’d been holding trailed down my legs and wrapped around my hips, so that my pussy wasn’t on full display for him.
I breathed a sigh of relief. The last thing I wanted was for him to be staring at me down there. That seemed too—personal.
“Lovely.” He circled around me, turning my head to the side so that the sun was on my face, but I couldn’t see him. “Comfortable, Miss Wolfe?”
“Absolutely. Like a pig in mud.”
Why did I just say that?
He chuckled and sat down, his canvas in front of him. “Let’s begin then.”
I didn’t know what was more unnerving, the absolute silence that followed for the next twenty minutes, or knowing that his eyes were solely focused on me. My nipples hardened when his gaze landed there, and I cursed myself for not walking out of there the second I’d seen him.
We took a quick break so that I could drink some water and stretch my limbs, then got right back to it. This time, though, he was intent on breaking the silence, no matter how much I tried to avoid his questions.
“Tell me about your childhood,” he said, partially visible behind his canvas.
“I was a child, and then I grew up. The end.”
“That’s not what I meant. What happened to your mother?” There was no humor in his voice .
I sighed and squeezed my eyes shut. There was no getting out of this conversation, and I knew it.
“I guess you could say she died of a broken heart. She was—the perfect mother when I was younger. Got me my first camera when I was six. Taught me to love nature, that everything was beautiful and had its place in this world, even if it didn’t always feel like it. She made me want to capture it all on camera.
“We didn’t have much, but we had each other. After my older brother Jameson was murdered, she just fell apart.” I swallowed the lump in my throat. No matter how many times I talked about this, which was rare, it never got easier. The pain of losing someone you loved never went away. It just buried itself deep inside of you and festered away. And just when you thought you’d forgotten about the pain, something—a smell, a picture, literally anything—would show up and slap you in the face and say, Hey, remember your good old friend grief? Did you think I would let you forget about me? Because I will never, ever let you go.
I didn’t say any of that. I cleared my throat and focused on getting the words out. “She was in love with the idea of love. Always chasing it. She met Ray, who was a widower with twins. Eventually, they got married. He was a real piece of shit even back then. He’d hit her, and when I tried to stop him, he’d hit me. Not the twins though. I would have killed him in his sleep if he’d ever laid a finger on them.”
The anger that would rush through me when I saw him hit her had been like a volcano erupting inside of me. It had made me feel strong, but he would knock me down just as quick when I tried to help. After a while, he hit her less and less, and then when she got sick, it stopped completely.
“Congestive heart failure. She took medicine for a while and was OK. But Ray, he would cheat on her and rub it in her face. Just totally trying to destroy any self-worth she had. She was always crying, sad, and it was like she just gave up. Her heart just gave up.” I let the coldness envelop me. That was how I’d survived it back then. Just let the numbness take over my body so I wouldn’t have to feel anything.
“Do you want me to kill him?”
I jumped at Kreos’ deep voice, snapping my head in his direction. The intensity in his eyes made my breath catch. I knew he would do it if I said yes. Could I live with myself if I did that?
Probably.
“Not right now, but I appreciate it.” I smiled, an actual genuine smile, and turned back to hold my pose.
He nodded and went back to painting. “What happened after Albany?”
Heat rushed to my cheeks. OK, now was not the time to bring up Albany when I was practically kneeling in front of him naked.
“I did what you said. It took a few weeks for Ray to get back, then another few weeks to find me and the twins. But when he did, I busted both of his kneecaps with a bat.” I grinned at the memory. Maybe I was sick in the head, but the look on his face when he’d cowered before me, terrified I would kill him, had made me happy.
Yeah, let’s not ever admit that out loud.
“I knew you could do it.” Kreos chuckled, and the sound sent a jolt of electricity through me. “Tell me more about your brother, Jameson. ”
“Oh, no, Kreos. That’s enough reliving my past trauma. It’s your turn now. What about your family?”
“What do you want to know?” His voice turned cold.
“Tell me about your parents.” Surely, they couldn’t be that bad.
A bitter laugh escaped his lips. “My mother is a master at manipulation. She gets pleasure out of pitting her children against each other, but she loves to see me suffer the most. She knows nothing about loyalty, or sanity, for that matter.”
OK, maybe playing twenty questions with a mafia boss wasn’t the best idea. I should have stopped while I was ahead, but I was morbidly curious. “And your father?”
“My father rose to power at twenty-five in Russia by assassinating the Pakhan and his inner circle. He killed them and their entire families. Generations erased in a matter of hours. That’s how he claimed his throne.”
I tried to maintain my pose, but every muscle screamed to turn and face him. His casual tone as he spoke sent chills up my spine. It was like he was talking about the weather, and not murder.
“Weakness was a sin, as was vulnerability. His solution was to beat me until I was molded into his perfect monster. He gave me my first kill at fifteen, then I was shipped off to the States a few years after.”
The room was completely silent, his words hanging in the air. There was an uncomfortable feeling in my chest that made its way down to the pit of my stomach. “I’m sorry, Kreos.”
Steely blue eyes locked onto mine. His voice was low and intense when he spoke. “Don’t waste your pity on me. We’re all forged in fire. We don’t have to let the past define us.” He stood, wiped his hands on a towel and grabbed a bottle of water.
“My father wanted me to be a mindless beast, bound to him because of our blood. But I’m not what he thought he created. I’m something else. I’m a monster with a purpose. With a code of honor. I’m the devil that keeps the demons away. So I don’t need your sad eyes, kotic . I just want your absolute submission.”
He unscrewed the cap from the bottle, never taking his eyes off me. “Open.” It was a command, not a request, and I tilted my head back, opening my mouth for him. The cold water trickled across my tongue and down my throat. He chugged the rest of the bottle and went back to his seat.
“You can turn your head forward now and drop your arm.”
Thank God, because the sun was like a laser beam in my eyes.
The tension in the room seemed to dissipate as we settled into a comfortable silence. I didn’t know how long I sat in the same position without moving, but it felt like hours. I was turned toward him now, able to watch as he painted. Well, not his face—that was hidden behind the canvas—but the rest of him was on full display.
Muscular thighs were spread, little drops of paint on his pants. I bet that suit had cost over ten thousand dollars. It was ruined now. He’d probably just throw it away. One strong hand lay between his thighs as he painted with the other.
I remembered those hands. What they’d felt like on my body. The masterful way they’d made me moan out his name. He’d played my body like an instrument. A master at his craft.
Suddenly it seemed like a thousand degrees. I exhaled slowly, trying to focus on anything else except the beautiful beast in front of me.
“Stop squirming or you’ll make me ruin my painting.”
His voice caught me by surprise, and I glanced up from his open thighs to see him watching me intently.
“I wasn’t squirming.” I hated how soft my voice came out. It sounded needy, even to my own ears.
“No?” He quirked his eyebrow and came toward me. “Do you need something from me, kotic ?”
I bit my bottom lip and shook my head no. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Really?” A smirk played at the corners of his mouth, as if he knew that I was one hundred percent lying. “So, if I spread that pretty little cunt open right now, I wouldn’t find you glistening with need?”
It was like an explosion detonated inside of me at his words. My mouth fell open, a breathless moan escaping my traitorous mouth. “Don’t,” I whispered.
“As you wish.” He turned back to his painting. “Get dressed. We’re finished for today.”
It was like being doused with a bucket of ice water. The coldness in his voice immediately brought me back to reality. It was my own fault for putting myself in that position.
Never.
Again.
I dressed quickly and grabbed my bag to leave.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” He stood with his arms crossed against his chest.
“What?” I snapped, not in the mood for his little games any more.
“Your money.” He pulled out a thick envelope and handed it to me.
Obviously, it was way more than the four hundred dollars I was owed. “What is all this?” He was so confusing. I’d thought he owned me because I’d stolen from him. So why would he give me so much money?
“For your time today.”
“I don’t need this. I don’t want it. I just want what I was promised.”
“We don’t always get what we want, Alora. Deal with it. There’s a car out front that will take you home.” He nodded toward the door, where a man built like a gladiator stood.
I didn’t have the energy to argue with him, so I turned on my heel and left. The man, who I was told was one of Kreos’ bodyguards, took me home and walked me straight to my front door. Luckily, Dove and Margot weren’t home yet, so I didn’t have to explain anything to them.
Only when I was alone and locked inside the bathroom did I open the envelope.
Ten thousand dollars.
That son of a bitch had given me ten thousand dollars.
I didn’t know if I should cry or laugh.
This was going to solve so many problems for us right now.
The question was, why did it feel like I’d sold my soul to the Devil, but I was the one reaping all the benefits?