Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
Alonya
Ileave the haven of the back office and almost collide with Jasmin rushing through the door from the bar area.
“Slow the hell down, woman, or you’re going to have an accident,” I huff, rolling my eyes at her.
“There are two men here asking for Tanner,” she chatters out, nervously biting at her nails. Is he decent back there?”
I arch an eyebrow at her insinuation. “What the hell are you implying? We’re like family, not fuckbuddies,” I snap, shaking my head.
“Fine, sorry. I thought…”
“Wrong. You thought, wrong. Why are you so rattled anyway? Are the men asking for him cops?”
“I don’t know! They don’t look like cops,” she says, a glaze coming over her eyes. I raise a brow, and she shrugs, biting her lip. “They’re super-hot.”
My heart begins pounding against my ribs. It could be any hot men but a shiver races over my skin lifting all the hairs. “I need to get out of here,” I bark as I attempt to move around her.
She grabs my arm, stopping me. “Would it be bad if it were cops? He’s not in trouble, is he?”
“Of course not. Go and get him.”
She releases me and skulks off, disappearing down the hallway.
Coming through to the bar, I dodge the bartender who’s grabbing a tray and filling two glasses with whiskey chasers, and careen straight into another barmaid. Her tray crashes to the floor and glass and liquor spraying everywhere.
Fucking fuck.
“Sorry. Let me help you clean that up,” I offer, but she shoos me away.
“No, it’s fine.”
“Okay, then.” I’m not going to argue.
I make my way to the exit, but before I reach it, I lift my eyes to sneak a look at the men who had Jasmin all flustered.
No…
A haunting mist wraps itself around my shoulders.
Fuzzy humming invades my head and my legs weaken.
Oh God.
It’s really them.
It’s really them.
It’s really fucking them.
My mouth opens and tears well in my eyes without permission. I didn’t think I would ever see them again and it’s like a gun being fired straight into my chest cavity, rapidly stealing the life from me.
Icy blue eyes cut into me from Zahkar and I can see Rodion’s lips moving, but the roaring of my heart mutes the sound of his voice.
My legs fill with lead as I attempt to move, but I’m rooted to the spot. I need to get out of here. Run you stupid woman.
Rodion’s fierce green eyes narrow on me. He rises from the booth and walks to where I’m standing, pinning me with such a fiery glare, I swear I’ll melt right at his feet. His scent is familiar and it takes everything in me not to lean into him. Everything about him is just as I remember.
Beautiful. Pristine. Intense.
His nostrils flare as he glowers at me. The muscle in his jaw ticks, the serpent inked there vibrating with his pulse, a furious tell of his and one I only saw when he was in the ring.
Behind him, a shadow befalls him.
His brother.
Zahkar.
Gorgeous. Pure. Powerful.
His intensity blends with Rodion’s and it’s like staring at the sun and the moon all at once. I’m willingly blinding myself because they’re too beautiful to look away from.
It’s a formidable thing being the center of their attention that could make any man quake and any woman fucking weak. I’m not immune. Even after all this time.
My knees are shaking and the words barely stumble past my lips. “You found me.”
Rodion’s eyes dip to my lips for a brief moment before they’re back to searing two holes into me.
“We didn’t find you,” Rodion growls, “because we weren’t looking.” He stalks past me, his massive shoulder barely knocking into me. The tiny zap of connection has my heart in my throat.
Ouch.
He may as well have shoved a knife in my gut on his way past because it hurts that bad. The woman inside me who’s still hopelessly in love with him crumbles at his dismissal and at the pain that was clearly evident in his otherworldly green eyes.
I’m going to cry. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
“It’s really you,” Zahkar says, still towering over me, dragging my attention his way. His brows furrow as he seems to drink in my magnetic presence. So often, I would fall into his arms, as it felt so safe and comforting to be in them.
“Zahkar,” I whisper, tears heavily slipping past my cheeks and racing down toward my jaw.
“You’re the thing I could feel,” he murmurs, pain in his voice. “The dread.”
I’ve never seen him so…broken.
I did this. I broke the unbreakable.
“Zahkar…” I start, but he stops me with a finger to my lips. Soft and sweet. “Don’t fucking speak my name. I don’t exist to you anymore, krasotka.” My beauty. A term of endearment that used to taunt me within the ring is now a sneer upon his lips.
Pain explodes in my chest like a bomb just detonated there. My soul fractures and the strong walls I’ve built up come tumbling before him like a sandcastle meeting the waves of the ocean. I’m fading, disintegrating at his words.
Like the sun chasing shadows away, he disappears.
More tears fall racing after the other ones on my cheeks, but no one is there to witness them. Zahkar followed his brother, leaving me with my own heartbreak and regrets.
With a sob lodged in my throat, I hastily wipe away my tears with the palms of my hands. I didn’t want to hurt them. They hate me as they should. I just didn’t fucking realize how devastating it would be to see them and know I’m nothing to them anymore.
Every part of me aches with the understanding that I’m no longer loved by them.
You made this bed, Alyona. Now, lie in it.
Please be asleep.
Please be asleep.
I do not want to satisfy Jeremiah’s appetite tonight. I need to go shower and cry myself to sleep.
Of course, that would be too easy, and my life is anything but.
When I push through the door into our house, my stomach bottoms out. He’s awake and there’s no doubt he’s pissed.
“Took you long enough.” Jeremiah’s tone is like ice in my veins.
I move into the room and find him sitting on the couch, a tumbler of Wild Turkey in his grip. Next to him is Adam and…nun girl? No fucking way. “Joy?”
“Where the fuck have you been?” Jeremiah demands, ignoring my curiosity of Adam’s date.
I’m frozen, standing with my purse slung over my shoulder, trying to come up with a reasonable excuse for where I’ve been.
I need to think of a way to calm him down.
Maybe I could slip a sleeping pill into his drink.
I keep some of those handy just in case.
You never know when you might need someone to go to sleep.
Zahkar taught me that.
Oh, God.
Tears burn in my eyes, and I blink them away.
“Are you fucking crying?” Jeremiah slurs as he plunks his drink down on the table. He rises to his feet and sways.
I definitely wish I could roofie his ass.
But I can’t risk it. Not with Adam watching my every move.
Jeremiah stumbles my way. I fist my hands, keeping them pressed against my sides, so I don’t accidentally put him to sleep the old-fashioned way.
A quick jab to the temple. I let out a yelp when he jerks my purse off my arm and tosses it to the floor.
The contents clatter out onto the tiles.
I cringe as I wonder if my new lipstick will survive the crash.
“What the hell?” I screech.
“Adam brought your new friend home and imagine our surprise when you weren’t here.”
“Only one reason a woman dressed like that is out this late,” Adam goads, a mean glint in his eyes. Fucking prick.
Jeremiah grabs my neck and physically drags me further into the room. His grip tightens, making me claw at his wrist for a reprieve.
Kick him in the balls.
Poke his damn eyeballs out.
Break his neck.
Rodion taught me how…
Do it. Do it. Do it.
Adam tends to cause trouble for his own amusement, and tonight, he is eager to stir the pot and plant seeds of doubt in Jere’s mind about what I was out doing.
With the effects of alcohol, combined with the haze of drugs and my lies about being home in our texts, we've set the stage for a confrontation.
Jeremiah needs to regain some control to prove to his brother that he isn't weak.
Jeremiah’s hand slips from my neck to grab a handful of my hair.
“Want to tell me where the fuck you’ve been and why you’ve been crying?” he roars, spittle spraying my face. “Why did you lie about going home? Why the hell have you been ignoring my texts? Whose dick were you out sucking, Ally?”
I want to knee him in the balls or bust his teeth out of his mouth with a quick jab of my elbow. But I can’t. I need him and what he offers. It’s not about me and I’m out numbered right now.
Nun girl certainly won’t be a help. She’s five foot nothing and can’t weigh more than a hundred pounds.
“I was sick outside the club,” I choke out. Not a lie. The detachment in Rodion’s and Zakhar’s voices cut me to my soul and it took me twenty minutes to stop vomiting outside when I fled.
Jeremiah laughs, cold and dark, before pushing me to my knees.
“Jeremiah,” I croak out. “Not here. L-et’s go t-to our room.”
There’s fire in Adam’s eyes, his chest rapidly rising and falling. He’s getting off on this shit. Nun girl has gone white as a sheet.
Jeremiah’s gaze softens for a moment, and he releases me. I scramble to my feet.
“You’re a better man than me, brother,” Adam bites out. “If she were mine...”
“Well, she’s not,” Jeremiah growls, grabbing my wrist and halting my plan to flee to our room. I’m forced back down to my knees. “She belongs to me and she knows it. Don’t you Ally?”
He strokes a thumb over my lips and I swallow down the humiliation. “Yes.”
“Take my cock out and show them who you belong to. Prove you weren’t out sucking someone else’s dick because you’re always dying to get on your knees for this one.”
“Jer…” I plead but he isn’t looking at me. He’s watching his brother over his shoulder.