22. Chapter 18
Chapter 18
Isabella
I play the final note, and the crowd held its breath for a nerve-wracking moment. Then, they erupt into cheers, as if the little bar had become my own personal gig. I close my eyes, falling into the acceptance and letting a smile pull at my lips. The times I slipped in here with Bianca replay in my mind, and I feel at home.
“Thank you.” I say into the mic with a smile, before hopping off the stage.
Camilla takes over, announcing the next open mic act, but I can't hear a word. Despite all the times I’ve been on stage, singing songs I feel attached to always sends my heart into a fit. I can sing a whole opera cold, no nerves. Ask me to sing something I love - I'm a nervous wreck.
I make for the bar like a torpedo, ignoring everyone else and jumping up to Percy, who has a huge smile on his face as he watches me approach.
“How did I do?”
“You’re were unreal!” He slides me a shot, as he always does after I come off the stage. With a shaking hand I down it, to settle the adrenaline still pumping through my body.
“You were breathtaking.”
A familiar voice petrifies my shaking hands.
I turn to see Nikolai’s green eyes flowing into me, like an icy wind through overgrown grass. I was planning to sneak back into the house before anyone noticed I was gone.
“She doesn’t need any extra attention.” Snaps Percy from behind the bar, reaching for his walking stick.
“No, it’s okay, Percy.” Percy stops, but keeps his narrowed eyes on Nikolai. “It’s okay, right?” I ask Nikolai.
“It’s okay.” He nods.
Percy leans back and serves a customer who’s out of earshot, but keeps us in his view.
I chew my lip, not sure what to say. When I glance up at Nikolai, he’s still watching me. The look in his eyes sends a shiver down my spine. It makes my nerves die and explode and transform all at once.
“I had to get out. I wasn’t running away.” I won’t apologise for what I’ve done.
“Why?” He asks, cocking his head to the side.
“Because…”
Boris interrupts me before I can finish. “What the fuck are we doing?” I didn’t notice him, and when he speaks, I wish it’d stayed that way. “She disobeyed a direct order. She’s disrespecting you to your face, and you’re asking her fucking why? Who cares why?”
Nikolai glares at Boris, suddenly appearing even bigger than his already towering frame.
“I care.” Snarls Nikolai. “I told you to be quiet. Now you’re disobeying a direct order, and you’re interrupting my wife.” Every word drips with rage. Nikolai steps closer, lowering his voice, but keeping his eyes trained on Boris. “If you disrespect her like that again, I’ll cut your tongue out and feed it to you.”
Boris tenses, but says nothing back. After a long stare, he averts his eyes and runs from Nikolai’s heavy gaze.
“Come with me.” Nikolai takes my hand and leads me outside the bar, where we can talk. Boris tries to follow, but Nikolai stops him.
“Leave me and my wife alone.”
“You’re telling me to leave? After what she’s done today? Is her pussy that good?”
I see Nikolai’s self-restraint crack in real time. A brief flash in his swirling green eyes, and then bang. Boris crumples to the ground. One hard shot from Nikolai is enough to take him down. Nikolai towers over him like a hunter bearing down on his prey.
He grabs Boris by the hair, pulling his face up to look him in the eyes. “The next time you mention my wife’s pussy, I will personally make sure it’s the last breath you ever take. Now. Leave.”
He throws Boris back like he weighs nothing, and then the stout Russian man scuttles away with the pieces of his broken pride.
The monster from the shadows of Anastasia's room appears in his eyes. “Why did you disobey me?”
I bite my lip. I don't know how to explain myself. I don't want to explain myself.
“Why did you defend me like that? You’ve known that guy for so much longer? And I just disobeyed you. You should be mad at me?”
Nikolai cocks his head. “You’re my wife, remember? I can’t let anyone disrespect you.”
The fluttering in my chest ceases as I read between the lines of what he’s saying. It’s all an act, just there to make everyone believe he loves me. What kind of Bratva lets another man disrespect his wife, after all?
“Oh,” is all I can manage to summarise that feeling. “Are you mad at me?” My eyes flicker back up to his.
He moves closer, the distance between our bodies painfully small. The bar is cold, and I want nothing more than to feel the heat of Nikolai’s body pouring into me. The memory of his touch on my skin sends a shudder across my body.
“I’m furious.”
His eyes flash as I shudder, a little smirk pulling at his lips.
“What’s funny?”
His eyes scan my body, hovering over my legs long enough for me to feel a pulse yearning in my core. “You look fucking amazing.” He says, his eyes snapping up to mine. “But, you also look cold.”
“I am.”
Nikolai slips out of his expensive jacket.
“Oh, no.” I say. “I’m not that cold. It’s fine. I don’t need it.”
Nikolai gives me a look that says no arguments and wraps his jacket around my shoulders. I drown in it; it’s at least two sizes too big.
“Thanks.” I mutter, barely able to bring myself to say it. I look away, catching Percy’s eye and flashing him a smile to let him know I’m okay. “You think I look amazing?” I ask, hating the question as it leaves my lips. “Won’t Aleksander demand I drop the piercings? Get a longer skirt? Don’t you want that? Don’t all mafia guys want a modest girl?”
Nikolai tugs me into him and zips up the jacket so it’s almost covering my mouth. “Maybe he will. Maybe they do.” He touches my earrings gently, his eyes studying them like art pieces, before flickering back to meet my gaze. “I think they look good. Let another man try to tell you he doesn’t like what you’re wearing and watch me make him regret it.”
I can't tell if the thudding in my chest is excitement or anxiety.
“Those are all your feelings?” I ask, inching closer to him.
He licks his lips. “Not all of them.”
“Go on.” I whisper, unable to take my eyes off his.
“The short skirts, your long legs, the piercings… they suit you. It’s hard to stay mad at a beautiful woman.” He drawls. “I love it,” he chuckles to himself, “but it makes me want to kill every fucker that looks at you.”
“Can you handle that?” I ask, knowing all the mafia men in my life so far had a bad track record of jealousy.
His eyes flash. “I want them to want you, and then see that you’re mine.” His voice rasps, dragging the urge in my body through fire.
“I thought you’d be mad at me.” I whisper. I was almost looking forward to seeing his temper again.
“I was. I came in ready for war.”
“What changed?”
He pauses, hovering in the silence, hesitating to give away the secrets hiding behind his teeth.
“Something about you singing. It purged all the bad feelings. I was about to drag you off the stage back to Sidorov Mansion, then you sang and…”
He searches for the words, but I interrupt him before he can finish, “didn’t take you for a Lady Gaga fan.” Really, Iz? You can’t stop yourself for one minute? He was about to give something away.
“That was Lady Gaga ?” His eyebrows hit his hairline.
“The songs called Shallow , I just re-worked it a bit.”
He shakes his head in disbelief and we share a smile I enjoy more than I want to admit. Maybe he’s more charming than I gave him credit for.
Our eyes met again, and he bristles. His eyes find my lips and his fingers brush against mine at our waists. I inch closer, my breath shallow. Nikolai reads my mind, and kisses me with an impatient growl in his throat.
“Is someone still pent up?” I whisper through a smirk.
“Don’t tease me.” He snaps back with a bite of my bottom lip.
“I think you like it.”
He pulls away, his dark gaze caging me in. “For every moment you tease me, I’ll pay you back double.”
We simmer in the moment, our eyes locked. “Shall we?” I nod to the door.
“I thought you’d never ask.” Smirks Nikolai as he takes my hand and leads me back to his car.