“You’ll want to keep your tattoo from drying up with our tattoo goo or you can add some ointment. Try not to rub anything up against it and be careful when in the shower not to scrub it. That also goes for when it scabs over. Let it do its thing and soon you’ll be able to show off your gorgeous tattoo,” I say, giving the girl a bright smile.
“Thank you so much. Has anyone ever told you that you’re amazing?” the girl asks as I walk her to the front, where the receptionist is still missing.
Great. That means I get to check her out as well.
“So. Um. Like are you single or anything?” she asks.
What? Is this chick for real?
“Um. No, I’m spoken for,” I mutter gently. “Just started seeing someone a couple weeks ago.” Talk about one bald face lie if there were any.
“That’s too bad, I’d so ask you out if you were.” She shrugs. “Well, here’s my number if you decide to change your mind. You’re hot and those dreads and that voice of yours are sexy as hell.”
“Uh. Thanks,” I say, doing everything in my power not to roll my eyes at this chick. The same chick who whined through getting her tattoo. I have more than I can count on both hands in all honesty other than a couple of them, I fell asleep in the chair as Meghan or even Sascha were placing the ink on my body.
“No problem, I hope to see you soon,” she giggles as I check her out and hand her the receipt.
“Have a great night.” I nod with a smile.
Sighing, I turn around and head back to my area and straighten it up by disinfecting and cleaning my chair, ink gun, and the countertop where I work. Sliding my stuff back in place. I finally cave on myself and decide it’s time to suck it up and go downstairs to the storage area. I’ve never done it myself, but I don’t think I’ll have a problem. I just need to go down the stairwell to the bottom level.
Chapter Four
Kronid
“Kronid, Rytas is here,” Michail interrupts me while I’m in the room with Gregor. He’s on the floor, cowering with a bloodied face. I’ve barely had my way with him and from what I can recall Rytas isn’t supposed to be here for another hour. “He’s here early.” Michail fills in the blanks and I ball my fists at my side.
Of course, he’d arrive early. The man usually runs late and Katya gave him an earful about arriving late being an insult to their business relationship. She told him if he wanted to continue working with her, he’d be sure to arrive on time and not a minute late. Now he’s here an hour early, on the day I have someone’s brains to bash in.
“I won’t have Katya thinking I’m insulting to her business. We are mutually beneficial to the other, are we not?” Rytas speaks up from behind Michail, his Lithuanian accent coming through very thick. Many of the men we deal with speak English but choose not to on most occasions. It only makes things difficult.
Rytas is one of our bigger clients, brokering the guns, ammunitions, and other machinery we’re able to maintain. We only keep guns here, but our bigger merchandise is located in warehouses throughout Russia. He’s come here to collect a shipment of guns, ten thousand AK47s if my memory serves correctly. Regardless of my personal feelings, he brings in almost a billion dollars a year to Katya, making him our highest paying client.
I step out of the room I have Gregor in and into the hallway, though I suppose I shouldn’t call it a hall. It’s essentially the main area of the basement. There are four rooms like Gregor’s in, most of them holding whatever guns we need to store here. Meanwhile, pallets and crates are sprawled throughout this larger area with other inventory we’ve yet to go through. To my left there’s the doorway that leads out to another part of the basement, which houses the storing area for Pins and Needles inventory. All the ink, machinery, and whatever else they could use is up there. To my right there’s a garage bay, making it easy for us to unload product or load it onto our client’s trucks.
“Katya will be so very pleased when I tell her you arrived early.” I plaster on a fake smile, knowing she’ll be annoyed, but how she’ll tell me to just bite the bullet for the inconvenience. She did tell him to not be late again, after all, and she’ll get a kick out of his actions. This is the kind of shit Pippa does to her. I only know because of the stories she’s told me. Pippa’s the most-smartassed of all her kids, then again, she’s one of three girls and the other two are too young to be so sassy. The boys aren’t nearly as sassy as her, even if they are closer to her age.
“I was planning on it. Now show me to the guns, yes?” Rytas speaks up, looking around the room.
I walk him over to the crates closest to the garage bay. I’ll get Michail to load it onto his truck after we conclude the inspection. I had Michail get our men to divvy up the guns to where there’s about five hundred per crate. We don’t operate like many others do in the United States, or even in China. We hide our product in plain sight when necessary. Michail grabs a crowbar from the room and slides it between where the top meets the crate. The squeaking sound of nails being pulled from the wood fills the room as Michail goes on every side of the crate, doing the same as before until the lid is loose. He lifts it up and sets it on the floor a few feet away while I move the packing and reveal dildos, lots of dildos.
“Toys for fucking? You and your boss are getting funny these days. What happened to filling it with bars of soap?” Rytas cackles, seeing the hidden message Katya herself requested. She’s essentially telling him to go fuck himself.
I pick one of the silicone dicks up. “They’re solid, heavy, and their weight is proportionate to what you have on the export paperwork. They won’t bat an eyelash at it, especially if you crack open a crate and show them what’s inside.” I wave Michail over and we both take the individually wrapped dildos from the top layer, then reveal the securely packed guns. Like I said, hidden in plain sight.
“How you’ve evaded the Federation I have no idea, but I do not complain. We make each other very rich, no?”
“You make my boss very rich,” I correct Rytas, and get a chuckle from him in response. Michail and I put the dildos back, then I help him secure the lid of the crate back on, but the distinct sound of the bar being pushed on the door to the tattoo parlor causes me to glance to the left, and what I see makes me feel like a novice. Gregor is pushing with all of his power to get out of here. Blood stains the floor from where he hobbled or crawled over and I run over to him, grabbing him by the back of his shirt and pull him into the center of the room. He doesn’t have his shoes on, so I look around and see they’re by the door.
Whatever, I’ll get them in a fucking minute. First this guy needs another beating. If he’s strong enough to crawl across the floor, he’s strong enough to take some more intense shit. “He betrayed you, yes?” Rytas asks, cocking a brow.
Since it’s easier to nod, I do. It’s not Rytas’ business what Gregor did, but if he wants to see the man as a betrayer than I won’t stop him.
“Mind if I have a go?” Rytas questions me, and I nod. Rytas stands over him and stomps on his hands until cracking can be heard. Gregor screams out in pain, and before I realize what’s happening Rytas is slamming the back of his ankle against Gregor’s face. His nose breaks with a crack and blood begins streaming from his nose. His screams grow louder and the sound of something plastic hitting the concrete floor causes me to glance to the left.
Dema’s standing there with a horrified look on her face, while a plastic crate’s laying sideways on the ground with various inks.
How the fuck did she see this?
I look to the door and see the shoes, the shoes I said I’d go get in a minute. Fuck. Fuck!
Rytas runs over to Dema, grabs her by the back of the neck, and shoves her on the ground, pointing a gun to her temple. Michail walks by and grabs the shoes, causing the door to our area to shut.
“She saw what I did, she must die,” Rytas states, and though I don’t know much about Dema . . . I know enough. She’s the only caregiver to her elderly grandparents, she walks to wor
k every day because they live a few minutes away. She can’t die and I won’t let her.
“She won’t tell a soul,” I quip, glaring at Rytas.
Rytas blinks at me, flicking his wrist so he presses the gun further against her temple. I take a step toward him as he speaks. “They tell everyone, they always do.”
“Not her. She’s my woman and she won’t tell anyone a fuckin’ thing. What happened here stays between us. Nothing will ever be said.” I stare down Rytas for a few moments and then look to Dema, “Isn’t that right, sirenă?” I call her mermaid in Romanian, wanting to give the impression we’ve been together for a while. On her right arm she has a full sleeve that spans from a palm tree on the beach, to the sand, to the ocean and what lies beneath it. I don’t know Dema well, but I have a feeling she must love the ocean.
Silence fills the air and I wait for my newfound sirenă to give me an answer. If she doesn’t, it could very well mean her death.
Chapter Five
Dema
“Isn’t that right, sirenă?” Kronid asks me, calling me something I’ve never heard come from his lips. The man barely talks to me, and yet he’s telling the man who has a gun held to my head that we’re lovers. Yeah, right. Like this guy’s going to believe it.
Silence fills the air between us and I don’t know how to respond, what to say in a situation like this. My brain is telling me to nod and agree, but my body is so stricken with fear I can’t say anything.
“You lie, Kronid. Tsk, and I thought we were friends. Why lie? This woman does not speak and confirm what you have said. I doubt she’s your woman, I doubt you even know her”,” the man says, shoving the gun even further against my head. There’s a slight clicking sound and Kronid moves closer toward me and the man.
“Rytas, get your hands off her, now.” Kronid’s voice is strong and demanding, like he might very well kill Rytas.
“Why do you care so much? She must be nothing to you.”
Kronid pulls out a gun and shoves it in the man’s face. “Does it look like she’s nothing to me? I’ve told you who she is to me and yet you stand here with a gun to her fucking head, so back the fuck up before I do something.”
The gun is suddenly removed from my head and I suck in a sharp breath, not sure if I even took a breath the entire time the gun was against my skin. Rytas laughs loudly and claps his hands together while Kronid pulls me up against him and wraps an arm around me, shielding my face from the dangerous man.
“If she’s yours then prove it. Fuck your woman, because she belongs to you, yes? If you do not, I’ll shoot her right now, with her in your arms.” His voice is cold, callous, like he’s daring Kronid.
“You can’t be serious. You should take my word for it. Why would I lie about her being my woman? Hmm? What is the point?”
“I have seen many men in Lithuania do what you are right now, protecting the beautiful woman who saw something they should not have. Now here you are, doing as all those before you have done. Let me ask you this, Kronid, do you know what happens to people like this? Hmm? The woman they protect ends up turning on them, so if she is yours, you will take her right now in front of me.”
Chills go down my spine and my mouth runs dry. Did he really just say what I heard, or am I hallucinating? I might be hallucinating, hopefully I am. My hands begin to shake and before I know it Kronid’s whispering against my hair, his lips against the top of my head. “If we don’t do this, he’ll kill you. I don’t want you to die, Dema.” Kronid’s words are soft, delicate as each one passes through his mouth. I’ve never been more afraid than I am right now, but I know this to be true. We don’t know each other well, but I know Kronid wouldn’t ever lie to me about something like this. If it’s our only option, it’s our only option.
“Okay,” I whisper in reply, darting my eyes up to Kronid.
He wouldn’t be lying to me. I know that, and more than anything, I know the way the man is making me feel, the terror running through my bones. I don’t want to die. I can’t die. I’m the only person who’s able to take care of my grandparents and I’m the last person they have left.
“Well, why do you wait?” His accent comes out strongly and he laughs at the end, like he’s toying with us.
Kronid wraps his arms around me even further and takes me over to the wall. He pushes my back against it and slides his hands under my skirt. While he moves his hands along my body, he speaks to me lowly. “I’ll shield you from his eyes as much as I can, just close your eyes and think of the ocean, think of anything but where you are right now.”
Ironic considering I’ve had a crush on him for ages and now he’s asking me to think about something else. I never thought this would happen, neither did I think I’d have my virginity taken in a basement in front of a random stranger, and another guy who I saw in my peripheral vision a few moments ago.
Kronid’s body towers over mine and he follows through on his promise, shielding my body as much as possible. He unzips his pants and pulls out his cock, just as his hand slides to my inner thigh. “Wrap your leg around my torso,” he instructs, and I do as he says, wanting to get the fuck out of this basement as quickly as possible.
Kronid eases himself inside me before it goes from a soft motion to a harsh plow. He bucks his hips against me and I wrap my arms around his neck, pulling him against me. Tears well behind my eyes from the pain hitting my core to the embarrassment I’m feeling. This isn’t what I wanted my first time to be like. This isn’t what I wanted at all.
“You were with a virgin? Oh, how you need to tell me this story, Kronid!” Rytas laughs from behind Kronid, but he doesn’t stop moving. If he does, Rytas will know we’re both liars. I open my eyes for a split second, seeing the way Kronid’s staring at me. Regret flashes through his eyes, as does worry, and maybe even a few other things I can’t recognize.
“It’s okay,” I tell him lowly, tears streaming down my cheeks in an effortless flow. There isn’t anything he could’ve done. We had to do this or I’d be dead. I don’t know why Kronid lied about us, but I’m grateful for getting the chance to get out of this basement.
Kronid dips his hand between us and brushes it against my clit, and while the pain still rocks through my core, something else does too. “I don’t want this to be painful for you,” he tells me, rolling the pad of his finger over it repeatedly until something electric sparks within my body.
Every time he thrusts inside me it’s not painful anymore, and before I know it, he’s grunting and I’m digging my nails into his shoulders. Euphoria takes over my body and he loses control at the same time I do, keeping himself buried deep inside me. He turns back to look at Rytas and I’m sure he’s glaring based on the ferociousness of his voice. “Satisfied, or do I need to keep filling her up tonight?”
Rytas laughs, “It will do, Kronid. It will do, for now.”
Chapter Six
Kronid
“For now, the fuck’s that supposed to mean?” I hiss, ripping my head around at Rytas.
“It means I believe you for now. You strike me as a man who will save the pretty girl, Kronid, and she is a very pretty girl. If she prefers to live this could all be a façade, and I believe that’s exactly what this is. You will simply have to prove to me it isn’t, and eventually I might believe you, but I will be keeping a close watch on you both.”
I turn to look at Dema who seems even more terrified than she was a few minutes ago. I’m sure she was thinking if we did this one thing she’d be in the clear, and I did too. I thought this was her way out, but in reality, I’ve just trapped the two of us together forever. Fuck, I should’ve seen this shit coming from a mile away, but I didn’t. That’s what happens when I see her, I just don’t fuckin’ think about anything. Even when I’ve been caught staring at her upstairs the same thing happens, I’ll lose complete track of what I’m doing or saying.
“Michail, you can handle everything here tonight, right?”
“Yeah, I got you, boss,” Michail replies
quickly.
“Good, see that Rytas gets what he’s owed,” I reply, pulling myself out of Dema, I grab onto her panties and pull them over, shielding her slightly before making sure her skirt covered her private areas. She pulls her leg down from around my hip and stands in front of me, still shielding herself from the men in the room while I shove my cock back inside my pants. I zip it up and then walk with her to the doorway, covering her up as much as possible, knowing she must be traumatized from the night’s events.
I leave through the door Gregor was trying to exit through and once it closes with a thud, I lead her up the stairwell to the floor the tattoo shop’s on. “P-please tell me we don’t have to walk through there,” she begs of me, and I nod.
“Yeah, we’re going through the side entrance to the back, out where the cars are parked.”
I push open the bar on the door that leads outside and get her to my car. Neither of us speak for a couple minutes until we’re well away from Pins and Needles. “I take it you need a drink as badly as I do,” I say to her, looking in her direction. Mascara’s streaming down her face and her normally ivory colored skin is red and blotchy. This evening has been traumatic as fuck for her, and I’m hating myself right now.
Did I do the right thing? Did I force myself on her?
I focus and remember how things went downstairs and she gave me her permission, her confirmation, but what choice did she have? If she didn’t, he was going to kill her. I couldn’t let her die. It’s why I said what I said, to protect the woman I’ve been admiring from afar. I’m not the type of man who gets into relationships and I doubt she would even be interested in someone like me, someone with so many fucking demons.
Blood & Agony: A Dark Criminal Romance (Pins and Needles: Moscow Book 1) Page 3
