Nikolai (Dangerous Love Series Book 1)

by Kristin Alexander

  I laughed as we pulled into Mark Cassidy’s driveway. I looked over at Hannah, who was still grinning a little. I continued to maintain steady eye contact with her, feeling sucked into her royal blue gaze. Her expression changed, her eyes dropping to half-mast. “They aren’t as dissimilar as you might think, Hannah.” She bit her lip and her cheeks bloomed with color. I knew I was turning her on, and it was turning me on.

  I finally tore my gaze from her, because I knew if she kept looking at me that way, we would end up in the same situation as the dressing room. I took a deep breath and opened the car door.

  “Let’s go.”

  Chapter 19

  Hannah

  I sat there for a minute trying to gather myself. Jesus, Nikolai was full of contradictions. I could already see a pattern of push and pull with him and it was driving me insane. One minute he was cold as ice, his eyes frosty as he told me to abandon any ideas of having a relationship. The next minute, he was confiding in me and staring at me as if he wanted to tear my clothes off.

  When Nikolai started the conversation by telling me what we were doing didn’t mean anything, it felt like a dagger in my chest. On some level, I understood that this was all a pretense, but after this afternoon a tiny part of me felt the slightest bit hopeful that maybe something was developing between us.

  Even in the midst of feeling disappointed by his initial statement, I was shocked and delighted that we had such a revealing conversation, that he disclosed so much about his motives for fighting. From what I understood from gossip at school, he fought a lot. Why was he so angry?

  Unfortunately, nothing we’d discussed made him less attractive.

  Nikolai was standing with his arms crossed at the front of the car waiting for me to get out. I took a minute to gaze at him in his dark blue t-shirt and jeans. Such a simple outfit, but it did incredible things for his body. The shirt fit just right, showing his wide shoulders and flat stomach to their best advantage, while clinging to his well-developed biceps. As he turned briefly to greet someone, I was able to appreciate what the jeans did for his backside, as they lovingly cupped the tight muscular flesh.

  Shit, this was not helping.

  I dragged myself out of the car, but plastered a smile on face, trying to prepare for whichever Nikolai I would be dealing with.

  I reached Nikolai and he put his hand on the small of my back as we made our way to Mark Cassidy’s front door. His warm hand was like a brand on my back, spreading heat throughout my whole body, and I realized this was going to be one long night.

  “Hey, Nik,” I heard someone call to our left. Nikolai’s hand moved from my back to curl around my waist, gripping it slightly.

  “Hey, Caston.” Nikolai responded in a manner I could only term as unfriendly. I saw Curt Caston walk up, looking like the bag of muscles he was. Curt was tall with hair buzzed so short it was hard to tell its color. He had beady blue eyes that were focused on me at the moment. He was wearing a very tight white t-shirt that outlined his over-sized muscular frame and tight jeans that didn’t leave much to the imagination.

  Curt was a wrestler, but the rumor was his muscles were more due to steroids than any natural blessing of genetics. The steroids were also frequently blamed for his aggressive, shitty attitude and how he treated others. However, I went to elementary school with Curt, and I could attest he’d always been an asshole. Based on Nikolai’s greeting, I could only assume he agreed.

  “Who is that with you?” Curt asked as he eyed me up and down, lingering on my breasts, of course.

  Nikolai’s arm tightened, pulling me into his chest, attempting to discourage Curt’s leering scrutiny.

  “Hannah.” His abrupt tone discouraged further conversation. Unfortunately, this was all lost on Curt.

  Curt’s frowned. “Hannah? Hannah who? Does she go to our school? Is she new?”

  I almost laughed out loud at that. I’d gone to school with this meathead for twelve years.

  I felt Nikolai’s sigh practically part my hair. “No, she’s always gone to our school. It’s Hannah Prescott.”

  Curt’s eyes bugged out. “Hannah Prescott? No fucking way! Hannah’s not hot,” he asserted, frowning and shaking his head. “This girl’s hot,” he said, gesturing in my direction in a hilariously accusing way.

  “Jesus fucking Christ,” Nikolai muttered under his breath. “It’s her, you fucking idiot.”

  “Wow, Hannah, when the fuck did you get hot? Did I miss it?” Curt asked, unfazed by Nikolai’s insults.

  Apparently, Nikolai had had just about enough of this conversation. Instead of answering any of Curt’s inane questions, keeping his arm tightly around my waist, he turned toward the house and walked us to the front door.

  Chapter 20

  Nikolai

  As I walked in the door, moving my hand from Hannah’s waist to grab her hand, I looked around Cassidy’s house to see who was here. Connors would definitely be at a party like this, so he was either here or would be soon.

  I took in the crowds of people drinking from red cups, indicating there was a keg here somewhere, probably the kitchen. I was familiar with most of the people, but there were some kids I didn’t recognize. I would admit, even though most parties around here were big, this one was bigger than usual. It was like all these people knew I was going to show up and act like I had a girlfriend tonight, so they wanted to be on hand to witness the big event.

  I saw Nicole Jackson and Peter DeLuca, and various other couples, on the couch grinding against each other. Typically, I couldn’t have cared less what people did at these parties. People got drunk and acted crazy at these things all the time, though usually the more uninhibited behavior came out toward the end of the night when everyone was wasted. I’d seen people having sex in a room full of people, more than once, and had never batted an eyelash. However, I now had Hannah next to me. Hannah, who had never even been kissed until this afternoon. Hannah who had never “gotten high.” I didn’t want Hannah seeing this shit.

  Did Nicole just take DeLuca’s dick out? Shit. I quickly pulled Hannah through the room before she saw any more of Peter than she needed to.

  I heard Hannah’s shocked whisper behind me. “Did I just see Peter DeLuca’s—”

  “Yes,” I gritted out.

  We were stuck in a crowd of people making their way to the kitchen, where the keg obviously was. I glanced down to take in Hannah’s expression as she looked around and processed what she was seeing. She didn’t look disgusted. She looked…intrigued, curious. “Does that stuff happen all the time at these parties?” she asked.

  “Sometimes. Not always. It depends on how fucked up everybody is.”

  She nodded and kept observing the party, absorbing a scene that must seem foreign to her, having lived the life of a virtual hermit, socially speaking.

  I scanned the room myself, giving a head nod to the people in the crowd I hung with. While I was used to getting a certain amount of attention at parties, I wasn’t getting the looks I normally got. Normally, I had girls watching me with expressions ranging from coy to blatantly inviting.

  I could only guess I was doing my part to make it look like I was with Hannah, because tonight every person in here who knew me—and my dating history—was looking at me in complete astonishment. This made them that much more curious about Hannah, and I soon noticed their attention shift from me to her as they checked her out, which I already hated. I found myself pulling her against my body and wrapping my arm around her back, so our chests were pressed together. This was the exact impulse I’d had outside when we were talking to that asshole, Caston. I’d felt the need to get Hannah as close to me as possible while that motherfucker looked her over.

  “Um, Nikolai? You’re crushing me,” Hannah gasped, and I eased my grip on her.

  I grunted an apology, reached for her hand and pulled us through to the kitchen so I could get a much-needed beer. The home was a typical farmhouse with big rooms, so once we finally got through the doorway, w
e found various groups of kids gathered together in a very spacious kitchen.

  I noticed Jack standing near the keg with Jordan Matthews. God, if Shelby saw him hooking up with someone else, I didn’t want to be anywhere close. I know they aren’t dating, or even hooking up anymore, but Shelby has always been possessive of Jack. There would be bloodshed if saw Jordan moving in on Jack, even though Shelby has always known there were other girls Jack hooked up with.

  Shelby was a good-looking girl, so I had no idea why she chased after Jack when he wouldn’t give her what she wanted. She threw jealous tantrums all the time, screamed at girls Jack had slept with, and then screamed at Jack himself. I suppose that hassle is why he kicked her to the curb.

  Jack saw me and put his hand up, so we could bump fists. “Hey, Nik, what’s up?” he asked, as his gaze slid to Hannah. His eyebrows shot up appreciatively when he looked her over. I punched him in the shoulder, and gave him a warning frown, which only made his grin widen.

  “Hey, Jack. This is Hannah,” I said, gesturing to her as I wrapped my arm around her shoulders, again feeling like I had to mash her body as closely to mine as possible. I trusted Jack, and I knew he wouldn’t do anything with Hannah, but these protective instincts she provoked in me were relentless.

  “Hello, Hannah,” he said as he reached for her hand with both of his and brought it to his lips. I rolled my eyes. Flirtatious asshole. “Nice to officially meet you.”

  “Nice to meet you,” Hannah responded, a blush creeping up her throat. I couldn’t tell if she was embarrassed or charmed, but if Jack knew what was good for him he’d better hope it was embarrassment. I was about to rip her hand away from his, when Hannah pulled away and moved out of his reach. Jack’s shocked expression illustrated how rarely that type of thing happened to him, and I swallowed a chuckle at his expense. Girls typically loved the bullshit Jack pulled, even if that charm was short-lived.

  Jordan, the girl who’d been standing next to Jack, was frowning at Hannah and clearly trying to place her. Then she gasped in shocked recognition. “Hannah? Hannah Prescott?”

  Jordan was a pretty girl with long brown hair and large, brown eyes, and I thought she was a cheerleader. Ironically, Shelby was one of her good friends, so I wanted to be far away from them when Shelby got here. I couldn’t say I was a fan of the expression on Jordan’s face as she looked at Hannah. Her frown of confusion had evolved into a frown of disbelief and hostility.

  “Hello, Jordan,” Hannah replied softly, not certain if Jordan was aggravated or simply shocked by her presence.

  “What are you doing here?” Her expression turned sour as she looked Hannah up and down.

  Hannah cleared her throat. “Um, attending a party?” I felt Hannah tense under my arm, obviously not looking forward to having this confrontation.

  “Yeah, I got that, but why?” Jordan’s asked, snidely. She didn’t care why Hannah was here, she just wanted to make her uncomfortable and embarrassed. Again, I could tell Hannah was not used to dealing with this kind of shit, and while I was certain she could handle Jordan, I didn’t have the patience to let her.

  Enough of this shit.

  “She’s here with me. Do you have a fucking problem with that?” I asked, staring her down. Normally, a person immediately folded under the intensity of my direct stare, but I think Jordan was so surprised by the combined shocks of Hannah’s presence and me implying we were in some sort of relationship, that it didn’t have its normal effect. Instead of shutting up and running away, her jaw dropped.

  “You’re here with Nikolai? You guys are together?” Jordan responded, aghast.

  Before I could jump down her fucking throat, Hannah found her footing and made a big point of looking at me and the arm I had slung over her shoulder, then looking at herself. “Are you slow or blind?” she said while shaking her head and shooting Jordan a look of exaggerated pity, as though she felt sorry for her apparent stupidity.

  Jack laughed out loud, and I smiled while feeling a surge of pride in my chest at seeing Hannah defend herself. This had to be an overwhelming environment for her. I couldn’t imagine she’d ever even been to a party. So, to have a bitch like Jordan attacking her the minute she walked in must have felt unsettling. I pulled her to me a little tighter, signaling my support to her.

  “You fucking bitch,” Jordan hissed, stepping towards Hannah. Nope, that wasn’t going to happen.

  I pulled Hannah back. “Jordan, you need to step back and rethink your choices. You really want to make that move?” I asked sharply. This time she responded in a way I was familiar with. She quickly stepped back and gulped, understanding the implied threat. “I think it’s time to go.”

  However, whatever she had going with Jack, probably just sex, had emboldened her. “I can stay, right, Jack?” she said flirtatiously, putting her hand on his chest, gazing up at him in a way I suppose she thought was seductive. Jack huffed out a laugh at her blatant manipulation.

  “We’re done here, Jordan,” Jack responded, staring at her without a hint of humor on his face. Jordan, of all people, being friends with Shelby, should know that with Jack a fuck was just a fuck.

  Jordan scowled and stomped towards the living room.

  “Good taste in girls, Jack,” I mocked.

  “Fuck you, she served her purpose,” he shot back. I saw Hannah’s eyebrows shoot up at his casual dismissal of his sex partner. Jack reached for a couple red cups. “You guys want a beer?”

  I nodded and looked at Hannah who smiled and nodded as well. I was sure she could use a beer right now.

  After Jack left for the keg, I asked curiously, “Have you ever had beer, or any alcohol for that matter?”

  Hannah chuckled. “Jesus, Nikolai, I may have no social life, but I’m not being raised in a convent. I’ve had wine and beer occasionally with my family.”

  I liked hearing her laugh. I took the opportunity to once again catalog her features. She was so fucking pretty, her cheeks now flushed due to the heat of so many bodies in a small space. Her indigo eyes glowed with humor and looking at her full, red lips reminded me of how soft they had felt under mine. As though she was reading my mind, her tongue darted out to wet those lips. Suddenly my thoughts had gone from kissing those lips to seeing them wrapped around my cock. Fuck, what was I going to do about her?

  Realizing I was just standing there staring at her like a fucking moron, I started talking again. “Point taken,” I said, grinning sheepishly. “Does that bug you? That you haven’t had much of a social life?”

  Hannah looked at me thoughtfully and frowned a little. “Well, I used to not care because I was just so thankful to have my house as a Jeff-free zone, you know? But at the beginning of this year, I started thinking about how much I missed out on,” she said, her expression wistful. “I mean, I’m not a social butterfly by any means, and I don’t even know if I’d be at this party regardless of Jeff, but there are things I feel resentful about missing. Due to my situation, I never felt comfortable making friends with people because I felt like I had to stay guarded all the time. I had a job once, at a convenience store as a cashier. My family is far from wealthy, so we could have used that money.” Hannah’s brows came together in a frustrated frown. “Jeff would not leave me alone; he just camped out there. He acted like a maniac whenever a male customer would even talk to me. My boss just assumed he was my boyfriend and fired me because I wasn’t worth the hassle.” Hannah’s face was set in an unhappy expression.

  Hearing about her helplessness made me want to choke the shit out of Connors. Why hadn’t anybody ever helped her?

  “It’s hard to know how my high school years would have turned out if he hadn’t been harassing me throughout all of it,” she finished. I thought she would look depressed or downtrodden, but instead she looked more thoughtful and frustrated than anything else. Hannah didn’t let herself identify as a victim, even if that’s what she was, to some extent. Fucking Connors.

  I found myself putting my hands on either
side of her face, rubbing my thumbs against her warm, soft cheeks. “Look, Hannah, you still have most of senior year left, and I am going to do everything I can to make sure you get to make up for as much as possible this year. Your days of hiding out, being afraid, and depriving yourself are over. I’ll make sure of it.” I couldn’t believe I was saying all of this, but Hannah was provoking all kinds of unexpected emotions in me.

  She looked at me with such an expression of wonder, gratitude, and adoration it was impossible to resist kissing her. I leaned in and softly kissed her sweet lips, moving my hand to the back of her head to tangle in her hair, holding her still for my demanding mouth. Her arms wrapped around my neck, and her hand moved to my nape and then up into my short hair, her fingernails scraping against my scalp. I walked her backward until she was pressed against the wall, giving me the chance to press my body fully against hers.

  Someone tapped my shoulder, which I ignored until that person hit me. I pulled away from Hannah with a snarl. “What the fuck?”

  “Chill the fuck out, Nik.” Jack stood there with three beers carefully arranged in his hands. I had no idea how he punched me while holding three beers. I was still scowling at him when he handed me and Hannah our drinks and said softly, “Connors is here.”

  Chapter 21

  Hannah

  I was still recovering from Nikolai’s touch, and the feel of his hard mouth on mine, that Jack’s words initially barely registered.

  Nikolai’s expression went from hot irritation at being interrupted to frustration. “God, I want to stomp that motherfucker.” Nikolai let me go and turned to, I assumed, go find Jeff and beat him up.

  “No, Nikolai, you can’t. You’ll get kicked out of school. He’s not worth it.”

  Nikolai took a deep breath. “I know I had my reasons for not fighting him, but after talking to you, seeing how he has disrupted your life, terrified you, I don’t know that kicking his ass isn’t the best fucking idea I’ve ever had.”