The Ghost: A Bratva Blood Novella

by SR Jones

  I suck in a breath.

  Priest turns to me. “It’s what we’re about, right? Close protection. Hostage extraction. It’s what you want to build.”

  “We’re just getting ourselves out of one war, and you’re about to put us in the middle of another,” Vasily says.

  “No war,” Gezim adds urgently. “It’s just four guys max, maybe less. The rest of the Allianz will fall behind me if I take the lead. I can guarantee it. Most especially if they think I killed Jan for doing this. If you guys are happy to not let anyone know about this little visit of yours, I can take the credit for this. You get me my daughter back, Priest, and I take over with a firm hand and fear of crossing me. I’ll call the war with you guys off, and I’ll accept your man working with me, close protection. I’ll do anything, if you get my daughter back for me safely.”

  I turn to Priest. “You want back up? A couple of the Spetsnaz guys? Cole?”

  He shakes his head. “Four men? I’m better going in alone. I’ll extract, move the hostage to a secure location, and keep her there for a few days until we’re certain no other threats exist, and then I’ll bring her to you, Gezim.”

  “Not to me,” he says with a shake of his head. “Home to Dubrovnik. Once she’s home, I want to hire some of your men permanently,” Gezim says. “I want her safe.”

  I hold my hand out, and he takes it and shakes.

  “You want me to leave you with this mess?” I gesture around me. “I’ve done wet work; I can clean this up.”

  “No, leave it. I’m going to take photographs, gather evidence to support my takeover bid.”

  “There’s just one more thing,” I add.

  He sighs. “What? My signature in blood?”

  “Your organization will no longer be in the business of running girls, and that’s non-negotiable. You can make enough money from drugs, booze, and cigarettes. I found out you’re still into that shit, and your daughter will know too. I’ll tell her myself.”

  “It’s fine by me; I hate it. I don’t partake myself. Always seemed like a really fucking bad thing to do, traffic women from your home nation. Un-fucking-patriotic.”

  “It’s immoral wherever they’re from.”

  “Again,” Gezim says. “No argument from me. We’ve been trying to work out a way to end that side of things.”

  “Make sure you damn well do.” I turn to Vasily. “Looks like we’re going home, and Priest, you’re not.”

  “I need Damen in on this,” Priest says. “Reece, too. They need to work together to find out where she is, find me a safe house, and coordinate. I’ll stay here and send any messages Gezim gets to them, and once they have a location, I’ll go in.”

  “How much do you want?” Gezim asks.

  “Call it a favor,” I say with a tight smile.

  He nods, understanding totally. He owes us now. I own him, basically. Alexei will work with him and watch what the hell he does like a hawk. He runs drugs, weapons, fucking flowers for all I care, and I won’t give a shit. He encroaches on any territory that will become politically tricky for us in the future, or goes back to trafficking, and all bets are off.

  “I understand,” he says.

  “Come on,” I say to Vasily. “Let’s go back to the hotel, pack up, and get home.”

  Priest heads out the door with us. “Can you send my bags over?” he asks.

  I nod. “You sure about this?”

  “Absolutely. Saw that picture and can’t let that stand. I’m going to get her back and take them out.”

  We wrap things up as quickly as we can. I get the two women we saved the previous night on private flights to Poland with a woman meeting them at the other end who will help them re-start their lives, under the protection of one very scary man I know.

  We pack our bags, send Priest his via a private driver, and then we head to the airport.

  “How do you think this is going to play out going forward?” Vasily asks.

  “I don’t know,” I say truthfully. “In a lot of ways, though, as awful as it is that his daughter was taken, it’s the best thing that could have happened for us. He’s our bitch now.”

  “Yeah,” Vasily says with a grin. “You wanted out, and instead, you’re going to be controlling the biggest new crime group there is. Fucking ironic.”

  “Not controlling them, V. And not taking any money from them. I’m simply going to make sure they don’t step outside the lines I’ve drawn for them.”

  “If anyone can enforce it, you can.” He shakes his head. “What a fucking year.”

  Indeed.

  I close my eyes and think of Violet. I can’t wait to see her again, and make this shit between us right.

  Chapter Nine

  Violet

  I’m soaking in a bath, fragrant oil scenting the bathroom with fig, one of my favorite scents. The bedroom door opens, heavy footsteps cross the room, and the bathroom door handle twists.

  What the hell?

  I grab for a towel, but I’m too late. The door opens, and I blink in shock to see Andrius standing there.

  “You’re back?” I say stupidly.

  He grins at me. “I’m back.”

  “You’re not angry at me?”

  He comes toward me, and his gaze travels down my body. “I’m tired, aching, depressed at the fucking state of the world, but no, I’m not angry with you. Not anymore. I was.”

  “I know, and I was wrong. I’m sorry.” I start to cry. Damn it. I’m just so relieved he’s back, in one piece, and so guilty I gave him shit when it was the last thing he needed.

  “Hey, don’t cry, baby.” He comes to the edge of the tub and bends down.

  “What happened to the girls?” I ask. “The ones who were trafficked.”

  “The two who were with us are heading home. The rest will be freed from the hell they were in because the Allianz aren’t going to be doing that anymore.”

  “Really?” I furrow my brow. “I don’t understand. I thought this was a long war we were in for. What happened?”

  “Zaika, it’s a long story, and not one I want to go over tonight. I’ve already debriefed the guys, and I’m shattered, but I will tell you all about it tomorrow. Let’s just say, I’m hopeful there won’t be a war now.”

  “Are Vasily and Priest back safe and sound too?” I ask, drinking in his impossibly gorgeous face.

  “V is. Priest is helping the new leader of the Starz alliance with a personal situation.”

  “Helping him?”

  “Yeah.” He shrugs. “The man is going to be in our debt forever if Priest pulls this off.”

  “And if he doesn’t?”

  “Then we pivot, baby. We pivot.”

  He stands, undoes his tie, which is so sexy and masculine, for some reason. He takes off his vest and then flicks the buttons of his shirt undone. Soon, he’s bared his gorgeous chest for me, and he takes his trousers off, showing his hard cock outlined in his boxer briefs.

  “I need to get clean,” he says as he uses his thumbs to push his briefs down. His cock smacks his stomach, and my core aches.

  I want him. I always want him. Well, except for a brief period when I had all day morning sickness. Then I didn’t want anyone near me, to be honest. Thank God it didn’t last longer than a month. It was the worst.

  He climbs into the tub, sloshing water everywhere. Sitting opposite me, he grabs a bar of soap and begins to wash himself. I watch him, just drinking him in.

  “Those things you said you were going to do to me?” I ask, half excited, half nervous. “Are you going to do them tonight?”

  “Babe, I’m half dead. I’m also not about to get your loud as a vacuum cleaner personal massager out right now with a house full of men.” He makes air quotes when he says personal massager, and I flick water at him. “I am going to do it, though. The minute we have our privacy back, you’re going to scream the walls down.”

  “I’m not a screamer,” I say softly.

  “You are sometimes,” he rep
lies with a hungry grin.

  “Come here.”

  He’s finished washing himself, and he beckons me to him with a crooked finger.

  I go to him, slipping a little in the water as I get up onto my knees. “What?” I bite my lip.

  “Come here and give me a kiss,” he orders.

  He pulls me onto him, his big arms coming around me, and our chests press together as he takes my mouth in a fierce kiss. He tastes of whiskey.

  “You’ve been drinking,” I say as I pull away. “Whiskey.” I lick my lips and smile.

  “Only one, baby. If I’d have carried on, I’d have had the whole bottle.”

  “That bad, huh?” I settle astride him, my knees either side of his legs.

  “That bad. I just wanted this. You in my arms. This goodness that’s between us. I wanted to wash it all away and was going to take a shower and then drag you into bed with me. Finding you in the bath was even better.”

  I kiss him again, and he sweeps his hand up my back and runs it through my hair, making me shiver at his touch. His hands come around to my front, and he palms my breasts. I think Andrius is a little bit obsessed with my breasts. I love him playing with them, though, so I don’t mind.

  Pulling me closer, he leans forward and takes one wet breast into his mouth, sucking my nipple hard. I moan at the delicious sensation zinging through my body. It’s as if there’s a livewire connected straight from my nipples to my clit.

  He bites and then soothes with his tongue. “I missed you so much,” he says, letting my breast go as he palms the other one. “Missed your smile, and your voice, and your smell. Missed these puppies,” he says with a laugh.

  “They are not puppies.”

  He pinches my other nipple then slaps my breast gently, watching it sway. “Fucking gorgeous.”

  Dipping a hand below the water, he parts my folds and runs a slippery finger over my clit. The oil in the water means it doesn’t drag in any way, and the sensation is amazing.

  He keeps working my clit as he teases my nipples until they’re achingly hard.

  “Sit on my cock, baby,” he demands. “I want you to work yourself on me.”

  “Okay,” I say, flushing. I lift his heavy erection in my small hand and jerk him a few times.

  His head drops back, and his eyes close. “God, that feels good,” he says.

  Sitting up, I move myself forward and then sink down on his cock, sighing as he fills me. It’s harder than usual with the water to battle against, but the oil and my own desire makes it work.

  Once I’m seated on him, feeling him deep, I begin to move. Slow at first, I relish the sensation of having him home, in my arms. I wrap my hands behind his neck and look into his eyes as I increase the speed.

  He kisses me again, as I lift myself up and down over and over.

  Breaking the kiss suddenly, he growls, stands, still inside me, and steps carefully out of the bath. “Need to fuck you hard,” he says.

  “God, yes,” I pant.

  He pulls out of me and plants my feet on the floor, spins me around so I’m holding onto the marble worktop by the sink, and he spreads my legs before easing into me from behind.

  He grabs my tit in one hand and smacks my right ass cheek hard with the other as he pulls out slow then slams back in brutal and fast.

  “Oh, fuck,” I say.

  He slaps me again, the sound ringing out in the room.

  “Is this my punishment?” I pant.

  “Call it a taster of your punishment,” he laughs darkly.

  “You can do better than that,” I say with a laugh of my own.

  He pauses mid-thrust and chuckles. “You asked for it.”

  Snapping his hips, his changes the angle and finds that spot deep inside he knows drives me crazy. He spanks my ass five more times and then parts my cheeks, his finger finding my tight hole. With his other hand he pinches my clit as he drives into me.

  When he slips a long, thick finger in my ass, I cry out. He’s totally dominating me. His big body cages me in, his massive cock impaling me, and his hand works my clit with skill. I’m going to come; I can feel it building, and my legs are starting to shake.

  “That’s it, baby, shake for me,” he growls. “I love watching this ass jiggle.”

  Oh shit.

  I cry out and hope the sound of the bathroom fan covers it as he grunts, and we come at the same time. He loses his rhythm and ruts against me hard and fast as he fills me with his seed.

  When it’s over, I sag against the counter and lay my cheek against the cool marble.

  He pulls out of me and kisses my back, and my neck, his arms coming around me and holding me tight against him.

  Then he picks me up, carries me to the bedroom, and places me on the bed. He climbs on top of me and starts kissing me. I’m still needy for him. The orgasm hasn’t taken the edge off; it’s created a new one. He seems to sense it because soon we’re rubbing against one another, and the bedding is going to be ruined. It will be a wet, oily mess, but I can’t bring myself to care.

  Kissing me as if his life depends on it, he slips inside me, hard all over again, or maybe he never stopped being hard? I gasp and arch my back, every bit of me over sensitized and on edge.

  He fucks me slow this time, and I don’t need any clit stimulation because his body is pressing against me, right where I need him. When I fall over the edge, it’s with a long, drawn out sigh, as a deep, slow orgasm pulls me under.

  He pulls out and comes all over my tits, his face fierce as he does so. After, he rubs it in like it’s body lotion.

  We snuggle together and fall asleep.

  Epilogue

  Andrius

  I love my wife. I love her so fiercely that I would burn this world down for her. She loves me. I know she does.

  I’ve forgiven her lack of trust. We’ve talked since, and I get it. She’s right too, because I am a hypocrite, and I’d go crazy if she had a guy in her hotel room, no matter what the reason. So I made her an oath. I’ll never do that again. As innocent as it was, I will never put her in that position again. She cried when I told her and said she was in the wrong, not me, but I shook my head and said, nope, baby; you were right. Even if you’d been saving him from the end of the world, I’d have fucking hated you for having a man in your room.

  We’ve made love a lot since I’ve been back. We’ve done it nice and slow, hard and nasty, and I can’t get enough of her. There’s a juxtaposition with Violet. She’s innocent and knowing at the same time, and it drives me fucking nuts.

  She’s also good, deep down, and I think its her goodness I need every time I sink in her anew. It’s as if each time we screw she washes some of the filth of Berlin away.

  As the next couple of days pass, the cool sunny weather on Corfu, the space, the views, and most of all Violet, they all slowly erase the concrete, and gray, and dirt, and human filth of our time in Germany.

  Priest is knee deep in it, though. He’s risking his life to save Gezim’s daughter, and in doing so, he’s also setting me, Violet, K, and Cassie free.

  I’m sitting out by the pool in a sweater, jeans, and with a coffee in my hands, when the door to the house across the way opens, and Esme comes running out. She runs around the pool, giving it a wide berth the way we’ve all told her to do, and comes to me.

  “Uncle Andrius,” she cries. “Look.”

  She holds her hand out, and there’s a gold necklace in the palm of her hand. “It’s a daisy,” she tells me solemnly. “Vasily got it for me. I can wear it around my neck.”

  I glance up as a shadow crosses me to see V smiling at Esme, and I swear, I’ve never seen the man smile like that before. It’s soft. And Vasily is absolutely not soft. Not in any way.

  “Why don’t you go and ask your mummy to put it on for you?” Vasily says.

  “Yes!” Esme squeals as if it’s the best idea ever as she races off back to the house they’re all staying in.

  “I’ve made a decision,” Vasily sa
ys.

  “Oh yeah?”

  “I know now that you don’t need me or Zoey to stay. If there’s no war, you don’t need us as soldiers right?”

  I nod.

  “But you never know what threats might come in the future. And we don’t know if Priest will be able to get Gezim’s daughter back yet.”

  “True.”

  “I want to stay. Here. I don’t want to go back to Moscow. Esme is safe here. It’s a gorgeous place, and being away from all that shit has made me realize. I’m fucking tired, man.”

  I know what he means. “I’ll have to talk to K,” I say.

  “I know.”

  “You can stay.” K’s deep voice sounds behind me, making me jump. Damn the silent fucker.

  “And Zoey?” Vasily asks hesitantly.

  “All debts are equal so far as I’m concerned,” K says. “Your wife isn’t ever going to be my best friend, but you are one of my best friends, and you’ve earned the right to be a part of this, if it is what you want? You can be part of what we’re building. Or, you can go back to what we were doing before. One thing, though.” K pauses and weighs his words. “I hope you understand what I’m about to say, Vasily, and don’t take this the wrong way. Your wife isn’t going to be happy living here on the land we’ve bought because my wife will never accept her.”

  Vasily gives a soft laugh. “Oh, we’ve figured that out. Can’t blame Cassie for how she feels. Every time she sees Zoey, it’s probably a PTSD flashback all of its own. Zoey’s not stupid, and she’s not comfortable here. I doubt she ever will be amongst all of you. My plan is to buy a house on the outskirts of Corfu Town and come to work here with you guys. Zoey and Esme will have their own place, and she can start building a life here.”

  “Works for me,” K says and strolls back into the house.

  “Me too,” I add. “So long as you bring Esme to see us sometimes.”

  “Keeping her away will be impossible if you do end up with horses stabled on that land.” Vasily points over to the tract of land we’ve purchased.

  “I better get back over there. Zoey was making lunch.” He turns and walks away, whistling something out of tune as he goes.