by Jenika Snow
“Tell me,” he demanded again.
“I’m yours.”
“Say my name, baby.” She heard him swallow. “Tell me who you belong to, who you belong with.”
She bit her lip at the pleasure coursing through her.
“You.” She closed her eyes and moaned. “God, you, Sergei.”
He slammed into her especially hard, and she moved up an inch on the wall.
The world was falling away, and she welcomed it, embraced that darkness. Zoey knew that whatever was happening between her and Sergei, whatever had happened, was not just about this one night of abandon.
No, this was a forever kind of thing.
That should have scared the hell out of her, but it didn’t. She let it consume her.
Chapter Ten
The next day
Sergei had left early in the morning, just as the sun was starting to rise. But he hadn’t done the “Wham, Bam, Thank You, Ma’am” kind of thing. No, he’d pulled her close to his naked body, and she’d felt his erection against her lower back. He’d pushed the hair from her neck and placed a kiss there, making her whole body light up despite the fact they’d only fallen asleep a few hours before, and she was exhausted. Then he said he had to get work done, but that he’d see her later. He’d jotted his cell number on a slip of paper and left it on the bedside table before he left.
Even now, hours later, with a cup of coffee in front of her, and her head not so fuzzy all she could think about was him and what they’d done … what they’d shared.
It had been real.
She looked down at her coffee cup—which was her third mug—and watched as the steam rolled up from it. She’d put a lot of cream and sugar in it, so it was more of a light tan color, but it still had that caffeine kick.
What am I going to do?
She asked herself that mainly because she knew she couldn’t just walk away. She couldn’t just ignore what she felt for Sergei, couldn’t ignore the electricity they’d shared last night … hell, when she’d first seen him. There was something there, and it was undeniable.
Zoey also knew this wasn’t just about sex, not for her, and definitely not for him. He’d told her enough times that he wasn’t letting her go, that she was his.
But his saying that didn’t have alarm bells going off in her head. This wasn’t about him owning her, like she was this piece of furniture in his house. No, this was something more primal, more animalistic. She didn’t even know if she could actually put it into words that would do it justice.
A knock on her front door pierced her thoughts, but before she could get up she heard the front door opening and closing. A second later Alexa came in with a bag of groceries in one hand.
“Hey, I tried calling,” Alexa said and set the bag on the counter.
Zoey picked up her cell, realized the ringer was turned off, and gave her sister a sympathetic look. “Sorry.”
Alexa started taking things out of the bag: milk, fruit, veggies, domestic stuff that for some reason she thought she should bring over weekly. But Zoey knew Alex liked “taking care of her”, liked being the big sister. Maybe she wouldn’t have gone to all this trouble if the shit with Rick hadn’t gone down, but she also couldn’t deny she liked having Alexa here with her all the time.
“What’s up?” Alexa said, her eyes trained on Zoey.
“Nothing,” she said, but even she heard the lie in her words.
Alexa stopped putting the groceries away and leveled a stare at Zoey. “You’re a horrible liar.” She came around to sit in the chair across from Zoey. “What’s up?”
It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Alexa with telling her what she’d done with Sergei last night, or that she was ashamed.
Zoey didn’t want her sister looking at her with that worry, with that intensity because she’d been in a situation with a very bad man.
And Sergei is a bad man. But not to me.
And then the expression on Alexa’s face told Zoey her sister knew exactly what had gone down.
“Please, Zoey, tell me you didn’t have Sergei here last night?”
Zoey felt her face heat as she thought about what they’d done. Her lips tingled at the remembrance of how much attention he’d paid to them. Involuntarily she touched her mouth, still feeling his mouth on hers.
“How far did it go?”
When Zoey didn’t answer Alexa exhaled.
“By the way your face is red, and the silence, I’d say pretty damn far.”
Zoey exhaled and put her head in her hands. “I’m crazy, right?” she asked, but was mainly talking to herself. And then she felt her sister touch her arm. Zoey looked up, feeling her heart in her throat, not because she as ashamed of what she felt for Sergei, but because the more time that passed the more she wanted him.
The more this felt right.
“You have to feel pretty strongly if you let him in your life.”
Zoey gave her sister a smile. “It just kind of crept up, Alexa, and it scares me.”
Alexa gave her arm a squeeze.
“They are dangerous men, Sergei and Yvgeny. Hell, all the men that are in that circle are very dangerous. They make that asshole Rick look like he’s a Girl Scout.”
Yeah, she was getting that, too.
“I know it’s crazy, and I know I should be afraid of him, but I’m not.” She wanted to ask Alexa about how she felt for Yvgeny, but she’d gotten the impression it was a really sore subject.
“I know how you feel, and I know it’s hard to walk away.” Alexa shook her head. “I wouldn’t ask you to, because I would have no right to.”
I guess that’s as close to what she had with Yvgeny as I’m going to get.
“But,” her sister said, taking her hand back. “They are dangerous, but they will protect their own, and anyone under their care with their last breath.” Alexa smiled. “If you’re happy, then I’m happy.”
Zoey was happy, and that was saying a lot given the worry she’d held onto for so long. Even if she worried about her past, she realized when she was with Sergei that was just a lingering thought, a distant memory.
It was nice, but was that really reality?
****
Alexa watched her sister sitting at the table, her thoughts clear on her face, the conversation they’d just had playing through Alexa’s mind. She tried to busy herself with putting the groceries away, a task she did because she wanted to take care of her sister, even doing something as small as buying some milk and eggs.
But the truth was Alexa couldn’t say anything against what Zoey had with Sergei, not really. She’d been in a sexual relationship with Yvgeny.
Can I even call it a relationship?
No, she couldn’t. It was two people fucking, and that’s exactly how it had been with Yvgeny. The sex had been raw, untamed … uninhibited. It had been everything she’d craved, everything she’d yearned for. But then again it had been that way because she’d been in love with Yvgeny for longer than she even cared to admit.
Shit, she needed to let Zoey live her life. She’d been through hell and back, and that fucker had done a number on her. If she was happy, even if it was in the arms of a man that killed, a man that everyone was afraid of, then she had to step back. The Bratva were dangerous, but they were also protective. She didn’t know if things were different in other parts of the world with the organization, but she knew the men that were in her life.
I know the man I love, and how he is toward the ones he holds dear.
If Sergei was anything like Yvgeny, she was glad he’d come into her sister’s life. Zoey needed someone strong to match her innocence.
Alexa also couldn’t deny she hoped they found Rick and gave him what he deserved. If she knew anything about Yvgeny and the business he was in, she knew they’d find Rick one way or another.
It was only a matter of time, and she hoped she had a front row seat to the show.
Chapter Eleven
Several days later
Let
me take you out tonight.
Let me show you how special you are to me.
Let me show you off, Myshka.
Zoey played those words in her head over and over again. She’d been thinking about them since she’d gotten the phone call from Sergei yesterday evening. It had been several days since he’d been at her house … since he’d been inside of her.
A shiver wracked her body at that thought, and all she could think about, all she could feel, was how it had felt to be touched, claimed by him.
And as corny as it sounded, even when she thought about it, those few days felt like a lifetime. Zoey didn’t know why she felt so close to him, or why she felt so safe with Sergei even though she knew he was far from it.
But not to me. I just know he’d never hurt me, that he’d go to any lengths to protect me.
The emotions consumed her, and she embraced it. She wouldn’t let her past dictate what she should or shouldn’t feel, and certainly wouldn’t allow Rick to intrude on her life anymore.
No, she was pushing Rick and his poison to the side. Zoey was not letting her fear of him possibly coming after her, and finding where she was, strangle her. She’d already wasted too much time on it, and she was done.
Zoey was done with it all.
She was going to start living her life the way she wanted to, and that meant embracing what she felt for Sergei, even if he was in the mafia.
Bratva. Russian Mafia.
Yeah, he was dangerous all right, but she got this little tingle at the knowledge he wielded so much power.
Looking at herself in the mirror, she smoothed her hands down her dress. Yeah, she’d gone all out in the primping department. Her hair was up in a classy, but doable chignon, and the dress she wore was black with a low-cut neck. Hell, Sergei had been the one to pick out the dress. She’d gotten home and found the box at her doorstep, a small white note attached to it. He wanted her to wear it for him, and that sent all kinds of tingles through her body.
He’d also put in a pair of silk panties, which she had on. Knowing he might have picked them up, imagining her in them, had a flush stealing over her.
“I am in so over my head,” she whispered to her reflection, but then this goofy little smile played across her mouth. It felt good to just let herself go, to just let her emotions for Sergei claim her.
She felt like her old self, where she didn’t have to worry about anything, and just lived life.
She glanced at the clock on the wall. Sergei would be here in about twenty minutes to pick her up, and she felt like a schoolgirl for how many butterflies flapped around in her belly. Looking down the length of her body, she idly wondered if she could actually walk properly in the heels Sergei had also sent her. Heck, she didn’t care to be honest. They were gorgeous stilettos, feet killers for sure, but they made her ankles look slender and her legs long as hell.
Lifted her head back up, the smile on her face instantly vanished at what she saw in the reflection behind her. A dark shape moved out from the kitchen, the setting sun casting all kinds of shadows and making everything seem even more dangerous.
Zoey might not be able to see who was coming closer, but in her gut the reality was there.
“You don’t know how much I’ve missed you.” Rick’s voice was like a slap to her face. Her heart stopped, her palms instantly became sweaty, and she tried to swallow.
Moving backward, away from him, she quickly looked at how far she was from the front door. But Rick started moving toward that. “Let me lock this so we have some privacy,” he said and grinned.
She could see a red, raised scar that started at the top of his hairline and disappeared beneath the dark strands.
“Admiring your handiwork?” he said just as the lock on the front door clicked into place. He then went for the chain, slid that into place, and grinned wider.
Telling him Sergei was coming was on the tip of her tongue, but if Rick didn’t know already, telling him could have him leaving. She didn’t want that. She wanted Sergei to find them, to end this.
God, do I really want that? Sergei will kill him.
Yes, she knew that, should have felt sick for even thinking that … knowing what Sergei would do, but no, she wanted Rick out of her life for good. Permanently.
Zoey moved away from him, but he kept advancing. There was the back door that she could try to make a run for, because at least if she was outside she wouldn’t be trapped in here with Rick. He’d chase her. She knew that.
“It took me a while to find you, seeing as you never told me your sister’s name.” He was still grinning, still slowly coming closer. “But I have my ways, Zoey, and I wasn’t about to let you go.” He lifted his hand and touched the scar. “And I get to look at this reminder every day. It helped me keep focused on the end game.”
Before she knew where she was headed she found herself further away from the backdoor, and more toward the back bedroom. That was not where she wanted to be. She shivered at the thought of how long he’d been in the house, and of how long he’d been watching her. Rick stared at her, looked his fill of her body, and she felt disgust. She’d dressed up for Sergei, wanted to look beautiful for him, but here Rick was, tarnishing all of that, making her feel like she was covered in oil.
His smirk turned more sexual, more disgusting.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so dressed up.” He tilted his head, and she felt as though he could see right through the material. She wanted to cover herself. “You never dressed like that for me.” The way he said the last part had a hint of anger in it.
All that strength she’d felt grow in her, that happiness she felt after meeting and being with Sergei, all seemed to vanish. In its place were hopelessness, sickness, and this trapped feeling that settled right over her chest. In this moment all she could think about was the past, and the horrible things Rick had done and said to her.
Taking several more steps back, she hit the wall by her bedroom door.
“He’s made you his whore, Zoey,” Rick said, his smile gone, his anger more pronounced.
Her heart pounded so hard, she felt as though it would burst right through her ribcage. She felt her eyes widen when she realized Rick held something … a pair of her underwear.
Oh God.
He was sick, disgusting, and all she could do was watch as he brought those panties up and smelled them as he stared right at her.
How long had he been in her house? How much had he seen? It was clear he’d gone through her things. Chills raced up her spine.
“I miss the smell of you.” He dropped his hand to his side, his hand tightening on the fabric. “I miss everything about you. Even if you did hit me hard enough to crack open my skull, I still want you.” He moved closer, and she slid to the side, away from him. “I woke up after you hit me with enough blood around my body that I was surprised I survived.”
She didn’t speak, couldn’t even breathe.
“I found my way to the hospital, told them I’d been mugged, and I healed, my only thoughts on finding you.” He moved closer. “But you’ve been a bad girl these last three months, defiling yourself with some thug.” He all but spit out the word. “Once I’ve shown you who you really belong to, that you can’t get rid of me, I’m going after your little boyfriend.” He tossed the panties aside and snarled out like some kind of feral animal.
He clearly didn’t know who and what Sergei was, but that would work to her advantage. If Rick had been smart he’d realize he was no match for Sergei, or the “thug” organization he was affiliated with. Zoey might not know much about the Bratva, but she knew enough to understand it wasn’t some back alley gang.
“You won’t survive this, Rick,” she finally found her voice and said. She glanced at the bedside clock.
Ten minutes until Sergei is here.
He let out a horrendous laugh. “You’re mine, Zoey, and that’s all I care about. Anyone or anything that gets in my way of possessing you will be a casualty.” He moved even
closer, but she was trapped in the corner, her own fear clouding her mind. “I’ve been watching you for a while now. I know your routine, where you work.” He moved closer. “I know the life you’ve been living.” He curled his lip. “You gave yourself to that fucker, but I still want you.” He moved a step closer.
And then he stopped, just stared at her for a few long moments. It felt like the calm before a deadly storm.
In one giant lunge, he went after her, his arms outstretched, this crazed look on his face. She could use things in the room as a weapon, but she needed to get to them first. She turned and went for the lamp on the bedside table, but Rick grabbed a chunk of her hair and pulled her back. Zoey yelped in pain, reached back and grabbed at his hands.
He yanked her back hard enough she fell on her ass, the pain radiating right up her spine. Zoey called upon the few self-defense classes she’d gone to with Alexa when she’d first moved to town. Her sister had insisted they go, and Zoey was glad. But taking some classes and actually being in the thick of violence were different things. She was terrified, and that had her body tight, frozen.
But she pushed past it and twisted. His hold loosened as he went to grab at her again, but it wasn’t as secure as before. He pulled her up, and she kicked out, hitting his shin hard enough he grunted out. Dark satisfaction filled her that she’d caused him pain. His hold loosened for just a second after the kick, and she didn’t waste time to move away from him. But he was fast and slammed his body into hers, taking her down on the bed.
“I didn’t want things to be like this when we reunited, Zoey,” he said, his breath coming out in harsh pants, his hand around her neck.
He acted like they were lovers seeing each other again after so long, like this was a happy reunion.
He took both of her wrists and thrust them above her head, holding her in place, making her immobile. He added pressure to her throat, and she struggled, trying to buck him off, trying to kick at him again. They were hanging perilously close to the edge of the bed, and the more she struggled, the closer they got to the edge.
