Chapter 5- Lucien
In truth, I hadn’t thought much about how I’d explain her disappearing act. Nothing since meeting her had made sense. Both of them should have died by my hand. The slide of the gun should have been pulled back and bullets should have entered their skulls.
Now she was in my house.
Walking around beneath my roof.
I was in the sanctuary of my office when I heard the door open. Not even bothering to turn and look, I continued on with my task: looking out into the darkness of the night and waiting for it to swallow me.
“Are you making an appearance at Frost tonight?” My little brother Gabriel was standing there.
The fireplace crackled and popped, the smell of fire entering my nose. It transported me back to a time when my mother had cooked many of our meals over a wood stove. Of course, Gabriel was too young to remember those labors of our mother’s love.
“I should,” I told him. “I should go out and have some pretty little thing suck me off while another bitch dances.”
Gabriel smiled and rubbed his hands together. “Let’s go.”
“Not tonight,” I said.
“Is it because of her?”
“The girl?”
“Who else?”
I chuckled and reached for the glass of whiskey I’d poured earlier. Giving it a swirl, I brought it to my lips. Gabriel continued to eye me even after I slammed the glass down.
“She is not your concern,” I stated.
“Why did you bring her here?”
Shrugging, “She begged me to take her to save the life of that worthless piece of shit she’s related to.”
Gabriel frowned. “You play a dangerous game. I say we kill her and find that piece of shit and kill him next.”
My little brother was always so eager to inflict pain and torture. It was something we had inherited from our father’s side of the family. We had both been born in Russia; Saint Petersburg to be exact.
Our family had once been proud, and strong. Until it had been practically wiped from the face of the Earth. I had been born a Bratva prince, but my kingdom had fallen long before I’d ever had a chance to rule.
Watching my father die, the feel of his blood as it sprayed across my face in the streets. The sound of his body hitting the concrete beneath our feet as we had walked home from a movie.
“Where’d you go?” Gabriel asked.
“I changed my mind,” I said. “Let’s paint the fucking town…”
A gleam entered my brother’s blue eyes and I wondered what he had in mind. Probably the usual, cocaine and strippers. If there was debauchery to be found, Gabriel wouldn’t mind finding it, especially between the legs of a woman.
We went our separate ways, deciding to meet up within the hour. I needed to shower before I went anywhere and I wanted to check on my house guest. Once I was clean, I dressed and headed to her room. There were no sounds of movement not even the buzz of the television could be heard.
Without knocking, I entered and found the room pitch black. At first, I thought she might have escaped but then the soft light from the hallway filtered and pushed back the darkness. My eyes adjusted and I found her asleep; the light from the hallway through a line across her features.
Getting up close, I leaned down watching her breathe.
What are you doing?The voice inside my head came. Truly, I had no idea what in the fuck I was doing. She was like a goddess.
A tattooed goddess,came the voice again.
She was wearing a white t-shirt and where her arms lay, I could see all the ink on her flesh. On her left arm, she was sporting an entire sleeve of artwork. It took everything in me not to brush my hands over her flesh to inspect every line, every single dot. The need to know what the design was almost overwhelmed me.
