Then a nauseating thought comes to me. He ordered me to stay in here until morning. Does that mean he’s going to bring someone in, a sex worker maybe, to take care of that enormous erection? He’d rather have them than his fiancée?
I thought we’d made progress. He showed me his tribute to his mother, that beautiful greenhouse. In his cold, emotionless way, he seemed to want this marriage.
This room is soundproofed, so he could have a line of strippers stretching out the door and I’d never hear it. The dark walls and the iron shutters over the windows are closing in on me. Does he expect me to live in this room, instead of in the master bedroom with him?
All the confidence that built slowly through our night was seeping away again. I pace for a while. I take a shower. Standing in front of the dresser, clutching a towel, I ponder my options. Icould put on some flossy lingerie and pretend I need something from the kitchen. Sorting through the drawers,I find a black bra and panty set that’s moderately comfortable. At the last minute, I lose my nerve and pull on some yoga pants and a sweater.
The knob turns easily, he didn’t lock me in, at least.
Charging out into the hallway, I call out, “Alexi! I want to talk to you about this- oh.”
He’s in the living room with six others, hard-faced men and clearly Bratva surrounding him. They’re poring over a map of something. They all look up at me and I am suddenly deeply grateful that I didn’t prance out in nothing but lingerie.
“Pay attention to the plan,” Alexi snaps. In unison, they turn back to look at the paperwork spread out over the giant coffee table.
I back up a couple of steps as he strides toward me, his beautiful cold face looking like he’s carved in marble. He takes my arm and leads me into the master bedroom, shutting the door.
“That’s why you didn’t want me coming out of my bedroom, huh?” I attempt a weak smile.
He is not amused.
“What do you need?”
And then my mouth opens and all my stupid comes pouring out. “I thought you were with a hooker.”
His marble mask cracks, just slightly as he frowns. “You what?”
“W- well, I… I felt you in the greenhouse when you pulled me against you. Also, I totally understand your general air of cockidence, I mean confidence! Confidence!" I babble. Oh, someone please shut me up. “But you didn’t want me and I thought that… maybe you invited a sex worker over.”
He’s examining me as if I’m a particularly troubling strain of bacteria. “You thought because I didn’t want your first time to be in a shed made of glass and open to anyone with a pair of binoculars that I didn’t want you.”
“How do you know it’s my first time?” I ask challengingly.
Shut up, Lucya!
Then something unnatural happens, something almost depraved. Alexismiles. No, it’s more of a grin, a smug grin. He walks back into the living room.
“Get out.”
There’s an immediate rustle of papers, not a word spoken, and only the cheerful‘ding!’of the elevator as they clear out in seconds.
I hear his steps, slow and deliberate on the polished concrete floor. I am very much regretting my initial and ill-advised burst of courage. When he appears in the doorway, he blocks the light behind him, looking for all the world like Hades surveying his kingdom.
“You don’t think I know you’re a virgin?” He sounds amused and I am unsettled.
“I’ve been here in Boston for four years,” I say defensively. “You don’t know what I’ve been up to.”
“I know exactly what you’ve been up to,” he says, walking toward me slowly. “I had my IT tech hack into your guard’s reports. You worked. All the time, trying to take care of your irresponsible as fuck sister. You’ve done nothing else but take some online prep courses for Harvard.”
My ass hits the foot of the bed and I stifle a whimper. He’d herded me in this direction and I didn’t even notice. Alexi takesup all the space in the room, a giant shadow that blocks the light from the hallway.
“You’ve been a good girl.” His grin stretches to feral proportions. “I tried to be understanding. A gentleman. But a greedy little girl like you doesn’t want a gentleman, do you?”
I open my mouth and nothing but a weak puff of air escapes. Power and darkness radiate off him in waves, he looks like the dark angel he is, I can almost see his black wings unfurling.
“So no, littleKolibri,I did not call a sex worker. I tried to distract myself from the fact that my cock has been almost perpetually hard since you fluttered back into my life.”
“I’m sorry I assumed the worst,” I croak.
