But technically, none of my business.
I owed Kyril a few things, but I’dpromisedhim only one: to keep her out of the wrong hands. I had never promised I wouldn’t let Natalia turn into a whore. It was disappointing. Sad. A little bit of a waste. Well, once I got a look at her, it was actually a huge waste.
But not my problem, and I’m not the kind of guy who takes on problems if they aren’t mine.
I don’t know why I kept Jake on her. He was a real inept guy, not even in the game, but I must have been paranoid. I know a lot of people would think I’m stupid. But for me, my word is my word, whether anyone will ever find out about or it not.
On the other hand, if I hadn’t have been paranoid, I guess I never would have found out that Natalia was being a whore for Andrej Sulov.
By himself, Andrej isn’t a very big piece of shit in this shithouse.
But it was too close to the line.
Because eventually, one of those asshole associates of his was going to recognize Kyril’s daughter.
Andthat, unfortunately,wasmy problem.
I’m not a funny guy. I don’t make jokes and I haven’t laughed in probably ten years. It’s part of the deal.
But it was hard not to laugh at Natalia, who was going by Natalie Paulson, as she wobbled into that room on those clear plastic heels.
Don’t get me wrong: she looked hot. But it’s my ‘job’ to notice details, and those shoes were a half size too big, which wouldn’t have stopped a real stripper, but it was pretty clear that Natalia was not that.
Interesting. And not much interests me, even something I’ve given my word about, even gorgeous women, especially gorgeous women, who fill a need that is pretty obvious and not much else.
Natalia’s sass to Andrej piqued my interest, mostly because I was curious what sort of ‘deal’ she had going on with him, and now that she looked like a newborn colt walking around in a costume that was so obviously not hers, I hated to admit it: I was curious.
Curiosity, though, killed the cat, and in a business like mine, you need to be curious about things that matter. And in the end, it didn’t really matter why Natalia Karkarov was such a bad stripper.
It also didn’t matter that when I touched her, she sent an electric shock through me. All that mattered was that Natalia Karkarov got the message: she needed to get out of town.
I’m not sure why I handled it the way I did. I don’t make it a secret that I like control, especially in bed, but I don’t handle business that way. My plan had been to terrify her, make her see how dangerous it was to be working in a strip joint, make her think I was going to kill her. Andrej was going to break it up, and she was going to wise up and leave of her own accord.
Instead, I tied her up and spanked her, and she didn’t react at all the way I wanted her to.
All it did was leave me wanting more of her.
I was actually glad I had to stop it, knowing that Andrej was coming back, because she was getting to me in a way I never intended.
Things were calmed down by the time I got away from her. She came flying out the back door and caught a cab. She didn’t even look back.
I lifted my fingers to my nose, to smell her scent, and for just one second I lost control again.
And that’s when she looked back.
I turned on the lights. She lifted her chin—such a defiant little vixen, exactly the kind of thing I would love to slowly mold into submission. The wind picked up her hair.
There was something more to her, too.
Go away, I thought.
And she did.
I leaned my head back against the seat.
Kyril was dead, and I was the only person on earth who knew what I had promised him, or what he had done for me. I could easily walk away from all of this and never think about it again.
I rolled to the end of the alley. Turned on the left blinker. Her cab had gone to the right.
