“What tattoo?” Volodya asks.
He seems tense. The man probably always has a tension headache.
“He just offered to give me one, said he does tattoos for all you guys.”
I fill two plates and hand him one. He takes it and sits down at the island. I hesitate, feeling like an idiot. “Do you want me to eat in my room?”
“Why the hell would I want you to do that?”
“I don’t know. Most people don’t eat with their maids.”
He nudges the barstool next to him with his foot, pushing it out towards me. “I’m not the fucking lord of the manor, Maddie. Sit your ass down and eat your breakfast.”
I sit down and turn to look out the large window behind me, the one that gives a perfect view of the ocean. “It feels a little like you’re the lord of the manor,” I tell him. “Pretty nice digs for a commoner.”
“Crime pays well,” he says, cutting into his omelet. “Tell me about Scott.”
“There’s not much to tell.” I grab my fork and dig into my own food. “He’s really gross, which I guess doesn’t give you much info about his business. He brings women over a lot. He’s always on his computer.”
“We’ve already hacked into his computer,” he says in between bites. “Nothing but a tremendous amount of porn.”
“That doesn’t surprise me at all. I never saw anyone that I didn’t recognize at the house. I never saw any sort of shipment coming in. Last night they were bitching about you guys, though,” I say with a laugh. “They think you guys are a bunch of psychos, and they wish the Irish were still around because they were lazy about things. Darin was worried about going up against the Bratva, but Scott is confident that you won’t catch him.”
“So gross and stupid,” Volodya says, making me smile.
“That’s pretty much Scott in a nutshell, yeah.”
“You’ve known them a long time?”
“Yeah, since we were kids. Kaylee and I went to school together. Scott graduated a couple years before us.”
“What do you think about Kaylee?”
I chew my last bite of bacon, trying to decide how best to answer. Volodya leans back, turning the stool so he’s facing me. He’s thighs are spread, pinning me in again, whether he realizes it or not. I’m guessing he does. I don’t think anything is unplanned where he’s concerned.
“Just tell me how you really feel.”
I turn to face him. “She’s not very pleasant to be around.”
He gives a harsh laugh. “That’s an understatement.”
“Wait, I thought you didn’t know her.”
“We’ve recently become acquainted.”
I suck in a quick breath. “You went back and grabbed her last night, didn’t you?”
He doesn’t answer, just keeps those eyes of his locked on mine. The gaze is almost predatory. I’ve never met anyone before who seems so fucking feral. It’s like his humanity is a much smaller part than the rest of him. Usually it’s the savage parts of ourselves that are less dominant, but with Volodya, it’s the exact opposite.
“You didn’t kill her, did you? I mean, she’s an ass, but she doesn’t deserve to die. She’s not a part of her brother’s drug stuff.”
“Relax,kiska, she’s still breathing.”
“Well, in that case, be careful. She’s going to try to sleep with you.”
His eyes give nothing away, but something has me on edge. I’m surprised by how much it pisses me off to think of Kaylee getting her hands on Volodya. It’s a crazy thought, I know it is, but it doesn’t stop me from having it. I think I kind of want to keep the big bad scary man to myself.
He puts me out of my misery by leaning closer and saying, “Relax,kiska, she’s not my type.”
