More makeup than usual for her day off. The only times she camouflaged herself in different disguises was when she was meeting a mark.
I missed her pale skin.
I leaned towards her ear, and I couldn’t help a smile when goosebumps traveled up her neck. She could ignore me and pretend I didn’t affect her, but her body didn’t lie.
“Miss me?”
I didn’t miss her quick intake of breath before she swung around. Her irritated blue eyes locked onto mine.
“What do you want?” she hissed.
There were murmurs of shock around her. Her shoulders tightened as the whispers began.
“Mainly to break you,” I admitted.
Her mouth gaped open.
“What the hell does that even mean?” Alisa asked, crossing her thin arms.
I leaned in close enough to hear her shallow breathing.
“Don’t act like you don’t know.”
Alisa’s lips tightened together, and then she whipped her head forward with a scowl. How cute, but she couldn’t get rid of me that easily. I always got what I wanted.
I roped her pale hair in my hand, and all I could visualize was pushing Alisa to her knees and-
Alisa spun back around. Well, as much as she could considering I hadn’t released my grip on her hair. With a snort, I noticed her right hand was tightened into a fist.
“You going to hit me?” I said.
“Tempting,” she muttered.
Her friend mouthed, ‘Are you insane?’
“I’ll happily re-enact the last time you tried to punch me,” I said, glancing towards the front of the room where she’d so adorably tried to attack me during our sparring match. “After all, you seemed to enjoy having an audience when I took you to the mat.”
Alisa jerked away from me, and this time I released her hair without a word. I frowned as I took in her expression.
Her eyes were wide and vacant. What was going on with her?
I wanted to peer into her mind, and see her thoughts. Before I could barrel my way in with words, the Pakhan stepped to the front.
Even though the Pakhan was speaking, I couldn’t focus on anything beyond the far-off look in her eyes.
“You okay, kotenok?” I whispered into her ear.
Goosebumps appeared on her neck. Then her body startled as if coming out of a trance. She shot me a quick glare over her shoulder before narrowing her attention on the Pakhan.
I leaned back into my chair. Even though everyone else’s gaze was raptly glued to the Pakhan, I kept my attention on my kitten. Generally, I didn’t enjoy coming to the Pakhan’s meetings, but I had a feeling today would be the exception.
I tilted my head as I watched the shallow breaths whisper through Alisa’s parted lips and the way she pushed her pale hair behind her ears.
Her shoulders relaxed as the Pakhan continued listing everyone’s rankings. My little kitten was still number twenty.
But she wouldn’t be relaxed much longer. The Pakhan was finally nearing the grand finale. At least according to the information that’d been leaked to me days ago by the men feeding me intelligence.
As my ranking was announced–number one as usual–I could feel the weight of attention on my shoulders. Still I kept my gaze on Alisa.
