Jerking a hand through his dark hair, he grunted, “Let’s go.”
Nodding, I rose off the couch. As I approached him, I tried forcing a smile to my face. My mother’s words echoed through my mind. “Just remember, Sarah. You catch more bees with honey than vinegar.”
Those were her sage words when I got older and asked why she didn’t go off on people who said nasty or ignorant shit about Silas or Sammy. Whenever there was a remark that made my blood boil, Mom would just smile as she unloaded on them in a lady-like way.
“All of this has been overwhelming, and I don’t remember your name from earlier,” I said, as I extended my hand.
The young man eyed it warily. “It’s Lev.”
With a nod, I said, “Sarah.”
“Like I don’t know that,” he grumbled.
Just keep smiling. “I suppose you do.”
“Follow me,” he grumbled.
After whirling around, Lev started stalking out of the room. I had to practically sprint to keep up with him. Of course, I kept slowing down because I was taking in the grandeur of the house.
As I stepped into the expansive garage, I mused, “Guess I could’ve been kidnapped somewhere much worse, huh? I mean, you usually see people in movies or TV taken to real dumps. This place is spectacular.”
Instead of responding, Lev opened one of the back doors for me. “Get in.”
I bit my tongue from telling him to fuck himself. Once I got into the seat and put on my seatbelt, Lev dug something out of his pocket. As we reached a black SUV, he shoved it at me. “Put this on.”
It was identical to the one I’d worn last night, which caused a myriad of emotions to shuffle through me. As I slid the mask over my eyes, I ignored the heat that flooded my core at the memory of my time with the Beast.
The SUV cranked up, and we started moving. In the darkness of the mask, I couldn’t help thinking about the Beast. Was he also one of Maksim’s brothers, or was he just another one oftheir associates? Since I was staying, would I see him again? Would I see him without the mask?
Groaning, I rubbed my forehead over the silk fabric of the mask. What the fuck was wrong with me? After what he’d done to me, I shouldn’t ever want to see the bastard again.
And yet…
I did.
Because of that fact, I knew there was something fundamentally wrong with my mental state. I’m sure some would argue that having a stranger in a mask chase me down for sex already made me mentally unstable. And there was a part of me that agreed with them. But another side argued it was healthy to free some of the burdens of my life by giving up control with another consenting adult.
One thing both of those sides could agree on was that fantasizing about the masked man who drugged and kidnapped me was mental.
Desperate to rid myself of thoughts of the beast, I asked, “Can I please take this mask off?”
I mean, we’d been riding along for what felt like an eternity, but it was probably closer to ten minutes.
“Yeah, whatever.”
As I slipped off the mask, I squinted my eyes to get used to the light. My gaze bounced around trying to decipher where we were. I don’t know why it mattered. It wasn’t l was going to call the police and report my location.
From the tree-lined road, it was obvious we were in the suburbs, and from the size of the mansion we’d just left, it was one of the upperclass ones. The question was which one.
Turning slightly in my seat, I eyed Lev. Amusement flickered within me that they had tried to pretend not to be brothers. While Lev didn’t have as distinctive wolf eyes as Aleks, it was obvious they were related.
Just like Maksim, Lev was incredibly good-looking. Of course, he was a baby compared to Maksim and even Aleks. From the way he was currently sulking, he was the typical spoiled baby brother.
We rode along in silence for a few more minutes before I couldn’t take the quiet any longer. “Look, I’m sorry you got stuck with me.”
Lev responded with a tick of his jaw and continued scrolling on his phone. Since I was stubborn to a fault, I said, “It must be hard being the younger brother. I’m sure they give you a lot of shit.”
“Yeah, they do,” Lev quickly replied. From the scowl on his face, I knew he hated that he had answered me.
