Ipreferviolence when dealing with Yulian.
But instead of giving in to his nature, he fixes me with a look sharp enough to kill. “If you don’t want me to sleep with Nikolai, let me fuck you just once and we’ll call it quits.”
“You willnotfuck me. I’ll never let anyone do that.”
He lifts a shoulder. “We’ll fight over who gets to fuck the other. How about that?”
“No.”
“Don’t refuse outright.” He runs a tense hand through his hair. “Listen, I’ve never allowed anyone to fuck me, but I’m offering a compromise here, giving you the chance to fight me for it. So compromise back. Meet me in the middle.”
“I said no. Leave me alone, Yulian. Seriously, just let me be.”
“I’m not the one who keeps catching flights. You are.”
I’m breathing so heavily, it’s audible in the silence, and he feels it, the conflict, and the urge that I can’t control—the reason why I keep sneaking back here like a hopeless addict.
I initially thought this phase would pass, but it’s only seemed to get worse.
Wayworse.
I’ve managed to painstakingly keep Yulian out of my head for the past four years, verynarrowlyso, but he surged to the forefront of my thoughts the moment I saw him in that restaurant.
The sex with Danika made it more complicated, but truly, he’s been messing with my sanity since he touched my godforsaken ear in the restaurant. Ever since then, I don’t recognize myself.
“Tell you what,” he muses when I say nothing, pinching his bloody lower lip between his fingers before releasing it. “I’ll jump off this railing.”
“What?”
“Hear me out. If I make it out alive, you’ll have to give me a chance. If I die, then, well, I’ll no longer annoy you. What do you think?”
“Jump. Drop dead, for all I care.” I scoff and turn to my car. “Just stop messing around, and you betternotget involved with Niko, or I’ll shoot you in the face.”
“You know…” His voice drifts as movement stirs behind me. “You’ve always underestimated me, Mishka.”
I spin and lunge forward, my arms outstretched. He flashes me a calm grin as he lets himself fall back.
“Yulian, no!” My fingers claw at empty air.
The motherfucker just threw himself off the cliff.
Water splashes violently against the rocks below, the sound reverberating in the night. I stare into the black current, gripping the metal railing so tightly, my knuckles ache.
Fuck.
Fucking hell.
I only said he should jump and drop dead to taunt him. I never meant for him to do it for real.
Fuck.
It happens in a flash—for the first time in my life, I move before my thoughts can catch up.
Before I realize what I’m doing, I dive in after the man who’s tearing my life apart.
Plunging with him into the depths of the ocean.
18
