When I come, it feels like it rises up from a part of me I’ve been fighting to keep dormant for a long, long time. A part of me that has been aching to find a release since the moment I left that hotel room all those years ago. And all the bad decisions, all the craziness that’s brought us together again, every inch of it is worth it to me as long as I can feel him inside of me, his fullness, his body against mine.
I clench around him, shockwaves shuddering through me as he sinks his mouth into me again. He holds himself there, lettingjust the pulsations of my orgasm guide him over the edge and into his own release. He lets out a grunt against my mouth as he bucks his hips against me once more, bringing our bodies flush together. I can feel his warmth within me, filling something in me I didn’t even know I needed filled, and I squeeze my thighs on either side of him, reluctant for this to be over.
He holds me there for a long moment, breathing hard, as he comes back down. I can feel his heart beating against mine as his cock twitches, beginning to soften inside of me. He makes no move to pull back, and I’m glad for it, because I don’t want to be anywhere other than right here.
But, finally, he kisses me one last time on the mouth, and he gently eases himself out of me, flopping down on to the bed next to me. I look over at him, at his hand, the one with the tattoo, which is resting on his chest right now. I reach out to touch it, tracing my fingers over the intricate design on his skin.
“What is it?” he murmurs, and I shake my head.
“Nothing,” I reply. “Just... without this tattoo, I might never have known it was you.”
He stares at me for a long moment, and just when he’s about to speak, his phone buzzes from his pocket. He sits up, pulling away from me and checking to see who it is. My hand hovers in the spot where his fingers were, and I suddenly feel stupid for touching him so tenderly. I should have learned by now that there’s nothing tender about this man, no matter how much I might want there to be.
“I need to go.”
I look over at him, and, sure enough, he is already getting dressed by the time I lock eyes with him. “What? What’s going?—”
“I won’t explain. You need to stay here, with the kids.”
My eyes widen. “Okay… But… Is something going on? Is someone in the house?”
“No, it’s nothing like that,” he assures me. “But you need to stay here. I promise that I’m not going to let anything happen to you. Any of you.”
Once he has finished dressing, he stands there for a moment, then he bends over to press a kiss against my head. As he pulls away, I suddenly feel very naked, and I scramble for the covers, pulling them over me as I readjust my shirt and try to appear decent again. It’s so strange, going from the heights of pleasure to the sudden feeling of being abandoned, and not a sensation I want to get used to.
I swallow hard. “If you need anything…”
“I need you to trust me,” he tells me from the doorway. “And trust that I know what’s best for all of you.”
And with that, he’s gone. And the room somehow feels more silent than it did than before he came. I sink back into bed, staring at the ceiling, and let out a long sigh as I try to get comfortable.
As if I’m going to be able to sleep at all after that.
12
ALEXEI
I bringthe car to a screeching halt outside the warehouse. Plumes of smoke are still reaching up into the sky, and about a dozen or so of my men are crowded outside, staring at the chaos unfolding before them. I scan them all briefly. At a glance, it looks as though everyone is unhurt, though I won’t be able to tell until I’m in.
“What happened?” I bark, as I step out of the car, striding towards the assembled crowd. I get a better look at the building as I approach, and the sight of it sets my teeth on edge. It looks as though the facade out front has been left untouched, but I can tell everything else within is gone, wiped away.
“How much of our stuff was inside?” I ask, turning to Franklin, who stands beside me.
“Not much,” he replies. “Since this was the building that got scoped last week, we decided to move as much as we could out of here, in case there was an attack. I thought it would make a good decoy, for the Vinski lot to feel like they had really made a statement, but...”
He casts his eye across the scene before him.
“I didn’t think they would actually go through with it.”
I pause for a moment, pushing a hand through my hair. So, at the very least, we haven’t lost any major part of our inventory. But still, this is bad news. They’ve moved up from just trying to get a feel for my business to now making a move directly against it, and I can’t be sure that they won’t try it again…
Or go bigger next time, and take out even more than they did before. The very thought of it is enough to bring my blood to boiling point, and I move towards the door.
“I don’t know if it’s safe to go in yet…” Franklin calls after me, in an attempt to warn me, but I don’t pay any attention to him. I push open the door, which is swollen from the heat, and kick it a few times to move it out of its frame. Finally, it flies off the hinges, and I survey the damage in its entirety.
It looks to me as though the fire is mostly contained, but the smell of the smoke is still thick and acrid in the air. I can’t believe what I’m seeing. It almost feels surreal, as though it must be happening to someone else. Because nobody in their right fucking might would ever dare do something like this, ever dare try to take me down in this way. And yet, here I stand, in the midst of my half-destroyed warehouse. If we hadn’t caught the attempt at surveillance before, I don’t even want to think how much we could have lost.
And even if we haven’t lost much, wehavetaken a hit in the eyes of this city. Because shit like this, it doesn’t just go away. People will see now that we are vulnerable, that people are able to get into our warehouses and cause trouble. Who knows if somethingelse has slipped under the radar? What if there have been other spies working for me that I know nothing about?
