I snort with laughter at that.
“No chance of fun happening in my household right now.”
I don’t think Natalia Bryusova has had fun in her entire life and she’s not about to start now. She’s always locking herself away in her room, or cuddling that fucking cat. It’s bad luck to give an animal a person’s name.
“You haven’t had a piece of that?”
I don’t answer that. Telling anyone that I’m married to Natalia in name only would sound like she’s wide open for the taking.
And she might not be fucking me, but I don’t want anyone else to think about it.
“C’mon, why not? Live a little, Leks. She’s sweet?—”
He ducks away from my one-two punch, but I land another to his side as he tries to get away.
“She’s not sweet. She’s a spoiled brat.”
He shrugs, barely reacting to my next blow.
“Obviously, but you didn’t expect anything different. She refused to wear her hi-vis vest all week.”
“Of fucking course, wouldn’t want to mess with her princess outfits.”
I huff out a laugh at that, remembering her face when I’d thrown my hi-vis vest at her. The fact that she showed up to work with Yuri all week shocks me.
But I regret my decision to put her in his office when he continues.
“Nicer than I expected and pretty, too. Not the worst girl to marry I woulda thought.”
I land a jab in his stomach that knocks the wind out of him.Good. It makes him shut the fuck up about Natalia.
We box hard, lunging and scrapping, until I can’t think of anything except the fight.
Perfect.
Eventually Yuri pins me down to the mat, forcing me to tap out. Natalia immediately starts racing through my thoughts again.
What has she been doing at work with him all week? She’s barely said a word to me.
He helps me up and we head for water. I can’t let it drop.
“It’s not like I fucking chose her because she’s pretty, Yuri. I had to choose her for my plan to work out.”
“Sure, kid, I know you’ve got this big plan. All I’m sayingis, if I had to marry someone as part of a scheme, Natalia wouldn’t be the last name on my list.”
And if I had to kill a motherfucker for talking about my wife, Yuri would be top of my list right now.
I shake my head as I douse myself with water, but it does nothing to simmer down the rage that’s building to fever pitch.
“Take it back.”
Yuri looks at me like I’m crazy.
“I know you hate her family. But can’t you see that she’s a nice girl? Good-looking, too? I mean, a guy would have to be blind not to wa?—”
“That’s enough,” I growl, lunging towards Yuri and cracking a heavy blow right across his cheekbone.
The pain explodes in my hand, too. Motherfucker has a face made of steel.
