Page 77 of Volatile Waters

Wolf assured me, “It’s no surprise, with all you have been through.”

Was it risky to confide in him? I didn’t think so at the time. I always left out important details so that I gave him no true leads on me. Besides, there was barely any record I even existed. My true identity was buried in lies. I wasn’t even confident I was born in a hospital. As far as the world knew, there was a Yury who appeared from time to time. In truth, I was a ghost—a very dangerous, haunting ghost that was impossible to track.

Squished in the corner, I sat on Wolf’s bed, the wall propping me up. He was next to me. Both of us together barely fit, with our broad shoulders, but for long conversations, it was much more comfortable than the cold floor.

He no longer asked why I was a trafficker. He knew this life was all I understood. But he did repeatably ask why I stayed. Wolf was baffled. “Just get in your car and go.” He moved his hand in the air as if leaving my whole life behind was as easy as driving away.

Watching his hand, I was actually tempted. I was tired. Really tired. Even though I wasn’t positive as to the reason why, Wolf had me suspecting it was my environment.

I asked him, “If I left, where would that leave you?”

His face was so close to mine; I could see his lips quiver as he softly said, “Take me with you.”

Anger filled my chest in record speed. “Is this what all these conversations are about? You’re trying to trick me?”

He gawked at me in total dismay. “Me? Trick you?” With surprising speed, he got on his hands and knees in front of me, putting his face in mine. “Have you forgotten I’m not here willingly?”

I had. Wolf had, once again, made his confinement feel more like a true bedroom where we just happened to prefer lounging about. “Of course not. You are only a job to me.”

It was only for a second, but there was hurt in his entrancing eyes. “Then get on with your ‘job’ so I can get the fuck out of here and away from you.”

“You want away from me?” As I quickly maneuvered to my knees to take the dominant stance in the argument, Wolf lifted his hands to match my aggression.

On our knees, chest to chest, face to face, we stared at each other. His panting breath mirrored my own. “I want away from anyone who only views me as a ‘job.’”

At that very moment, I felt so off-kilter and confused, but I didn’t care, because his words were telling me something; he was longing to be more to me. It was a perfect moment to pursue.

My hand felt alive, tingling as I reached under his long hair to touch him. Wolf didn’t move as my palm grasped the nape of his neck. In fact, he slightly leaned into my affection.

An incredible sensation fluttered in my stomach as I whispered, “I’m apologizing again.”

The quarrel was ending, but we were both still, very much so, locked in an intense moment. Wolf’s eyes went half-mast. “Don’t use our friendship against me by twisting up my words.”

The closest I ever had to a friend was Crash.

And I killed him.

Wolf was becoming so much more than a slave, but he was also a silent redemption to the wrong I’d committed against Crash. Unconsciously, I craved the forgiveness needed to move past a murder that was drowning me with guilt.

I leaned my forehead to Wolf’s. “I won’t again.”

His forehead tenderly rubbed against mine. “What is your name?”

My lips hovered above his. “You know what you are to call me.”

His eyes squeezed shut as he pled, “No. For moments like these.” His hand touched my hip. “When no one else can hear us, let me call you something else.”

His reaction to me was all wrong—against what he should be feeling—but I was already so enraptured, so lost in how Wolf pleasantly puzzled me, I was missing key details.

It tasted sour to speak my false name to him, but I lacked a choice. “Yury.”

His eyes drifted open. “The last thing I expected was to care for my abductor.”

My heart raced, hearing that he cared for me. No one had ever claimed to feel that way for me. It was almost paralyzing. Only one thing kept me moving. “What do you mean, ‘expected’?”

He jolted. There was something in his eyes again. This time, it was deceit.

Wolf quickly left the bed as he looked away. Then he walked toward a wall. “You’re twisting my words again.”