Dirty Passions An Interracial Russian Mafia Romance (The Lion and The Mouse #5) - Kenya Wright Page 0,18

soon, huh?” Max puffed some more of the joint.

“Yeah.”

“You think Frenchie wants a taste of that Emily love?” Max tried to hand me the joint.

I waved his offer away. “No. Jean-Pierre is in love with Eden. I think he’s calculated and understands the power of us being friends equates to keeping the love of his life safe.”

Boris checked me in the rear view mirror. “You said something about him having cameras in the house.”

“Yes. Somehow he saw Kaz and I yelling in the war room. He said he has men on me now, following us.”

Boris cursed in Russian.

Max chuckled. “Don’t worry. Em always has creepy ass dudes after her. You’ll get used to it too.”

I put my phone in my pocket, hoping Kaz didn’t hear that call. With me gone, I was sure he would have someone monitoring me now.

“We need to get to that sewer.” Max blew out more smoke. “We’ve got the Russian’s following us. We’ve got the French watching you. Shit is getting crowded.”

“What a crazy day?” I leaned back in my seat, trying to get as much rest as I could, before hitting the sewers. All I had wanted to do was lay in Kaz’s arms, and now I was running from him.

And what the hell am I going to do about Jean-Pierre?

Five minutes later, Boris entered a garage, went to the first level, and parked. “Here we are.”

Max put out his joint. “Where’s the entrance?”

Boris pointed to the corner of the garage. “The sewer cap over there. It’s rigged so anyone can lift it up.”

“And rats can slip in too.” Maxwell scrunched his face in disgust. “How long is the tunnel into Kapotnya?”

“Ten minute walk.”

“That’s already too long.” Max opened the door and left the car.

I exited too. “Are you going to complain the whole way?”

“Yes. I am.”

I grinned. It was good to have Max around. Due to the pregnancy loss, I felt more sadness than I ever thought possible. And with my leaving Kaz, I underwent a roller coaster of emotions—numbness and disbelief. Anger, guilt, and sadness.

Boris headed over to the sewer cap and lifted it.

Following him, Max bent over and looked down into the hole. “Man, it stinks in there and it’s dark.”

“Don’t worry.” I patted his back. “You’ll fill it up with enough weed smoke to get rid of the smell and make all the rats go to sleep.”

“I’ll go in first.” Boris turned on the flashlight app on his phone and lowered into the hole. “There’s a ladder. I can catch you, if you need me to, Emily.”

“I won’t need it.”

Boris climbed down further. “I texted everyone. They’ll meet us in Kapotnya in an hour.”

Max pulled out another joint.

“Really? Are you going to put that out and come on?” I followed Boris into the hole.

“How about you focus on not falling off the ladder and messing up those blue pajamas.” Max placed the joint out at the top of his ear and began to climb down too.

As I descended into the sewer, a calmness washed over me. I always found comfort in the darkness.

When I was a kid, I’d been obsessed with finding secret tunnels throughout New York, spending weeks reading through books in the library and then dragging Maxwell and Darryl to search them out. People wouldn’t believe how many passageways had been built and hidden right under them.

But for some reason, tunnels and dark labyrinths had been my home. At the scariest times of my life, I sought the tunnel’s hidden comfort over anything else. It was crazy that today after losing so much, I had ended up in one.

The universe is an odd place.

Once all of us hit the ground, darkness swallowed us in. Even with Boris’s flashlight it was hard to see.

I pulled out my phone and turned on the light. I figured Max was about to do it too, but the only thing he lit was his joint from earlier.

I rolled my eyes. “Wow, Max. Just wow.”

“I need to be comfortable. Or you’re going to hear the sounds of a black man crying and shrieking every ten seconds.”

“Good point.”

Together, we walked in silence, through the darkness. Rats scurried past our feet. They were bigger than the ones in New York and much bolder. A few sniffed at our feet, before darting away.

Max let out a long breath which was probably thick with marijuana smoke. “What’s up with all the cats down here?”

Boris spoke, “Those aren’t—

“You’re focus,” I interrupted. “Just focus on. . .heading this way.”

I nudged