Fallen Stars and Broken Dreams - C.C. Masters Page 0,106
airport. He let Kingston buy first-class tickets, even though he knew it would get us caught. Yet, when Alex met us at the airport, Maverik made it clear we weren’t leaving New York without a fight. Nothing Maverik did made sense to me, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was missing something important. Somehow, I’d played right into Maverik’s hands. What was he up to?
Maverik casually shrugged as if he didn’t care what I thought. “Looks like we’re at the hotel.”
“I really want to strangle your brother,” I complained to Kingston.
Kingston yawned. “Mav wouldn’t set you up without a good reason.”
“Us,” I reminded him. “You’re going to be in trouble, too.”
“That’s right,” Kingston said with a grin. “We’re a team now.”
Maverik gave me a sharp look at Kingston’s statement. I stared at him in challenge, but he didn’t say a word. He held my gaze for a second, then picked up his phone as if I weren’t worth his attention.
I threw myself back in my seat. “Now I want to strangle you both,” I said irritably. “Don’t you take anything seriously?”
“Nope,” Kingston said without any shame whatsoever. “Taking life seriously is no fun. Just relax and enjoy the ride, Kitty Kat.”
Alex opened the car door and gestured for us to get out.
“We should get the Gotham suite this time,” Kingston said brightly before hopping out of the vehicle.
Maverik deigned to give me his attention again, but if I didn’t know better, I’d swear those grey eyes had a tinge of sadness to them. “King’s right, enjoy it while you can.”
He motioned for me to get out before him, and I didn’t argue. Babulya’s death had shown me that anyone could be taken from you without warning. If you didn’t treasure what you had in the moment, it could all be ripped away.
Chapter 31
Katya
I combed my fingers nervously through my hair and stared at myself in the mirror. I had been determined to get here by any means, but I hadn’t thought about what I would say to Ryan. I knew our relationship was a mess right now, but merely standing in a room together wouldn’t automatically fix it. We were going to have to work through our problems, and I would have to convince Ryan that he didn’t need to cut me out of his life.
Alex dropped us off in a swanky hotel suite and left a big guy named Rocko posted on the outside door. He hadn’t answered any of my questions about why Richard had me followed before I’d ever met him. But did he really need to? I already knew that Richard was controlling by nature and cautious about who he let near his family. I guess it would have been more shocking if Richard had invited me to live with them without knowing every tiny detail of my life beforehand.
I let out one last sigh and turned away from the nervous girl in the reflection. Ryan would be here at any minute, and I needed to be ready to face him. The doorbell rang, and I slipped a soft cardigan over my floral dress. The guys turned down the temperature much colder than I would have preferred, and I needed the layers to prevent me from turning into a popsicle. I gathered up my courage and walked out of my room and into the common area of the suite I was sharing with the guys.
“Katya!” Ryan said in surprise as soon as he saw me. Only it wasn’t in a good way - it was more of an ‘oh, shit’ moment. He took a step back from me as I walked towards him, and I frowned.
“Ryan, I know you asked me for space, but I really to see you,” I pleaded.
Ryan swallowed nervously and attempted to hide the envelope he was holding under one arm. Of course, that just brought to my attention that he was trying to hide something from me.
“What’s that?” I asked suspiciously.
Ryan’s eyes widened in alarm, and I lunged forward to try and snatch it from him. Ryan twisted away, but I wasn’t a stranger to having to tackle him to the ground. We went down in a tangle of limbs, and Kingston laughed.
“She’s going to find out eventually - you might as well just tell her,” Maverik said in exasperation.
I took the second of distraction Maverik offered and managed to get my hands on the envelope. Ryan still held on tight to the other side.