Fractured Ties by Bethany-Kris Page 0,46
turn around, though.
“Spasibo,” he murmured.
Konstantin’s head tipped up a bit, and he nodded once. “Don’t mention it, but you’re treading very thin ice, brat.”
“I know.”
“Be careful not to fall in.”
“Kind of hard for a man my size, no?”
Maya stiffened, and Konstantin smiled.
Had Kolya just made a joke?
A dry, dark humored, real joke?
“You’re so fucked,” Konstantin said.
“Certainly,” Kolya agreed and then gestured at the quiet man still pretending to shuffle papers in the corner as he had through the entire exchange. “Pay the doctor, yes?”
Konstantin nodded. “Will do.”
• • •
“And I fucking swear,” Kolya threatened, “if you as much as bring him back to me with even one goddamn hair gone, I will rip yours from your skull.”
The man in the hotel doorway nodded quickly.
“Don’t let them take him out of your sights.”
“I won’t, and—”
“I didn’t ask for you to talk,” Kolya snapped.
“Kolya, be nice,” Maya said quietly from deeper in the room. She was still trying to unload her bag and get her shoes off. They hadn’t even been there for more than five minutes, and already he was in one of his moods—threatening to kill people or do them harm. It was second nature for Kolya, she believed. That was just how the man communicated. “Let him take Sumerki to see the emergency vet.”
“I should take him,” Kolya said, not unkindly. And yet still, a heat lingered in his words. She could hear the struggle.
“Then, let me stay with …” Maya gestured at the man in the doorway with a furry, sleeping Sumerki in his arms. The pup was fine—maybe a little shook up over everything that had happened, but he wasn’t injured visibly. Didn’t matter; Kolya wanted him checked, too. “Whatever his name is there.”
“Anton,” the man said.
Maya smiled. “Nice to meet you.”
Kolya, on the other hand, scowled. “He’s not important, Maya.”
More heat.
More darkness.
She gave him a look. “Stop that.”
“I—”
“Stop it. Either take Sumerki and leave me here, or let Anton take the pup to the vet. This isn’t hard, Kolya.”
He made a noise in the back of his throat and then glanced sideways at the sleeping pup before that cutting gaze of his drifted back to Anton. “Let him out of your sights, and you will die. I’ll know you did it, yes? Don’t even try to lie to me.”
Anton swallowed hard. “Da, Kolya. I got it.”
“Good—get gone.” Kolya swung the door closed in the man’s face but caught it just as fast. He opened it wide, and leaned out to shout into the hallway, “And I want a fucking call the second you’re done!”
“Kolya,” Maya said.
His back stiffened, but he didn’t turn around. She could see he was gesturing something at Anton, but not exactly what.
“Stop being horrible, Kolya,” Maya told him.
That did it.
He was quick to spin around to face her and slam the door closed at the same time. There was something dark in his eyes—a wildness shining back from him that she hadn’t seen before. Even as he came closer, and her instincts screamed at her to move, Maya refused. She stood still and firm, refusing to budge even an inch.
“You don’t get it,” Kolya said, passing her by.
Maya blinked, surprise flitting through her. “What don’t I get—that you worried; that your mood gets worse because you worry?”
“Both, and neither.”
She nodded and watched him raid the wet bar on the other side of the hotel room. He only seemed satisfied once he’d poured an entire glass of vodka. Not just a shot, no. The whole fucking glass, which was a quarter of the bottle.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Maya murmured, “I should have said when you worry about me.”
Kolya stiffened with his back turned to her. “We don’t have to talk details, no?”
“Why, do feelings get in your head and make you feel icky?”
She knew damn well that she was poking at a monster—pushing Kolya’s already thin nerves to the limit and waiting for them to snap. She didn’t know exactly what would happen once they did snap, but she wasn’t afraid.
This man had taught her something.
It was important.
He wouldn’t hurt her.
Never.
“They don’t make me feel … what is wrong with you?” he asked, spinning on his heel to face her again with a deeper scowl than before. “You can see I’m in a bad mood, yes?” He waved one hand at her, and said, “Go do something else and stop pestering me.”
“No, I’m good.”
Kolya sipped from the vodka, and arched a brow. “Maya—”
“You don’t get to be an asshole to me just because you’re