and not fighting one another.
Not fucking either though.
Arkady was a remarkable specimen of pure man. He didn’t have airs except for those he had every right to claim—sexually imposing, thoroughly capable of killing, smart, calculating, and cunning.
The tiniest foibles he’d shared only made him more human. More relatable. More reachable.
He wasn’t a complete sicko monster, and therein lay the quandary.
What was he going to do to me at the end of all this?
Leaning forward, Arkady pushed the dishes aside. He claimed my hands in his and snared my gaze.
“Now it is my turn.” He laced his fingers through mine, drawing me closer. “I want to know what happened that made you start cutting yourself in the first place.”
13
Arkady
I’D GOTTEN NO RELIEF last night, and today had been filled with more torment. Perhaps I should’ve let Lucia suck me off when she’d so lewdly begged.
I’d made her come but had taken no such succor myself.
It did not help that I’d tortured both of us even more during the shooting lesson. Standing right against her, I’d already been turned on to a ferocious level by the sight of her in the polished dress and the sexy high heels that showcased the curves of her body.
When I helped her handle the gun, I imagined the weapon was my rock hard cock she palmed with such timidity before taking a firmer grip. As she finally pulled the trigger, a grunt escaped me. Her lush ass felt so fucking right nestled against me, I’d wanted to explode like the bullet from the barrel.
The filthy innuendos I darkly murmured in her ear only served to draw a taut, sexual forcefield between us.
Eating a meal with Lucia became another minefield of temptation. Her ripe lips looked so sumptuous curved around the tines of a fork and, when she swallowed, I wanted it to be my rich cum sliding down her throat.
Somehow through it all, she’d inveigled information from me about my unorthodox upbringing or lack thereof.
Now I’d all but spilled my guts to her.
I did not lament my life. Had never regretted my choices. I’d learned to be tough at a young age, navigating the mean streets of Moscow. I’d fought, stole, forced, and foraged for my survival and that of my younger brothers.
Mine was not a life defined by luck, fate, or lack of foresight.
I left nothing to chance.
Now this woman had come along exactly by chance.
I saw her as an opportunity to enrich my life and, more importantly, to enrich the Zolotov Bratva.
Above all else, Yury demanded total loyalty as he deserved. The pakhan commanded respect, which was his by rights. During his life, he’d overcome no fewer hardships than Kirill, Maksim, and me.
None of us complained.
We killed when necessary and sometimes even when it wasn’t, because everyone must know the Zolotov Bratva was the most formidable adversary, and Boston belonged to us.
I did not need sympathy from Lucia Leone and, if she thought she could save me from myself, she was dead wrong.
After I point blank asked her what had prompted her to cut her legs in such a grisly way in the first place, she yanked her hands from mine.
She shot me a look of utter hate, but I saw the despair shading her luminous irises.
Placing my elbows on the table, I would not let her off the hook. “I told you my truth”—one part of it at least—“consider this payment for your lunch.”
“I made some of this lunch!” she hissed.
So she had, and it had tasted damn good.
But I needed answers from her so I could figure out just how to go forward with her. Because, after last night, I knew danger surrounded her on all sides.
Danger . . . including me.
Her beautiful brown eyes shuttered into cold brittleness. “If anything, it’s you who owe me, Arkady.”
I stared at her intently. “When I first asked you who had caused all those cuts and scars on your thighs you told me it was no one important.” Tilting my head, I watched as she blinked rapidly. “That’s how you think of yourself? As nobody important?”
“I despise you so much right now.” She snarled.
Yet the frostiness in her eyes melted, and I saw a glimmer of tears swimming there.
Then I sat back. I pulled out my cigarettes and lit a smoke before refilling my vodka and her champagne.
As I blew out a ring, she carefully sipped her drink, watching me the entire time.
Finally, she set her gaze upon a spot beside my head so I