“For what? Trespassing? I have not stepped inside? Stalking? You are the one stalking me.”
Damn, he’s got a point…not to mention I can feel the points of my nipples sticking through my top at the cool, calm way he’s handling this whole thing.
I should be more furious at this man, but biology is taking over and what my mind is really thinking about is opening my door wider so he can come inside for a furious session on my bed.
“What do you want?”
“The question is what do you want? Why are you busying yourself with this when you should be studying?”
“Jeez, I don’t know?” I say sarcastically. “Because a wanted murderer showed up at my front door…which is an address I didn’t give him.”
His eyes glaze along the doorjamb looking at the flimsy lock. I watch him visibly flinch and his hands form tight fists.
“You have every right to be worried about your security. I will get it fixed.”
“What do you mean you will get it…”
I don’t even finish my sentence. He’s already turned and gone, down the hallway and out the door.
I consider calling the police immediately, but know he’s already in the shadows. There’s no way they’ll get here fast enough and find him and if anything it will only make him angrier at me.
And angry is the last thing I want him feeling towards me, although that anger of his sure does make me feel things I didn’t know I was capable of feeling…about someone like him.
But who exactly is him?
CHAPTER 5
Julie
I go about my day, making sure to hide my money and valuables before I leave the house. I have no clue what’s going on right now, but if someone breaks into my home or something like that the last thing I need is to get robbed.
Then again how do you rob a broke person?
I just can’t stop thinking about this guy…this huge, towering man who seems to have an affinity for black clothes and showing up at the strangest of times.
Even with his shirt and jacket on it’s easy to see he’s not a stranger to a gym, his chest rippling underneath the material of his shirt when he was standing in front of me today.
He’s everything boys my age aren’t.
Dominant without quite being domineering, masculine, and persistent.
Guys my age can’t even properly ask a woman out on a date anymore preferring “let’s hang out” or “feel like cruising by.”
What in the hell is that? Where’s the romance. Where’s a guy with balls who’s not afraid to use them? A guy who asks a woman on a date, shows up with an ironed shirt and a plan and a little bass in his voice?
This guy’s got brass balls, the body of a beast, and a gravelly voice that sounds like leather tipped in steel.
I exit the subway and a few minutes later I’m entering my building where I notice a lot of tenants seem to be mulling about in the hallways. There’s also the sound of drills and some maintenance men moving about.
“What’s going on?” I ask Riley when I get to our front door, only to see she’s standing there as if she was awaiting my arrival.
“You didn’t hear?”
“Hear what?” I ask looking at the doorjamb my eyes tracking back to the door. “Is that new?”
“They’re all new. Look at this locking system. It’s like Fort Knox up in here now,” she says.
I step inside and set my bag down, looking at the door. The thing looks like it’s reinforced steel or something. I grab the side of it and swing it, feeling its weight. My eyes move to the lock where there’s a deadbolt now, the door lock, a chain, and a keypad with a code.
“What’s all this about?”
“I’m not sure, but the superintendent came by earlier and couldn’t stop apologizing about the lack of safety of the building and promised he was going to get it fixed right away.”
I swallow hard.
“Apologizing to you or to everyone?”
“I think everyone, but I only saw him physically come to our place so I’m not sure.”
I’m sure. And I know exactly who’s responsible for this.
CHAPTER 6
Vladimir
I fire three rounds into the target at the shooting range.
Head shots…all of them.
I holster my weapon and step outside of the live fire area and into the showroom. A Desert Eagle on the wall catches my eye, but I keep walking.
“Thanks for coming by,” the guy at the desk says, but I just keep going. The last thing I need to do is stop and purchase that thing, although I want to. I want to take it back to Julie’s apartment and stick it down her landlord’s throat to let him know how I feel about men who don’t protect women.
What the fuck kind of rinky-dink Mickey Mouse operation was that guy running?
He was trying to save a few bucks and in the meantime putting all his tenants at risk.
Those days are over.
After I left Julie’s apartment I went right down to his office and let him know things were changing, today.
Fear is the greatest motivator, especially when I’ve got you by the shirt collars and you’re pressed against the wall with your feet off the ground.
I sit outside her building in my Range Rover now, not wanting to be spotted in my Mercedes tonight.
Maybe I’m fucked up in the head, but my cock is rock hard as I watch those security professionals running in and out of the building installing the new doors and locks. It turns me the fuck on knowing I’m making her life safer, knowing that she knows someone in this big city is watching out for her.
She’s not alone here, not anymore. I’m making sure of that and that starts with keeping her safe.
She may be feisty as hell and sharp as a tack, but that doesn’t mean a man should just assume she can take care of herself. I know she can, but that’s not the point. The point is now I know she’s safe, and that gives us both peace of mind…until she lives with me that is.
And I sit out here in my Rover the rest of the day and into the night until those security guys are finished. I know how criminals and thieves think. This is the perfect time to slip inside, amidst all the unrecognizable faces. That’s not happening.
I tip back my coffee black and keep an eye on the door, wanting to go in there right now and take her from her room like a fucking caveman. But the real person I should be dragging around by their hair is that landlord, and he knows I would have too, which is why after I lit a fire under his ass he got to work on securing the building.
I stay focused on the door, but my mind wanders a bit to the moment she arrived back home. That sway in her hips. The way she walks with enthusiasm and a sense of purpose.
And how she’s given me my one and only one purpose in life…to make her mine.
CHAPTER 7
Julie
I open the fridge a couple hours later, finding nothing inside as usual.
“Riley, I’m going to run to the corner store and get some ramen noodles. You want anything?”
“I’m good. Thanks.”
It takes me a full minute to exit the apartment as it’s my first time entering the code and going through all the locks.
Part of me wants to roll my eyes at this, but I know our place is much safer now.
As I pass through the building entrance I see the guys installing security cameras and testing the new front doors. This whole setup must have cost a small fortune, but it, or something like it, was badly needed so I don’t feel sorry for the landlord.
The second my foot clears the door I scan both directions and notice a Range Rover across the street with the window down.
It’s him. I can see him sitting in the driver's seat, his eyes tracking me.
I walk briskly to the corner store, my mind racing as I grab a packet of noodles, knocking the others off the shelf because I can’t focus…and my hand is shaking.
I pay and then exit the shop, but I don’t stay on my side of the street, inste
ad crossing over and making a beeline for his car.
I move quickly, approaching with a sense of purpose. His body is still, coming into focus more and more with each step I take.
“Are you fucking crazy? Are you a stalker?”
He says nothing, just staring at me, his window down.
“I have to live here. You can’t just come here threaten my landlord and do…this,” my arm swinging out towards the direction of my building.
“You do not have to live here.”
“Oh…so where else am I going to live on a student’s budget.”
“With me.”
“Oh my god, you’re scaring me.” For some reason my feet won’t move though. I don’t want to run away, but I don’t want to get any closer to him either.
“You can take your things and leave tonight if you want. I am ready.”
“No, you’re absolutely crazy.”
“Appearances are not always what they seem. You, of all people, should know that.”
I squint at his cryptic message. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Let me tell you tomorrow over dinner.”
“You think I’m going to go anywhere with you again?”
“Make it lunch if you prefer. It will be light out and we can meet in a public place.”
“No.”
“Okay then. Have it your way. I will keep doing what I am doing until you relent.”
“That is stalking and I can have you arrested for that.”
“You can get a court order at best, which we both know is very difficult to enforce.”
“I’ll do it. Watch me.”
“I would rather handle this as adults…not to mention your father would be very upset with that course of action.”
“My father?” A chill runs up my spine. “You better…you…leave my family alone.”
“Your father is the reason I am here in the first place. He knows I am not a bad guy. Give me one chance to prove to you the same. If you do not think I am, I will leave you alone forever.”
“No!”
I storm away, crossing the street towards my building.
“Okonomi on Ainslie Street at noon tomorrow. Since you seem to like noodles, you might as well have the best,” booms out from the passenger’s side window and into the night.
I can’t act like I didn’t hear it, his voice is too powerful and projects too strongly.
So I do the first thing that comes to mind.
I keep walking and without turning back I flip him the bird.
CHAPTER 8
Julie
The next day
I’d stared at the time on my phone for two hours, pacing the room even, before I finally decided to relent and meet him at Okonomi. It’s a famous place in town, although small so I figure it’s not like he’s going to kidnap me in broad daylight. If he wanted to do that he would have already.
He knows where I live. He knows, somehow, that I had noodles in the bag from the convenience shop last night, and apparently he knows something about my dad.
And now curiosity is about to kill the cat because I just have to know what’s going on to put a stop to this…or a start.
I’m angry at myself that I find this guy attractive, interesting, and dangerous. He’s unlike anyone I’ve ever met, by a mile, and I can’t help but like him in some strange, twisted way.
I walk into the tiny little quaint restaurant and there he is, sitting at the lone table that’s not one of the seats at the sushi bar. How does a restaurant only have one table? Leave it to a clandestine kind of man to know that kind of information I guess.
He nods, standing and pulling out my chair.
I move towards the chair and before I sit he’s already helping me with my jacket before motioning to one of the sushi chefs who hurriedly brings me a cup of green tea.
“Thank you for coming,” he says, diffusing the tension in the room…slightly.
“Did you think I wouldn’t?”
“No, but it is still important to show you the respect you deserve.”
So much for modesty but at least he’s honest, and kind of nice about it in a weird way.
We order our food and his big dark eyes lock in on mine. He looks at me like he’s inspecting me, almost like I was a lover from his past that he hasn’t seen in years and he’s surprised we’re here in the same room face to face.
“I know you are busy with school and life so I will not waste your time. My name is Vladimir. The other night I was watching over you, as I have been since you started attending Brooklyn Law School. Initially your father asked me to check up on you, but the first time I saw you I lost my mind over your beauty. I could not stop staring. Something inside me flipped, and I knew that moment you were the one for me.”
He takes a sip of his tea like what he just told me was the most natural thing in the world and that that’s that, as if he’s made up his mind that I am his and there’s no reason to second guess it or fight what’s inevitable.
“My father asked you to check up on me?”
“Yes. I have been following you around ever since. When I saw you were coming to Brighton Beach I was surprised. I thought maybe it even had something to do with your father’s business, but apparently not.”
“My father’s business? He works in D.C.”
“I know, but why did you come to study law in Brooklyn and then go to Brighton Beach within a few months after you arrived? Most people never come this way, unless visiting Coney Island in the summertime. It seemed strange.”
“Why did it seem strange?” My eyes narrow, wondering if Vlad is full of crap or if there’s something really to this. My fear is starting to subside and I’m genuinely a lot more curious about this than I was to begin with…and I started off perplexed and extremely intrigued to begin with.
“What does your father do for a living?”
“What do you mean? He works in D.C. as a lobbyist.”
“And who does he lobby for?”
“Clients.”
“And do you know who these clients are…the ones who provide him with a nice salary so he can live in a big, beautiful house and pay for his daughter to attend law school?”
“He doesn’t pay for all of it. You saw where I live.”
He says nothing as if he’s almost annoyed that I’m challenging some sort of knowledge that he considers to be obvious.
“No, okay. I don’t know.”
“And do you know who that man was the other night? The one who came at you and tried to take your watch?”
“No idea. Why don’t you tell me Mr. Know-it-All?”
“He was a Chechen rebel and he had targeted you specifically, although I was not expecting it and I do not think he was expecting to see me there either.”
“What?”
“Your father works with Russians, trying to make things easier for them in the United States. Chechens are some of our biggest enemies, and apparently this man made you one of his enemies, or at least a way to get back at your father. He came at you, but he must have noticed me in the cab talking to you and instead of doing something more violent he simply stole your watch.”
“Simply stole my watch?” As if it really is that simple.
“But he failed. I made sure of it…and I made sure he would not ever have an opportunity to try again.”
“Yeah, about that.”
He raises one finger to stop me, those deep, dark eyes looking right to left without his head moving an inch. “Please keep your voice down.”
“Why should I?”
“Because you want to stay alive, do you not?”
“Stay alive? What kind of James Bond game are you trying to spin on me here?”
“If you knew who that man was you would be on your knees praying to God, thanking him for how lucky you are to have survived.”
I say nothing.
“You remember the bombing at the marathon in 2013?”
I nod.
“Chechens. The
re are very, very few in the United States. We Russians, along with your father, have made sure of it. Unfortunately that man got in and he was planning something even worse than what happened in New England.”
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