I glance at the little beeping GPS tracker, and I can tell I’m getting closer. It’s not pinpoint accuracy, but it’s close enough. Eventually I track Vasili to the industrial part of town, and there’s only so many options for him to hold someone hostage.
Or murder someone...
I shake my head free of the thought. I saved her once from my own wrath, and now I’m going to save her from Vasili’s torturous little hands.
Finally I come upon the black sedan I was looking for, parked alongside an old warehouse, but across from another. It’s one of the two, but my bet is on Vasili being too lazy and stupid to take even the slightest bit of care in hiding his destination.
I pull to a stop down the road slowly, so I won’t be overheard approaching. Getting out of the car though, I nearly stumble. I’m lightheaded from the loss of blood, more so than I anticipated. It’ll be a tough time making up for it, but there’s no turning away from it now. Not when my girl’s life is on the line.
I do my best to focus myself, push away the daze, but it’s not something easily done. The light-headedness from blood loss isn’t a pain I can simply push past, it’s something at a base level, beyond my control. I can’t ignore it, because ignoring it lets it control me. Best I can do is try and compensate for it, take into consideration the way it affects my movements, the loss of focus.
Making my way to the door I try to keep my senses peeled. Vasili isn’t a mob boss, and the number of guys he had at the motel was big. It must’ve been every thug he had under his thumb, and maybe a few extra he paid for the occasion. Which likely meant it was just down to him and that one guy he has with him.
Two on one are not odds I’m afraid of, generally speaking. I take on much worse as usual business. But with my head like this, it’s a risk. A big one. And if I fuck this up, it’ll be both Alicia’s and my life.
I take out my gun, a little later than I should’ve, and check the clip. Only a few rounds, but more than enough to get this job on a regular day.
Approaching the door I stop and l peek in through a grated window to get the best view I can, but the grime on the glass makes it difficult. Still, I can see a bit of movement to the left hand side, and I’d bet it’s them.
Even through the glass, though, I can hear a high pitched scream, muffled by the building.
My heart pounds, but I try to calm myself down. That’s a good sign. It means she’s alive, if nothing else. Pain means living.
Life is pain.
And as the stabbing, throbbing pain in my arm attests, as long as you’re alive and feeling that pain, you can still fight.
I kick in the door and lift my gun, firing off an initial shot at one of the men. It misses. I never miss. The damn light-headedness is messing with me. I pop off another shot as the thug spins around to aim his own gun at me, and this time he goes down.
“Mikhail,” Alicia gasps, her poor body tied up to a bed frame, and I can see there’s blood on her clothes. I can’t focus on that. Right now, I just have to worry about keeping her safe.
“Fuck!” Vasili screams. I didn’t know who I was taking out at first, my vision not as clear as I’m used to like this. But I’d recognize that weasely voice anywhere, any time. “Don’t move or I’ll—” I pop off another shot that takes Vasili in the shoulder or arm, I can’t tell. He goes down all the same. I’m not going to play some pointless standoff with this prick, if I wimp out and don’t take the shot, he has all the control, and then Alicia and I are both dead.
I can’t finish him off at this angle, because the bed is obscuring my view and Alicia is in the line of fire now. So I have to advance on them.
My walk isn’t the usual intimidating stride, I’m wobbling a little, I realize, even if I can’t quite feel it. I’m not going to be able to keep up this fight much longer, my reaction times are horrible, my aim is off, and this guy — as awful as he is — will gain the advantage on me with time.
“Come out,” I bellow at him, my voice thankfully losing none of its aggressive growl, at least.
“Fuck you!” he says as he reaches an arm up over the foot of the bed to shoot at me. I fire first, but it misses. He fires.
A miss.
I fire again and hit his forearm, making him scream and curse as he flails away. Alicia is still tied to the bed, but I’m close enough now that I don’t need to worry about hitting her, even with my aim as off as it is.
“You’re over, snake,” I say, pointing my gun straight down at his face, his panicked expression, hair matted to his sweaty forehead undaunting me. I pull the trigger and…
Nothing.
I’m out.
Normally I’d never lose count in a fight like this, but it’s all I can do to keep things straight. I pull the trigger again to make sure. Nothing.
Vasili’s face turns from abject terror to amusement, and he laughs at me.
“You fucked u—” he starts to shout, but as woozy as I am, I still manage to turn the gun around and beat him across the face with the handle in one smooth move. Some of Vasili’s teeth go flying from his mouth in a spray of blood.
I don’t waste energy on words, I grab hold of his expensive shirt and coat with my injured arm, and continue to beat him with the right. Hard blows upon meat and bone, his jaw cracking as I hammer away. While the blood might’ve drained out of me to an unhealthy degree, it’s blood in my view as I exact the price for fucking with my girl.
No amount of pain or suffering will make up for his terrorizing Alicia. I just need to make sure he never lives another moment to possibly trouble her.
It’s not until his face is misshapen and shattered that I hear Alicia crying out, her words a garbled mess, marked with sobs and rage. “Fucking kill him,” she hisses before she slumps back, exhausted. But even still, she’s a fighter, trying to work off the tight rope that’s no doubt cutting into her skin.
She can’t wait to be rid of this place, and neither can I.
With a final bloody blow to Vasili’s face, I knock him down to the concrete floor and raise my booted foot. I slam the heel down into his head and hear his neck snap.
The rat deserved no better death, and I’m only too happy to give it to him.
I look over at Alicia, and find her staring down at the gory mess, clutching one of her hands. The rope has rubbed her wrists raw, she must’ve struggled free a little, but that doesn’t explain the blood dripping from her fist. For a second, I think she’s going to be sick, so I shield her from Vasili’s corpse, from the sight that she never should’ve had to witness.
My arms wrap around her body and tug her close, protecting her for just a second from all the evils of the world. But I can’t protect her from me.
“We have to get out of here,” I murmur toward her ear, hoping that I don’t frighten my sweet Alicia. I take a moment to swipe the car keys from Vasili’s corpse as she nods against my chest. Even though when she stands, she trembles like a leaf.
I remove the rest of her bindings, then help her up. We step around the bodies, her face buried into my ribs the entire way out.
I’m not about to take the stolen car any further, and Vasili’s should be safe, so I help Alicia into the passenger side before starting up the vehicle. This is sloppy work, and I’ve left a trail from one crime scene to another with the stolen vehicle left behind, but now I have to concern myself with her safety, not mine.
“Where are we going?” she asks me in a wavering voice, trembling with hurt and anxiety. I want to hold her, tell her everything will be alright, but there’s no time. We have to be long gone from here before anyone comes by. Police or mob.
“I’ll take you to my nearest safehouse,” I tell her in a firm, hard voice.
“You have more than one?” she asks, and I’m glad that thought at least distracts her from the situation. It’s enough to make me laugh, if only just a bit.
“Da, I do,” I say, shooting her a sidelong confident look. “A real man has to be prepared for all eventualities. One safeh
ouse is easily discovered.”
She nods, still coddling her hand. I nod at it, then look in her eyes. She shakes her head.
“I’m fine. It’ll just need a Band-Aid or two when we get back,” she says, though I’m not sure if she’s lying. I don’t bother waiting to see, and instead pull back out onto the road, moving smoothly through the streets.
“I’ll be the judge of that,” I promise her, and even though my heart is thudding in my chest, I’ve never been so relieved in my life.
I have her back. She’s safe. And that Zasranec is dead.
My nearest safehouse isn’t too far out of town, and speeding as I am we get there before long. I know how to avoid the police after all, so it’s no worry. The big concern is making sure the car won’t be found and lead anyone to us. I take it into the garage beneath the building, into a secure little semi-private area.
Hopping out, I go around back and remove the license plate. I’ll bring down an extra from the safehouse later, but for now I just tuck it beneath my arm and go to help Alicia out, opening her door and pulling her into my arms.
“It’s all okay now, my kotika,” I tell her in a reassuring tone.
And she doesn’t want to be away from me, not even for a step. As I lead her up the gray stairwell she’s clinging to me, holding on for dear life. We make it to the top and I unlock the metal door, but it’s not until we’re inside and I’ve locked the door once more behind us that she finally eases up.
“Is that what you were warning me would happen?” she says, her voice a bit choked up. “I never should have disobeyed you and forced you to let me out.”
Her eyes are watery and the tears are about to flow, but I wrap my arms around her, squeeze her, unable to help noticing how tiny she feels. Smaller than usual, so bunched up and troubled.
“You had no way of understanding how severe this all is,” I tell her, and it’s the truth. “This isn’t your world you’ve stumbled into, it’s mine. I never wanted you to experience life like this.” That’s the truth, too.
Her good hand goes to my cheek, and I feel her push up on tiptoe until her mouth grazes against mine, but then she winces away in pain.
“C’mon,” I tell her. “Let's get your wounds looked at before we do something stupid.”
Unfortunately, both of us had more than our fair share of wounds, but within thirty minutes, I’ve sewn us both up. She was right, thankfully, and the cut on her finger didn’t drive too deeply at all. I must’ve interrupted him in the act of slicing off my precious kotika’s finger.
I’d never have forgiven myself if I’d been a moment late...
I don’t know which was worse, though: patching her up or taking care of my own bullet wound. A swig of alcohol numbs some of the pain, but certainly not all of it. Good thing I have steady hands and the willpower of a Minotaur.
“I need a shower,” Alicia says, and I want to tell her that she shouldn’t, but those emerald eyes are begging me not to. “Will you come with me? I don’t want to be alone...”
I nod, “Let me run the shower for you.”
I lead her down the halls, letting her look around. It’s another simple place, not too dissimilar to the safehouse I’d had her in before. It’s over top of a warehouse, in what was at one point undoubtedly the office section, with a break room, kitchen, lockers and shower. All of that now converted into another Spartan hideaway.
I start the water, get it nice and hot because that’s the way every woman I’ve ever known prefers it, then I turn, only to find her there waiting for me.
“Come here,” I beckon, my hands going to her top, carefully removing her blouse. I’m trying to play the gentleman, but it’s hard to ignore the pillowy mounds of breast flesh barely contained in her bra. Those luscious tits are enough to steal any man’s focus.
And it’s impossible to take my eyes away when her breath quickens, her breasts rising faster and fuller as I look at her. I swear, I see a flush go across her creamy skin, and when I look at her face once more, she’s drawn her lip into her mouth, chewing on it.
“I didn’t know if I’d ever see you again,” she confesses, taking a light step toward me, clearly favoring her unshot leg.
I’m woozy from the loss of blood, but I’m still made of flesh, and when her finger trails down my chest, the last thing I’m thinking about is my desire to have a shower and clean up. With her, I want to get down and dirty in every conceivable manner.
“You didn’t trust in me?” I ask, my voice tinged with a hint of darkness. I hope it’s enough to whet her appetite.
“I hoped I could,” she says, her voice just barely above a whisper. It’s nearly drowned out by the pitter patter of water beside us, the steam quickly working its way into the air. “But I thought maybe I’ve been too much trouble. Maybe you wanted to get rid of me after all.”
I shake my head, possessiveness burning in my veins. I keep pushing her away, so I know she’s partially in the right to feel the way she does, but the idea that she couldn’t trust me to rescue her burns me.
I know now what I have to do. I have to prove to her that she’s mine, and there’s no escaping that, or me. Not even through death.
18
Alicia
I don’t know what’s gotten into me. My head is spinning like a top, my body is aching all over, and all I can think of is my desire for this man. He saved me, again. And he didn’t just save me, but he showed me what he is, who he is.
He’s a man I should be terrified of, a man I should be running away from, but I’m not. Instead I’m standing here, wanting him to take me. To push my body to the limits and really make me feel what it is to be his woman.
My fingers trail down his body, and he simply breathes in evenly, as if he’s not affected, but I know he is. I know he wants me just as badly as I want him. It’s written all over his face, all over the way he can’t help but stare at my semi-exposed body.
I reach into his pants, stroking him through the cotton of his trunks, and already he’s as hard as a rock, pulsing with life and excitement. Whatever blood he’s lost, he’s got plenty to spare for this manhood of his.
“You should be careful, kotika,” he says in that perfect voice of his, and I shake my head.
“I don’t want to be careful,” I reply. “I’ve been careful all my life. I’ve done the right things, gone to school. I thought I was a bad girl for drinking a bit too much a couple times, and look where that all landed me. In the lap of some sleaze bag who intended on...” I stop. I can’t even bring myself to say what my boss must’ve planned for me by drugging me. I did my best not to reflect on it all this time, and I certainly don’t want to dwell on it now.
“That doesn’t mean you should lie with the devil,” he says, but he doesn’t move to stop the rubbing of my hand. In fact, he throbs harder as my emotions spill out of my mouth.
“Well it’s too late for that, isn’t it, Mikhail? We didn’t intend to get wrapped up in one another’s lives, but we made our choices, and I’m not going to turn my back on them now. I’m not going to pretend that what we have isn’t real.”
“And what is it you think we have?”
He stumps me, and I look up at him, meeting his intense gaze. I draw my lip into my mouth as I take a step closer to him.
“We don’t need to talk about this. I just want you to take me,” I say, and it’s like unleashing a beast within him.
“Be careful what you wish for, Kotika,” he growls as his hands quickly strip me of the rest of my clothes. It’s hungry, filled with longing and power, and I’m a doll, submitting to his whims. The warm steam caresses my curves, and leaves his chest looking glossy. It makes his muscles look even more pronounced, and I can’t help but purr in delight.
But when he picks me up and places me in the shower, the hot water splashing off my body, it’s so much more intense. I’ve never showered with someone else, certainly no one like Mikhail. He strips off the rest of his clothes, peeling away the blood-spattered su
it and shirt, letting me see the rippling hard muscle beneath. He’s a dark Adonis, tattoos and scars upon rippling musculature. No one would ever use the word ‘flawless’ to describe him with the marks of hard living all over his glistening flesh, but that’s how I feel looking at him like this; all naked and hard for me, and I’ve never wanted anyone or anything so badly in all my life.
All my concerns and fears are washed away by the steamy spray, and when he steps in, joining me, I suddenly feel small and vulnerable. For a moment, I’m lost in a trance as I watch water run down his flesh, beading along his skin as it trickles through the grooves and valleys of his bulging biceps and pecs.
I never realized how much I enjoy that feeling of powerlessness when I’m with Mikhail. For anyone else, I’d hate it. I’ve always been a bit standoffish, keeping people at a distance so that I can always feel in control. Everything about him reminds me that I’m not, though, and I love it.
From the simple touch of his big, hard hands, rough from a life of violence, but put to use stroking my smooth, tender flesh, to when he bends me over and the swollen crown of his cock presses against my pussy.
“Is this what you want?” he teases me, rubbing the throbbing crown of his manhood over my slickened flower.
I nod, my hand going to the wall to brace myself.
“Fuck me, Mikhail,” I plead, my voice warbling. All the sounds feel so much louder and more encompassing in the small bathroom, and I can hear his breathing surround me. The shower is small, and we’re pressed together. I can’t escape, even if I wanted to.
“Even after you saw what I did?”
It surprises me that he’d even be concerned about something like that. Mikhail rescued me. That bastard was torturing me, and he got what was coming to him. But Mikhail’s worrying about me makes my heart flutter.
Is this what love feels like? Like surrendering yourself to someone else and exposing your vulnerabilities to one another? Is it this sensation of growing soft and intense all at once? Is love bending to the scariest man you’ve ever met and never feeling safer?
Stolen from the Hitman: A Bad Boy Mafia Romance Page 32