by Leslie North
Kaz pulled away, the muscles in his arms shaking with the effort of holding himself back, and his face sweaty, his cheeks ruddy with passion. She’d never seen him look more intense or more beautiful. Allie reached up and pushed his damp hair off his forehead.
“Okay, kotenok?” he asked, even now concerned for her.
Touched by his kindness and attentiveness, she nodded, her breath catching as he hit just the right spot inside her. “Yes. God, yes. Right there. More, please. More.”
“Da.” He thrust harder and deeper inside her, angling himself to hit that spot again and again. Sensation sparked bright through her bloodstream, made stronger when he reached between them to stroke her throbbing clit again. Soon, she was heading straight for another climax.
“Are you close, kotenok?” he asked, his breath panting and his eyes fever bright.
“Yes. So close.”
“Good.” He drove her higher toward orgasm, his thrusts becoming faster and less practiced until finally her world shattered into nothing but light and heat and emotion. Kaz went still and stiff against her, his back arched and his head thrown back as he groaned loud and came hard inside her. Together they clung to each other as they rode out the waves of their passion until, at last, their bodies calmed.
Kaz sank down onto the mattress beside her and pulled her into his arms, snuggling Allie into his side. She shivered, her sweat slicked body chilled now in the afterglow of great sex. He pulled the covers up over them, his fingers tracing lazy patterns up and down her back.
“God, I needed that,” he said, his voice gravelly with exhaustion. “Are you okay, kotenok?” he asked. “Did I hurt you?”
“No. Not at all, you were wonderful.” She moved closer to him, laying her head on his chest and resting her hand over his heart. “I needed that too. Tomorrow will be hard, when you beat up my brother.”
“Yes.” He kissed the top of her head. “It will be. But we’ll get through this together.”
As Allie drifted off to sleep, she couldn’t help taking comfort in his words, even though they barely knew each other, even though he was technically the enemy, even though she should technically hate him for what he was about to do to her precious baby brother.
He was right.
They would get through tomorrow, and the rest of this ordeal.
Together.
4
Kaz
The next morning, Kaz awoke to the sound of a key grating in the lock of Allie’s apartment door. The woman herself was still cuddled by his side, snoozing away, so his protective instincts immediately went on high alert. Had Salko discovered the location of Allie’s apartment? Kaz had been careful to cover his tracks when coming here, but Salko had spies everywhere. Had one of his bodyguards shown up to deal with them all?
Carefully, so as not to wake her, he slipped out of bed and quickly tugged on his jeans from the night before, then moved across the apartment to grab his gun from the pocket of his coat where it hung from a peg on the wall by the entrance. Pulse pounding, he waited in the dim, early-morning light, his naked back pressed to the cold wall and his weapon at the ready.
Light streamed in as the door creaked open, temporarily blinding him. Kaz blinked hard and squinted at the figure who now stood on the threshold of Allie’s apartment. Male, several inches shorter and about fifty-pounds-less-muscle lighter than Kaz. The light from the hall caught a crop of shaggy brown hair, pale skin, and eerily familiar hazel eyes.
Danny Charman.
Kaz had him by the neck in an instant, slamming the guy back up against the wall as he kicked the door closed with his bare foot. Any thoughts of waking Allie were buried beneath an avalanche of anger and resentment for the douchebag now within his grasp. Spoiled, selfish, self-centered Danny fucking Charman. How dare Danny show his face at his sister’s place when he’d run out on his debts and left her to clean up his mess!
“About time you showed up, you worthless piece of shit,” Kaz growled, vaguely aware of Allie’s startled gasp from the bed across the room and the sound of rustling sheets. “I’ve been waiting for you.”
Danny squirmed against the wall, his feet dangling useless about an inch off the floor as he clawed at Kaz’s hand choking off his windpipe. “I came to see my sister,” he squeaked. “If you let me go, I can explain.”
“Fuck you and your explanations,” Kaz all but spat in the guy’s face. He’d had it with this asshole’s excuses and lack of care for his sister’s sacrifices on his behalf.
“Wait!” Allie ran over to them, clutching a sheet around her. “Don’t hurt him. You promised.”
“I promised not to make his injuries permanent or fatal.” Kaz bared his teeth. “But there will be pain involved. Lots of it.”
To prove his point, he slammed his weapon down hard on the side of Danny’s head. Blood trickled from his scalp and Allie screamed. “Let him go! Stop it! He’s turning blue, he can’t breathe!”
Her sobs slowly penetrated the red haze of fury in his brain and slowly Kaz released Danny. The guy slid down the wall to land in a heap on the floor, the side of his face bloody and his pained gasps filling the air. Disgusted, Kaz turned away, wiping the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand while Allie crouched beside her brother, using the corner of her sheet to dab the blood from his cheek.
“What’s he doing here, Al?” Danny whispered to his sister. “Don’t tell me you’re sleeping with this guy. He’s a—”
Kaz swiveled fast, gun raised and cocked, his aim at Danny’s heart. “Watch what you say next. Your words may be your last.”
“Put that away,” Allie said, angrily. “He’s my brother and he’s bleeding. I need to help him.”
“All you ever do is help him, kotenok,” he said, his tone harsh. “Perhaps if he had to deal with his own messes, your precious Danny would finally grow the fuck up.”
“Fuck you!” Danny snarled, glaring at him from the floor. “How dare you get my sister involved in all this.”
“Me?” The tight leash on Kaz’s rage frayed a little more. This bastard had the audacity to accuse him of mistreating his sister? But Kaz was a better man than Salko. He didn’t murder people over money. Over Allie, however, he might be persuaded. “Don’t you dare to even speak about me, you pathetic piece of shit. You’ve done nothing but take advantage of the people who love you your whole life. Do you even care about Allie? Were you just being stupid when you gave me her address? Have you ever once been concerned for her welfare? Maybe if you would’ve paid your debts to Salko on time,” he said, waving his free hand in Allie’s direction, “then your sister wouldn’t have to sell the business she loves to save your lying, cheating ass.”
“What?” Danny pushed Allie’s hands away and scrambled to his unsteady feet, his gaze darting from his sister to Kaz. “What’s he talking about, Al? You’re selling Charmante?”
Allie straightened and gave Kaz a pointed stare. “We have to come up with the money, Danny. You know I don’t have that kind of cash in savings. What other choice do I have?”
“So you give yourself to a scumbag like this?” Danny looked Kaz up and down with the same horrified expression most people reserved for shit stuck to the bottom of their shoe. “He’s nothing but a thug, Allie. A killer for hire. A worthless, uneducated, punk who—”
Kaz was used to insults. Hell, he lived with them every day from Salko. But hearing a dirty fucker like Danny Charman spew such hatred at him caused something inside Kaz to snap. He charged at Danny and the guy took a swing at him. An actual fucking punch and the game was on.
The next few seconds were a blur for Kaz, a barrage of flying fists and grunts and groans punctuated by the soft thud of bone hitting bone and the jarring pain of bruised muscles and torn flesh. Danny managed to land a knee to Kaz’s gut and he doubled over. But before his opponent could do any more damage, Kaz wrapped an arm around Danny’s neck and yanked him away from the safety of the wall, throwing him down on the floor then landing atop him, sen
ding a non-stop flurry of left-crosses and right hooks into Danny Charman’s too perfect, detestable face. In the back of his mind, his promise to Allie reverberated, along with her cries at both of them to stop. He wouldn’t kill the guy, wouldn’t do any damage, but he sure as hell would give this asshole a beating he’d never forget.
Time seemed to slow as he struck Danny over and over again. All his pain, all his anger over the years unloading with each punch until finally Danny stopped fighting back and just lay limp beneath Kaz’s straddling legs. Allie’s sobs broke through the violence at last and Kaz stopped hitting, stopped punching, stopped it all and just concentrated on the plan ahead of him.
“Get my phone,” he said to Allie, his breath uneven and his words laced with pain from what was most likely his broken ribs. For such a coward, Danny had a few good moves in him and had landed a few blows himself.
“Go to hell,” Allie yelled, rushing over to Danny’s side again. “I swear to God if you’ve killed him I will take your life with my bare hands.”
“He’s fine. He’s breathing, see?” Kaz climbed off Danny then pointed at the slow rise and fall of the guy’s chest. Sweat and blood stung his eyes and he blinked hard, scrubbing his hand over his face. His knuckles were cracked and bruised from the violence, not to mention the stab of regret in his chest each time he heard Allie sob. Beating Danny up was a necessary evil, but perhaps doing it in front of Allie had been a mistake.
Instead of saying anything more, he stalked back over to his jacket and pulled out his phone. Opening the camera app, he walked back over to Danny, who was still out cold, and started taking photos of the bloody injuries to his face. Judging from the crooked angle of his nose, the guy’s nose was broken. Good. That should be sufficient proof for Salko that Kaz was doing as ordered.
“Stop it!” Allie said, glaring up at Kaz as he snapped more photos. “What kind of animal are you?”
“The kind of animal who’s trying to save his own life and your business.” Kaz took a few more shots of Danny then shut off his phone, hating the hurt that streaked through him knowing that Allie’s allegiance still rested firmly with her lowlife brother despite the passion they’d shared the night before. “Perhaps showing Salko that I’ve beaten up Danny will buy us a bit more time, kotenok.”
“Don’t call me that.” She ran a tender hand over her brother’s forehead then straightened to face Kaz, her expression furious. “You lost that right when you attacked my brother.”
Frustrated, Kaz stalked over to her kitchen sink and washed the blood off his hands and face then grabbed a nearby dish towel to dry off. “We went over this last night. The plan was always to beat up your brother. His arriving here unannounced made things easier, that’s all. Why are you so upset with me now?”
“Talking about it and seeing it in action are two different things.” She crossed her arms over her chest, tugging her sheet higher around her. “And you said beat him up, not beat him senseless.”
“There’s a difference?”
“There is to me.”
Jaw clenched, Kaz tossed the towel aside and scowled down at his toes. He’d been open with Allie, both physically and emotionally. More than he had with anyone in years. He’d let her see the heart of him, the person he kept hidden from everyone else. He’d thought perhaps she was different, that they might have a future together after all this mess with her brother was over. But he could see now he’d been wrong. No matter what he said or did, she’d always see him as nothing but a Bratva bully, a hired thug, a stupid, worthless piece of mindless muscle.
Danny was her brother, her blood, her family. He would always come first.
Kaz understood that sentiment, even embraced it himself when it came to his own kin.
But understanding it didn’t make it any easier to accept.
Didn’t make it any less painful either.
“Fine,” he said, stepping around her and walking back to the bedroom to pull on the rest of his clothes as her brother started to come to on the floor. “I’m leaving.”
“Hang on a minute.” Allie padded behind him across the hardwood. “What about last night? What about us? You’re just going to walk out on all that like it meant nothing to you?” She stopped several feet from him and blinked at his stoic face. Kaz had been hiding his emotions for so long he was good at it. Maybe too good. “It doesn’t mean anything to you, does it? Last night was nothing but sex for you, a way to relax and blow off a little steam.”
The brittleness in her tone nearly brought him to his knees but he had to be strong. There were still too many lives at stake for him to fall apart now—Allie’s, Danny’s, his own. “I need time alone to regroup.”
“You know what? I see now that you were just taking what you want from me, and now that you’ve gotten it you just want to leave. That’s fine. I was beginning to think maybe I’d misjudged you. That maybe you were more than the thug I’d expected you to be in the beginning. But I was wrong. Obviously.”
He shoved his feet into his black motorcycle boots then stepped around her to head for the door. He did his best not to see the anguish on her face as she turned back to her moaning brother and failed miserably. Still, as he strapped on his shoulder harness then shrugged into his jacket, Kaz steeled his heart. All his life he’d compartmentalized his feelings in order to survive. He’d done it when his father had walked out on him and his mom when Kaz was just a kid. He’d done it when he’d been eleven and he and his mom had run into his dad and his “new” family at a shopping center one day and Kaz realized the father he’d worshipped was happier with his “new” wife and kids, that Kaz would never have the same kind of close relationship with his father that the “new” family had with him. And he’d done it on every single collection call Salko had assigned him over the years. Closing off his heart with Allie now should be a piece of cake.
Except it wasn’t. Not at all.
In fact, if felt like someone had carved out his heart with a dull spoon, leaving an open, raw gaping wound in the center of his chest. The only thing he’d ever wanted in life was to be someone’s top priority, their number one. He’d thought for a moment, maybe he could have that with Allie.
He’d been wrong, too.
“I’ll call you when I know something more,” he said, as he walked out the door of her apartment, his last image was of her kneeling beside her brother as he sat up, Allie’s expression full of pained anger.
Kaz drove around for several hours trying to get his head back on straight. Part of him wanted to run back to Allie’s place and make sure she was okay, erase that look of devastation and regret on her face. But the other part of him knew they needed to use the day or two they had left to get the money together to pay Salko in full, somehow.
He glanced in the rearview mirror of his old Chevy Cutlass Supreme and spotted the non-descript gray sedan that had been following him for the last half hour. In hindsight, sending those pictures to Salko had most likely been a mistake, since it gave the guy his GPS coordinates and now they were tracking him, but he’d needed to do something, goddammit. The Cutlass had more rust than green paint left and was a far cry from the fancy, tricked-out Bentley his half-brothers had ridden around in during their time with the Bratva—usually with Kaz chauffeuring them. But the Chevy was his and that’s all that mattered.
Cranking the classic rock up even louder on his car stereo, Kaz headed south toward the old Bratva safe house in the strip mall. They hadn’t had use for the place much since his half-brother Nik’s fiancée, Daphne, had been housed there for protection. Kaz snorted and sped through a yellow light to try and lose his tail.
As he pulled into the rundown strip mall parking lot a few minutes later, he noticed several cars he recognized parked out front, mainly other low-level enforcers for the family who were probably hanging out in the lounge. Perfect.
He` parked in front of the pawn shop that fronted the safe house, then got out. The clerk behind the counter, a young girl with a hot p
ink Mohawk, barely looked up as he made his way back through the store and through another door into the secret Bratva lounge in the back. The place reeked of stale cigarettes and booze just like always. Several of the enforcers greeted him as he made his way to the bar at the back of the room and grabbed a bottle of Johnny Walker from the shelf on the wall. It wasn’t even ten o’clock yet but man-oh-man did he need a drink.
The liquor burned his throat and steeled his resolve. He’d stay here through the afternoon, play some poker, win some money, He took another swig from the bottle, noticing several of the other men eyeing him with wary suspicion. Several had taken out their phones, discreetly texting about him to Salko, most likely.
Good. Let the bastard come here and face him head on.
A few of the guys Kaz could depend on, to stand with him if it came to that in the end. Salko was a cruel, vindictive bastard who ruled through intimidation and brute force. That might make others serve him out of fear, but it didn’t win him any loyalty in the friends department.
Kaz walked over and plunked his bottle down on one of the faded green felt table tops and straddled his chair. Four other guys were sitting around the table smoking and drinking, small piles of poker chips stacked in front of them. Kaz hiked his chin toward the guy holding the deck of cards. “Deal me in.” He took a seat and began to play, hoping he could add to the funds they already had to pay Danny’s debts.
Six hours later, he’d banked about six grand when his phone finally rang. Kaz pulled it out to see Salko’s name and ugly mug flash on his screen. Shoulders tense, he answered. “Yeah.”
“Less than twenty-four hours,” Salko said, his tone almost gleefully sinister. “Those pictures you sent of Danny Charman were cute, but smashing his face in isn’t enough, unless you’ve got the money he owes too, and I know you don’t. An eye for an eye, Kaz. His life for yours. Or maybe you’ve gone even softer than I first thought. For your sake, I hope not, because then I’d be obligated to make your death an example for others. You’d still die, but it would be long and painful in coming. Then again, maybe I’d enjoy that even more. I do love a good torture session.”