Just a Bit Wicked (Straight Guys Book 7)

by Alessandra Hazard

  Vlad went to the bar and asked for a glass of water. Downing it in one go, he leaned against the bar and swept his gaze around the club, looking for anything unusual, anyone who looked out of place.

  The problem was, it was too damn dark and crowded in the club, the atmosphere getting rowdy as the guests’ inhibitions were loosened by alcohol. The dance floor, which was empty at the beginning of the evening, was now crowded, music blasting at full volume. It wasn’t much of an engagement party anymore, just a crowd of tipsy celebrities and businessmen grinding against each other.

  Vlad’s gaze skimmed over the dance floor before halting on the figure in the middle of it. Sebastian Sumner had his eyes closed as his hips swayed to the rhythmic beat. His black shirt was unbuttoned almost to his belly button, revealing his toned pecs and stomach. His head was thrown back against the shoulder of a tall, beefy man, and his arm was wrapped around the waist of a pretty blond woman in front of him.

  Vlad’s lips thinned as he watched them, watched Sebastian’s wide mouth grin obscenely while the man and the woman sandwiched him between them.

  Whore.

  Dragging his gaze away, Vlad returned it to where Luke had been sitting a few moments ago. He tensed when he saw that the table was empty. Where had the kid gone?

  After fifteen minutes of fruitless searching all over the dance floor, Vlad’s mild annoyance turned into full-blown anxiety. Luke wasn’t answering his mobile phone, either.

  Only when he was certain that Luke wasn’t anywhere in the crowded room, Vlad went to search the rest of the club.

  It was one of those pretentious luxury clubs with too many restrooms, terraces and private rooms—a nightmare when one was trying to find someone. With every passing minute, his concern grew. He was going to fucking kill the kid himself if he’d gotten into trouble. Luke had been supposed to warn Vlad if he wanted to go somewhere.

  Vlad was walking past one of the back doors when he heard the noise. Years of experience made him pause and pay attention. It had sounded a little like a muffled yelp. Silently, he made his way to the back door and opened it without a sound.

  Dark alley. Five men, one of them wearing a waiter’s uniform. A gun in the waiter’s hand, pushed against Sebastian Summer’s back. A knife pressed to Tristan DuVal’s throat. Two hostages, three hostiles.

  Vlad was no hero. He didn’t have a saving people complex. Later, he would rationalize his actions as logical: maybe these men had already gotten Luke, who was still nowhere to be seen.

  So he didn’t think. He acted.

  It was pretty dark and the men were already a good twenty feet away. Good thing he was an exceptional shot.

  Vlad pulled his gun out and aimed it at the gun in the waiter’s hand.

  The rest was a blur of instincts, blood and violence.

  Three minutes later, the fake waiter was on the ground, bleeding from a head wound, his hands tied together by his tie. One of his buddies was knocked out, while the third one was whimpering under Vlad’s boot as Vlad drove the knife in his thigh deeper before knocking him out, too. Fucking amateurs.

  “Well,” drawled a voice, breaking through the red haze that tainted his vision. “Not that I’m not grateful, but that’s a little excessive, don’t you think? Also, who the hell are you?”

  Vlad straightened and turned his head, assessing the two other men. The shorter one, the one who had spoken, Tristan DuVal, was looking at him curiously. He seemed remarkably calm for someone who’d nearly been kidnapped.

  A glance at Sebastian revealed that he wasn’t as composed as Tristan. He was pale, his wide dark eyes flicking from the men on the ground to Vlad. His mouth was red with blood.

  Vlad felt his groin tighten and looked away, back to Tristan. “I’m Luke Whitford’s bodyguard.”

  “Thanks, Luke Whitford’s bodyguard,” Tristan said with a nice smile.

  What the fuck? What was wrong with this kid? He seemed completely unbothered by what had nearly happened.

  Before Vlad could say anything, several security guards burst out of the door, followed by a few men, Luke among them.

  “Where the hell have you been?” Vlad growled at Luke.

  “I was on the phone with Roman,” Luke said distractedly. “Are you okay, guys?”

  “Just fine, thanks to your Rambo,” Tristan replied. “I’m fine, Zach,” he said with an eye-roll when his fiancé started patting him for injuries. “I’m fine, babe,” he said, softer, as the man pulled him close and hugged him hard, murmuring something into his ear.

  Vlad looked away. His gaze landed on Sebastian again. The model was gazing around, looking lost. He seemed...small, despite being taller and far more muscular than Tristan. The confident teasing, the cockiness from earlier, were nowhere to be seen.

  Vlad frowned and looked away. It was none of his business.

  He walked to the nearest assaulter and slapped him across the cheek. The guy groaned.

  “Who sent you?” Vlad said.

  The man glared up at him. “You’re Russian. Aren’t you supposed to be smarter than saving a couple of poofs?”

  Vlad just looked at him for a moment before putting his hand on the knife still stuck in the guy’s thigh and driving it deeper. The guy screamed.

  Vlad said, “Talk.”

  “Vlad,” Luke said from behind him, sounding nervous.

  “Talk,” Vlad repeated, pushing on the knife again. “Or I’m going to pull out this nice knife and put it through your throat.”

  The guy whimpered, eyes wide with fear and pain. “You wouldn’t dare, Russian.”

  Vlad smiled coldly. “Wanna bet?”

  “Vlad, stop,” Luke hissed furiously. “You can’t just torture people for information!” He glanced around before hissing quieter, “We aren’t in Russia. Roman doesn’t need that kind of attention on him and his employee! Let the police handle that.”

  Vlad nodded reluctantly and stepped away but not before saying, “They weren’t working alone.”

  “How do you know that?” Sebastian cut in.

  Vlad didn’t look his way when he answered. “They have headsets on. Someone was coordinating them.” Probably from a nondescript SUV that was already long gone.

  “So you think they’ll be targeted again?” one of the men who followed Luke out of the club said. Vlad thought it was Luke’s friend.

  He shrugged. “Probably. Cults are usually pretty obsessed and tend to fixate on something in case of a failure.”

  “We’ll increase security measures,” Tristan’s fiancé said with a frown, his arms still around Tristan.

  Tristan nodded before looking at Sebastian. “You shouldn’t live alone anymore. Can you move in with your family?”

  Sebastian shook his head, still looking a bit off. “My family doesn’t live in London. I wouldn’t want to involve them anyway.”

  “You can live with me,” Luke said, and Vlad’s stomach dropped.

  “No,” Vlad cut in. “That’s too dangerous for you. I won’t allow it.”

  Luke glared at him. “Luckily I don’t have to ask your permission if I want to invite people to my place.”

  Vlad opened his mouth and closed it. That was true. There was nothing he could do. “Roman will be furious.”

  Luke smiled. “I know. But if it were up to Roman, he’d lock me up in a tower to keep me safe. My flat has ridiculous security measures—Roman insisted on it. It’s probably the safest place in England now. That’s why it makes perfect sense for Sebastian to move there while this mess is sorted out.”

  Vlad ground his teeth. He had to admit the kid’s logic was sound.

  Knowing that he had won, Luke smiled at Sebastian. “See? Even my grumpy bodyguard has no objections. Come on. Roman’s out of the country and I’m bored to death in my huge, empty flat. Vlad is no fun.”

  Sebastian seemingly hesitated before looking from Luke to Vlad. Vlad glowered at him. Don’t you dare accept the offer.

  A ghost of a smile touched Sebastian�
��s lips, his eyes flashing with familiar challenge. “Okay,” he told Luke. “Thanks, mate.”

  Vlad wanted to punch something.

  As if hearing his thoughts, Luke looked at him. “Don’t forget what we talked about, Vlad: if you act like a homophobic ass around my friends, I’m firing you and you’ll be the one doing the explaining to Roman.”

  Vlad nodded tersely, ignoring the curious, speculative look Sebastian shot him. He turned away.

  Fucking hell. He couldn’t believe his rotten luck. What were the odds of Luke knowing the guy who’d sucked him off in Moscow?

  Pretty good, actually, now that he thought about it. Luke and Sebastian both belonged to the privileged London elite. Of course they knew each other. Just his goddamn luck. And just his luck that Luke would invite Sebastian to live with him while Vlad was staying under the same roof.

  Vlad normally didn’t believe in higher powers, but if they existed, they must be laughing at him.

  Chapter 5

  Vlad’s eyes snapped open.

  It was still dark out. He couldn’t have been asleep for very long. He had stayed up until the wee hours of the morning to go over the police reports he’d managed to get his hands on. Luke might have forbidden him to interrogate those men, but it didn’t mean Vlad was going to remain in the dark.

  He lay still, trying to understand what had awakened him from his exhausted sleep.

  Straining his hearing, Vlad waited. The flat was quiet, no sound coming from the other two men’s rooms.

  There. The sound of footsteps. Someone was walking toward the bed.

  Vlad thought of his knife under the pillow and the gun in the drawer beside the bed.

  He didn’t move. The element of surprise was more valuable than the knife.

  The footsteps stopped.

  Then, the intruder crawled into the bed.

  What the actual fuck?

  Vlad peered at the man—and it was a man. He could barely make him out as the man rolled closer to him and tucked his face against Vlad’s shoulder, but he was reasonably certain it was Sebastian fucking Sumner.

  Bewildered, Vlad stared at the guy in the darkness. He felt like he was missing something. He and Sumner weren’t exactly on snuggling terms. He’d barely spoken a word to the guy after Sebastian had followed them to Luke’s penthouse. In fact, Vlad’s stony silence while Luke showed Sebastian to his room had made it clear to everyone involved what he thought of Luke’s invitation.

  “I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but get out.” Vlad didn’t raise his voice, but Sebastian whimpered and pushed his face harder into Vlad’s shoulder. Tremors were racking his body. What in the world?

  Reaching out to the lamp, Vlad switched it on. A soft yellow light illuminated the room and he turned back to the other occupant of the bed.

  Sebastian’s eyes were open, but they were glassy and unfocused, his breathing even. For all intents and purposes, he seemed asleep. He was sleepwalking.

  Vlad put a hand on Sebastian’s shoulder and shook him a little. “Wake up,” he said, growing irritated when there was no reaction. He was tired as hell, his knuckles were aching, and he was in no mood to baby someone, especially this man.

  Sebastian didn’t wake up. Instead, he closed his eyes. He was still trembling, trying to burrow deeper into Vlad’s shoulder. It was making Vlad increasingly uncomfortable, considering that they both were wearing only their underwear.

  He contemplated shoving Sebastian off his bed and damn everything else, but he had a feeling Luke would make a fuss if he treated his guest that way.

  Sighing, Vlad shook the guy harder. “Wake up.”

  Sebastian stirred a little, his dark eyelashes fluttering. He rubbed his eyes like a kid, his lips pursing into a pout.

  “Get up,” Vlad growled into his ear.

  Sebastian jumped, flailing rather comically, his eyes wide and confused as he sat up.

  “What the fuck are you doing in my bed?” he said, glaring at Vlad.

  Vlad lay back and crossed his arms behind his head. “I should be the one asking that.”

  Sebastian’s brows furrowed before he glanced around the room. The lamp wasn’t very bright and Vlad couldn’t tell whether Sebastian was blushing or not, but he did look mildly embarrassed now. Mostly he looked confused.

  Finally, his face cleared. “I sleepwalked, didn’t I?” he said with a resigned sigh. “It happens sometimes, when I’m stressed.”

  Vlad shrugged. “Don’t know, don’t care, get out.”

  Sebastian studied him. “Am I making you uncomfortable?” he said, cocking his head to the side, a strand of dark hair falling over his eyes. The innocent, almost childish sleepiness from moments ago was gone.

  “Yes,” Vlad said. “I’m not in the habit of having half-naked gays in my bed.”

  “For the record, I’m not gay. I told you: I’m bi.”

  “Same difference,” Vlad said, closing his eyes. “Get out. I barely slept thanks to you and the idiots who attacked you.”

  A pause.

  “Do you know anything new? About those men?” Sebastian’s voice sounded strange.

  “Yes,” Vlad said, without opening his eyes.

  He almost smiled when he heard Sebastian make an annoyed, impatient noise.

  “And?”

  “They confessed,” Vlad said, snorting. Fanatics like that were idiots. “They all are from religious backgrounds, they all think they’re doing God’s work.” Vlad sneered. While he was far from being an LGBT supporter, he despised religious bullshit like that even more. “Apparently their cult wants to eliminate ‘demons’ with big reach, people who can influence the society by coming out and speaking up. Apparently you and Tristan DuVal fit the profile.” It was all pretty standard and not challenging at all. All things considered, those people were amateurs, not the professionals Vlad was used to dealing with. Boring.

  “You could’ve at least pretended to be a little concerned,” Sebastian said.

  Vlad opened his eyes.

  Sebastian’s lips were pursed, his dark eyes stormy. “But then again, why would you be when you agree with those bonkers?”

  Vlad gave him a flat look. “You have a short memory. I saved your ass from them just a few hours ago. If I wanted to, I would’ve let them take you and kick you to death. Hmm, maybe I should have.”

  “You’re such an ass,” Sebastian said. “And you can’t even deny you agree with those lunatics.”

  “Don’t put words in my mouth.” Vlad closed his eyes again. “Good night. And you’re welcome. No need to thank me for saving you.”

  There was a long silence.

  “Thank you,” Sebastian finally grumbled, barely audibly.

  Vlad smiled and opened his eyes. “What was that?”

  “Don’t be a prick,” Sebastian said. He was glowering at Vlad, but there was a hint of something sincere in his eyes. But then it was gone, replaced with devilish mirth. “I’m very grateful,” Sebastian said. “Thank you so much, Vlad.”

  Vlad looked at him suspiciously.

  Before he could say anything, Sebastian leaned in and pressed his soft lips against his unshaven cheek. “Thank you,” he murmured, his voice low and a little husky. “You were amazing. It was kind of hot. Made me all hot and bothered.”

  Vlad shoved him away. “Fuck off.”

  Snickering like a kid, Sebastian rolled off the bed and strode out of the room. “Good night, straight guy,” he said at the door, blowing him a kiss.

  Vlad just glared, wiping his cheek furiously. His face was hot, he realized with annoyance. He was fucking blushing. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d blushed and felt so off balance.

  With an irritated sigh, Vlad switched the lamp off, lay back on the bed, and closed his eyes, determined to erase from his mind everything that had happened in the last few minutes. He was about as successful as when he had tried to forget what happened all those months ago in a certain hotel room in Moscow.

 
And it was just the first night under the same roof as that little shit. He had no idea how he was going to survive this without killing anyone.

  Chapter 6

  A few hours later—much too soon for Vlad’s liking—his alarm went off and he got out of bed, grouchy and still a bit unsettled but determined to ignore Sebastian. He wasn’t going to respond to provocations. Sebastian likely wanted to provoke him into saying or doing something homophobic, to give Luke an excuse to get rid of him. Well, if that was the case, they both were going to be disappointed.

  Finished with his morning routine, Vlad padded out to the kitchen, seduced by the mouth-watering smell of a fry-up.

  He had expected to find Luke by the stove, but it was Sebastian.

  Vlad stopped in the doorway for a moment before entering the kitchen and taking a seat at the table. He glared at the empty plate in front of him.

  “Morning,” Sebastian murmured, sounding amused and entirely too chipper for this hour.

  Vlad fucking hated morning people. He didn’t trust them. And it looked like Sebastian had decided to continue what he’d started last night and keep getting on his nerves.

  “I see you’re particularly charming in the morning,” Sebastian said, filling up a plate for himself.

  Vlad just glowered at him and grabbed the cup of coffee off the table. He took a greedy sip.

  “That was mine, actually.”

  Vlad paused before taking another long sip.

  “Tosser,” Sebastian said.

  Vlad shrugged. “Don’t know the word, but back at you.” He lifted his gaze to the other man and pushed the empty plate toward him.

  Sebastian’s eyebrows flew up. “You aren’t actually expecting me to feed you, right?” His tone was so incredulous and annoyed that Vlad almost laughed.

  “I am,” he said, keeping a straight face. He couldn’t deny he enjoyed getting this guy riled up. “I’m a big man, and I burned a lot of calories saving your fat ass last night.”