Using You

by Ariel Arnold

  The boys immediately stopped their advance and stepped back. "What do you think you're doing?" the voice asked. The man remained concealed so I couldn't see his face and it was eerie just hearing a voice without the body. Almost as if a ghost was speaking.

  "We just wanted to have a little fun with her," one of the boys said, gesturing towards me. "When he showed up."

  My lip curled up in anger and disgust at his choice of words. Fun. No doubt what they had planned for me was gang rape and the fact they considered that to be “a little fun”, sickened me.

  "Get out of here now before I report to Darius about what you're doing."

  The boys looked from my savior to the voice as if reluctant to leave. "I said go!" he barked.

  The boys scampered off, leaving me alone with two men I didn't know. One who seemed to want to help me but could possibly be a Russian gangster, and the other a mystery.

  "Let me escort her to safety first," my rescuer said, speaking to the shadowed man.

  "Didn't think you were the type to help damsels in distress."

  He shrugged his big shoulders as if unconcerned. "I don't like to see children hurt."

  My eyebrows dipped down.

  OK, I know I'm petite, small, whatever you want to call it, but was he really mistaking me for a kid? I wasn't that small.

  I had curves where it counted! I practically wanted to shout at him.

  Before I could say anything, he grabbed my wrist and began walking. In shock, I let him drag me away from the mystery man.

  We walked in silence the rest of the way, the man beside me on alert. His eyes glanced from side to side, taking in everything, even though it was dark. The way he moved, the way he noticed things, reminded me of the military. Is he a soldier?

  We made it to the exit of the park, which was brightly lit and I finally got my first real good look at my rescuer. I had to hold in a gasp. He was breathtaking. He wasn't handsome or beautiful in the usual sense. His features were hard, chiseled. He looked too dangerous to be anything so average as handsome.

  "Little girls shouldn't play with knives and they definitely shouldn't walk anywhere alone at night," he said, letting go of my wrist.

  I flipped the hood off my head and shook out my short hair that I'd let grow a bit longer lately. I then glared at him. "I'm not a little girl," I growled, taking offense to his condescending tone.

  He grinned and I had to remind myself that I was indeed mad at him. But Lord have mercy he had the kind of smile that had women all over wanting to drop their panties on the spot.

  "But you sure are a tiny thing."

  "Maybe you are just huge. Did you think of that?" I asked.

  He grinned again. "Well, that is true. I am rather huge. Definitely not your average sized guy," he drawled out.

  My eyes widened and I blushed at what he was insinuating. Without my control, my eyes dipped down to the front of his pants slacks curiously. He chuckled and my eyes flew back up to his face in embarrassment. "Make sure you go around on your way back home," he said, turning away from me, striding back into the park.

  I stood there dumbfounded and watched him go.

  Chapter Three: Ilya

  As I walked back through the entrance to the park, I could feel her gaze still on me. I chuckled. She sure is daring. I didn't expect her to decide to stand and fight with me. But maybe I should've expected it. Any woman as small and as beautiful as her who decided to become an officer of the law must be tough.

  As I'd waited in the park for Darius Jackson's right-hand man Brandon to arrive, I'd spotted her. Head down, oblivious to everything, walking through. Immediately, I had recognized her. Nana Valencia. She was friends with Alek's fiancé Yaz and Nikolai's girl Amanda. Though she was friends with them, we didn't know each other; had never met face to face. I kept my distance from law enforcement. She was more familiar with Aleksandr than me or Nikolai, which is why I'm not surprised she didn't recognize me. When it became apparent that she was friends with the two women, Nikolai had me do a background check on her. We had to make sure she didn't purposely befriend them in an attempt to gather information. But, everything seemed genuine.

  She's a rookie cop, not even on the major crime’s investigation team. She's only 21 years old and spends all her time working, at home or with family. She is just an average girl who happened to be a cop and happened to become friends with two women who coincidentally have personal ties to the boss of the Russian Mob. Sounds impossible, but hey, stranger things have happened.

  I continued my walk to the spot where I'd left Brandon when I'd escorted Nana out of the park. He stood where I left him, looking down at the cell phone in his hand. At my approach, he quickly put it in his pocket and became alert. I grinned, noting the nervousness he tried to hide. HBD liked to pretend that they were fearless and the rightful owners of these streets, but were terrified of us.

  They're such idiots, though. They care more about the drugs, money and women that this life affords them. The Bratva is a business. We want to improve the lives of our members, not use them to make us rich. We don't sell drugs to little kids. We don't force women and children into sexual slavery. That's something that Nikolai's grandfather, my uncle, put a stop to. He turned the Bratva on its head and made us into a multimillion dollar empire.

  "Ilya," Brandon said, nodding at me.

  I didn't reply for a moment, treating him to my infamously cold stare. The boys liked to joke that I could make someone shit their pants with one look. Brandon fidgeted at my continued silence. "You need to control your mutts better," I finally informed him coolly.

  Brandon smirked. "Awww, lighten up, Volstolv. They're young and just wanted to have some fun with the pretty lady. It's not like it affects you. We all know you Russians are heartless with ice water running through your veins."

  My supposedly cold blood heated to a boil.

  As I'd been preoccupied with watching Nana, I noticed the boys trying to sneak up on her. I waited in the shadows for a moment to see what their intent was and what Nana would do. When I realized my thoughts were confirmed—they intended to rape her—I couldn't stand back and watch. Even more amazingly that small girl had turned towards them, chin held high, ready to fight them all. "If I catch them in this park again trying to assault someone, I'll kill them all. So, if you value their lives, you better leash them," I promised.

  Brandon took a step back at my heated tone. "Whatever, man, it’s not even that important. We're here to talk about our bosses meeting up and coming to a truce."

  For almost a year now, the war between our two groups had been boiling over. It came to a head when HBD killed Jason, a bodyguard slash doorman at Nikolai’s club. He was also a friend of Nikolai’s. It’s safe to say Nikolai didn’t take it well and began killing all he could find that was involved. Jason was a good guy. He didn’t deserve to die the way he did, but this clash between us and the HBD needed to end. Along with that, there was the internal strife that led to our boss’ execution and still we have no clue who was responsible. It happened on a trip he'd taken here to America, so the possibilities were endless.

  Nikolai suspected one of our own or the Italian mafia, reasoning that HBD or any of the other local street gangs weren't smart enough or ballsy enough to pull it off. I wasn't so sure. We've had a peace treaty with the Italian mob for over 15 years now, and it's been advantageous for both of us. Why would they decide to end it by killing our boss? It could very well be someone in our own ranks, but could also be the very clever Darius. Darius and his men didn’t have any qualms about targeting someone they knew was a friend of Nikolai. They didn’t have any fear when they tried to use him to spy on Nikolai and our operation.

  Nodding and getting back to business, we talked, trying to arrange a neutral and safe spot for both of our bosses to speak. After an hour of negotiations, we still hadn't settled on a concrete plan and decided to call it quits for the night. Retiring to my car, I drove to the Prakenski warehouse where I knew Nikolai w
ould be waiting.

  Entering his office, Nikolai was speaking on the phone. "I know, baby. I'll be home soon. Just lay down and relax. I know you haven’t been feeling well lately," he was saying softly.

  I shook my head, still not able to reconcile this current image of Nikolai to his past self. This was the same man who would go about pleasuring two women even if he had an audience. Multiple times I'd walked into his office at Cherish, only to be traumatized with the sight of him fucking some whore. I'd growl to him he needed to learn to lock the doors and he'd grin and continue to pump away. Now he'd completely done a 180 on his way to being married with a baby on the way if I blinked. He loves Amanda and wouldn't do anything to hurt that woman, so his ho'ing days are behind him.

  Finally noticing me, Nikolai told Amanda he loved her and hung up. "How did it go?" he questioned.

  Taking a seat in one of the chairs, I sighed. "He's cagey. Thinks we only want this meeting to get rid of him. From what Brandon was saying, I don't think we'll get a meeting with Darius unless it's somewhere he decides."

  Nikolai scoffed, "He's fucking small fry. Why would I make the effort of trying to get rid of him? I already got back at those responsible for Jason. As long as he keeps his business separate from my business, we won’t have any problems. Whatever. If he wants to meet on his turf, let's do it. I'm ready to talk to this motherfucker and get this all sorted out. It's giving me a headache."

  "I don't know, Niko. This Darius is smarter than you think. It isn't a good idea to just meet him anywhere. Who knows what he has planned."

  "Shit. His pussy ass wouldn't dare." He looked at some papers on his desk and then shoved them aside, sighing. "Just say it."

  Nikolai was too reckless, too impetuous. Sometimes he doesn't have regard for his own safety and does things that can result in him being hurt, or worse, killed. If he dies, the Bratva would implode. There would be an internal struggle for control. None of the second in commands were right for the leadership position. Rightfully, a Prakenski should be in charge, but Aleksandr's father abandoned the family for the woman he loved, so they'd never accept him back in. Aleksandr was never raised in this life so he wouldn't be able to handle it. But more importantly than that, he'd be leaving Amanda alone. Someone had to talk some sense into him.

  "It's too risky, Niko, and I won't let you do it."

  His eyebrows rose and he smiled a little. "Who is the boss again? Me or you?" I raised my own eyebrow and remained silent. He chuckled. "Okay, okay. I'll think about it. Now more importantly, are you bringing a date to Alek's wedding?" he asked, changing the subject, signaling that he was done talking about it. Aleksandr and Yazmeen were finally getting married in two weeks and everyone was excited for them. Strangely, though, at Nikolai's mention of a date, my mind conjured up the image of a small girl, with short hair, and the face of a goddess. I shook my head and shrugged lazily.

  "You know I'm a lone wolf. No time for love and all that bullshit."

  Nikolai laughed. "I didn't say anything about love. Bring someone. Wedding sex is the best sex. Women get all desperate because their biological clock is ticking and they perform like you’re auditioning them to be your wife," he sighed wistfully. "Ahhh, now I'm all worked up. I need to go home to my beautiful woman. When I’ve been gone all day, she’s rowdy by the time I get home."

  I groaned and pushed out of my seat. "Like I really needed to know that. You’re gonna make me not be able to look Amanda in the eye ever again."

  He smirked. "Good. I don't like anyone that's not me looking at her."

  I shook my head. Besotted fool. I'm never going to let some pussy make me into a fool, ever.

  Chapter Four: Nana

  As I stood in front of the coffee pot at the 30th precinct, my mind wandered once again. All night, all morning, all afternoon, only one thought had been on my mind.

  Who the hell was that man?

  He swooped in out of nowhere and saved me from a group of thugs and then proceeded to embarrass me before disappearing again. He didn't even tell me his name! The only things I knew about him is that he's wickedly attractive and possibly Russian.

  Oh yeah, possibly a Russian gangster. And I am a cop.

  It shouldn't matter, though. It's not likely that I would ever see him again. At least outside of my fantasies.

  All night I'd laid in bed and spun vivid fantasies of me and that man doing things to each other that I'd never even experienced. My body got so hot and aroused and I couldn't stop from touching myself all over. Of course, I imagined that my hands were his big, strong ones. Never before had just seeing a guy gotten me so worked up. Was it the adrenaline of the way we met? I wasn't sure, but I desperately wished that I had a chance to see him again and find out. It was no fun being a twenty-one-year-old virgin. My family wasn't especially religious, so I'm not waiting for marriage or prince charming to come along. I've just never been attracted enough to a guy to take that step. I was starting to think something was wrong with me or that maybe I was a lesbian.

  That is until last night.

  God, how I wish I could meet him again. I'd for sure proposition him. I was ready to get rid of this pesky virginity and no one but him has turned my blood so molten before.

  I could just imagine him pinning me down, his large body covering my smaller one. The way he'd take control, pushing me to endure all that he had to give me.

  I heard snapping in my ear and I jerked out of my erotic fantasy.

  "Long night of partying?" Detective Callahan asked from beside me.

  "Ughhh. No. I just didn't get much sleep last night," I told him, moving from in front of the coffee pot so he could get to it. I dumped some creamer and sugar into my cup and began to stir.

  "Now, why do I find that hard to believe? You're young and beautiful. Why wouldn't you be out having the time of your life?" he asked.

  I laughed. "Definitely not me, Detective Callahan. I stayed home, lights out by nine, wishing I could fall asleep."

  "How many times do I have to tell you to call me, Liam?" he asked with a wink.

  Four million times is the answer to that. I would never call him Liam. Never. None of the other rookies could call their superiors and the senior officers and detectives by their first name. When Detective Callahan had first said that I could call him by his given name, I was a little shocked. Before that, I thought maybe on the occasions that we spoke together he was flirting, but I wasn't sure. After he had told me I could call him by his first name, I knew. However, I'd never, and I repeat, never do anything with him.

  He isn't ugly, far from it. He's in his mid-thirties, fit, light brown hair and green eyes. All the female officers say he's the most attractive man here. I agree with them. But it's career suicide for a female officer to get involved with one of her superiors. I didn't want anything I did to be marred by the fact of who I was sleeping with. Also, even though I had to admit he was good looking, there was no spark with him, no immediate attraction. Not like there was with him.

  Thankfully, Callahan's partner, O'Reilly, peeked around the corner of the break room and called out to him, preventing me from having to answer. "Task force meeting is starting," he said.

  He rolled his eyes at me. "Duty calls," he said before following his partner.

  Detectives Callahan and O'Reilly and a few others were on a special task force that were concerned only with the takedown of the Russian mob here in our city. Apparently, last year a big internal fight happened and it caused a lot of violence and deaths out on the street. Since then, the police had been cracking down and working extra hard at trying to dismantle the gang. There was speculation that a local club owner by the name of Nikolai Prakenski was now the head of the whole Bratva. The Russian and American counterparts.

  Ironically, he was also set to marry Senator Lacey's daughter.

  Imagine my shock when I realized that sweet and beautiful Amanda was hooking up with THE Nikolai Prakenski. I hadn't spent that much time with her because of her busy schedul
e and mine; she and Yazmeen were definitely closer to each other. But on the occasions the three of us did get together and chilled, she would mention her relationship woes with a Nikolai. I just never connected him as the same Nikolai that half of the police department was itching to arrest. On top of the fact that Yazmeen's fiancé Aleksandr was Nikolai's cousin. I don't know why I didn't connect the dots. I knew Yazmeen used to work at the same club owned by Nikolai, but she's not the type of girl to get involved in that kind of life.

  I felt totally betrayed that they hadn't confided in me, and I was a little skeptical at their judgment. How could these two amazing women be involved with men that were so obviously not good enough for them? Sadly, it had been a few weeks since I'd seen either of them. Yazmeen's wedding was coming up, though, and no matter how upset I was, I wouldn't be a no-show. I wouldn't do that to her.