Romance: The College Bad Boy: A Young Adult Romance

by Veronica Cross

  “Alina, you will never leave me again,” he told her with certainty.

  “You can kill me, Petro. That is the only way to guarantee such a thing,” she laughed. A slow, cruel smile formed on his full mouth.

  “If you ever try to leave me again, I will kill your beloved Jon, мила.”

  Chapter Ten

  Lufthansa flight 120 arrived on schedule at 8:15 a.m. Jon was the first person at the doors.

  “Sir, I am sorry but we need to allow for handicapped passengers to disembark first,” the flight attendant told him tightly, a condescending smile on her face. Jon ignored her, pushing past her through the tunnel.

  “Sir!” she yelled, furiously. She picked up her microphone as Jon disregarded her. He was running down the ramp, completely prepared to knock down any security standing in his way. Marika will be here in minutes. I need to find out where her plane is landing. I don’t have time to wait. As he barrelled through the tunnel, he saw two guards approaching him but he purposely ignored them as they headed in his direction.

  “Sir, stop!” one called out. Jon made a decision and paused in his tracks.

  “I can’t! I am going after a rogue passenger who was telling off the flight attendant! I can’t let him get away!”

  The men looked baffled by his answer and looked uncertainly in the direction which they had come. The one that had spoken nodded at the other and they turned back toward the terminal. Jon exhaled and watched as they disappeared out of view. Exhaling Jon continued on his quest. Please don’t let me be too late, he thought worriedly.

  “Are you excited to be going home?” Leonid asked sarcastically.

  Alina turned to Petro.

  “If I am expected to remain your prisoner, Petro, you better do something about that one and his mouth.”

  Both men stared at her, mouths agape and Petro’s face flushed with anger.

  “My prisoner you are not!” he snapped. “You are my wife!”

  “Am I? Could you possibly enlighten this Neanderthal of this please? He has been nothing but rude and uncouth this entire journey.” Petro glared at his solider.

  “Apologize to my wife,” he growled. Leonid’s face puckered as if he had swallowed a lime.

  “I said apologize.” Petro’s voice was strangled whisper.

  “I am sorry, Alina,” Leonid choked. She smirked and ignored him.

  “Going forward, I would prefer to have Marko as a chaperone,” she told her husband. He shook his head.

  “That is not possible. Marko is on Svetlana’s detail. They are going to be married, didn’t you hear?”

  Alina was shocked. Marko and Svetlana had a brief affair years prior but when her cousin had learned the true nature of their business, she, too, had been turned off by the entire clan.

  “When did this happen?” she demanded.

  “Oh, I suppose it was right around the time you sent her the wedding invitation. I guess love was in the air.”

  “Petro, what did you do?” she hissed.

  “Attention ladies and gentlemen, in just a few minutes Iberia flight 892 to Kiev will be landing. I would like to instruct you…”

  As the flight attendant droned on with landing procedures, Alina understood what had been done. Petro had ensnared everyone she cared about to ensure that she never again left. Her mind had already been working toward ways of warning Jon but she could not protect Svetlana if she married into the mafia. And my parents! What will they do to my parents? Alina sank back into her seat and Petro patted her knees, smiling. She would never be free.

  Time was not moving. Of this, he was certain for the minute hand had been on the five for over twenty minutes. The flight had landed fifteen minutes prior and Jon was a puddle of sweat. She is on that flight. I can sense her coming. He did not know what to expect. Who were the men with her? Were they friends of hers or people from which she was running away? He planned to be front and center when she walked through the gates and gage her expression. I will know what she wants me to do as soon as I see her face. Again, he was overcome by feelings of insecurity as he watched the first passengers walk off the flight. Oh God, what if I went off the deep end? What if all of this rejection has led me to a nervous breakdown and I just stalked a woman to the other end of the world in a psychotic episode? What if I imagined the danger? What if I am reading into everything and nothing is wrong except Chris has been right about you all along; you’re a fat loser whom no one will ever love. Turn around, go to the closest ticket agent and catch a flight home – Marika was walking through the double doors. His breath caught in his throat as he immediately caught the look of distress on her face as a man firmly held onto her arm and another stayed on her heels. Jon stepped forward, his mouth poised to call out but at the moment, Marika’s aquamarine eyes looked up and met his. They widened in shock and panic.

  “No!” she mouthed, arching her eyebrows in warning. “Go!”

  The man holding her arm suddenly looked about as if seeing her reaction and she shifted her gaze in the complete opposite direction. She turned to distract him by saying something as they walked away, leaving Jon to stare after them confused. She’s being held against her will! I have to do something! But what could he do? They were already disappearing around a corner and Jon had no intention of letting them out of his sight. Shaking off his paralyzed state, he bolted toward them, consciously willing himself to slow down lest they see him on their trail. From a safe distance, Jon watched as they interacted, the men seeming to speak more to one another than Marika. Every so often, she would glance back but she had not yet seen him following. The trio made their way outside of the terminal and Jon kept close. He needed a car. Surely they would be getting into a vehicle soon and he would lose them. He couldn’t depend on a taxi to keep up and there was no time to rent a car. He looked about at the passenger drop off area. In his peripheral vision, he could see Marika heading into the parking lot. Suddenly, a stunning wave of adrenaline washed over him and he did not give himself an opportunity to reconsider. He walked to the nearest vehicle, a newer red Renault Kwid, where an older man was patiently waiting inside. Without thinking, he leaned into the car, yanked the man out and tossed his frail frame onto the sidewalk, replacing him in the driver’s seat. The keys were still in the ignition and bouzouki music blasted from the radio. Before the old timer could react, Jon had zoomed away toward the parking lot entrance. For a bizarre moment, with the Greek folk songs in the background, Jon felt like he was in an alternate reality, one where he was a strong, fearless man out to save his true love. The feeling of disembodiment faded as in less than a minute, a black Mercedes S class rolled slowly out of the lot, the giant man in the driver’s seat. Jon could not see Marika or the other man but he knew they were both there. He wasted no time, quickly putting the Renault in gear and starting after them. He stalled the car. Goddamn it! I haven’t driven stick since I was a teenager! Jon cursed, quickly restarting the vehicle. He took off after the Mercedes, racing to make up for lost time.

  What is he doing here? How could he have possibly known where to find me? Alina was in a state of shock inside the black sedan, her mind awhirl since laying eyes on Jon in the airport. She could not reconcile how he would have ever found her, let alone in such quick time. I hope he goes home. Petro will kill him if he figures out who he is! She was sure they had lost him in the terminal but a feeling in the pit of her stomach told her that he would not give up so easily. Maybe Jon three months ago would have walked away. Jon three months ago wouldn’t even be here right now. Alina stared upward at the moon roof and said a silent prayer. Please God, keep him safe from harm. His only mistake was trusting me. It’s not his fault.

  “I imagine your parents will be happy to see you,” Petro commented casually but Alina’s head snapped up.

  “Who do you have watching my parents?” she demanded. Petro shrugged.

  “No one. I knew you weren’t stupid enough to contact them but I had a feeling you would reach out the Svetlana sooner o
r later.”

  Alina turned back to the moon roof. She began to fantasize that Jon was coming to rescue her. She would be in her room back at the mansion and suddenly he would burst in through the high windows on the third floor and –

  “What the hell?” Leonid yelled and suddenly there was a clang of high impact metal hitting metal as the Mercedes careened off the highway and into the guardrail.

  They were flying. Or at least it felt as though they were. The air around them whizzed by, shapes and colors becoming one in the speed. She could hear something, a voice but it didn’t make any sense.

  “Marika! Marika! Please wake up!”

  She slowly turned away from the motion picture playing and faced a man. He was driving a car, his face contorted in worry as he glanced between the windshield and her. Blinking, she slowly took notice of her surroundings. She was still in a car but it wasn’t Petro’s car. Oh God, where is Petro? She struggled to sit up but her head was throbbing.

  “You’re awake! Don’t move! We’re going to find a hospital. You’re really badly hurt,” Jon was saying. Jon! Jon is here! Jon saved me! She looked down at her jeans and realized she was soaked in blood. Whose blood is this? At once, she recalled the accident. The car had flown into the guardrail and sat suspended above the side of the cliff. It was all that Alina could remember before losing consciousness.

  It was the only move Jon could think to make. He drove like a maniac, chasing after the sedan but the car was beginning to lose him. Jon had been terrified he if it disappeared he would never pick up the trail again. He simply reacted, pushing his foot to the gas until the Kwid impacted the Mercedes at seventy miles an hour. The airbag deployed and Jon fought with it as he struggled to get out of the wrecked car. He had meant to disable the Mercedes but he had not anticipated the car would end up in that position. As he jumped out of the smoking Renault, he pulled open the passenger side, noting that both Marika and the man in the back were unconscious. He could hear the huge man in the front groaning in agony and Jon knew he had to act quickly. He reached forward, pulling Marika out. Her face was swollen and bloodied from impact and he placed her gently on the ground, his heart full of terror that she was dead. Cradling her in his arms, he felt for a pulse. When he realized that she was still breathing, he rushed her back into the Kwid. He was relieved that the car started after one try. For a moment, before he left the scene, he looked guiltily at the Mercedes perilously perched perilously on the edge of life and death. He backed up the Renault and shot forward, forcing the black sedan completely off the cliff, a feeling of deep satisfaction washing over his body.

  “Hold on, Marika, love, we’ll be at the hospital soon,” he begged.

  “No!” she croaked. “No hospital. Vee must to find Svetlana.”

  “Marika, you are hurt!” he argued.

  “No, Jon. They vill asking questions and vee must find my cousin!”

  “Marika – “

  “And my name is Alina.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Night had fallen when the Renault finally sputtered and died, three kilometers from Svetlana’s home.

  “Vee must to run,” Alina urged. “Please Jon.”

  “What is going on?” he demanded. “Mar -Alina, who were those men? Who are you?”

  “There is no time to explaining. My cousin is in danger,” she insisted as they bolted down the road. As they approached her modest house in the outskirts, Alina held out her hand to slow Jon.

  “Wait,” she whispered as they drew near. Jon obey and from the side of the property, they peered in the windows. His heart leapt into his throat as he saw blood splatter in the kitchen, staining the white countertops a gruesome red. Beside him, Alina let out a gasp.

  “Vee are too late,” she cried, her slender hand to her mouth. Her green eyes were filled with tears. “Vee have to go. Vee must go far away. They vill coming for us.” At that moment, the front door opened and both Jon and Alina stepped back against the house. A tall brunette emerged, holding a bloodstained meat cleaver, a dazed look in her eye.

  “Svetlana!” Alina screamed, springing forward. The brunette stared blankly at the injured blonde. Suddenly recognition filled her blue eyes and she began to cry. She cried out in Ukrainian and the cousins embraced, squeezing each other tightly. Svetlana turned to Jon suspiciously, holding the knife up defensively but Alina said something and she instantly lowered it. Weeping, the stately woman sank to the steps.

  “What happened?” Jon did not know which way to turn. He only knew that he wanted to take Alina and get out of the Ukraine as fast as possible.

  “This is my cousin. She killed man who keeping her here. Vee must going before the others find out.” Jon nodded agreeably.

  “Let’s catch a train to Budapest,” he suggested. Alina laughed.

  Epilogue

  Six Months Later

  “Vee need buy house,” Alina told him. Jon gritted his teeth in exasperation.

  “Oh, I am well aware of our pressing need for space but I would much rather put your parents in a retirement complex. There are some great places out there. I’ve been looking into it. A lot.”

  Alina smiled wickedly.

  “You can’t getting rid of my parents so easy,” she told him. Jon sighed and looked toward the heavens for help.

  “I will never understand the old-world family connection,” he told her. After the chaos in Europe, Jon had immediately arranged for Alina’s parents and Svetlana to come to America under assumed names.

  “Jon, I liked you better when you were just a techy geek without a life,” Jordan had gasped when Jon had asked him to produce fake identification for his fiancée’s family. Nevertheless, Jordan had managed to come through and Svetlana, Vira and Boris had come to stay at Jon and Alina’s condo. Jon had initially thought the move to be temporary until he could set them up in their own place but as the months passed, it became apparent that Alina enjoyed having her family near. Despite their constant lack of privacy, Jon felt it was a small sacrifice to make. If it meant that Alina was home safe with him, he would have entertained her entire village in the apartment.

  “After the wedding, I will find us a twenty-five-bedroom house,” he joked. “Anything else?”

  “Yes. I vant you to making peace vith your brother.”

  Jon blinked at the demand. He had not seen nor spoken to Chris since the night Alina had disappeared. Chris had tried to phone a few times at the beginning but had given up when he realized that Jon had finally taken a stand. Jon found it surprising that Alina would want him to do such a thing as she was such an advocate for him standing up for himself.

  “Where is this coming from?” he demanded. Alina shrugged.

  “Your family is your family,” she said simply. “You do not choosing them and many times, they are pain in ass, yes. But he is your brother. And we get married. He need to stand vith you.”

  “I have Tristan and Jordan standing up with me,” Jon argued. Alina shook her flaxen hair.

  “You needing your brother. Please call to him.”

  In the end, Alina had won and Jon passive aggressively mentioned to Tristan that he was thinking about Chris. That day, Chris called as Jon knew he would.

  “Hey, Chris,” Jon said coldly.

  “Hey! You’re finally talking to me, huh?”

  “Yeah, I guess so.” There was an awkward pause.

  “You know, I shouldn’t be talking to you, Jon. You had no right to punch me. Especially in front of my kids!”

  “You are such a drama queen,” Jon snapped back. “Your kids were nowhere around. Anyway, it would be good for them to see what happens when you push people too far.”

  “You’re right. I deserved that. I deserved a lot more than that.” Jon was stunned. He had been gearing up for a verbal sparring match so he could hang up the phone and tell Alina he had tried. He had not been expecting his brother to concede he had been wrong.

  “Jon, when we were kids, everyone used to bug me because you are
so much smarter than I am. I couldn’t put a sentence together properly until I was in Grade Five.” Again, Jon was stunned by the confession.

  “I guess from childhood, I just started teasing you because I was insecure and it just grew into resentment. It escalated and I didn’t realize just how big of an asshole I had become until the night that Alina was gone. I should have never talked about her that way. You were going through a rough time and instead of being a good support system like Tris and Jordy and even my wife, I acted like a bitch.”

  “No, the bitches acted better than you,” Jon commented. “Did Elyse tell you to say all this?”

  “In part but only because I can’t put a proper sentence together,” Chris answered. Both men laughed.

  “I find it hard to believe that you were always jealous of me,” he told Chris. “You were always so athletic and popular.”

  “Yep. So popular, I’ve been married three times.”

  Again they chuckled. When Jon hung up the phone, he felt like he had seen a side of his brother which he had never known. He turned to Alina and smiled.

  “Thank you,” he told her. “I’ll buy you that house now.”

  Alina nodded, kissing him tenderly on the lips.

  “You are going to needing buy house,” she told him. “But no for my parents. You are going to be father. I am pregnant vith twins.”

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  Mail Order Bride: Moving West

  Dolores Drake

  Moving West

  Copyright 2016 by Dolores Drake

  First electronic publication: January 2017

  All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal.