Men in Charge: A Contemporary Romance Box Set

by Natasha L. Black

  They landed on mine with a force that would not accept resistance. Although resisting was the last thing on my mind.

  I heard a splash and broke away to see Adrian storming off into the house.

  Tatiana shook her head, rolling her eyes. "Oh, boys."

  She climbed out of the tub and ambled after him.

  Pierce's and my gaze met. Now, more than before, we had free reign to continue what we started. Instead though, for some reason, I found myself saying, "It's my turn, and I choose truth. Why haven't you had a relationship last more than three months?"

  Silence.

  Shit. Why had I even said that?

  We’d been having a perfectly fine time, no drama, or at least only a bit from Adrian.

  Then again, maybe if Pierce gave me a good enough reason, then I could finally force myself to let go.

  Pierce shrugged. "I could tell you that it was because I haven't been that crazy about any of the girls I’ve dated, which would be true. But that's only part of it. Really, relationships don't work. Right now, we're living in a period of transition, where we are trying to make believe that what worked for our grandparents, their parents, and even our parents, still works for us. The thing is, we're living longer, we're living harder, and frankly, people don't want to put up with the bad anymore. Relationships don't work."

  "So that's it then?" I demanded. I stood up in the tub, clambered out and glared at him. "So, all this between us, has just been bullshit to you? I’m just a place holder until the next girl comes along and then you can bullshit her?"

  Pierce looked at me, his face white, his jaw working. "Sasha, I-"

  "No, you know what? Forget it. This is my fault. Adrian warned me about you, and I didn't listen."

  I stormed off into the house.

  I threw on some clothes as I packed my bag. I felt ridiculous. Hadn’t I known it wasn’t serious all along? Then why was I freaking out now?

  As I was going downstairs, I heard Pierce coming in, but I quickly ducked out the front door. There was the security guard, the nice one, with blonde hair and kind eyes.

  "I know you're getting paid to protect me," I said. "So, if I wanted you to drive me somewhere, like a bus station, would you do it?"

  He shook his head. "Miss, I-"

  I eyed him pleadingly. "Please. I can vouch for you if they get mad. I just – half my life I've been trapped and right now, I'm stuck with two men who think they know what's best for me and won't give me a chance to decide things for myself. Please."

  The security guard glanced to a black SUV. "I can drive you. But I'm coming back and telling everyone where you went."

  I nodded. "I understand. Please. I can't be here anymore. At least I’ll have a head start."

  39

  Pierce

  Yeah, I screwed up — big time.

  I rushed out the front door, just in time to see the security guard and Sasha in a car, driving away.

  Where the hell was he taking her?

  I headed over to another SUV, then stopped dead in my tracks.

  Dammit. Why had I had those two shots while I was changing into my bathing suit?

  I went to the security guard on the other side of the house.

  "One of your guys just took the woman we’re trying to protect," I told him. "We have to follow them."

  He strode over to the side of the house, scowling and appraising the scene.

  "You're right,” he said. “But we can't follow them. That only leaves one car. Won't be enough for the guys left here."

  "But there's no point in your guys being here if the woman you're supposed to protect is gone," I said angrily.

  He looked me straight on. "We were hired to protect this house, not that woman. And I'm sorry, but it was your friend who hired us, I need the okay from him."

  I wheeled away and hurried up the stairs. It was obvious which room Adrian and Tatiana were in because only one had some electropop blaring from it. I rushed up to it and pounded on the door.

  "Adrian!" I yelled. "Adrian! Open up; it's me!"

  Nothing.

  I pounded and yelled some more, but it was no use. The music was too loud, and Adrian was probably passed out drunk anyway.

  I went back to my room and took out my phone. I called up Sasha, but she didn’t answer.

  Finally, I collapsed into bed. I hoped against hope that she was just blowing off steam and that she’d come back when she was ready. But part of me knew better. I stared at the ceiling for what seemed like hours, trying to get Sasha on the phone over and over, until I finally dropped off to sleep.

  --

  The next morning, I woke up around five.

  I found the guard who’d driven off with Sasha and all he would tell me is that she asked him to drop her at a bus station in a nearby town.

  Fuck, she could have gone anywhere.

  It was light out, so I went and grabbed a bagel before ambling over to Adrian and Tatiana’s room. There was no more music coming from it, so I pounded on the door.

  No answer. I pounded on the door again, then tried the knob. It opened.

  Adrian and Tatiana were passed-out cold, thankfully, covered by the duvet.

  I went over to Adrian’s side and shook him.

  "Adrian," I said, "Get up. It's important."

  He squinted one eye a third of the way open, then closed it again. "What time is it?”

  "Early. It's Sasha," I said. "She left."

  Both eyes burst open. "SHE WHAT?"

  He leaped out of bed and raced out of the room, then stopped. Wheeling around to face me, his face livid, he said, "Where is my sister?"

  I could feel the guilt settling in my chest, like the weight of a fifty-pound barbell.

  "She left last night," I said. "I tried to follow her, but the security guard wouldn’t let me take another car. You were passed out cold, and he would only leave with your permission."

  Adrian got out his phone. He began stabbing at it, then paused.

  Squinting, he read the message aloud, "Don't worry about me. I'm fine. Going somewhere Aleksi won't find me."

  He heaved a big faux sigh of relief. “Oh, she says she’s fine – that took a load off."

  He stormed down the stairs.

  "Where are you going?" I said.

  "There's no more point of us being here, is there?" he asked. He shook his phone in frustration. "Anyway, I know a guy who might be able to trace the text. It's a long shot but..." His face fell. He shrugged, miserably. "Shit. It's all we got right now."

  That much was true.

  It took us a few more minutes to rouse Tatiana, who was just as dismayed that Sasha was gone as we were. We packed up our stuff, and all clambered into the cars with the security guards, then rushed back to the city.

  There, Adrian and I went to his techie friend, a bald guy with a goatee named Albert. He delivered us some more lackluster news.

  "It'll take a couple of days to trace that, at least," he said, cracking a regretful smile. "Don't have the best technology. Just got hand-me-downs from the police that I’m not supposed to have." He winked.

  The rest of that day, I tried to focus at work, although it was no use.

  I kept trying to wrack my brain for anything Sasha had said about places she'd want to go. But there was nothing, probably because it had been a spur of the moment decision, brought on by yours truly.

  If she'd only stuck around a few more minutes, just long enough for me to have put my thoughts together. I would have told her that even though I didn’t think relationships worked in general, I wanted to try to prove myself wrong with her.

  Anyway, none of that mattered now. The only thing that did was finding her and keeping her safe before Aleksi reared his ugly head.

  --

  That night, I called her up for what must have been the hundredth time. The only difference was, this time she actually picked up.

  "I told Adrian," she said. "I'm in a safe place. I had the security guard, Clive, drop me
off at the bus station and then I went from there. Please don't get mad at him. And don't worry. No one knows I'm here."

  "That's the problem," I said. "How are we even going to know if Aleksi and his guys come for you? They probably have more resources and contacts than we do. How do you know they won't find you before we do?"

  "Please don't look for me," she said in a tired voice. "I just want a chance to start over; to live life on my terms, not controlled by Aleksi or Adrian or fear. What was the point of leaving Moscow if I was just going to live the same way here, in New York?"

  "This is temporary," I argued. "Just until we can get the police to nab Aleksi and his boys. Ship his ass back to Russia where he belongs."

  Sasha let out a sad exhale. "You don't know them like I do. Nothing sticks to them. They have too many contacts, too many people they can threaten. They're willing to do too much. If I stay in New York, this isn't temporary. They’d find me, and hurt me, and probably hurt you too."

  "So what then?" I said angrily. "This is better? Isolating yourself, and just hiding out until they find you? That's better?"

  "They won't find me," she said.

  "Sasha. I never got to tell you," I said.

  "Yeah?" she said softly.

  "Forget it," I said, dejected. "You've made your decision. But Adrian and I are going to find you."

  "Goodbye Pierce," she said, and hung up.

  40

  Sasha

  I smiled at the T-shirt I was tie-dyeing purple and blue. The days had slipped by quickly because I’d genuinely been enjoying myself. I had just focused on working, completing orders from months ago. I'd been exploring too. Claircreek actually had a lot to do. There was a funny little church with figurines that looked like life-sized dolls. There was a park with two willow trees and a fat stray mutt that liked hot dogs. There was an even a cool vintage store, with fabrics I could use for some of my projects.

  What Pierce had said was still banging around my mind. What had he wanted to say? Had it been what I'd been so hopeful for? That he really did have feelings for me, and, like me, even though all evidence pointed to the contrary, actually thought we might work?

  I shook my head, putting the T-shirt on some newspapers so it wouldn't stain anything as it dried. It didn't matter now. I’d made my choice. I really did want to start over.

  And if that meant not seeing Pierce, then maybe it was for the best. He’d said that himself at one point.

  Shortly after I went to bed, I fell fast asleep. I woke up to strong hands around my wrists.

  "Got you," a horribly taunting voice said.

  I opened my mouth to scream, but a large hand clamped over it.

  "None of that now," Aleksi growled. "Wouldn't want to have to kill the neighbors for seeing something they shouldn't have."

  "You," I croaked.

  Aleksi's hand went down to my throat and squeezed. "Yes, me."

  My eyes shot open, and I clutched myself, shaking.

  Right then, the only thing I wanted was Pierce. In his arms, I'd never had a nightmare. Maybe it was because instinctively I knew that nothing bad could happen to me as long as he was there.

  I got up and got myself a glass of water, staring at my gloomy reflection in the bathroom mirror.

  I was being stupid. Even if Pierce had something to say during our last phone call, I had heard what he had said in the hot tub. The truth I forced him to tell. He didn't think relationships worked. He thought they were outdated. Anything he said after that, was just damage control.

  My arms shivered. That was another thing. I had just gotten out of a horrible relationship. I was in no way in a place to start anything new. Especially one that was as risky as this would've been. What I needed right now, was to heal.

  I went over to my bed and sat down. I hadn't even noticed I'd been clutching my phone the whole time as if having a link to Pierce was better than nothing at all.

  Pierce…

  Half asleep, my finger mindlessly trailed over our text conversation and clicked on it.

  What was the first message he sent me? I started scrolling. Then smiled at the blandness of it.

  “Hey.”

  That was our first message. The little nothing that started the big everything. Who would've thought?

  My finger scrolled down as I read the other messages. A lot of them were him asking to see me or apologizing. God, how much of us being together had been one or both of us denying what we had? Apologizing for what we’d done?

  My finger clicked down and swiped across the screen, and I stared, horrified.

  I’d just sent Pierce a smiley.

  41

  Pierce

  Damn insomnia.

  I thought the melatonin pills would've cured it, but not these past few nights.

  Though I knew why I wasn't going to think about it.

  Sasha had made her decision, and that was that. I had to respect it. Sure, I was still going to try and help Adrian find her, but I wasn't going to try and start things up again. She’d made it perfectly clear that she didn’t want anything to do with me. And I couldn’t blame her. I’d blown it big time.

  My phone beeped. Half expecting some drunken, angry or mopey rant from Adrian, I was surprised to find Sasha's name at the top of the screen.

  A smiley face appeared.

  I scowled. What was she thinking?

  I tucked my phone away, although the thoughts reared up.

  So much for wanting to be left alone. Why the hell would she do that? Is she drunk somewhere? In danger?

  I exhaled. No, Sasha was smarter than that. Maybe she was just tired and lonely like I was.

  But I couldn’t deny that the smiley made me feel better than anything I'd done in the past three days.

  I'd even tried going out with Adrian one night, tried picking up our old routine. But there was nothing in it for me anymore. Nothing but an ironic sense that, even though I had never believed in relationships, I wanted one with Sasha more than anything in the world.

  The next morning, when I called her up, she picked up on the third ring.

  "About the text," she said, "It was a mistake. I'm sorry."

  Well, there we had it; all my hopes dashed within the first sentence.

  "Maybe," I said, "Maybe not. The point is, I want to see you."

  She said nothing.

  "Pierce."

  "Just hear me out," I said. "You don't have to tell me where you're staying. We don't have to meet there. We can meet wherever you want. I just want to see that you’re ok with my own eyes."

  An even longer silence followed that time. Finally, she said, "Fine. On one condition."

  "Yes?"

  "If I decide I don’t want to see you anymore, you leave me alone, for good. You and Adrian stop searching for me, and you leave this thing between us alone, whatever it is. You let it go."

  "Agreed," I said. To leaving this thing between us alone. I can't agree not to try and find and protect you."

  She considered it.

  "Fine," she said. "Guess that’s the best I’m going to get. So, we’ll meet at the bus station?"

  “Ok. We can meet up tomorrow if that works for you."

  "All right. See you tomorrow."

  As soon as I hung up the phone, the nerves that I thought would've gone down, only got bigger.

  What the hell was I going to do with Sasha, anyway? I wanted a chance to show her I could be what she needed.

  I got on my phone and started scrolling. It turned out Google had about a thousand pages filled with date ideas in New York City. None of them were really what I had in mind though. Sasha and I didn't need to go for a drink together; I wanted us to spend actual quality time together. Enough to make her see that we could be good together.

  42

  Sasha

  We met the next day at the bus station, and I was once again struck by how handsome Pierce was.

  "Hey!" he said when he saw me, excitement clear on his face.

 
He was not going to make it easy to walk away.

  "Hey," I said in return.

  He looked me up and down, for far too long.

  "You look great," he murmured, slipping his hand in mine.

  I stared at it for a moment before letting it be.

  "What exactly are we doing today?" I asked as we started walking down the city streets.

  "We're going to my car," he said easily.

  "Oh," I said with faux-enthusiasm, "You're kidnapping me. Why didn't you just tell me? I could've turned you down over the phone."

  Pierce turned to me with a sardonic smile. He squeezed my hand and shook his head. "I'm not kidnapping you. I'm taking you somewhere awesome. One of my most favorite places."

  Tatiana's words echoed in my head: "Of course, you don't know how he feels. The only way you'll find out is by giving it a real go."

  “Okay,” I said.

  His hand strayed to my necklace as he fingered the simple golden pendant that hung there. "You wore it."

  I wasn’t about to admit that I'd been wearing it nonstop since I'd gotten to Claircreek. Instead, I just said, "Yes."

  It was only when we got in the car that we started talking a bit more. Apparently, Pierce hadn't told Adrian about meeting with me, for a good reason.

  "He’s barely forgiven me," Pierce explained, "And this way, he’d demand to see you, I’d say no, then he’d want to beat me up all over again."

  "You'll be fine," I said. "Adrian will come around fully, and things will go back to normal."

  "I hope so," Pierce said, "I hate the strain between us now. It’s still there, even though he tries to say it’s not."

  “Trust me; it’ll smooth over soon enough. Adrian cares too much about you,” I reassured him again.

  He nodded. “So, tell me about you. Are you missing any friends back home?”

  "Nope," I said a bit bitterly. "No friends. Aleksi took care of that. Guess it was my fault too. I had a best friend, Maranda, but she was single and partied too much. Aleksi made me stop hanging out with her."