by Nikki Rose
Two miles was enough anyway. I hurried back up to my apartment, looking over my shoulder the whole way. Once I made it back, I locked the door behind me and leaned against it.
“You’re being paranoid,” I told myself aloud. But my mind argued the point, summoning up the image of that shadowy figure from Friday night. I checked every room in my apartment before finally letting down my guard and relaxing.
I needed to get out of the apartment. I was in a funk and staying locked up was not the answer. I needed to go out, be around people, and do normal things. I couldn’t obsess over something that was probably nothing at all.
I decided it was as good a day as any to go get my nails done. Then maybe do a little shopping and pick up some dinner at the little bistro a few blocks away. I wasn’t one of those people who minded eating alone. I enjoyed it on occasion since I spent most days talking to a hundred different employees — such is life in HR.
I walked into the bustling little bistro and was immediately welcomed by Janelle, a part-time intern where I worked. She waitressed at the bistro to help pay the bills between going to class or working at my office. Janelle was a hard worker and so sweet. We clicked instantly and I’d taken her under my wing after her first week.
“Hi Hailey, just you eating today?”
“Hey. Yeah, it's just me.”
She furrowed her brow and studied me curiously. It couldn’t be because I was eating alone. That wasn’t a rare occurrence. “You okay? You look ... stressed.”
“That’s just a nice way to say I look like hell.” I chuckled.
“Oh no, I didn’t mean it like that.” She began to backtrack quickly.
“I’m just teasing.” I laughed.
She smiled, looking relieved. “Let me get you seated.” She turned to walk me to a small table, glancing back at me as she came to a stop. “Are you wanting your usual or will you need a menu?”
“My usual, thanks.”
“Sure, coming right up.” She jotted down my order on her pad before twirling around on her heel and bouncing off toward the kitchen.
I sat back and people-watched while I waited for my glass of white wine and my grilled chicken panini. There was a couple sitting at a booth, clearly on a first date the way they were both fiddling with their cloth napkins and squirming nervously.
It made me smile.
There was a group of four older ladies with varying shades of silver and gray hair all tightly curled and styled. All old ladies must go to the same hairstylist. They all seem to have the same look. Maybe it was the granny special or something.
I chuckled to myself.
Motion near the door caught my attention causing my smile to drop from my lips.
Mikhail, along with two of his men walked into the restaurant. Janelle greeted them and led them to a table. What the hell are they doing here? I can’t come to their club but they can come to my neck of the woods like it's no big deal? Technically it wasn’t like I owned the bistro but it didn’t stop me from being furious.
Mikhail spotted me looking at him and gave me a nod. I nodded back, trying to play it off but that backfired. He bypassed his table and walked right over to mine.
“Hello, Hailey. So good to see you again.”
“Is it?” I crossed my arms and leaned back in my chair. “I wouldn’t think you’d be happy to see me after you banned me from your club.”
He scoffed. “That was for Andrew’s benefit, not mine. He is a — good friend and I did that as a courtesy for him. You apparently flustered him.”
“Apparently,” I said dully.
“May I sit?” He motioned to the empty chair across from me.
I had no excuse to say no, so I just nodded casually toward the chair. Mikhail seemed nice enough considering he’d banned me from his club. I’d wanted to hook-up with him Friday night. A part of me wanted to even more just to spite Drew even if he never actually found out about it.
“I am very glad to run into you here. I want to apologize for the other night.”
“You were just being a good friend I suppose.”
“You must have quite the past with Andrew to have him reacting the way he did. I’ve seen him in all sorts of situations and never seen him rattled like that.” Mikhail leaned in toward me.
“It’s a long story.”
“I have all the time in the world for you. Please?” Mikhail was smooth, I’d give him that.
“It’s nothing I’d like to waste my time lingering on if it's all the same to you.”
“Ah, let the past be in the past I suppose.”
“That’s how I like to live.” I flashed him a coy smile that always worked with men like him.
“Mikhail, what are you doing here?” I knew Drew’s voice even before looking up to confirm.
“Drew, what the hell? Are you following me?” I was unable to hide my anger.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” He snapped.
“Hello Andrew, look who I happened upon during my dinner.”
“Just happened upon, huh?”
“Of course.” Mikhail kept his tone so calm and cool. I had no idea how because every time I saw Drew, I just wanted to punch him in his lying, cheating face.
“Can you give us a minute?” Drew actually had the nerve to look at me like he expected me to leave the restaurant I always came to.
“No. This is my table. You can leave if you want privacy.” I huffed and recrossed my arms.
“Fine,” Drew said but he didn’t budge. Instead, he began rattling off words I could only guess were Russian. Mikhail responded always with a calm and cool tone. I admire that about him.
I was dying to know what they were saying but didn’t know much Russian passed a simple da or nyeht. I noticed Drew repeated one phrase with extra emphasis. This was the twenty-first century, so I pulled out my phone and typed in the phrase to try to get some idea of what was going on.
Ona moja. She’s mine.
Oh hell no.
I jumped up from my seat. Fury raged inside me. How dare he say he had some sort of claim on me. What was he thinking? Did he really think he’d ever have a chance with me after what he’d put me through?
“Yours? Like hell —.” I started
“Not here.” Drew glanced around the crowded restaurant as people started to look at us. “Let’s go,” Drew said, taking hold of my arm and pulling me along with him.
I yanked my arm from his grasp, “I’m not going anywhere with you. What the hell were you thinking?”
“We are not doing this here. Come on.” He grabbed my bicep tight and drug me out the side door which led to a parking garage. If he thought I was going to go with him, he was sadly mistaken. I jerked my arm and refused to move my feet. “No, Drew, I’m not going anywhere with you until you tell me what the hell is going on.”
“Hailey, for once in your life will you just listen to me?” He seemed angry. What the hell did he have to be angry about? I was the angry one.
“Did you or did you not tell that guy I was yours?”
“I did.”
“I'm no one's property, especially not yours,” I bit out.
“You saw how he was looking at you — ogling you. I couldn't let him think you weren't already claimed.”
“Do you know how many guys have looked at me like that? It's nothing I can't handle. I was trying to pick him up.”
“Hailey, listen to me. These guys aren't like normal guys. They don't flirt and hope a girl will reciprocate. These guys, they have a — a game they like to play.”
“A game?” I stopped struggling merely out of curiosity.
“It's sick really.”
“What is it? What do they do?” I demanded to know.
“Can't it just be enough that I'm telling you it's bad?” Drew stepped closer to me, face to face, our chests almost touching as he gazed down at me. I hated how I still felt the magnetism pulling me toward him after all this time. “Can't you just trust me and leave it at that?”
&nb
sp; I didn't even try to hide my scoff.
“Damn it, fine.” He dragged me farther into the parking garage and pushed me against a concrete pillar. His body pressed against mine, hardness against my softness and his lips brushed against my ear.
I tried to push him away but he held me secure. “Drew, what the hell? Let me go.”
“We’re being watched.” he inclined his head behind me and I glanced over my shoulder to see one of Mikhail's guys discreetly watching us. “Gotta make this look good.” He whispered in my ear and I stiffened. What the hell had I gotten into? “These guys like manipulation. It's too easy if a girl wants to be theirs. They like knowing they have the power to make her give them what they want.”
I gasped and turned my face toward his, “You mean they...?”
His face was right in mine. Our lips were almost touching. “No. Like I said, they like manipulation to feel powerful, not force.”
“What does that even mean?”
“There's always something they can use against the woman.” He took a deep breath as if trying to calm himself. By the anger in his eyes, it wasn’t working. “They always find a way. They get a thrill by making a girl who doesn't want to, agree to belong to them of her own will.”
“I don't understand. How can they —?”
“They always find a way. They use surveillance, watch the girl until they find something they can use. One girl’s mom was sick and needed money for treatment. They offered to pay — under their terms.”
“That's awful — wait, they follow the girl?”
“Yeah. Another girl’s uncle who raised her from childhood happened to work at the mechanic shop owned by one of the members. He was barely getting by as it was. If she wanted him to keep his job...”
“Seriously?” I couldn't believe that these men would do such things.
“And if the girl changes her mind at any time those things could be put into action. She must obey or risk whatever threat they hold over her being executed.”
“Obey, like what?”
“Working at the club, sex, cleaning, whatever they want.”
A sickening feeling twisted in the pit of my stomach. I glanced back at the man but Drew gripped my hair and turned my face back to his. Instinctively, I fought against his touch.
“Look at me. Not him.” He whispered close to my ear before moving down my neck. His warm breath tickled my neck. He kept his lips just close enough to feel their warmth without touching.
It was distracting as hell but knowing Mikhail’s guy was spying on us helped keep me sober. Drew was putting on a show so we could talk.
“I think they were following me,” I whispered.
“They were. And I was following them following you. I sort of work for them —.”
“You work for those sick f—.”
“Undercover. I’m trying to bust them on all this.”
“And you went and told them I was yours? Knowing how they are?” Anger filled my chest until I thought I might explode. “How dare you, you asshole.”
I lifted my hand to slap him but he caught my wrist and pinned it to the pillar.
“Don't you see? Mikhail had his eye on you and you were practically giving him an open invitation. He would have found a way to make you agree to be his,” Drew hissed. I opened my mouth to argue but he cut me off. “You think you wouldn’t but you would. They always find a way.”
“You could have found another way to get me out of that.”
“Not one without more risk, and not one that let me keep my cover. I've been working for years to establish this cover and it's not just me I'd be exposing. The men were already suspicious of me because they knew things went down badly in my last job yet somehow, I just so happened to make it out okay. I'll keep you safe and you'll help add the depth I need to my cover.”
“And if I say no? Are you going to force me just like those other guys do?”
“You know me better than that.”
“I would have thought so but after everything, I don't know anymore.”
“I'd never force you.” He looked so hurt. Why would he even care what I thought about him after all this time? After what he did...and why did it bother me so much to see my words hurt him after what he’d done to me?
“But Hailey, I'm asking you to think of those other girls. The ones who really are forced to stay with these men. You have a rare opportunity to help. Are you really going to turn your back on them?”
Shit. He still knew how to pull all the right strings.
“I've had to pretend to be buddy-buddy with them. These guys make me sick. The more I learn about them the more I want to take them down. What do you say, Hailey? Will you help me?”
I didn't want to be stuck with him for any amount of time. I couldn't stand to be around him after everything we had been through, but how could I turn my back on all the other girls going through so much worse? If I could help, I knew I had to. But I didn't have to like it.
“Fine.”
“Great.” His shoulders slumped with relief. “It won't be easy, and I'll need you to follow my instructions. This is dangerous but we are so close.”
“I said I'd do it. It doesn't mean I have to be happy about it. You may not have forced me but you sure as hell didn't give me much of a choice.”
He smiled and ran his nose up the bridge of mine. “You haven't changed a bit.”
“I've changed a lot. You'll be lucky if you even recognize who I've become.”
“No, you haven't. I still see the same Hailey I've always known.” The corner of his soft lips curled into a devilish smile and it felt like a whole swarm of butterflies had been let loose in there. Hailey, you know better.
“This is only for a short time, to keep your cover, but the minute you find a way to get me out of this, I'm out. And I don’t want anyone to know about this.”
“I have to clear it with my boss and keep my team in the loop. You got a boyfriend you're worried about?”
“No, I don't date.”
“You mean you aren't dating anyone right now?”
“No, I mean I don't date. Period.”
“Why the hell not? I know you get offers; I mean... look at you.”
“I just don't, okay?” I snapped, feeling my patience running extremely thin.
“Okay, struck a nerve. Interrogation over, at least for now.”
“For good. Just leave it alone, Drew.”
He slowly pulled back, releasing me from between him and the pillar. I readjusted myself and took a deep breath. “So, what do we do next?” I crossed my arms as though that might protect me.
“We don't have time to go over everything right now. We’ll talk at my cover’s apartment.”
He led me to his sleek black sports car that was way too flashy for the Drew I’d known. He opened the door and made sure I was secure before rounding to his side.
The apartment building we pulled up to was nothing like what I’d imagined. It was elegant and expensive. A leap and jump above the little studio apartment he had when we were dating.
There were security guards at the front and access was strictly limited. I wasn’t sure if that should make me feel safe or trapped.
As if he knew what I was thinking, Drew leaned down and whispered in my ear as we passed the front doors into the lobby. “The security here works with the agency. We are safer here than anywhere else.”
I nodded and he led me to the elevator. I stepped inside and Drew followed. As the mirrored doors shut, the space felt too small and I had to take a step away from him. We rode up to the penthouse which was bigger and more extravagant than anything I’d ever seen.
“What exactly is your cover?” I said as I spun around the vast living room decorated in modern white and black.
“Trust fund brat who's working to make his own money so he can get out from under his father’s thumb.” He shrugged. “It wasn’t my choice. The agency thought I looked the part and it also gives me some leeway with keeping s
eparate lives.”
“Clever.” I flopped down on the soft white leather couch.
“Yeah, so listen, next time we are around those guys, I need you to be extra careful to act the part.”
“What do I need to do?”
“Act scared. You can act a little mad too if you want. I’m sure that will come naturally enough. But I need you to act pretty shaken up too.”
“Shaken up?”
“These guys saw you disrespect me. They don't let their girls get away with that shit. If it looks like I didn't put you in your place, it will make me look weak.”
“Seriously?”
“We haven't even gotten to the hard part yet, if you don't think you can do this you need to say so now.”
“No. I can do it.”
“Good.” He sat on the oversized chair opposite the couch. “Come here.”
I raised a brow. “You’re the one who sat down way over there. If you wanted me next to you, you come over here.”
“It’s not about what’s logical. It’s about you obeying. Now, come here.”
I scowled and clenched my jaw but did as I was told, leaving the couch to join him on the chair even as my mind screamed to turn the other way. He brushed my hair back over my shoulder and cupped my cheek. He slowly brushed his thumb over my lower lip and electricity radiated from the touch, spreading over my whole body.
I wanted to blame my racing heart and shallow breaths on the danger ahead of us. But, if I was honest with myself, it was the danger right in front of me that sent my body into a frenzy.
Drew threatened every wall I'd carefully built up around my heart. He threatened to tear open every old wound I'd finally managed to heal. And, I'd just agreed to pretend to be his.
Chapter 5
I stood out on the balcony of my apartment, pulling the blanket tighter around my shoulders to fight the cold January night. I needed the cold and its numbing effects after the night I had. I stared out at the city. The sun crept from its hiding place, disrupting the night sky. I lit another cigarette and took a long drag. I hadn’t smoked in two years. I didn’t plan to make it a habit, but if anything earned me the right of a small relapse, I think it was last night.