by Sam Crescent
“What do you think?” I asked.
“I want you to get that one but you’re not wearing it to the banquet.”
“Why not?”
“No other man is going to see my woman. Do I make myself clear?”
“Crystal. If I’m not going to wear it, why do I still need to buy it?”
“So I can tear it off your body and fuck you with what remains.”
My mouth opened, but no sounds came out. Slavik never sugar-coated anything. He got up from his seat and walked toward me.
The assistant was right outside, but he slid his hand through the slit and cupped my pussy. “See, this is tempting for you to wear, but if I can do this, I don’t want every man to be thinking the same thing.”
“They won’t be.”
“They will be.”
I wanted to argue with him, but I kept my mouth shut. Eyes closed, pleasure rushing through my body.
“You know what I’m starting to think?” he asked. His lips brushed against the sensitive column of my neck, and I shook my head. “You’re a very dirty woman, Aurora Ivanov. So dirty you’ve kept it hidden from me, but I better warn you, I will discover all of your secrets.”
“I don’t hide anything,” I said.
He plunged two fingers inside me. “Yeah, you did. A virgin you may be, in more ways than you realize, but your needs are far from innocent. I think it would be only fair for us to explore them.” He pinched my clit, causing me to cry out, then finally withdrawing his hand.
I watched him lick my cream off his finger and move to sit back down. “Try on the next one.”
He’d gotten me all hot and bothered and was on his cell phone as if nothing happened. I didn’t get this man.
In the last twenty-four hours, he’d touched me more than in the first seven months of marriage. Not that I was complaining. Even as I believed I hated the man, I still couldn’t stop myself from watching him, desperate for his touch.
I still wasn’t sure how to initiate sex. I pushed the thoughts to the back of my mind and instead focused on what appeared to be important to him. Picking out the perfect dress for this banquet.
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“No. I don’t like going to these events. I find them pointless and unnecessary.” He didn’t look up from his cell.
“Why do you go then?”
“Image. To drive a point across.”
I pulled on a pale-blue dress with a scooped neck that showcased my cleavage by pushing my tits together. Blowing out a breath, I spun toward him. The dress fell to my ankles. Very modest with a hint of reveal.
“This one?”
He looked up. “Yes.”
“Will you need my help with anything this time?” I asked. I hated going to the banquets and special events. They were places I always felt the odd one out.
I licked my lips as my mouth had gone dry.
After changing out of the dress he’d picked and back into my jeans and a shirt, I held the two dresses he’d liked, and was ready to leave.
He looked up from his cell phone. “You’re not going to try any others on?”
I wrinkled my nose. “No.”
“And here I thought you liked shopping.”
“Your credit card should show a full refund. I hate shopping.”
He tilted his head to the side. “Why go shopping then?”
“It wasn’t about the clothes or shoes. I just … I needed to get out. That’s all. Call me childish. I’d been trapped after what happened with Sergei. It wasn’t my fault and still, I was punished.”
Slavik grabbed the back of my neck and pulled me in close. His lips so close to mine, but he didn’t kiss me. “I know it wasn’t your fault, but you could have told me the very instant he made any kind of hint he wanted more from you. Sergei shouldn’t have gotten anything from you. His job was to protect you.”
“Is that how you see me, as a job?” I asked.
“No. You’re my wife. It’s my duty to protect you.”
I tried to pull away. I shouldn’t feel anger or resentment and yet, that was exactly what I felt and I was so annoyed with the feeling. I put my hands on his chest. “I’m not your duty.”
“But you are my wife.”
“And … ugh, let me go.”
“No. Tell me why you’re upset.”
I glared at him. “Tell me how you’d feel if I had to … have sex with you out of duty? Out of it being a job.”
His lips brushed my ear. “You do have a duty to fuck me.”
I jerked back and shoved him hard.
He didn’t move.
This man was like a damn rock, and just knowing I couldn’t get him to move upset me.
“No part of me being with you has been a duty. I don’t sleep with you or fuck you because I have to. I’ve done it because I wanted to.”
“You think I believe our wedding night and the time after was for fun?”
“Don’t mess up my words. That was duty, but the times since, I liked it, and I didn’t do it out of obligation. I happen to enjoy your hands on my body, but right now, I want you to let me go.”
I tried to shove him away. He held me closer. His lips brushed against the curve of my neck, and I hated how weak I felt toward this man.
“You’re not a duty to me, Aurora.”
“After what you just said, you expect me to believe you?”
“Have you ever considered the fact I say things to find out what you think?” he asked.
I looked up at him. “What?”
“You heard me.”
He wouldn’t repeat himself. It was why whenever he talked, I forced myself to listen to every single word.
There was a knock on the door before it opened. The woman who’d been assisting us stepped in.
Slavik released my neck but placed his hand on my hip.
I gritted my teeth. He never seemed to want to let me go and it both thrilled and annoyed me. Slavik had my emotions all over the place.
“I want those dresses wrapped up and ready to go.” He took the dresses from my hand, gave them to the assistant, and within a matter of seconds, we were out of the shop.
His men surrounded him.
“How are we going to pay?”
“Everything has been taken care of.”
“Oh,” I said, feeling like an idiot for asking.
We walked through the city center. People avoided us, some crossing the street to get as far away from us as possible.
Slavik kept his head held high. He’d donned a pair of sunglasses, and I couldn’t see his eyes.
I walked by his side. His hand on my hip. A brand of ownership.
We made our way to a restaurant. Two of his men entered and we followed. The maître d’ was there to offer us a table, and we sat down.
Wine was poured into our glasses. Slavik spoke Russian to the waiter, and then we were left alone.
I stared across the table. Rather than drink the wine, I went with water.
“Why are we here?”
“We’re going to enjoy a meal.”
“We have the banquet tonight,” I said.
“Not for another six hours, and I’m not going to go that long without food. This is one of my favorite places to eat, and the Stroganoff is delicious.”
I nodded.
The restaurant was bustling with activity. I sipped at my water. I expected Slavik to go back to his cell phone.
He’d put it away. His gaze was on me.
I locked my fingers together.
“Do you know how to make small talk?” he asked.
I shook my head. “No. We’re in an open place.”
“We’re fine. My men are on guard.”
“Doesn’t that scare you?”
“I’m not afraid. What will happen, will happen. Nothing I can do to change that. I have to react. You know what it’s like. I seem to recall reading three years ago there was a shooting right outside the school you and your sister attended, corre
ct?”
“How did you know about that?”
Slavik smiled. “Who do you think arranged it?”
My mouth fell open. This couldn’t be happening. “You’re telling me that I’m married to a man who tried to kill me?”
He shrugged. “Your father had attacked one of my ports, killed six of my men. The ports were supposed to be safe territory. We hadn’t attacked his, or anyone else’s. I had to find a way to hit back. His wife and children were very easy targets as they were … never guarded quite as well.”
“I don’t know what to think about that.”
He shrugged. “You can be pissed off with me or accept it is in the past. Neither your sister nor you were hurt in the end. If memory serves, no one was.”
“Weren’t you disappointed?” I asked.
“No. The end result wasn’t to actually kill you.”
“Then what?”
“It was to begin the talks that led us to this day.”
“Oh.” I looked down at my hands, which were clenched together. “Is that why you wanted marriage? You saw my sister.”
Slavik sighed. “They really are in your head, aren’t they?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“Yeah, you do, and I find it sad that they can so easily get under your skin.”
I hated how easily he read me. All my life, I’d been told I didn’t compare to my much prettier older sister.
“Everyone wants Isabella.”
“You’re right. She is a pretty girl, but that is where the attraction stops. You think when your father offered up you in place of Isabella I didn’t do my research?”
I didn’t want to ask, but I found myself doing so. “What kind of research?”
“To see how you and Isabella compared. Even in your secluded world, there were enough people who knew you. Everyone talked about how Isabella was a beauty. She’d make a fine wife and a trophy. Any man would be pleased to have her. No one said anything about her mean side. How she got good, loyal men killed because they wouldn’t do her bidding.”
I had no idea anyone knew about that.
Isabella was a flirt. She liked to drive men wild. I caught her once trying to feel up one of the soldiers. He called her an ugly soul, and that night, I heard the commotion and witnessed the death of said soldier. Isabella had told my father lies, and he’d believed her. That was the first time I realized my sister was not a nice person. Up until then, she had always been perfect. Everyone said so, so she must be.
“What did people say about me?”
“That was the mystery,” Slavik said. “No one said anything. They had no idea what to say, other than she was the ugly sister.”
Tears filled my eyes as I looked down at my hands.
“I’d seen you, Aurora. I knew there was more to you and they were wrong.”
“About what?”
“You’re not ugly.”
“I’m not pretty,” I said.
“Yes, you are, and that is the saddest part about all of this. You are so pretty, and you don’t see it. Everyone around you has gotten you to see this person that, to me, doesn’t exist.”
“If you found this out, why did you marry me? Why did you wait all this time?”
He shrugged. “Duty was one. I’m loyal to the Volkov Bratva. He told me to marry you, I did my duty. I also wanted the time to get to know who you are.”
“That’s a lie, Slavik. We barely know each other.”
“And yet we sit here, talking. There is plenty of time for us to get to know each other.”
“If Mr. Volkov told you to, would you kill me? If the treaty became voided for whatever reason, you’d kill me dead. Even if I was the mother of your children?” I didn’t know where the question came from.
My parents said my curiosity would get me killed, and it would seem today was going to be that day.
“I will kill you, if I have to. Be loyal to us and our cause, and you live in peace at my side.”
As a response, it wasn’t very reassuring.
****
Slavik
I hated banquets.
Being surrounded by the rich, the powerful, all under the guise of helping those less fortunate. Even as I stood with my wife by my side, I looked at the sickening falseness surrounding me.
I was used to dealing with dirty people. The dregs of society, some would call it. I never stuck to the protocol of only dealing with my immediate Bratok. For my men and people who worked for me, I was everywhere. They never knew where I would turn up. Right now, as men and women donated money to several well-meaning charities to help the less fortunate from children to poverty-stricken families, I spotted one woman who owned a slave through human trafficking. This woman she beat on a regular basis. I had the footage of her beating this woman. She used anything from sticks to whips, to even clubs. Her anger was always taken out on this woman. She held a place in a senior role within the courthouse. The evidence I had was a good bargaining tool.
Most of the people here were under Ivan’s thumb in one way or another. My presence, as well as two other brigadiers, helped to drive the point of our power.
No one could touch us.
“You’re hurting me,” Aurora said.
I loosened my hold on her hip with an apology.
“It’s fine. I don’t mind. You don’t like these places. Why come?”
“Business.”
“Do you ever donate to the causes?”
“Yes.” The money donated did go to several foundations. I made sure of it.
“Excellent. Would you like me to go and make a donation?” she asked.
I pulled out my checkbook and gave her one I’d already written. I tore off a second for her to fill in. “Go crazy.”
She chuckled and left my side. I nodded at one of my men to follow her. She was in a fish tank full of sharks. The people here would gladly try to take her from me, and the very knowledge of that pissed me off.
Andrei chose that moment to come my way. We shook hands and turned to look at the crowd.
“I can’t stand half of the people here,” he said.
“It’s what business is all about. Our likes do not come into it.”
“Will you be attending my wedding?” Andrei asked. “Bethany informed me no response had been sent.”
I glanced at Bethany. She stood in the center of six businessmen. I hadn’t liked the woman the instant I met her. Something seemed off about her.
“You know she’s a whore?” I asked, turning to Andrei.
“Do you think it takes a rocket scientist to work that out? I’m aware she’s not a princess. She uses her snatch to get what she wants. It pisses her off I have no use for it.”
“Why marry her?”
“Business, and I need a wife to have a kid with. A slut she may be, but not all of us can have cute virgins to bed.”
My gaze went to Aurora. She stood at the booths that displayed all the charities being showcased tonight. My man was close and made sure no one approached her.
“How is it to bed a virgin?”
“I’m not going to tell you about my wife,” I said.
“I have to say I’m impressed. Everyone thought you’d have killed her by now. Aurora must have a special pussy.”
I reacted before anyone saw. Slamming the side of my hand against his throat, I immediately choked him.
His glass dropped to the floor, and I grabbed his shoulders, feigning concern to the onlooking crowd.
I made sure they were far away before I dragged Andrei away, slamming him against the wall, out of earshot and eyesight.
“Now you listen to me, my wife is not up for questioning. You talk about her, you insult me. You should tell your fiancée that the next time she thinks to insult my wife again, I will slit her fucking throat.”
Andrei cleared his throat, taking a few minutes to get himself together. “What?”
I told Andrei all the details Aurora had given me. There wasn’t a lot ther
e, but enough to get his attention.
“I will deal with her.”
“Is there a problem here?” Ivan asked, coming out of the main room to talk to us.
“No, no problem. A simple misunderstanding, but that is all,” I said.
Andrei agreed and made his way into the room.
“Your wife is lonely,” Ivan said.
I nodded and went to go into the room.
“What was that?” Ivan asked.
“Andrei believed he could talk about my wife disrespectfully, and I told him he couldn’t. It was a misunderstanding.”
“Your wife’s not pregnant yet.”
“I’m working on it.”
“Knock her up. I don’t want this treaty to blow up in our faces,” Ivan said.
Movement from behind him had me cursing.
I saw Aurora’s hair. “Duty calls,” I said.
I walked into the dance floor and saw Aurora had moved as far away from the doorway as possible. She caught sight of me and went to the first man.
He clearly turned down a dance as she withdrew into herself and tried to shrink away from people being able to see her. I closed the distance between us, stepping into her space. I grabbed her arm.
“Dance with me,” I said.
“No. I don’t want to dance with you.” She didn’t make a scene, but she was no match for me either. I easily led her onto the dance floor.
With my hand at the base of her back and the other holding her hand, there was nowhere for her to go. I held her captive.
“You’re not playing fair,” she said.
“I never play fair.” I glanced around the room, keeping an eye on any potential attackers. Andrei had a scared-looking Bethany in his arms. That bitch was going to know not to mess with my woman. “You asked that man to dance,” I said.
She scoffed. “I don’t know why. He told me no.”
“That would be my fault.”
“Why?”
“My presence scares the shit out of people. They all know you’re my wife. No one will dance with you. Unless you’re Ivan, of course.”
“Great. You scare everyone. I should have known.”
“Men would love to dance with you. I don’t want anyone else to dance with you but me.”
“Do you intend to control my life?” she asked.
“You’re my wife. So yes.”