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I sigh. “I swear to God, if you break something, I’m going to kick you out.”
He pulls his head out of the closet, grinning at me and stepping down from the chair. In his hand, there’s a sealed pack of cigarettes. “I told you he had something here.”
I cross my arms, annoyed that he would climb all over Angus’s office just for a chance to give himself lung cancer. Men confuse me sometimes.
Okay,all the time.
“You’re not smoking those in here,” I say as he peels the little gold tab on the plastic.
“Says who?” he asks, tossing the plastic into the trash bin beside the desk, still grinning like he just won a round of blackjack.
“Says me, asshole,” I reply, charging up to him and grabbing at the pack as he tries to open it.
He holds it up out of reach, chuckling like I’m a little dog trying to jump for a treat. “If you ask nicely, I might open a window before I smoke.”
He must think that he knows me inside and out, that I’m actually going to beg him to compromise so that he can continue to take charge ofmybusiness thatIown. Well, he has another thing coming if he thinks I’m that easy. My head can get cloudy when it comes to sex, but the only thing his bad habit will leave me with is a headache.
He holds his arms up high, laughing and dangling the pack of cigarettes over me. “Say please. I love it when you say please,” he teases.
I pull back my fist and punch him in the gut as hard as I can, causing him to buckle over and drop the pack on the carpet. I pick it up as he coughs, opening the window and throwing it out into the parking lot.
“You fucking bitch,” he mutters, but I catch a smile on his face as he rubs his stomach.
I smirk. “It takes one to know one.”
“Well, if I have to go outside, I don’t want to go alone. We have more to talk about, so come on,” he says, placing his hand on my shoulder and squeezing it lightly.
I shudder at his touch, no longer fearful of what he could do. It’s crazy how such a frightening and dangerous man can turn from your worst enemy to your greatest ally in just a few short weeks. I wonder if he’d still act this way if we never had sex.
He leads me outside, searching the parking lot for Angus’s old cigarettes while muttering something about a crazy woman. I assume that woman to be me.
“I’m not crazy,” I tell him, leaning against the gritty brick wall and folding my arms over my chest.
I’m sure he’s so used to getting his way that the moment he encounters defiance he thinks the person defying him must be crazy. Maybe I am for challenging a Bratva boss, but I’m not one to submit without a fight.
Savva walks back to me with a cigarette between his lips, producing an orange lighter and pulling fire into the tobacco with a few puffs. Smoke seeps out through his teeth as he smiles and winks at me.
Never in my life did I think smoking was attractive, but it feels like anything Savva does makes something stir deep in my belly. I look away from him for fear that I will want a cigarette too after seeing his lips wrapped around the paper.
The moon is full tonight, and it’s almost bright enough to be a cloudy day outside. The silver light casts dramatic shadows across the parking lot, a tangled mess of shapes from the wiry outlines of a few dozen motorcycles.
“You wanted to talk about something,” I say as Savva leans against the wall next to me.
“Sure,” he says, his voice pulled out across time as the nicotine starts to calm him. “I need you to know the gravity of your decision to stay here. Stone, the leader of the Triple Six Angels, is looking for me. I think you already know that, but what you don’t seem to realize is that he will try to kill me if he does find me. I guess the keyword here istry. I’m not going to let him.”
I laugh. “You’re so fucking full of yourself, you know that?”
He shrugs. “I’ve never met a man who was able to kill me. Why should I believe that Stone can just because I shot his brother?”
My stomach drops as I realize once again that I’m talking to a cold-blooded killer. Not only that, but I had sex with him. The same hands that were spanking my ass were used to kill someone. Is it wrong that I feel excited to know that?
“I imagine killing someone’s brother would make them pretty angry,” I say, attempting to bring myself back into the seriousness of what he’s telling me.
“Super angry, but he’s a bitch, you know? Stone gets his money by harassing defenseless people and ripping tourists off at their stupid little gas station down the road. That’s child’s play. None of those people know what it is to do business with killers or defy someone truly powerful. I believe they’ve overstepped, and for that, they will all pay dearly. Stone’s days are numbered.”
“If you’re so confident about that, why do you seem so concerned?”
“I’m not concerned about myself, Oakley. I’m concerned about you. It’s not like I can keep you with me all the time. You seem intent on working at your business, and I can’t blame you for that. I just need to know that you’ll be safe.”
