Owned by the Badman (Russian Bratva #1) (16 page)

I mean we can’t do this
here,
can we? This is supposed to be a business dinner.

“
Nyet,
Haleigh. Do as I say,” he barks. I jump, not unused to his barking commands, but nervous because this is not our home and we are not alone.

I do as he says because he is looking at me as if he is ready to devour or spank me at any second. Maxim grabs my panties and rips them from my body, shredding the fabric. I hear the clink of his belt seconds before he thrusts his hard cock inside of me, filling me. He slams my back up against the door with the sheer force of his hips while my legs wrap around his thick waist.

“Fuck.” His chest rumbles as my head falls back against the door. I accept his punishing thrusts, loving how he makes me feel, loving how I make
him
feel.
Out of control – needy
.

“Baby,” I gasp when his hips grind hard into me, sending shots of heat through my veins.

“Say it again,
golubushka.
Makes my cock harder,” he grunts.

I cry out when he starts to piston in and out of me with so much force, I swear my body is going to break in half. I can feel his fingers digging into my ass as he holds me in the perfect position to feel every inch of him.

“
Baby
,” I moan, my release on the edge, needing a little something extra to topple me over.

Maxim rewards me, with that something I need, when I feel one of his hands leave my ass. His thumb presses against my bundle of nerves as his teeth sink into the side of my neck. I scream out in pleasure, unable to hold back, unable to care who hears me. Maxim thrusts into me wildly. His body is tense and taut, his face is set hard, his jaw clenched, and I just watch in awe as he uses me for his pleasure—
I love it.
As I always do.

“
Ti ochen nuzhna mne.
” His body goes still and then he shudders as he fills me with his release.

I accept it as I accept him, fully and without hesitation.

“What does that mean, Maxim? You’ve said it more than once,” I ask, running my fingers through the back of his hair, lightly scraping his scalp as he breathes heavily into my neck, his cock softening but still inside of me.

“It means I need you so much,
angel moy,
” he admits.

I shiver at his words, and his blue eyes look up and crash with mine, sending my heart sputtering and my head spinning once again. I see what looks like love and adoration shimmering in his eyes. I lean down to press my lips to his softly before whispering that I need him too,
so very much
. Suddenly, there is a knock on the door and we both jump a bit.

“If you are finished making every man in the room a jealous fuck, dinner is served,” Gregori barks from the other side of the door. I feel my face go completely scarlet.

“Fuck off,” Maxim rumbles. I hear Gregori laughing from the other side of the door before his footsteps fade down the hall.

“Maxim,” I begin. I am cut off, not just by the warning look he gives me, but also by the act of him pulling out of my body.

“Go in that bathroom and clean up,
angel moy.
I wait here,” he orders.

I just do as he says, my body shaking with nerves at what I am about to walk into. A whole room of people could have heard us, and Maxim is completely unconcerned. I feel sick and scared and overwhelmed all at the same time. I am also, suddenly, starving and starting a fight with Maxim is the last thing I want to do after that fantastic orgasm against the door.

Maxim and I sit down at the table—me gently because my body is tender from the crazy amount of sex we have had since yesterday by the pool. I don’t mind it, though. The pain feels good. It reminds me of Maxim, and everything that reminds me of him makes me smile.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see that many of the women are glaring at me every now and then, and it makes me uncomfortable—almost as uncomfortable as a few of the men’s gazes.

Maxim is completely oblivious to the staring as he is deeply involved in a conversation with Pasha and Gregori. I wish that Sonia was here, but she is down with a cold and unable to make it. I don’t recognize any of the women from lunch. This is a whole new group. It is very lonely and unnerving that their attention is on me but angrily.

We leave the party shortly after dinner. Maxim tells everybody he must be up early to a meeting in the morning. I am grateful because I couldn’t stand another second of lecherous or snobby looks from the men and women surrounding us.

I am mortified that Maxim did that to me there, embarrassed me the way he did, with zero regard to how I would be treated.

Though, isn’t that normal for me?

Isn’t it typical of how I have always been treated?

I am a pawn in this life; told what and how to do
everything
, expected to just do it, and quietly.

I was under some kind of illusion if I thought Maxim had true feelings for me. My mother was right. I am his property to use as he sees fit until he is tired of me, then he will probably dispose of me.

Why give him that opportunity?

Why not just leave before I am dumped out in the country like some annoying dog you don’t want to take care of anymore?

It is probably stupid, no, I
know
that it’s stupid, but I begin to formulate a plan. Maxim claims that he needs me, but he fucks me in the back room of a restaurant while everybody can hear, then he does nothing as everybody stares at me,
judging me,
and formulating opinions about me based on the fact that I fucked my husband in public.

I feel like a cheap dirty whore, but isn’t that what I am? Maxim has bought me or accepted me as some kind of payment, whatever the case may be. I am nothing more than a possession, a whore to be used until I am no longer useful.

When will he start to hand me over to those men who had been lusting after me? I may be naïve, but I am not stupid. I know cruelty in this world exists beyond anything I could fathom. Alone with Maxim, I feel safe and secure; but this evening, I felt something completely different. I felt vulnerable and weak.

Maxim is confident in the fact I will not leave the house; and if I do, I am usually with Sonia or Dimitri. I know where the keys to all of his fancy cars are; although I know I don’t have a penny to my name and I can’t go to my parents’ house for help. It doesn’t matter. I would rather be living under a bridge in the city than feel like I am constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Wondering if every disagreement will lead him to abandon me anyway.

Wondering if I wake up one day and Maxim is just gone.

I don’t want to be abandoned, so maybe I should be the one to leave him? Maybe this life would be easier if I were alone, with nobody to hurt me, use me, or ignore me?
Do I really mean anything to him?

I feel as though I am falling in love with him, but am I more than a shiny new toy for him to parade around? I want to be. I want to be everything to him. I want to mean as much to him as he means to me.

Tonight, I did not feel like his cherished bride.

Tonight, I felt like his whore.

“You have been quiet since dinner, Haleigh. Tell me what is wrong,” Maxim asks as he unbuttons his perfectly tailored shirt.

“Nothing,” I say softly, sliding the lace dress down my body, wearing only a bra, since Maxim shredded my panties.

“Tell me,
angel moy.
I kill any person who makes you sad.” He hooks his arm around my waist and buries his face in my hair, inhaling my scent as he always does.

“I’m fine, Maxim, really. I’m just tired,” I murmur as he places a kiss on my shoulder before grunting and turning toward the bed.

I watch in fascination as he slides between the sheets completely nude. He always sleeps nude. I will miss him when I go; this easiness we have found. Farce or not, I do feel comfortable with him.

His tattoos still amaze me. I still think they’re beautiful, even if he won’t tell me what they mean. I quickly slide my nightie over my head and join Maxim in bed. Before I can even begin to settle, he wraps his arm around my waist and brings my back to his chest, his breath hot on my neck.

“You sleep. Whatever is wrong, it will be better in the morning. I know this,” he mutters, placing a gentle kiss on my shoulder.

I sigh and close my eyes, praying for sleep to take me.

As sleep slowly consumes me, I faintly wonder if my life will ever be better than it is right now?

Will I ever be more than a pawn or property to anybody? More than a trophy?

That answer seems bleak, and I am pretty positive it is a no.

Could Maxim love me for more than what I can provide for him? Something pretty on his arm and a body to carry his children into the world?

There have been glimpses of a more caring man, a man who could possibly fall in love with me, but I feel as though my hopes have been dashed. Every time I think he could truly love me, something is revealed, a new truth that shatters that dream.

I
WATCH HER SLEEP
in the early morning light. She is so beautiful, my tiny little ballerina,
golubushka
- my little dove. I have never loved any person in my life, except for perhaps Pasha. Even then, I know I must not truly love him because if he tried to come between my Haleigh and me …
I would not hesitate to kill him.

I think I might be in love. My chest aches every time I walk out of my front door and go to work. I know I must leave the country soon to complete a few jobs for Pasha, and I have been putting them off because I do not want to leave her behind. When her mother was abusing her, it was all I could do not to torture her longer than I had. I truly gave the cunt mercy.

I brush the blonde hair away from Haleigh’s face and take a quiet moment to memorize her remarkably lovely features. I have never had something so delicate, fragile, and just plain pretty before in my life. She is the only good and clean thing I have ever possessed.
Would she leave me if she knew how obsessed I was with her?
She sure as fuck would probably try, but she would never get too far because I would find her.

I will always find her. She is mine.

Reluctantly, I leave her asleep and alone in bed. Every minute away from her feels like hours; every hour an eternity. I feel foolish and weak for wanting her so badly, for
needing
her. Pasha would probably take her from me if he knew just how badly I needed her just to function. She is my Achilles heel.

Dimitri drives me to work like an old woman; he is so fucking slow. I spend the commute on my phone conducting business, annoyed that an escrow is being delayed on a warehouse I need. After I conclude my call, I close my eyes and think back to the night before and what could have happened to make her switch moods so suddenly. I fucked her in Casimir’s restaurant and then we went to eat dinner. I spent the whole evening talking to Gregori … ahh, that must be it.

So
golubushka
was feeling neglected then?

I can make that up to her.

I can fix that.

I pull out my phone and I order twelve dozen roses to be delivered to her, red of course. She will forgive me the second she sees them.

“What would you like on the cards, sir?” the florist asks.

I am immediately annoyed.
Who in the fuck cares what’s on the cards?
I run my fingers over my forehead and give her my best answer without ripping her head off.

“I am sorry. Have dinner with me tonight. Be ready at seven. –M.”

The tension from the morning leaves my body as Dimitri pulls toward my building. I step outside and practically collide with a woman. Taking a step back, my eyes meet Catia’s and I almost growl with annoyance
. Why in the fuck is she outside of my building?

“Maks,” she breathes, puffing out her big breasts, trying to entice me, no doubt.

I am not blind. A fleeting thought about how good it always felt to fuck her tits crosses my mind, but only for a second. I have my sweet Haleigh now, all warm and asleep at home. I promised her there would not be another woman in my bed.

“Catia.”