Two Hitmen: A Double Bad Boy Mafia Romance (Lawless Book 1) (120 page)

The footsteps in the far corner didn’t register until they stopped, just when I hit the button to answer. There was a silence on the other end. Then the footsteps started again and fraction of a second later, I heard them in the phone.
 

Alexa tightened as she realized some of what was happening. She pulled herself off me and I pulled out at the same time. She was as annoyed as I was, I was sure of it. Bruto’s voice was far off in the concrete echo then, almost immediately digital clear in my ear.

“Luka? You’re here in the garage.”

“What do you want, Bruto?”

“Vassily called. He wants a meet.”

“Okay.” I tried to keep the tired unwillingness out of my voice. “When?”

“Now, you fucking meathead.”

His voice came nearer. I struggled to get my denims closed up and my belt fastened. “Where have you been?” I turned to see him. I didn’t even have an idea of how Alexa looked. I didn’t want to deal with Bruto’s dumbass shit.

I wanted to get a couple of cozy moments with Alexa. The sight of his ugly face made me want to break his nose even more than usual. His eyebrows knotted. “What have the two of you been doing?”

I stood in front of Alexa to head Bruto off. I had done all I could with my jeans and my belt, and I hadn’t even had time to see how it looked. Well, fuck him. If he wanted to make something out of it, we could get into it now.

From behind me, Alexa said, “I made Luka take me for a coffee before I went shopping.”

He was right in front of me as I peered into his face. It was fairly dark in the garage, so I couldn’t tell what he’d seen and what he hadn’t. His face didn’t look like he believed what she’d told him about the coffee, but with agitation twitching under his eye he said, “We need to get a shake on.”

Alexa said, “Vassily wants to see us, okay. So what’s the rush?”

Bruto was briefly stumped. She’d caught him out, responding to Vassily’s demand for urgency. Jumping because Vassily shouted. He looked almost sheepish.

It was a great move on her part, as his discomfort and confusion threw his concentration off and distracted him from wondering about Alexa and me. I knew I would have to get into it with him eventually, but I certainly didn’t see any point in hurrying it along.

Alexa was saying, “Anyway, surely you’re in charge now? You can see Vassily for yourself.” I heard the sarcasm in her voice. “You don’t need me to hold your hand, do you?”

“He said that he wanted you.”

“And what Vassily wants, Vassily gets?”

I thought she might even have been was pushing him a little too hard. His voice was definitely tense when he said, “You come in my car. Luka can follow.”

I was about to say something about that when she told him, “Luka is my protector. He’ll drive me and we’ll follow you.” Bruto drew a breath, but before he could speak, she said, “I’m staying with him, and he’s staying with me.”

“Have it your way,” he snarled, and he headed off for his car. I opened the door of the Grand Cherokee for Alexa and she pressed herself up hard against me, her breasts either side of my arm just for a moment before she climbed aboard. It was long enough to last me for a little while, though.

As we waited for Bruto to drive past, I kept catching her in the periphery of my vision, sneaking glances at me. I guess that meant that I was sneaking glances at her, too. The light in her eye gleamed in a way that I hadn’t seen before. Like she was renewed.

I was happy to believe that she was transformed by my magic cock.
Wouldn’t be the first time
, but even as I was thinking that, I knew, this was different. For her as well as for me.

The way that she made me feel, the way that I felt just being near her, sharing a thought or a joke—she made me feel new, too. Like I had shaken myself out of an old and dark place. Stepped out into the light for the first time in... how long? I couldn’t say. But a long, long time.

When Bruto drove by, I followed him up the ramp and out into the afternoon sun. It felt good, having her sit by me in my car. We slewed around in the traffic, no radio, no music. I don’t think we said three words in the first fifteen minutes.

It’s not often I can enjoy being in somebody’s company without saying anything. Being together, sitting side by side, not in silence but quiet, felt powerful. Right. Everything with Alexa felt right. I wondered if she felt the same way.

Somehow I was sure that she did, but still, I wanted to know. This was all completely strange to me. However beautiful, energetic, and downright filthy women had been in the past, there was always a point where I would look forward to them leaving.

The very thought of Alexa leaving made me anxious. I’d been sneaking glances at her profile. Enjoying the tilt of her chin, the confident way she had about her, always looking like she was thinking, “Yeah? Show me. Prove it.”

I’d never met a woman like her. She made all the women I’d been with seemed like playthings. Like children. Alexa was the real deal.

Alexa was how a woman ought to be. She was a thick, rare steak when before I’d had nothing but hamburger. With no makeup and her hair mussed, she was headed to meet a Russian crime boss. From the look on her face, anyone would think she was on her way to a picnic.

Whatever happened, she didn’t scare. Or if she did, she hid it perfectly. I loved the part where she told me how I got it wrong with Norman.

She was right, but more than that, she told it to me straight. Not just because she had the balls, but because she was right and she knew it.

Thinking about that, it seemed like she didn’t need to tell me. She’d done what she needed to do with the janitor. The only reason she told me was because she saw us, me and her, as a team. True or not, I liked thinking that.

Deep inside, I knew that I wanted a woman like Alexa. And I knew there weren’t any others. Only thing was, I didn’t know if I could hold her, or what I ought to do about it if I could.

Without a doubt, though, I wanted her bad.

Bruto, Luka, and I were met by four burly Russians wearing expensive shades at the foot of a tall, black skyscraper. One was the man whose knife I’d taken and jammed in the tabletop.

They took us up in a private elevator lined with brass and mahogany that they operated with a key. We rose to the seventy-third floor.

Then we were guided through a club. High, tinted windows with the city below were the backdrop to a cascade of low-lit vodka bars. Red and blue and UV lights played on the glistening flesh of girls dancing in glitter and thongs.

Men in expensive suits sat, stood, and clustered around girls with money in their thongs. Past podiums, tiered tables, booths, and small dance areas, we were led through the club to another a private elevator.

This one was black marble inside, and they operated it with a swipe card. Up another story, Vassily was waiting when the door opened.
 

He took us into a dark, circular room with couches lining the walls. He said, “I’ll talk to Alexa. The rest of you wait outside.” And opened another door.

Quietly, he asked me, “Do you need your guard dog?” and his eyes flicked over to Luka. I was torn. I wanted him with me, to feel the strength I got from him, but I felt that I needed to show some strength to Vassily. Let him see that I wasn’t afraid of him. Even though I was.

I spoke softly as he had done, keeping it as light as I could. “It’s your choice, Vassily. I can have Luka in the room, or your friend’s dagger. Up to you.” I gave him a second to think about it. He was still turning it over, but I didn’t want to break the silence for him.

He said, “I understand. You could be at a disadvantage. You want something to even it up.”

“I’m on your ground. And I’m a woman. Honestly, Vassily? I take you at your word, but I would be an idiot to bet my life on it right now.” He nodded. “And if you thought I was an idiot, I would definitely need the knife, or Luka, or both.”

He smiled. “Have both.” And he called over, “Petrov. Make our guest a gift of your dagger.” The man in the white suit looked unhappy, but when Vassily’s hand extended toward him with his fingers curling, he shrugged and took the dagger from his belt.

He held it out on both hands toward me as he approached, and he smiled and he gave it to me. “Please. I hope you never need to use it, and if you do, that it never fails you.” He made a small bow like you might to a monarch.

The big desk at the far end of the room was room had a chair either side. As Luka stepped in behind us and shut the door, Vassily sat behind the desk. Luka waited by the door. I couldn’t tell whether he would hear the conversation from there or not.

Vassily gave me soft look, something like paternal kindness as he said, “I can be your friend in this, Alexa, or I can be your enemy. The choice is yours. If I am your friend, many good things can come of it. If I am you enemy, you will die so horribly it would shame your mother.” He smiled. “It’s up to you.”

He watched me. “Let me explore it for you. You don’t need to say anything, reveal anything. Who do you have in this business, who is definitely yours? Tony? Where is Tony now, I wonder.” His thumb stroked down his cheek. “I think we won’t see too much more of...” He paused, let me hear that he wasn’t going to say
fat.
“...of Tony.”

This was an old stage magician’s trick. The “mentalist” talks and watches your face, your body, for tiny tells. He’s already watched how you react to some simple facts and he’s said something that you know is not true. Watched when your eyes flick up to the left, down to the right. Gauged some little tics in your cheek.

My father being such a bad card player, I had worked hard on a poker face. I felt how intently Vassily watched me as he went on, “Now, your guard dog?” I felt a muscle in my face tighten. Vassily gave no sign of seeing it. I was sure that he had, though.

“Maybe he will die for you, that Luka.” He looked in my eyes. “I couldn’t blame him. That guy, Bruto?” His brow darkened. “You’re more likely going to die on his account.”

He sat back as he spread his hands, “So, the big question is Carmine Monreale. How much of his resources can you count on? What would he be prepared to risk for you?”

Vassily had at least two purposes, I was sure. My school friend who knew Russian told me, “Everything in Russia is like the dolls, you know? You see inside and there’s another doll. When you open that, inside there’s another one.”

He wanted to watch and feel how I reacted when he talked about who I could trust, who I couldn’t. He was looking to see what I thought, not only what I knew. And more, I felt like he was trying to learn something else about me, as well as showing me something about himself.

If I hadn’t known better, I might have thought this was part of a courtship ritual. A mating dance. His eyes were brightly focused on me and his nostrils were open, like they would be on an opponent or an enemy.

Vassily seemed like a hunter. A man who would get so close to his prey, learn so much about the one he was stalking, that it might look almost exactly like love. Was that what he was doing with me, or was he just trying to stay ahead of the game in the operation that was coming up?

It could have been a whole lot easier if I knew what the hell the damned deal was, and I was sure that Vassily knew I didn’t have a clue. Maybe there would be a way that I could ask him without seeming like a total idiot.

No, I decided there wasn’t. Even though we both knew the truth, if I allowed it to show that I didn’t know what was going on, I’d have abandoned any strength or authority in my position. Then I’d be lost. Bruto would see me as a traitor and Vassily would have no use for me.

It drove me mad that the twinkle in Vassily’s eye seemed to tell me exactly that, and to take pleasure in watching my discomfort.

He said, “Are you going to try and pick off all of my soldiers and captains one by one, or are you going to deal straight with me?” He was toying with me. Kidding around. That was the hardest part of the act for me: trying to look natural while Vassily joked.

Tony had not planned for a minute to deal straight with the Russians, that much I was sure of. He had never dealt straight with anyone that I’d seen, and there was no reason for this to be an exception.

Given the fact that Tony was no longer here and Bruto obviously had more than a little to do with his disappearance, it made me think that Bruto’s plan was probably even more treacherous than Tony’s. Somehow I needed to get my mind to stay focused on something else so that I didn’t speculate too much about what lay in the future.

What I thought of was the thickness and strength of Luka’s cock. That kept me detached and gave me something hard to hold onto in my head. It penetrated and filled my mind and distracted me enough that I felt bigger, stronger, and too much engaged to be afraid.

With it came the memory of that tiny, blinding lightning spark. Somewhere a deep corner of my mind, I was sure that I knew exactly what it was, but my conscious brain wasn’t ready for me to start dealing with it or processing it yet.

At breakneck pace, I was learning to trust my instincts, even though I longed to know more of what was actually going on. The feeling said that it was something good. Something unbelievably good. I felt sure about that, yet at the same time, I knew it had a potential that could be truly terrifying.

“Do you trust me enough now to have only the knife for protection?”

“You could pull a gun on me, Vassily.”

“It’s true.” He didn’t move. “Of course, you could have a gun of your own. You weren’t searched.” He looked at my little purse beside me on the desk.
 

I said, “But I will take your word in good faith, Vassily. It’s the only way that we’ll make progress and get business done. In fairness, you didn’t search me, as you say.”
 

“It’s true.”

“I could have a small gun concealed.”

“You could.”

I thought about telling him that I did, but I decided he could either work it out, or he could stay guessing. There was no point in showing my hand when I had no need to. Vassily wouldn’t respect that.