Page 67 of Maksim
All the arguing we’ve done. All the remarks I’ve made. All the things I’ve taken for granted. I want to take it all back. I want him to take me home. Hug me. Tease me. Make me angry. Anything but make me fear for my life.
My fingers dig into Maksim’s calves, a desperate plea that he doesn’t react to.
“I wish to keep her.”
Nikita’s brows raise. “We have other whores, Maksim. You can take your pick. Here…” He pushes the woman’s forehead away from him, sending her tumbling onto her back and leaving himself exposed. “Take this one.”
“No, thank you.”
When Nakita’s eyes narrow, my lungs shrink with fear not just for myself, but for Maksim. Nikita just murdered two different people for reasons I’m not even sure of. Maksim…
What if he hurts Maksim?
I close my eyes.
“Why?” Nikita asks.
When Maksim shifts, I jump, but he just grabs his phone from his pocket and messes with it for a minute.
Once he finds what he’s looking for, he hands the phone to Nikita—now dressed—who takes it and squints at the screen.
“She’s incredibly unique. Fierce but obedient. There are few women who hold my attention, but I’ve come to quite enjoy this one.”
Nikita’s head rears back as he watches the screen. “Hmmm.”
“I recognize that I made a mistake and am prepared to pay whatever cost to make this go away.”
Nikita doesn’t reply. His eyes are glued to the screen as a minute ticks by, then another. Finally, he hands Maksim his phone back and locks eyes with me. If I could, I would look away, but he roots me in place, searing me with so much lust, I wonder if I prefer his murderous looks.
“Fine,” he says. “Pay the bastards whatever will keep them from contacting me again and you can keep her.”
He grabs his cane and uses it to stand. “I’ll show Miss, um…”
“Elira,” Maksim offers.
“I’ll show Elira around while you work out the details. I hope you’ll be joining us this evening?” Nikita drags his eyes to Maksim.
“Of course,” Maksim says, but he sounds anything but certain.
Joining them? Joining them where?
`I should be relieved. I am relieved.
I’m going to live. Maksim is going to keep his promise to me. He’s going to protect me.
But that knowledge can’t give me the sweet relief my rigid body craves when Nikita extends his hand for me, ready to lead me away from the only person I feel safe with.
I silently plead with Maksim for help, but he nudges me away and stands, walking around me to leave me alone with the worst man I’ve ever met.
My stomach sunken to the floor, I bite my lip hard and take Nikita’s hand.
20
ELIRA
Nikita smells like evil.
Every time his hand smooths across the back of my neck as he leads me down the hall, I inhale the scent of his cologne sharply, and every time I think it must be custom made. They couldn’t be selling Nikita’s scent commercially; no way.