Total pages in book: 148
Estimated words: 147734 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 739(@200wpm)___ 591(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147734 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 739(@200wpm)___ 591(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
He shakes his head, but he says nothing.
“What?” I snap. “Just spit it out, Cy. I know you hate Vaughn, but I really dislike it when you’re antagonizing like this. I know you must’ve provoked him. You do that all the time when you hate someone.”
“I don’t hate Vaughn, and I wouldn’t be antagonizing if I thought he cared about you as much as you care about him.” He squeezes my shoulder. “I don’t want you to pay for this again, Yuliy. You deserve to be put first. You deserve someone who doesn’t walk away when things get too difficult.”
Then he steps out the room, leaving me more tense than when he disclosed that he told Vaughn about the revenge.
Fuck Cy.
He can be noisy and annoying.
But his last words keep playing in my head on a loop.
Prick is always right, and I’m now having a mini existential crisis.
I flop back on the bed. The mattress bounces beneath me, and Vaughn’s woodsy scent fills my nostrils, expands my chest, and twitches my cock.
“The fuck is wrong with you?” I glare at my dick that’s half tenting my shorts. “You should listen to Cy and have some dignity, man.”
I shake my head because I’m literally talking to a dick.
My phone vibrates on the nightstand, and I retrieve it with another sigh. Probably Alina. She gets demanding when I don’t FaceTime her at least once a day. She’s been extra cheerful lately, her smile radiant. The incident in DC seems to have empowered her instead of the other way around. She’s always busy with “stuff” lately.
My heart does that small squeeze, and I sit straighter when I see Mishka’s name on the screen.
He’s calling me?
This is the first time he’s ever done that.
I swipe the screen, then put the phone to my ear, all sorts of emotions rushing through me. Uncertainty, chaos, but mostly pain.
I’m hurt that he chose to leave without talking to me, even if he had a good reason behind it.
“Morning,” he says as soon as I pick up, his deliciously deep voice, which whispered crude things to me, sounds raspy.
“Hey,” I reply, not sure what the fuck I’m supposed to say. I’ll never acknowledge the pain, like I was abandoned after a booty call or something.
“Sorry I left,” he says. “I was being impulsive by breaking into your place last night. I shouldn’t have done that, so I had to go.”
“You could’ve woken me up.”
“You looked so peaceful, I didn’t have the heart.”
Fuck. He’s so goddamn adorable. How the hell am I supposed to stay mad at that?
“I have to take a flight to attend my cousin’s boxing match,” he continues. “Also need to catch up on classes and have lunch with my mom, among other things.”
“Are you offering excuses right now?”
“No, just telling you what I’m doing today.” He pauses, and I can hear him swallowing, then he hesitates. “Unless you don’t want me to do that?”
I remain silent, not really sure what the fuck he means.
“Didn’t you use to send me all these updates?” he continues, his tone still careful. “I thought you’d want me to do the same.”
Oh.
“Oh!” I say out loud, grinning, as I fall back on the bed, sprawling out on it. “Yeah, that’s good. I want a full damn report.”
“I’ll try my best.”
He sounds serious. Fuck. He can be so fucking cute for a grumpy asshole.
“In return, you will not be putting your dick anywhere near other people, Yulian.”
“Love the jealousy.”
“I’m serious. You’re well aware that I don’t fuck people who fuck other people. If you’re mine, you’ll only be mine.”
“You’ll have to be around often to satisfy my raging libido, then, baby. Once every two weeks won’t cut it.”
“How about every weekend?”
Hmm. I’d rather every day, but I’ll take what I can get. And because of fucking Cy’s words, I’m conscious of not letting loose or sounding desperate, so I release an affirmative sound.
“I’ll send you the address and mail you the keys,” he says.
“What address and keys?”
“A small place I’m getting. Just be there this weekend.”
I flop onto my stomach. “You got us a place, baby?”
“Yes, and?”
“Nothing, just glad you’re always ten steps ahead.”
“One of us has to be.” He pauses. “I have to go. We’re taking off. Will text when I arrive.”
My shoulders drop. “Okay.”
“Don’t cause trouble.”
“Ha. I am trouble.”
“Yulian…” he warns, but I hear the suppressed laughter in his voice.
“Speaking of trouble, I’m sorry for whatever bullshit Cy told you. He spent years bailing my ass out of all sorts of shit, so he kind of feels responsible for me or something. He’s also my only friend, so I’m kind of stuck with the damn dude. So maybe, like, don’t get into a fight with him.”
“He’s your friend. I won’t hurt him,” he says in a calm tone, but his voice deepens, sounding guarded.