Total pages in book: 187
Estimated words: 177397 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 887(@200wpm)___ 710(@250wpm)___ 591(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 177397 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 887(@200wpm)___ 710(@250wpm)___ 591(@300wpm)
I feel good when she nods.
My mood continues its uphill climb until I enter Le Rogue via the back entrance doors.
“I’m sorry,” Lilia murmurs the instant we lock eyes. “I told him it wasn’t his choice. That this is my business. But you know what some men are like.”
She confirms what I came here to find out without me needing to speak a word.
This is Andrik’s business.
“It’s fine,” I assure her. “Nothing happening is your fault.” I’m not even sure it is mine.
My head flings to the side when a girly voice says, “I say screw him.” Mars saunters into the backstage area with far more clothing than she usually has on. “What’s he gonna do? Kill all our patrons until there’s none left?”
Lilia and I swallow in sync.
“I doubt a death threat will keep them away for long.” Mars butts shoulders with me. “We’ve been taking inquiries for private shows all weekend. You’ll make a killing in the private sector. I can hook you up with some contacts if you’re interested.”
I don’t give her offer any true thought. I didn’t realize how selfish I was being when I coerced Andrik into responding last night. This is about more than us. It is about his son.
“Thanks, but I’ve already secured new employment.” I don’t mention it is with my best friend’s husband. I don’t want to look like a loser. “I just wanted to swing by and make sure there were no hard feelings.” I spin to face Lilia. “I wouldn’t have placed you in that predicament if I had known.”
“Hard feelings? Please.” She brushes off my worry with a wave of her hand. “You brought life back into this place and added some spice.”
“Tension. Spice. Almost the same thing.”
Lilia laughs into my hair when she pulls me in for a hug. “And I agree with Mars. Stuff him. If you want to shake your ass for some funds, I’m not going to say no. He hid you here because his enemies would never believe a man as possessive as him would let someone he cares about work at a strip club, so he can’t rip away your shelter with no real explanation. That would make him a dick.”
“Don’t bring up his dick, Lilia. Baby girl was already struggling to forget it before she went and got reacquainted with it in a poolside cabana.” Mars’s hip bump this time around almost sends me flying. “For future reference, cabana walls are useless sound barriers. Your moans are circulating the net.”
My cheeks whiten as my stomach flips.
This isn’t good. Not for me, and not for Andrik’s campaign to help his son.
56
ANDRIK
“For fuck’s sake, will you shut that thing up!”
I shoot my hands up to my hair and tug ruefully. Days ago, I would have given anything to hear those moans, to have them shred my eardrums. Now they torment me until I am a mere inch from my grave, begging to fall in.
“I’m trying,” Konstantine assures me as his fingers move wildly over the keyboard. “But as quickly as I take down a video, another one pops up.” He lifts his eyes to mine. “You should be grateful Maksim put a block on all phone activity during the swimsuit competition. If he hadn’t done that, I would have had hours of footage to remove from the net.”
He laughs like anything he said is funny. He can because he doesn’t know how sick and unhinged those noises make me.
She’s my…
I’m fucking my...
Since I can’t say the word, I pick up the cause for the anger sluicing my veins and throw it to the ground. For what my toss misses, my boot takes up for. I stomp on Konstantine’s laptop and then make a beeline for the bar before I shift my focus from mainframes to people.
“Jesus Christ.” Konstantine bobs down to collect the ruins of his laptop. “You could have just asked me to turn the volume down.”
I clutch my whiskey glass so hard it almost cracks. It was meant to be easier when she left. I’m meant to be able to breathe now. But I can’t. The pain is crippling, and I don’t know if I am strong enough to survive it.
When not a single denial roars to life, I mutter, “Accept their offer.”
Konstantine’s damaged goods are now the least of his worries. “There is stupid, and then there is stupid. That is the latter. We will get Zakhar a heart, but not like this.”
“They’re taking too long. This is an easy solution.”
“This is suicide!” he yells back. “That’s not a possibility, Andrik. It is—”
“Don’t call me that. You’re not allowed to call me that! No one is allowed to call me that anymore.” No one except her.
Furious at my inner monologue, I hook my glass at the shelves across from me. I don’t relish how its collision sends multiple awards and priceless antiques tumbling to the floor. I’m too busy sculling whiskey straight from the decanter.