“So this isn’t bratva business?”
I shake my head.
“This is personal. Because of your sister?”
“That’s right.”
“Wait, wait, wait.” She holds up both her bound hands. “I thought Russian bratva members had to cut all ties to their family.”
“That’s true. That was supposed to happen. But my pakhan doesn’t enforce that rule. Things are different in America, away from the old country’s ways.”
Again, I’m way oversharing. I need to shut up. To stop interacting with her. I’m losing my edge in so many ways. But then I lost my edge the moment I decided to grab her from the rave instead of sticking to my original plan.
At least by tomorrow, we’ll be on the ship.
“You live in Chicago.” She says it like a musing not a question. “For how long?”
“Enough questions, dietka.” I feed her another bite.
“I want to go to America. The whole time my father was there, I begged him to let me visit, but he never did.”
“He was protecting you.” I don’t like defending her father, but she seems hurt by it. “His operation in America was nasty. Nothing he’d want his little girl to be touched by.”
She flicks her tongue out to lick some sauce off her lips, and it makes me want to kiss her senseless. Strange to think that I’ve been between her legs–twice–but haven’t kissed that pretty mouth yet. But that’s because we’re not on a date. We’re not even lovers, even though we’ve had sex. We’re captor and his prisoner who happened to share a few interludes.
“No. He just doesn’t like me much.”
“That cannot be true,” I tell her although the fact that she said it creates a wobble in my world. Not because I’m worried that Poval won’t respond to my message about her. I know he will. But it bothers me that she believes that. “He paid a fortune for you to go to that private school you went to. And you can’t tell me you ever want for anything. He’s kept you sheltered and protected. He cares–that’s just the way he shows it.”
Jesus, now I’m really defending him. Definitely not a stance I want to take.
“He sent me here as punishment.” She shakes her head when I offer another bite. “I’m finished, thank you.”
She’s thanking me for feeding her because I’ve immobilized her own hands. She’s so damn sweet. I scoop the remaining pasta into my mouth in a few large spoonfuls.
“What was the punishment for?” I ask with my mouth full.
She watches me with a challenge in her gaze like she wants to see how I’ll react. “For giving a boy a handjob when I was thirteen.”
Maybe she thought I’d be shocked. I’m not. It’s totally in character for her, and I have no judgement whatsoever about her hypersexualness now that I’m used to it. I just want to throat-punch any assholes who take advantage of her. She deserves to be treated like a goddamn princess, but I fear she’s attracting the opposite.
I let my lips quirk slightly. “Of course you did.”
She returns the smile, an uncharacteristic shyness stealing over her.
“Well, your father is a dick, so consider it a gift he deprived you of his nasty presence.” I lift my chin toward the bed. “Go back to the bed, dietka.”
“No. I’m sick of that bed.”
“Sorry, printsessa. If I have to move you there myself, we’ll go back to spread eagle.”
She sticks her tongue out at me before she skitters away and does as she’s told.
“Good girl.” I heat up another frozen dinner for myself and eat it, keeping my eye on her.
She gets up from the bed to retrieve the remote control and starts scrolling through the channels on the television.
I log into the computer to check on messages from Dima and find his full instructions on how to send messages from my laptop from the ship to Leon Poval’s phone, so they seem like they’re coming from Kat’s phone but are still untraceable.
Thank fuck for Dima.
Kat gets up and walks to the place where her purse is lying on the floor.
“Your phone is gone,” I tell her. “I destroyed it.”
“I don’t want my phone. I need my lip gloss. And my gummies.”
I follow her because she’s close to the door, and I don’t trust her. “I took the gummies, too,” I tell her. “I’ll give you some tomorrow.”
She narrows her eyes. “What’s happening tomorrow?” Smart girl.
“No questions, dietka.”
She flips her hair and pads to the bathroom. I follow to make sure she doesn’t take something to cut her zip tie in there. I watch her pee and struggle with the toilet paper but don’t help.
She makes a mess trying to wash her hands. If I weren’t such a dick, I’d help her. I definitely wouldn’t just watch because she’s entertaining. Of course, she knows she’s cute. She stands on her tiptoes and leans way over the sink, folding at the waist. My shirt rides up in the back, and I get a full view of that pert little ass, which she shifts from side to side as she tries to figure out how to turn on and off the water. She even hoists one knee up at one point, making sure I get a full flash of that soft pink flesh between her legs.
When she finishes she shakes the water off on me. “I’m bored.”
Kat
Adrian scowls his grumpy face at me, but I can see the bulge in his pants. He liked the little show I put on for him.
I drop my bound wrists to rub the back of my thumbs along the ridge there. “If we’re just killing time, maybe we could do it together?” I purr.
He catches my wrists and lifts them up, holding them between us. “I wish I could trust you, Kateryna.”
“Well, you can’t, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still enjoy ourselves.”
That gets him. His eyes darken, and his cock firms even more behind his zipper. I’m not just a sex-crazed uni student.