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)
“You can see him, too,” I whisper more to myself than anyone else as I lean sideways to get a view of Vaughn, who’s frowning in that adorable grumpy way.
“See who?” Nikolai mirrors me, blocking my view again, and then we’re just dancing around each other. “Fuck off, Yulian.”
I grin as I shove at Nikolai’s face. “You piss off. Stop ruining it.”
“Ruining what?” he barks against my hand, but I couldn’t give a fuck about him.
I grin at Vaughn, and mouth, “Hi, Mishka.”
His scowl deepens, and he moves from behind Nikolai, who’s trying to grab me in a headlock, and shouting, “I’ll beat you up again.”
“What are you doing on this side anyway?” Jeremy narrows his eyes at me, and I have to physically force myself not to look at Vaughn, because he’s so fucking hot, I think I’m getting a hard-on just seeing him, and that’s really not a good thing in this situation.
“Just saying hi.” I grin at Jeremy, then wink as I throw a look at Vaughn.
“The last thing we want is your hi,” Jeremy says, completely unaffected by my gestures of goodwill.
“Don’t be cold. How about we turn a new page? I promise not to burn your mansion again.” I throw an arm around his and Vaughn’s shoulders, pretending to be cool as I stroke Vaughn’s muscles.
So this was not a good idea, because now, I’m bathing in his heady, masculine scent, and my dick takes that as a memo to fuck.
“Only a fool would believe you,” Jeremy says.
Vaughn steps away, and I feel the emptiness to my bones, then it transforms into rage when he yanks Jeremy from me as if I’m disgusting, and says coolly, “Don’t waste your breath, Jer.”
Jeremy.
His name is fucking Jeremy.
And did he say he’s wasting his breath on me?
This damn…
“Don’t make me do shit you’ll regret,” I say as Vaughn pulls Jeremy and Nikolai away.
The latter is struggling, still shouting for a second round.
Vaughn stops and throws me a condescending look over his shoulder. “Go ahead. Try me if you dare.”
And then he’s walking down the tunnel, basically dragging along Nikolai, who keeps shouting that he wasn’t done “beating that prick to a bloody pulp.”
I stand there for what feels like forever, staring at the spot where he vanished from, rage and blood surging hot through my veins.
But it doesn’t last long, because Cy finds me, bitches for a bit, then drags me to the changing room so I can get patched up.
As the doctor cleans the wound, I pull out my phone.
Me
Not that I’m saying I’m hurt with the way you treated me in front of your friends, but it’s on the table just in case you want to reflect.
Mishka
Reflect? You’re the one who should reflect for not only fighting Niko, but also trying to act familiar.
But we are familiar.
Not in public.
Ouch.
That hurts.
I mean, I know we can’t be all lovey-dovey out in the open, but we can at least be friends. It’s blasphemy that I share more of a familiar relationship with Nikolai than with Vaughn in public.
But I guess, knowing Vaughn, he’s probably cautious about anyone catching a whiff of what we do behind closed doors. We don’t really interact, so his friends would ask questions if we were to start acting close.
Still sucks, though.
Even though I want to tell him he’s an inconsiderate prick, I choose to change the subject.
You didn’t tell me you were coming today.
How else would I get to see you being reckless?
It’s what I do. More importantly, will you come to our place later?
Not today. I’m staying with the guys.
You’ll have to change plans and come meet me.
I told you no, and that’s that.
In that case, I’ll go find Kevin and the others until you grace me with your presence.
Yulian. Don’t make me act uncivil.
I never asked you to act civil. Be there in an hour.
I can’t.
You can if you want to.
One thing Cy’s right about is that I will not be Vaughn’s second choice. I already see him sporadically as it is, and I won’t allow him to put everyone else before me.
I said I have other engagements. You’ll survive until tomorrow. Don’t be a baby.
My fingers tighten around the phone, but I leave him on Read.
Don’t do anything stupid, Yulian.
Read.
I mean it. You go to Kevin or anyone else, and I’ll cut your goddamn dick off.
Read.
Are you sulking right now? What are you, a kid?
Read.
Fucking hell, Yulian. Say something.
Read.
In reality, I want to say lots of things, but I refrain from speaking my mind. For once, I don’t yap endlessly.
This time, he’s the one who needs to prove himself to me.
I’ve always been the one who’s run after Vaughn.
From four years ago until now.
I got burned back then, and I don’t want to be hurt again.
I’m not asking for much, am I?