“You want me to open my mouth?” Jade whispered, cutting off my thoughts. I shot my gaze to her lips, digging my fingers intothe warm, soft part of her.Allof her was warmth and softness and fire and damn fucking sparkles.
Jade lifted herself up on her tippy toes and we were here again, an inch apart, repeating what had happened between us on the roof just minutes earlier. Andagain,just like on the roof, I forgot where I was and what I was doing.
Her tongue—fuck—her tongue was all wet, perfectly pink and plump, and she stuck it out just in time. I opened my mouth, letting the whipped cream melt into hers, but I couldn’t look away from her eyes. And she held my gaze.
Seconds ticked by.
The sweet foam flowed from me to her, and she took it, letting me tower over her. Letting me hold her. Letting me cross all the fucking lines.
Her eyes fluttered closed and she pulled her tongue back, swallowing it all with a satisfied smile.
“Mmm,” Jade hummed, and I couldn’t look away from her. Couldn’t pull back. Couldn’t let go, couldn’t get afucking grip.“Youdefinitelyknow how to have fun.”
I…I had to fucking leave. I was high as fuck, my dick was as hard as a rock, and I was feeling up the woman I’d kidnapped. I was feeling up my enemy’s daughter, right after sharing a joint and shotgunning whipped cream into her mouth.
Way to be in fucking control of the situation.
I let Jade go immediately and reluctantly. I couldn’t spend another fucking minute in there. I couldn’t evenlookat her, but I caught the confusion flicker across her face out of the corner of my eye.
“I have to go,” I gave a non-excuse, looking around absentmindedly. Did I leave my keys? My wallet? My brain? Where the fuck was everything?
“Oh-kay.” Jade sounded confused, but she stepped back and slowly leaned against the counter while I studied the floor of the kitchen as if I’d find any traces of reason down there.
And that was it.
Without a goodbye, without throwing Jade another glance, I side-stepped her and left through the back door, rounding the house and taking long and fast strides away from her. Maksim would drive me home and I would justfucking stop.I would just fuckingstopall thoughts.
All feelings.
All contact.
9
Knockout
Alex
But I didn’t stop.
And it was bad.
I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t eat. My mind held no other thoughts excepther. The itch was consuming me.
I tried to focus on the man in front of me, bloodied and tied to a chair in one of our warehouses. He was the informant. Andrei and I had finally put it together, but the truth was that my involvement was minimal. I threw the punches and busted my knuckles, but I wasn’t the one who brought him in.
“Vasya, you gotta tell us, man.” Andrei stood to the left of me, imploring the man who had worked with us for the last five years. One we trained, trusted, and paid very handsomely.
He muttered something under his breath and Andrei sighed. He never liked this part. Andrei liked counting the money and calculating the risk. I liked counting the money and enforcing the rules.
Rules were paramount—that’s how we managed to grow an entire empire. We weren’t street thugs stealing cars for parts; we were a logistics powerhouse. We had the connections, theinfrastructure, and the manpower to outperform the state’s legitimate businesses. Moretti didn’t care so much about the thefts; he was more focused on beating Goliath and parading us through the town as trophies.
Fuck him.
Mindlessly, my hand reached inside my right pocket, and I was about to do it again. I was about to unlock my phone and swipe right three times, where I would click the green app in the top right corner of the screen. I’d be able to find that app in my sleep.
Jade was there, the cameras in and around the house showing me every angle of the property, but I was only interested in one.
I couldn’t fuckingstopchecking the footage of the living room of the house Jade now owned.
