Page 30 of The Agreement

“Just keep your fucking head down. You’re going to get my ass in trouble for bringing you here.”

“We were just having a chat, man, relax. It’s all good.”

Even though Roman was smiling, a tightness settled deep in his abdomen. This was Chicago, he wasn’t the prince of the streets here. Little Odessa’s Devil was not in Brighton Beach anymore, and every fucking piece of shit here was going to remind him of exactly that.

Over and over again.

He looked around, scanning the crowd that had spread away now, each group pretending they didn’t have their eye on him. If this was the only way to survive this place, he would have loved to do it with a little bit of help to give him an edge. One that afforded him the ability to not care. However, cocaine was off the table. He knew he couldn’t get back into that chaotic spiral, not now.

Not here.

Maybe when he finally had some money coming in and had something to show for himself—maybe then he’d be able to test Maxim’s limits if life was as boring as it currently happened to be. Until then, just like Josef said, the only way to get through this was by keeping his head down. Which meant he needed to stay clean.

“Where are you going?”

Josef’s clipped and worried voice hit his back as Roman left the counter, and headed away. He didn’t want to be stuck in the VIP section all night, mainly because he didn’t want to stare at the faces of the Yazov crew the whole time. Besides, he liked the look of the pussycats in the cage up on the stage.

He decided not to respond to Josef, knowing he would be followed anyway.

At the edge of the stage, Roman stood staring up at the girls who were dancing and swinging their bodies in the most delicious way. He was already reaching for his wallet, fishing crisp bills out to stick in their thongs when they came near enough for it.

Hey.

Talent deserved to be rewarded.

“The boss had a message for me to give to you, by the way,” Josef said as he came up behind Roman.

“And when were you going to tell me about it?”

“I’m telling you now.”

Roman should have probably been paying a little more attention to what Josef had to say, but one of the costumed girls had crawled over to the edge of the cage. She was on all fours, purring like a cat, and staring with her piercing, painted cat eyes directly at him.

He was distracted.

But goddamn.

It was a good distraction to have.

“He wants you to go see him by the end of this month—before tribute,” Josef continued.

“Why?”

Roman slipped a fifty dollar bill out of his wallet, and waved it in front of his face as his tongue flicked out to touch the top of his teeth. The girl sat up on her knees and then turned, displaying her long, curling tail. Underneath the tail, she was in a thong which he barely noticed. All he had eyes for was her plump ass which she offered to him by thrusting it up for him to admire.

Roman stretched out his arm, tucking the bill into the strap of her thong. When she shook her ass, the tail swished, and she winked over her shoulder in gratitude. His mind wandered to the thought of pinning her to the bars of the cage, fucking her right there in front of everyone to watch.

Yeah.

He wasn’t even a fan of strippers. Certainly not for anything more than their chosen job. He didn’t get off on the idea of people watching the woman he was fucking as much as he just needed to get his dick wet. It had been too long.

“He’s the boss,” Josef said, making Roman’s irritation notch higher simply by hearing the man’s voice alone. Couldn’t he just watch a chick shake her ass so at least he had a vision to jack off to in the shower later? Fuck. Unfortunately, Josef continued on. “He makes the rules. I don’t ask questions. He wants to see you, and you have to go.”

Fuck Josef.

Fuck the entire conversation.

Roman looked over at the bull, hoping the man would see the warning in his eyes. “Fine. Whatever. I’ll go.”