Page 102 of His Turn

“I’m sorry, Master,” I say. In the most serious voice I can muster. “I won’t do it again.”

I let him have his dick moment. I let him think he’s the one in control here. I let him see me frown, look properly admonished, and when he relaxes and takes that finger out of my face, I even let him think he’s won.

“We have a flight to catch,” he says, snapping up the handle on our shared suitcase. “The car is waiting, so let’s go.”

The journey starts off typical enough. We go to an airfield where a private jet has been chartered. We get in, they offer us drinks. Just like any other plane. But I’ve never been in a private jet before, so the luxury stuns me silent for the entire two-hour journey.

Not that I have anything to say because Bric is silent too. He reads the Wall Street Journal and sips coffee like this is just another day in the life of Elias Bricman. He smiles and chats with the attendants. Like his brother didn’t just die. Like we’re not on our way to a funeral.

When we land in Great Falls, Montana, he rents a car. Not a car, a giant truck that looks like it really wants to haul a trailer filled with cattle or horses. It’s snowing, the wind is blowing, and it’s painfully obvious that I did not dress properly when I step outside and feel frost form in my nostrils.

“Where are we going now?” I ask, the first words I’ve spoken to him since we left the Club.

“To a hotel, Nadia.” He says it like it’s meant for me. His Nadia voice. Not his flight attendant voice.

“Where?” I ask, standing at the passenger door of the giant truck, shivering.

He opens the door for me, holds my arm as I climb in, and then closes it back up without saying a word.

The backseat driver-side door opens next, and he places the suitcase inside. Then he’s in. The frigid air goes still as we huff out steam and the engine turns over, and over, and over before it finally rumbles to life.

What the fuck am I doing here? “Where are we going?” He looks at me, annoyed. But I can’t take another rude response, so I interject before it comes out. “I know a hotel. Which hotel? Where are we going? It’s fucking freezing here!”

“Well.” He sighs, like I’m not on the verge of a meltdown. “It’s not five stars. And it’s not gonna have room service. But it’s better than the other option.”

“Which is?” I ask, as he guides the truck through the lot, opens his window to feed the ticket to the agent at the rental car gate, and makes any heat coming out of the vents obsolete.

“Thanks,” Bric says amicably as the agent raises the gate for us. He’s nice to him, but me? No. Apparently, I don’t deserve common courtesy.

“It’s a long drive, Nadia,” he finally says, once we’re on the road and heading… somewhere. “The ranch is a little over an hour west of here. But there’s a town nearby we can stay in.”

“Why can’t we just stay with your family?” I ask.

“Because I have eleven—” He stops. Swallows hard. Starts again. “I have ten brothers and sisters, Nadia. And every one of them has children. And all but two live on the ranch. So there’s no room, you see. I have no room there. There’s no space for guests. And I’m not fucking sharing a room with seven nephews today.”

Oh.

“You wanted to come,” he says, slipping me a sidelong glance. “You’re here. Congratulations. You got something out of me no one else has. Not even my best friends. But I’m gonna make you pay for this.”

“What?”

“Something dear. That’s what you said, right? When we asked you what you wanted as payment.”

I don’t actually know what to say to that.

“You want my privacy, Nadia? That’s why you drew your line in the sand?”

“Obviously.” I laugh, shaking my head a little. “You’ve been stewing about your decision to bring me along this whole time. And you’re sorry I’m here. So forget it. I’ll stay in that hotel and you do your little private thing, Bric. And then when I get back to Denver, I’m done with you. Done. With. You.”

“Fuck you,” he mutters under his breath. “I didn’t bring you all this way just to offer you an easy way out. I’m gonna give you exactly what you think you want. And then when we get home, I’m cutting all ties with you. Jordan can have you if he wants. I’m out.”