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Whatever. I can’t control what he does.
“Alright, I guess we’re stuck together at least for the rest of the night. You might want to get comfortable,” I say, resigning myself to the longest night of my life.
I pull my pack of cigarettes out again, lighting one and sucking it down to the filter within seconds.
I light another immediately, watching Vera’s face contort in disgust and curiosity.
“Doesn’t that hurt? Or at least make you feel sick?” she asks, squinting as the smoke begins to fill the room.
“Not when you’ve been doing it since you were fifteen, and that was considered late in my family. Anyway, I’m still pissed that you’ve fucked up my deal, so don’t try to get on my good side.”
She’s taken back by my hostility but shows no sign of fear or submission at all. In fact, she appears more annoyed or exasperated than anything. She reminds me of a kindergarten teacher who drinks a lot on the weekends.
As long as she isn’t screaming or trying to escape, I’ll take it.
“I had nothing to do with your deal getting ruined,” she mumbles. “And you should stop smoking. This place stinks enough already.”
I can feel a headache forming behind my eyes. I’ve never stayed overnight at this building before, and my car is no place to sleep. That’s what I get for driving sports cars exclusively. They look nice but they’re the least comfortable kind of vehicle you can own.
I’ve been so spoiled by my lifestyle as a Bratva boss that I’ve forgotten what it was like in the trenches. My men have pulled entire nights out here on a whim whenever a late shipment came in. Now that I’m in their position, I’m starting to regret forcing them to do it at all.
I take my annoyance out on Vera, turning to her with a scowl. “You’re already on thin ice for being so difficult. Keep it up and I’ll put your head on a spike outside the student center. That way, nobody will ever forget you,” I snap.
She’s wounded by my words but refuses to show it beyond a tight smile and wide eyes.
At this point, I realize that I need to back off if I want her to confess to her involvement. I still don’t trust her at all, but with so much vulnerability to exploit, it won’t be difficult to get her to talk.
All I have to do is act like I care.
If Misha had picked up his phone, we could have sorted all of this out by now. The one time he chooses to be irresponsible when I need him the most, I’m forced into an impossible situation. It’s irony at its finest, and maybe a little bit of karma for the destruction I’ve caused throughout my life.
I suppose that in that case, I deserve it.
Vera shivers, but it’s not from fear. She wraps her arms around herself and frowns at me. “How are we supposed to survive the cold all night? You said it yourself, it’s dangerous to be out here when it’s dark. We’ll get hypothermia or freeze to death if we’re out here long enough.”
It feels like a cliché to suggest, but the only way to keep us both from suffering all night is to conserve body heat.
“We need to stay close to each other. We can generate enough body heat throughout the night if we share a blanket,” I suggest, feeling an uncomfortable tension forming between us.
It feels similar to the way I felt when I was patting her down, but I was able to suppress it far more easily then. Spending the entire night next to her is going to feel like torture, especially now that I know what her body feels like.
“Oh, are you sure?” she asks as the tension hits her just as hard.
Her bratty persona has slipped, and now she’s revealing the part of herself that she’s been fighting to conceal. She’s uncertain of herself and likely embarrassed at the idea of sleeping next to a stranger. In a way, it’s kind of cute.
“Yeah, I’m sure. I don’t like it either, but it’s the only way we’re going to make it out of here with all of our toes,” I reply.
There’s a deafening silence between us as I struggle to initiate our newfound sleeping arrangement. I know she’s not going to be bold enough to come forward first, so I walk toward the part of the barn with the least amount of damage.
“It’s just for one night. We’ll survive just fine,” I say, knowing that neither of us is thinking about survival in the first place.
I bet that if I could see her face better, she’d be blushing all over.
9
Vera
It took long enough for me to fall asleep next to him, especially once I realized that he had fallen asleep first.
