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The irony of Alexei Levin calling me a criminal was not lost on me. If he wasn’t currently almost strangling me I might have laughed in his face. Instead I kind of choked, as my mind went to the night he choked me while fucking me. Wires were getting crossed here. I was supposed to be mad at him, not turned on.
To be frank, most of the anger I was exhibiting was just fear. He had completely blindsided me by appearing in Jodie’s office like an avenging angel. And don’t think I’d forgotten about Jodie recognizing him and calling him ‘Mr. Levin’ like she was his butler or something. I’d have to follow that up later… once I was done with my misdirection.
In all my wildest dreams, I would not have expected Alexei to ask me to move in. I knew for a fact this was not his usual move. I was in virgin territory, and I honestly hadno ideawhat to do.
“Alexei…?” I choked, staring up at him pleadingly.
He let me go and I kind of stumbled. He wrapped his massive hand around my arm, steadying me.
“I’m not one of your henchmen, you know. You can’t intimidate me into moving in with you,” I rasped, breathing a bit hard.
He laughed. “Henchmen? You think this is The Departed or some shit?”
I cocked an eyebrow. “Isn’t it?” My tone might have been a bit sassy, but what the hell, he deserved it. We were standing in the middle of the cobbled path between the hospital entrance and the road that led to the exit—people having to go around us as they entered. I was pretty sure the guard was keeping an eye on us to see if he’d have to intervene. It wasn’t the best place to have an argument.
“No, it’s not. The Departed is a movie,” he smirked.
I was just about fed up. “How’d you even find me? You never said.” I glared at him.
His smirk widened. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” he said again.
I frowned, thinking about it. Had I mentioned the hospital somehow? I didn’t think so. Just then my phone dinged, and I looked down at it. There was a message blinking, and when I swiped down to see who it might be, I noticed that my location was on. I looked from the phone to him.
“Are you tracking my phone?” I asked accusingly.
He just shrugged.
“Seriously?” I screeched.
A wave of fear went through me.
If he was tracking my phone and I went home… he’d know about my grandmother. I couldn’t risk that. Without thinking about it, I threw my phone towards the road. It bounced off a car’s window and got run over by an ambulance. We both watched it happen with wide eyes.
Alexei turned back to face me. “Really?” he asked, eyebrow cocked.
I inclined my head as if to say, well, what doyouthink?
“You are such a stubborn cuss,” he said.
“Andyou’rean invasive asshole.” I folded my arms like an eighth grader.
He laughed, shaking his head. “This is exactly the kind of bullshit I warned you about.”
“Well, then you don’t have to deal with it. Just leave me alone.”
I started walking back into the hospital without another word, but of course he couldn’t just let me go. He grabbed my wrist and held on tight enough I was pretty sure it’d bruise.
“Is there someone else? Is that it?” he demanded.
Yes. There is. There’s Celia.
I was glad I wasn’t looking at him and had time to get my face in order. I turned, to look him in the eye. “Are you one of those little boys whose moms didn’t ever refuse them anything and now you think you’re entitled to everything?” My heart was thudding dully. My hands were cold with fear. But I still said it.
His eyes narrowed with rage, and he let go my wrist pretty abruptly. “Go then. Keep your secrets. But just know that I’m onto you.”
He took a step back before he turned and walked away. I watched him go, my heart thudding painfully and wondered if I had just made everything a thousand times worse.
With a sigh, knowing that Mrs. Smith was probably looking for me, I turned and walked back into the hospital. Life went on.
