Page 34 of His Ruthless Queen

Jericho kicks him under the table, the cutlery bouncing with the impact.

“What?” Corbin snaps, definitely letting the vodka get to him.

“I’ve got to go, too,” Yuliya says, coming to her full height.

My eyes widen, taking her in again. Six feet tall, slim and muscular. She could be a Viking shield maiden.

I walk toward the restroom with Yuliya following close behind.

“She needs protection at all times—“ I catch the start of Jericho chastising Corbin before I’m out of earshot.

I can’t catch the rest, but I know Yuliya joining me in the bathroom isn’t because she actually needs to use the restroom.

Yuliya steps in front of me, opening the door and striding through. She pushes every stall entrance, making sure they’re empty before I even have a chance to pick one.

Satisfied we’re alone, and no one is hiding with their feet up, she gestures for me to go in.

“Thank you,” I whisper awkwardly, the sudden urge to curtsy or something. She’s so formal and authoritarian. It’s impressive.

From inside the stall, I call out, “How long have you known Corbin?”

“Years. Since I was in college. Back when he and my brother were doinghumanitarianaid.“ She says the last bit with so much annoyance that I almost want to laugh.

“You seem close,” I say as an opening. So many questions are running through my mind. So many things I need answered.

“Not really,” she grumbles. “Pretty boy wears a pretty mask. It’s hard to know what’s really going on in there.”

She’s not wrong. Corbin definitely hides beneath a joyful mask, one that’s often hard to decipher. Finishing up, I head out of the stall to find her with her braid loose, the blue hair tie lying on the sink. The identical blue hair tie that had been wrapped around Corbin’s wrist before it snapped in my office. The same one he’s always fiddling with during the quiet moments.

“He’s messed your hair up hasn’t he?” I ask, smiling at her in the mirror.

“Oh, it’s nothing.” Yuliya wets her hair as she tries to get it to cooperate. “You know how he is. He does it to be annoying.”

Corbin has never pulled my hair. I can’t even remember him teasing or doing anything to playfully annoy me. No, it’s clear he has eyes for only one woman, and she seems clueless to his admiration for her.

“Let me,” I offer, reaching out to grab the tie from the sink, and automatically wrapping it around my wrist like a bracelet.

I extend my hand to run my fingers through her hair, feeling the slightly rough texture between my fingers. Instead of a plain French braid, I make an intricate mermaid tail, thick and lush. I cinch it with my own band on my other wrist. It’s beige, and blends in under the full twists and curls.

She inspects it in the mirror with a smile.

“Very nice,” she says with a nod of approval. “I’ll never be able to do that myself.”

“Oh, come over anytime. I love doing hair.”

“I never had sisters growing up,” she says with a raised brow. “Only asshole brothers. I think I missed out on a few things.”

“I’m an only girl, too.”

We smile at one another, a kinship suddenly overcoming me. My fiancé‘s mistress is a woman I actually want to know, to befriend. It’s not out of jealousy, or even a hidden resentment. It’s a desire to have friends. Other women who understand what it’s like to be in this world, to be the only girl in a sea of controlling, asshole men.

“Really, you should call me anytime you want to be girly. I’d be more than happy to oblige. Get my number from Corbin,” I say as Yuliya opens the bathroom door.

“Sure.”

I follow her back to the table where Corbin and Jericho are in an intense discussion.

“She can handle herself,” Jericho says.

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