Total pages in book: 42
Estimated words: 39046 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 195(@200wpm)___ 156(@250wpm)___ 130(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 39046 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 195(@200wpm)___ 156(@250wpm)___ 130(@300wpm)
“Yeah—Kaleen Jacobs,” I said. “Why?”
“He’s part of the club that’s not happy with the Ghost Born.” He turned his laptop back toward him. “I’ve got someone working on tracking him down. He got out not long after you did. I’m hoping we can use him as an in to begin negotiations for peace.”
“Kaleen’s not one for negotiations,” I warned him. “He runs by his own book, and he doesn’t care whose toes he steps on in the process.”
Rurik hummed. “Maybe. Maybe not. But you never had problems with him, did you?”
“No,” I said. “He owes me one, actually. I took a pen to the arm so he wouldn’t get stabbed in the throat while he was running his mouth.”
Rurik smirked at me. “Good. We’re using that to make him work with us—at least in the beginning.”
I sighed. “I’m guessing I don’t even have a fucking choice?”
“No,” Rurik answered, not even bothering to look at me. He just continued typing rapidly, his eyes never moving from his computer screen. “You’ll do this for your brothers. For the GBMC.” He did look at me then. “And you’ll do it for me.”
My upper lip curled in a sneer. “I’ll never do a goddamn thing for you,” I snapped.
He turned back to his computer, not the least bit bothered. “We’ll see about that, Shadow.”
6
Malik
He had to be fucking kidding me. All of this had to be one big ass joke.
I tightened my grip on the handle of my small duffel bag, glaring at the single bed in the small hotel room. I already felt out of place in this expensive, fancy ass hotel Rurik had put us in. When he’d ordered two rooms, telling me I was sharing one with him and the other was for his guards and driver, I’d had to physically bite my tongue to keep from lashing out at him and making a scene in the middle of a place that would one hundred percent call the police.
I could’ve suffered if there’d been two beds. But there was one.
One fucking bed.
There wasn’t even a fucking couch I could crash on. Just an expensive, uncomfortable-looking chair that seemed like it’d be more for show than actual comfort sat by a small table. The floor would be better, honestly.
“I’m getting my own fucking room,” I growled, turning for the door. I grunted when I turned straight into Rurik. His hands landed on my biceps to steady us both, and my cock thickened behind my zipper. I hated how weak I always was to his touch. I wanted to hate him—not want him.
He drove me fucking insane.
“Going somewhere?” Rurik asked, arching a brow at me. I tried pulling away from him, but he just tightened his grip. The man might be small, but there was no denying the strength he had.
“Yeah, to get another fucking room,” I snapped. I tried pulling away again, only to growl in annoyance when he still didn’t release me. “Fucking let me go, Rurik.”
“No,” he said. He backed me up until the backs of my knees met the mattress, and when he pushed me down, I obediently sat, my jaw clenched so tightly, my teeth audibly ground together. “You’re not getting another room. You’re going to be right here where I can keep an eye on you.”
“Fuck that, and fuck you,” I seethed, my hands shaking with rage.
Rurik calmly took my bag from me and set it in the armchair. Then, he turned to me and slid his hands into the pockets of his perfectly fitted slacks. I swallowed thickly when I noticed the hard outline of his cock, and it took quite a bit of effort for me to rip my eyes away from his impressive member.
“I’d love to fuck you, as you so eloquently put it,” Rurik said, making my entire body flush hot, “but I’m sure that’s not what you meant.”
Asshole.
“You attract trouble without even trying. I want you close where I can keep an eye on you and keep you in line. You can bitch and moan about it all you want, Malik. I’m fully prepared to listen. But it won’t change anything.”
For the second time in less than fifteen minutes, I had to sink my teeth into my tongue to keep from lashing out and saying something that would just land me in a heap of trouble with Rurik.
Standing from the bed, I snatched two of the pillows off the bed and tossed them onto the floor. “If I have to be in the same damn room with you while you treat me like a caged dog, then so be it,” I snapped. “But I’m sleeping on the fucking floor. Not with you.”
I couldn’t sleep in the same bed as him. I’d never get rest. It was bad enough I would be in the same room as him for hours, forced to breathe in his scent and hear him breathing as he slept. But if we were in the same bed beneath the same cover with mere inches separating us, my self control would crumble.