Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 86238 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86238 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
He flashes me a quick smirk. “Why? Wanna arm wrestle?”
“Nah. I want to smash your teeth in, but since you’re doing at least thirty over the speed limit, and one punch will knock you out, I’ll need to wait until you pull over first so I survive the wreckage.”
His smile doesn’t droop a smidge. It grows when he mutters, “Then I guess it’s lucky I filled up before cruising by to make sure Ana got home safe after her shift.”
Now I really want to kill him. “You knew Ana was stripping?”
“No,” he bites out far too fast for me to believe he isn’t lying. “She made me swear.” He cusses, veers around another handful of vehicles, then mutters, “She won’t let me help her. Then when I suggested letting you know she was back, she clamped onto my dick so hard, I haven’t been game to use it the past week.”
He isn’t helping himself.
Not a teeny fucking bit.
“Stop fucking growling, Alek. It makes me confused as to what I’m supposed to say.”
“Say anything that doesn’t include my girl with your dick in her hand—”
“Hands,” he corrects, interrupting me. “She needed more than one to contain all that. And when the fuck did she become your girl again?” He ducks, missing my first swing, but he isn’t so lucky the second time around. “Fuck, Alek. You trying to get us killed?” Before I can sock him in the nose again, he yanks himself out of the firing zone. “And I got you here, didn’t I?” With my hands fisted on my thighs, he explains, “Kirill didn’t pick that club out of thin air. I suggested it over and over and over again until he couldn’t hold back his curiosity for a second longer.”
I almost call him a genius until I remember my cock’s response to my eyes landing on Anastasia’s body for the first time in years. “What if he picked Ana?”
“Huh?” He gulps as his eyes pop. “I didn’t consider that.”
I punch him for the second time before remembering he isn’t who I want to take my aggression out on. “Why is she back?” When he hesitates, I snap out, “I suggest you remove your seat belt before you fucking lie to me again.” His confused expression slips into panic when I mutter, “You might survive rolling out of a vehicle at this speed, but I don’t see you being so lucky when you’re dragged behind it for miles.”
He unlatches his belt but keeps his tone honest. “Her old man hit the gambling route hard again.”
“How much does he owe?” I growl out through clenched teeth.
Yev shrugs. “Ana won’t say, but it must be a bit. She’s taken on three jobs since she came home, yet she still can’t pay the rent.”
I work my jaw side to side before asking, “Do you know who he owes?”
“Do you have a pen and a piece of paper? The list is long.”
When the Bobrov compound comes up on the horizon, I demand, “Get me a list by the end of tonight.” He jerks up his chin but remains quiet while pulling up to the heavily manned gate. Yev has to flash his ID to get in. I merely need to look at the guard. “And I want a list of the people she works for.”
“Maksim owns—”
“Not the actual people she works for. Work work.” When he appears lost, I snap out, “The fuckers who touched without my fucking permission.”
Yev laughs. “There’s no list, Alek. Bottom dwellers can’t afford her, and the top guys knew why she was wearing shorts instead of the club G-strings. You were her first private job.” He angles his head to hide his grin. “From the way she gingerly entered the bus, I’ll say you’ll be her last for a while.”
He throws open his door and hotfoots it out of his car before I can retaliate. His race into the compound gains us the attention of many eyes. Only one I give a fuck about.
“What was that about?” Ghost drags his eyes to Yev’s sports car before returning them to my face. “Where’s your ride?”
One word and his killer expression alters in an instant. “Ana.”
When his lips tuck high at one side, I skirt by him. “Shut the fuck up, Ghost.” As I walk down into the den teeming with topless women, I tell my tenth lie tonight, “I’ve got a handle on it.”
4
ANASTASIA
As a furiously raging heat zooms through my body, I strive to gain my father’s wandering gaze. He had me when he was seventeen, making him only seven years older than Alek, but unlike Alek’s ageless face and fit body, his is scoured with wrinkles and withered like he is only years from a retirement home.
His hollowed cheeks and gaunt skin should have me feeling sorry for him, but all they do is make me even angrier. “You said you’d stop. That last month was the last time.” I toss down the IOU slip he owes a man stupid enough to loan him money. “Sixty thousand in one night! How the hell can you lose sixty thousand.”