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)
His comment pushes the first poker tournament he took me to into the forefront of my mind. The jackpot was a little over ten thousand, which Alek demanded in one dollar denominations so we could fuck on it like millionaires. We made such a mess, half of them were not suitable for public use, so we stored them in the safe of our walk-in closet for emergency-only use.
I used a majority of them to fund my ticket to Europe.
“I—”
He stops me from speaking again. This time, by squashing his index finger against my lips. “Not now, драгоценный. You have a point to make, and the only people you need to make it to are out there.” My heart thuds in an unusual pattern when he murmurs, “I don’t need proof. You’ve always been perfect to me.”
Before I can ask, then why her? he double checks I’m covered before ushering me out of the office as quickly as he forced me inside.
The atmosphere is different now, more subdued. Or maybe it is because a lot of my pent-up frustrations were released onto Alek’s mouth.
Whatever the case, I don’t feel as jittery while taking a seat around a poker table filled with notorious members of several mob affiliations. Not even Stace’s presence hackles my spine. That could have more to do with the fact it looks like she is aware what has caused my flushed cheeks and dilated eyes. She has the same peeved expression she had when she walked in on Alek going down on me in the bathroom at her twenty-first, and he refused to stop hogging the only toilet her guests had access to until I had climaxed.
She couldn’t understand why he wanted me so badly, and I couldn’t understand why she never wanted to find her own man to do the same.
She always wanted mine.
When my eyes shoot to Alek to check if he’s noticed Stace’s change in demeanor, he cockily winks at me before dragging his hand over his mouth. My thighs tremor when his nostrils flare upon the detection of an odor on the two fingers he stuffed inside me. He doesn’t care that he looks like a weirdo sniffing his hand. He’s not once been embarrassed when it comes to ensuring my needs are taken care of. Whether in a McDonald’s drive-thru or at Stace’s birthday bash, if I wanted him, he was there, willing and ready to take me to the highs of ecstasy. Not once did he leave me high and dry during our three years.
It’s why I have such a hard time contemplating his disappearance four years ago. He was always there for me, even when I wished he wasn’t, so why wasn’t he that day?
I’d give anything to march up and ask him right now, to force the conversation we should have had years ago, but was to chicken to undertake. However, I can’t. The hand has been dealt, and I have three reputations to mend.
Mine.
Alek’s
And ours.
12
ALEK
Sparks of the girl who didn’t have a fucking thing but fought to keep it with everything she had brightens Ana’s eyes when she taps her hands on the roof of my car while doing a little jig. “I forgot how good that felt. My God.” She slings her head to me, her hair now loose and framing her gorgeous face. “Did you hear that last guy’s groan?”
I’m about to say I almost plucked his Adam’s apple out with my bare hands for subjecting me to such a noise, but she continues talking, foiling my attempt.
“He was so pissed. He totally thought I was flushed and squirming because of his ‘little lady’ comments.” Theo lives to see another day when she pushes out with a snort. “I’ve never wanted to vomit so bad in my life.” Her mood subdues a smidge when she mutters, “Not even when I was pregnant.” As traffic whizzes by us, she twists her torso and murmurs, “Probably would have if you hadn’t woken me in the middle of the night to eat.”
No, she doesn’t mean my cock this time around.
The first doctor we visited said her nausea wouldn’t be as bad if she ate small meals at regular intervals, and that the reason a lot of women get sick is because they go too long overnight without sustenance.
I hated seeing her sick, so I set an alarm for two in the morning each day to make her favorite meals. Sometimes it was just a sandwich, other times a burger with the lot.
There was even one time she was eating sardines with ice cream.
“What was that face for?” Anastasia asks, well versed on my expressions but a little rusty since it’s been so long since she’s witnessed them.
“I was just recalling the seafood sundae you ate when the caterers blew up the industrial freezer at Lulu’s.” Lulu’s was the little catering company Ana had set up the month before she found out she was pregnant. She loved to cook, and I wanted her to share her skills with more than just the people in our building. Yev sorted the trucks and had them fitted, and I conned the clientele away from their usual catering contacts.