Page 12 of Ruby Menace

“What?” I stare at her. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Don’t you fucking deny it,” she half-yells. “I know you hit on her, you bastard!”

I choke out a laugh. “She told you this?” I make a note to have the bitch thrown out as soon as I’m done here. “And you believed her?”

“She’s my friend! Of course I fucking believe her!” Without warning, she reaches forward and shoves me hard. If I were a lesser man, I might have taken a step back. Instead, I chuckle, which infuriates her. Her cheeks flush crimson, and a small hand swings up, aimed at my face. I catch her wrist before she can hit me, wrestling her arm down to her side.

Fuck, she’s beautiful when she’s angry.

I lower my head to capture her lips, and I’m rewarded with a sharp pain when her teeth sink into my lower lip. It makes me laugh against her mouth, and she pushes at me again, managing to put a little distance between us.

“I hate you!” she chokes out, trying to tug her wrist free of my grasp. Her chest is heaving, and she’s so goddamn sexy it makes my balls tighten.

“No, you don’t.” I touch a fingertip to my mouth: there’s a smear of blood on it when I look at it. “You don’t hate me at all.”

“I do,” she says petulantly, but there’s less fire in it now. “You hit on my friend.” She sounds less convinced now.

“And if I told you that I did not do it, you would not believe me?” I tilt my head in question, flicking my tongue against my lip and tasting the tiny bead of blood there.

“No! I…” She trails off, probably realizing this argument is growing stale.

“Have I ever lied to you, Tiana?” I pin her with a hard stare.

“You…” She huffs a breath then shakes her head, dark curls tumbling. “No. You’ve never lied to me.”

“And this… Roxie. She has always been honest with you? About everything?”

Tiana looks away, fixing her eyes on a spot across the room. “No.” Her voice has grown small. “I can’t say that she has.”

“So you would still take her word over mine? The word of a liar.”

“I don’t know,” she mutters. “Maybe if you wanted her, you’d say whatever you liked.”

“You think that I want her?”

“Well, yes! She’s beautiful and sexy and exciting!” Her voice rises.

“I have no interest in women like that. A shlyukha!”

“A what?”

“A slut, Tiana. A woman who would try to fuck your man the minute your back was turned. I do not think much of your choice in friends.” I set my jaw.

She’s staring at me, wide-eyed. “My… my man?”

I give her a level look. “What do you think I am, Tiana?”

“I don’t know!” Her expression is anguished. “Everything is so fucked up I don’t even know what to think anymore!”

Looking down at where she’s kneeling in front of me on the bed, I reach forward and grasp her chin, tilting her head up so that she’s looking into my face.

“Believe this, Ptichka: you are mine. And I don’t give a fuck about any other woman as long as every inch of your sweet body is mine. And I will take your heart and your soul with it.”

Her eyes are wide and unblinking as she stares up at me.

“Do you understand?”

Slowly, she nods her head. “I understand. I’m yours.” Her voice is husky. I sense the fight leaving her, which pleases me.

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