Page 67 of No Longer Safe

“Thank you, I’ve got it from here.” Alexei opened the door for us and let us out. “I’ll walk you up.”

Chapter Forty-Three

Alexei

The long game my ass.

I didn’t know how I was going to possibly do this whole long game bullshit. All I wanted to do was taste her. She smelled heavenly but I was grateful for the interruption from my driver, Will. Audrey had been drinking and the last thing I wanted was a drunken lay. The last thing I wanted was for her to not remember it or let’s be honest, dubious consent. I wanted her all in.

I wanted her to want me without alcohol in the way.

“You’re wound tight this morning,” Axel, my personal trainer and closest friend, remarked as I was beating into the punching bag he was holding.

“You have no idea,” I managed to get out between clenched teeth.

“Do you wanna do one-on-one?” He moved the bag and ducked as I swung for his head.

“I want to kill someone.” I shucked my gloves and climbed out of the ring.

“Sounds to me like you want to fuck someone.”

“Yes,” I growled. “But I’m a fucking idiot that is playing the long game.”

“Holy shit,” Axel shucked his gloves and followed closely on my heels. “The long game? You’ve never said that before.”

“That’s because the long game was for saps and I guess that’s what I’ve turned into.”

“Wanna tell me about her?” He swiped his water bottle off of a chair and chugged its contents.

“Absolutely not.”

He held his hands up in surrender before he dumped the rest of the water bottle’s contents over his strawberry blond hair.

“Well, give me something here.”

I clenched my jaw and then unclenched it. “I can’t stop thinking about her. She’s gotten under my damn skin. I don’t know why.”

“Why aren’t you with her then?” He shook out his hair and a few water droplets sprayed me. I wiped them off of my face while I scowled at him.

“She doesn’t want anything to do with me.”

He grinned. “You don’t say.”

“It’s not like that.”

“So it’s not like the rich boy finally doesn’t get everything he wants.”

“Maybe it started that way,” I had to admit it, if I didn’t, I would never hear the end of it.

“And now I wanna know why, but also, I want her to know me.”

“Ohhh, the rich pretty boy has a heart.”

“I’m down for the one-on-one now.” And I climbed back into the ring to show him why it wasn’t a good idea to get on my bad side.

Chapter Forty-Four

Audrey

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