Page 55 of Kings of Cruelty

“Me and Yura,” Konstantin says with satisfaction. “Next time all three of us will come inside you.”

“Yay,” I say, suddenly feeling exhausted as my body slumps over the couch. I’m not sure if I’m being sarcastic or if I mean it, honestly, and I really don’t care. I just feelgood, if sleepy, and no pesky thoughts even do more than threaten to arise before I shut them out again.

Nikolai and Konstantin help me sit on the couch properly, and Konstantin somehow squeezes in. I end up half in Nikolai’s lap, half in Konstantin’s. They pet me, all of us breathing shallowly.

I could doze off like this, if not for the uncomfortable position.

After a few more minutes of this, I ask, “Why were you all fighting?”

They tense up, like I expected them to—but when else can I catch them off guard like this?

“No reason,” Yuri says. He tries to scoot away and realizes there’s no place to go, so he settles back into place, his side pressed against Nikolai’s.

“Liar,” I say, but I sigh. I don’t have the energy to argue with him, with any of them. “Fine, be secretive assholes. But I swear, I’ll get a toy to keep myself satisfied if the three of you don’t work this shit out.”

Konstantin makes a disgruntled noise. “There is nothing. We have settled the matter already.”

“Uh-huh,” I mumble, but I don’t particularly believe them. Still, I’m too tired to really push.

At least, for now.

They might not get so lucky later.

FIFTEEN

Nikolai

Distract her,Konstantin had told me.

Not that I have a lot of ideas on how to do that, but it’s a Saturday where Konstantin is trying to conduct business and we don’t want Sierra hanging around the house to hear shouting.

“What did you do in your free time before all this?” I ask Sierra. She’s sitting at her desk in her room, doing homework or studying or maybe trying to get more leads on her father’s missing weapons.

She swivels the chair toward me.

“I didn’t have much free time,” she admits. “I’ve had a heavy course load these past few years. But when I’m not studying or whatever, I’m usually hanging out with friends.” She offers a small, wistful smile. “I’ve been trying to catch up with people, but after I disappeared…” The smile fades. “Guess you figure out who your real friends are, right?”

Her phone pings, and she picks it up and taps on it. I can’t see what she types in as her passcode, and I swallow back the urge to demand that she give it to me. Whatever she sees makes her scowl, and she tosses it aside onto the desk.

“What’s that?” I ask curiously.

Sierra shakes her head. “Nothing important,” she says dismissively. “Just spam.”

From her strong reaction, I doubt it’s spam, but I don’t call her out on it. She’s been surprisingly good at not pressing about what’s going on between me, Yuri, and Konstantin, and if I start to push her, I have a feeling she’ll push back.

She’s going to find out the truth sooner or later, but I don’t want to be the one to spill the beans. She’ll probably blame the messenger, and I don’t want that to be me.

“Why don’t we get out of here?” I ask her. “I was thinking…” Fuck, I don’t know what to do with her to get her out of the house. I try to think fast, then I remember her strong reaction to the red heels when I’d been photographing her. “You could use some new shoes, right?”

Sierra instantly perks up at that, and I mentally cheer at myself for coming up with the right thing to say. That’ll occupy her for at least a little while, and even though it sounds boring to watch her try on shoes, I can always play on my phone. Then I can take her out to eat, and by the time we’re done with all of that, Konstantin should be done.

“As long as I can buy everything I want, and you carry it,” she says.

I have a feeling I’m going to regret this idea, but she’s already latched onto it. “Sure,” I say. “You can get something comfortable to wear.”

She snorts. “Shoes aren’t made to be comfortable,” she informs me as she gets up. “They’re meant to look good.”

I look down at my boots. “They can be both,” I reply.

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