Page 7 of Bound by Blood

“May I join?” she asked, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a large stack of bills.

She dropped them on the table as though they had no meaning to her and then slid into the only vacant chair, which had belonged to Boris. She looked up at him with her jewel-like blue eyes, contrasting exotically with her black hair and he knew he was lost. He nodded and went into the spare room to find another chair.

“King,” Daniel grunted.

Ash chuckled. “He’ll be pleased when she reports the lack of severed limbs and blood.”

“Actually, it was Addison that asked me to come. And she used Claudia’s club money to buy me into the game,” Laney announced, picking up her cards and tossing in her chips.

Daniel stared at Laney for a moment and then nodded knowingly. His tone softened as he said, “Should’ve known she’s the only one that could talk you into doing something like this.”

Laney didn’t respond, simply keeping her eyes on her cards.

Daniel stared at her steadily and said, “You’re a good friend to her. I don’t forget that.”

No one at the table said anything, but they all felt the intensity of the interaction.

Finally, Hudson broke the tension. “Jesus, was that the kiss of death or was he pledging his ever-lasting friendship? You people are fucking insane. Remind me never to accept another poker invitation or a Facebook friend request from any of you.”

Ash and Boris laughed.

Ash replied, “You’re only saying that because I’m taking every penny you’re putting down, my friend. You suck at this game. Didn’t anyone teach you how poker works?”

“Fuck you, man. You work in a fucking casino!” Hudson shouted, laughing. “We’re sitting with a goddamed poker shark! I have half a mind to let that Daniel guy do his thing to you and just walk away. It’s not like anyone here is legit enough to report it.”

CHAPTER FOUR

Laney stared at the speaker box and wondered for the dozenth time that day if Claudia was setting her up. There was absolutely no reason these invitations needed to be hand delivered. Every other invitation had been mailed out. Yet Claudia had insisted these ones were special and couldn’t be risked on the suddenly unreliable United States Postal Service. Then Claudia had been mysteriously struck down by illness on the very day the invitations needed to be delivered, leaving Laney with the task of dropping them off herself.

With a sigh, Laney reached out and pressed the button, knowing that she must have long since been spotted on the security cameras. Sitting in the driveway of a mob boss for several minutes, doing absolutely nothing would look incredibly suspicious. She identified herself and when the gates opened, drove the black SUV to the front of the house.

Not unexpectedly, Boris met her at the door. Claudia liked to jokingly call him the Sitnikov ‘butler’ because of his penchant for answering the door. Laney tried to remind herself of all the reasons it was a good thing she was seeing Boris. She was receiving more pressure from home to report back. Despite her reluctance, she really did need to keep eyes on him. She had a job to do, which had nothing to do with protecting Claudia Cantore or the wedding invitations in her pocket. That job was getting harder and harder to remember though, especially with Boris’ dark eyes sweeping over her, touching every inch of her body like a physical handprint.

“Laney,” he said, his deeply accented voice laced with a satisfaction he did nothing to hide. “What brings you to my presence?”

Laney borrowed a common Claudia characteristic and rolled her eyes. “I am here to see Mr. Sitnikov. I believe he had a meeting with Ms. Cantore. She was unavoidably detained and has sent me in her place.”

“I hope she is well,” Boris said, sounding instead like he was more than pleased with whatever incident might have detained Claudia and sent Laney instead.

“She will be perfectly fine,” Laney said between gritted teeth, positive that she spoke the truth and feeling more than ever like she was caught in a match-making conspiracy.

“Vladimir is in meeting at the moment, but will finish soon,” Boris told her. “Please, come with me and meet a guest of Mr. and Mrs. Sitnikov’s.”

Boris placed his hand at Laney’s back and propelled her forward. She growled at him to remove the hand if he planned on keeping it, but he ignored her and ushered her through the main floor and into a spacious kitchen. Laney’s eyes widened in surprise as she found herself faced with four seated Russian soldiers, all facing a very sweet, innocent looking young woman. The soldiers looked about as rough as they could get, tattooed, scarred and street from top to bottom.

Laney immediately reached for the gun holstered under her jacket at the small of her back, but Boris’ massive hand landed on hers in a firm, but easy hold. She glared up at him and opened her mouth to demand he release her hand. He shushed her before she could speak.

“Listen,” he murmured.

One of the bigger guys, wearing a leather jacket and torn black jeans was reading haltingly from a book, “I’m not like the rest of you; I never made any plans about what I’d do when I grew up; I never thought of being married, as you did. I couldn’t seem to imagine myself anything but stupid little Beth, trotting about at home, of no use anywhere but there. I never wanted to go away, and the hard part now is leaving you all. I’m not afraid, but it seems as if I should be homesick for you even in heaven.”

“That’s wonderful Miki,” the young woman said brightly, patting the vicious street thug on the shoulder as though he were a star pupil. “Next time we’ll work on understanding when the contractions happen. Victor, would you like to read the next passage?”

Laney’s mouth fell open and she was about to burst into laughter when Boris looped an arm around her waist and carried her out of the kitchen and down the dark hallway. He clapped a large hand over her lips just as the giggles erupted. She was helpless to stop them though, and stood with her back against the dark paneling of Sitnikov’s hallway, shaking with laughter while Boris held her closely against his body. He chuckled quietly over top of her head while making sure they weren't overheard.

“It would be bloodbath in there if they thought you were insulting their precious English teacher,” he explained in a whisper. “They have become quite attached to young Lucy Miller.”

Understanding hit Laney and she nodded her head against his hand. Lucy Miller was Jane Sitnikov’s younger sister. Laney licked Boris’ hand to let him know she was back under control and he could move it.

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