Page 70 of Volatile

When he tries to move, ignoring every protest I’ve made, I wrap my legs around his waist. There’s more forcefulness in my voice trying to make the obtuse dickhead listen to me.

“I am not moving in with you.”

He lets go of my neck and moves my hair off my face with one finger while making me question his intelligence.

“You want me to move in here? Okay, I’ll ring Val and get him to pack my shit up.”

I’d have a more fruitful conversation with my hand, it would make sense and actually follow the conversation unlike Vitali.I shake my head to knock away my frustration, but it settles into my voice as I say, “No. We are not living together.”

He moves back and scans my face before shrugging and speaking too easily. “Well, your things are coming with me and you’re wearing my ring, every time you need something it will be me you come to.” He presses further into me and sweetly kisses my cheek as his voice becomes more playful. “Don’t be difficult, sweetness, think of the environment. What will all the emissions do to the ozone layer with me driving back and forward?”

I press against his shoulder, but he adds more of his weight to me as his voice darkens, and he lets out the bastard he usually keeps hidden.

“I own the building, so I could evict you then you’d have to live with me.”

What the fuck is his fucking problem? I bought this place outright under Dima’s name, he can’t fucking evict me.

One word leaves me when I realize I’m out of options. “Why?”

Vitali loosens his hold on my wrists and threads our fingers together. He rests his forehead against mine and his eyes soften.

“Why not? Tell me you don’t want me, that you don’t fucking crave this as much as me. Tell me honestly, Stasi, that this,I, mean fuck all to you and I’ll leave you alone.”

I can’t argue verbally and turn my head. But he presses his lips to my cheek and continues fucking with my head and heart.

“I need you and I know you need me too. Give our loneliness company and I’ll give you the fucking world.”

I don’t want the world – I want to be left alone.

I can feel his heart thudding against mine. Each beat begging for me to give in. If I do he’ll be pulled into the shitstorm, listen to everyone’s opinion on me, and it will drag him down. He holds my jaw and slowly turns me to face him. His nose brushes mine, and his tone hardens from a plea to an order.

“You are mine, only ever fucking mine. Do you understand, Anastasia?”

The claim makes me feel better when I should run. I should kick him in his scarred knee and lock myself in the bathroom away from his crazy.

But I nod.

One small movement of my head that seals my fate and has the puppy smiling as though he’s been given the biggest bone in existence.

“Good girl, get dressed we can spend the rest of the day in bed if your stomach still hurts.”

My body falls limp and I stare up at the ceiling as he walks away. I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing or why I’m agreeing. The most frightening part is the calm, my mind isn’t racing, and I don’t want to escape.

I’ve foundthe place where crazy goes on vacation as I sit with the Vartanovs who aren’t even questioning why I’m here. They just accept it and move over to allow space for me in their lives, a family full of endearing sociopaths. Dani is the only one who is halfway normal and addresses the fucked-up situation.

“He’s, erm persistent, but Tali isn’t a bad person.”

Persistence is asking the same question over and over again, not packing my things while I slept.The only normalcy I get is Vlad’s message telling me to go through what I’ve found in his usual rude-ass way of not actually asking me with any form of manners. What would usually be a drive to enter his office is a walk and Vanya smiles up at me when I enter. Vlad smirks and stares at the ring I’ve tried to remove ever since it was put on my finger, yet I keep waking up with it back on and I’m not about to test Vitali’s insanity by removing it again.

His smirk gets wider as he asks, “Shouldn’t you be happy that your mother is going to shut the fuck up?”

Dickhead.

I wish I never told him that she kept telling me to seduce him, it was embarrassing as fuck, but he got her to stop talking shit and he made sure that we were never anywhere near each other to prevent her starting a rumor that would hurt Inessa’s feelings.

I have to clench my jaw and remind myself he can easily kill me to stop myself from cursing at him, but Vanya comes to my defense and scowls at her dad.

“Don’t be rude, you asshole.”

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