Page 6 of Watched and Bred By the Bratva
He lets me retreat, but his gaze follows.
The bell over the door rings and Wissam walks in. Relief floods me, and I overcompensate, skipping toward him with a grin too wide. He wraps me in a hug.
“I didn’t think I’d see you before you left,” I say.
“Wouldn’t miss it,” he says, kissing my cheek. “Graduation next Saturday, turn in my keys, then I’m gone. My flight leaves Sunday, so I’m drowning in packing. Been trying to get everything sorted—sell the car, close accounts—it’s been nonstop busy.” He smiles ruefully. “But not too busy to celebrate with my friends. Amani already sent me an invite to your party, but I haven’t had a chance to RSVP. Consider this my yes.”
We fall into easy banter, but his smile fades when he glances at Nikolai. He lowers his voice. “That guy’s intense. You’re safe with him?”
“He’s fine. He’s Amani’s husband’s cousin.”
His voice drops to a hush. “Her husband’s in the Bratva.”
I shush him. “No talking about Bruno,” I advise. “Besides, he’s one of my best customers. He may seem a little intense, but he’s a nice guy.”
He searches my face, then glances back at Nikolai. “If you’re sure. I just—I don’t like leaving you here with him staring at us so hard that if his eyes were a gun, I’d have a bullet boring into my skull.”
“I’m sure,” I insist. Despite Nikolai being in the Bratva—possibly—I trust him. My gut says I’m safer when he’s around. “Now, didn’t you tell me you have a million things to do? Don’t add worry about Zara as one million and one.”
He sighs. “Okay, if you’re sure. You would’ve been one million and two, by the way.”
I laugh and shoo him out the door. “Glad to know where I stand.” He slow-pokes it out the door after another gulp of coffee, leaving me alone with my quiet customer.
I take the half-empty pot to Nikolai’s table. “Refill?”
He declines, then asks, “Who was your friend?”
“Wissam,” I say with a little smile. The name alone brings back a hundred shared coffees and late-night cram sessions. “We met freshman year, hit it off over orientation pizza, and ended up study buddies for pretty much all four years. He’s leaving for Lebanon soon—big move, new chapter.”
“You were never…?” He arches a brow.
It takes me a minute to understand the question. Mainly because it’s so uncharacteristic of him to ask. “No,” I say firmly. “He’s just a friend.”
“And you? Do you have plans for after graduation?”
“Two months off, then I start teaching elementary school.”
His eyes glint. “A man would be happy to have you teach him all the things you want him to know.”
A shiver runs my spine. Odd phrasing. Almost like he—no. Probably a language thing. Except his English is flawless. No accent. I file it away.
“You mean a child,” I correct. “I hope I won’t be teaching any men in my elementary school.”
He gives a half-smile. “Of course, a child.”
He tilts his head again. “And beyond work? Marriage? Children?”
“No marriage. No children,” I lie. I have no intention of revealing my plans to him. And if Amani let it slip, she’ll just have to die and I’ll suffer whatever torture Dimitri doles out as punishment.
He narrows his beautiful hazel eyes but only shakes his head when I shake the coffee pot at him. I walk away trying my damndest not to imagine him plowing into me. Breeding me.
The week slips by in a blur of last exams, work shifts, and sleepless anticipation before Saturday night arrives—the night of my graduation party.
Dimitri wraps his arm around Amani when she returns from putting Alexander to bed. His eyes devour her face as if she left for hours instead of minutes. The same man who once terrified her now owns every part of her heart… and she owns his.
My mom and her new husband already left earlier with hugs and congratulations. As did most of the other guests Dimitri strong-armed into attending. The mix of grim-faced gangsters and optimistic graduates was odd, but it worked. I’m grateful for the success, even as my eyelids grow heavy.
Most people are gone. Wissam slipped out early, looking pale after his tense conversation with Nikolai. I’ll ask him later what they discussed.
