Page 32 of Ruinous Need
He releases Ben with a look of disgust, who drops to his knees as he rubs his neck. The danger in Viktor’s eyes doesn’t stop him from commenting.
“Lisette’s lonely. I don’t know why you’ve got her locked up here, but it’s fucked up.”
Viktor whirls back around to face him, stretching his arms. “If you ever touch my girlfriend again, you’ll have more than a sore neck to deal with.”
He turns his gaze to me as he says the word “girlfriend”. It’s a lie.
Confusion flashes through me, mixing confusingly with desire. Why is it I want Viktor to be my jealous boyfriend? I don’t. He’s not. I push it aside.
I glare at him, and he clenches his jaw, leaning down to my level until I can see his onyx eyes flash.
“Did you decide you are scared of me, after all?”
Merc and Ben sidle down the hallway. I watch them go and will myself not to focus on Viktor. To look past him and not react. Not to feel my cheeks flush with anticipation. Because there is something dangerously hot about the way he’s looking at me right now.
“If you don’t speak to me, Lisette, I have other ways of making you talk.”
I stay quiet. I won’t give him the satisfaction.
I don’t let myself think about what he means.
“They might not be so pleasant for you. But I’ll enjoy them very much.” He smiles again, and it’s a genuine smile this time, so blinding that I see why he doesn’t use it often. He doesn’t need to, with a face like that.
I turn my face away from him and concentrate furiously on the movie.
I am not thinking about Viktor. I am thinking about Keanu Reeves doing whatever he’s doing in this boring fucking action movie. Is this what Viktor does on a day to day basis?
Wait, but he’s not the hero in this kind of movie. He’s the bad guy. The one who wears a mask and kills people without a second thought. And it’s fucked up that I like that.
When I wake up, I find my head on Viktor’s lap. Did I do this? Or did he?
My arms are looped around his thigh as if I was determined not to sleep anywhere else.
Viktor’s raking a hand through my hair tenderly and speaking to me quietly. Like he thinks I’m still asleep.
The steady rhythm of his deep voice is a far cry from the unhinged madman who just punched his friend in the face and strangled his other best friend. I wonder if I’m dreaming.
I breathe evenly to keep up the illusion that I’m sleeping. I want to hear what he says when he thinks I’m not listening. His hand on my hair is firm yet soothing.
“You’re playing a dangerous game, Lisette.” I can feel the bulge of his erection under my cheek. Uncomfortable and enticingly close to my mouth. “Teasing me like this. Thinking that there won’t be consequences. I don’t like to see other men touching what’s mine.”
He traces a hand down my flank, so lightly that I think I might be imagining it, but his touch is sure. Like he’s claiming what’s his.
Then his fingers squeeze my ass and I realize Viktor knows I’m awake. I meet his eyes and it’s dizzying.
“You didn’t think you’d get away without punishment, did you?”
CHAPTER 12
VIKTOR
“BUT I DIDN’T do anything.”
Lisette’s been giving me the silent treatment for so long that the reply is sweet relief.
Even though she keeps her voice flat and impassive. I might have gone too far with Merc and Ben but the sight of them touching her — while I wasn’t even allowed to hear her voice — unchained a beast inside me.
“You haven’t spoken to me for a week. Chekhov’s gotten more of your affection than I have.”
