Page 89 of Happenstance
“I think you’re lost,mal’chik,” the man on my side said with a thick Russian accent. “You should turn ‘round and go back to where you came from.”
“Hey man,” Mase called out, while ducking down a bit to look the Russian in the eyes, “We need to talk to the boss man.”
“What do you know of boss?”
A smirk spread across Mason’s face, “I know what happened to his missing shipment.”
He listened to Mason Kessler.
“Ah fuck,”I growled, and spit out a mouthful of blood. I’d been hit so many times that the coppery taste was lodged in my throat. “I thought you said you knew what you were doing?”
A fist cracked off Mason’s jaw, jarring his chair and causing it to screech against the floor.
“We’re in, aren’t we?” he said through a groan.
We were in, alright. Tied to fucking chairs while four Russian pricks beat on us, demanding information. Not really the nonchalant conversation I had in mind. And we still had yet to see Nikolai.
“I told you not to listen to him.”
I turned my head Silas’s way and stretched my sore jaw. A trickle of blood ran down his chin from the split in his lip. We were all fucked up. My ears were ringing from being hit in the head, Silas’s left eye was swollen shut, and Mase… He looked ready to kill a motherfucker. Green eyes blazing with rage while his forearms flexed, trying to break the bonds binding them behind the chair. The only thing I could hope at this point was that he didn’t break free. Then we’d all be dead, because Mase couldn’t control his temper.
“You talk too much,” one of the Russians stated in a flat tone. This one I figured was the one in charge down here, since he was the only one speaking. “But you tell us nothing. I think, you have nothing to tell.”
“Hey Ivan!” Mason yelled, which earned him another punch. This time in the gut. Mase hunched over as best he could and coughed out, “Get your boss down here and let’s see who has something to tell.”
The leader kept his icy eyes on me and tipped his head at Mase. “This one is mouthy. Perhaps I cut out his tongue?”
“You could,” I growled, meeting his glare, “But what if we really do have information for your boss?”
He stared at me.
I stared at him.
Asshole Number One, who was pounding on Silas, spouted something in Russian to the leader, who barked something back. Judging by the tone in Asshole Number One’s voice, and the look on his face, he wasn’t too keen on the risk of pissing off Nikolai.
“You want to see boss, alright.” The leader’s lips twisted in a devious smirk, “I hope you have coffins picked out.”
With that, he nodded at the other men and they all walked out, leaving us alone in the dank cell like room. Their absence gave me a minute to evaluate my injuries. My jaw hurt like a motherfucker, an ache was crawling up my shoulder blades, and I was pretty sure one of my ribs was broken. Not too bad, considering. Silas wasn’t too bad either. It was Mase that was fucked up. Blood poured from his nose, and I saw him spit out a tooth. Fucker couldn’t keep his mouth shut, though I suppose he could take a beat down better than the rest of us. I couldn’t remember a time when Mase didn’t use his fists to solve an argument.
“A missing shipment?!” Silas growled loudly, “Really?”
“What? It’s the mob,” Mase shrugged, “There’s always a missing shipment.”
If I wasn’t tied to the chair, I’d have kicked his ass myself.
My mouth opened, prepared to rip Mason a new one, but my words got stuck in my throat when the door opened. Assholes One, Two and Three walked in with the leader, followed by someone else. This man had an aura of power that even I could feel. The other’s dropped their eyes when he sauntered past, avoiding eye contact. His strides were long and confident as he walked into the room and stopped to stare at me.
Instead of speaking to me, he said something in Russian, which the leader answered.
My gaze wandered over the black suit jacket covering his broad shoulders, and up to the icy blue eyes with a tint of green. The slight crinkle under his eyes told me he was the right age to be Nikolai, but he was too… pretty.
“My men said you wished to speak to me?”
Well shit, guess he was Nikolai. He must’ve been in this country for awhile, because his English was almost perfect. I could hear the faint Russian accent behind some of his words though.
I sat up and puffed my chest out. “I have some information you might be interested in.”
“I highly doubt that,” Nikolai responded.
