Page 169 of Born in Depravity

Then I let out a small laugh.

That wasn’t a no to the revealing clothes.

And unlike the other times he’d threatened to kill someone for me, this time I knew he was kidding. He wouldn’t kill someone for looking at me.

I walked to the closet, feeling his heated gaze on my skin, and a wide smile took up my whole face while I dressed quickly.

* * *

There weretwo men I didn’t know coming with us. One who drove us to a small outside mall just ten minutes from the hotel, and one who sat in the passenger seat, as silent as the driver.

In fact, they didn’t even look at me, and I was sure someone had warned them about Nikolay’s possessiveness.

I didn’t care.

Because for the first time in my entire life, I was going shopping.

Nikolay held onto my hand as we walked around the busy street, and his grip only tightened once when we walked through a group of loud, rambunctious teenage boys.

I didn’t pay them any attention.

We got to a dress shop first.

And I soon had enough to wear every day for a month.

Nikolay seemed more fascinated about the styles than I was, but I didn’t mind. I let him talk to the saleslady, and she helped me pick out some pretty summer dresses that were somewhat similar to the dress I had on.

Then we went to a popular store filled with mostly people my age.

Nikolay stood out like a sore thumb, along with his two bodyguards, and they certainly drew attention.

A group of girls of three were giggling and shooting inconspicuous looks his way.

I didn’t like the burning feeling I got, though I tried not to let it show.

Nikolay might say I was jealous.

I wasn’t jealous.

I was not.

I grabbed white denim shorts off the shelf, but Nikolay took them from my hand. He held them up.

“Are these shorts or underwear, princess?” he asked, loud enough for most people around us to hear.

My mouth gaped in surprise before I yanked them out of his hands, holding them close to my chest. He let out a small sigh.

“Whatever. I bet you’ll look hot in them, and I’m sure Damien and Mikhail will agree with me.”

I smiled a little at his easy agreement and grabbed two more pairs in different colors. He let out a small groan, but thankfully didn’t say anything. I turned away so he wouldn’t see my smile, only to meet the eyes of one of the girls in the group from before.

She was about my age, if not one or two years older, and evidently, she didn’t like that Nikolay was here with me.

My brow furrowed over her odd reaction before I turned and picked out some T-shirts in colors I had never been able to wear before because Father would have deemed them inappropriate.

Nikolay was silent behind me, though he did grab the clothes out of my arms when they started to pile up.

We went to the cash register and I watched as the price stacked up. I bit my lip and peeked sideways at him. Perhaps I shouldn’t have grabbed so much.

---