Page 35 of Collapsed

“Nothing to walk into this morning, unfortunately,” I tell her. “Last night, however, was a completely different story.”

“Ugh, I need your life… with different people, of course,” she clarifies. “Lane is amazing, and the sex is mind-blowing, but having access to a sex buffet gives you endless opportunities.” I can’t help but laugh at her ‘buffet’ comment. She’s right, it really does give me endless opportunities.

Marcela and BJ continue to lean against the island, talking about who they would add to their ‘buffet’. I turn away from them to grab a cup of coffee. “Whoa,” Marcela says. “Looks like Alexie made his mark last night in more than one way.” She can clearly see the initials on my back, and I’m ready for any comments or complaints they might throw my way.

“See,” BJ adds, “endless opportunities. I don’t even know if I’d want someone to carve up my back, but I’d like to know I have the option.” I turn back towards Marcela and BJ. “Did he do that while you were having sex?” she asks.

I slowly nod my head as I take a much-needed sip of coffee. “Fuck, that’s hot,” she declares.

Marcela looks as though she is thinking of what to say. “Beatrix Kiddo,” she blurts out. BJ and I look at each other in confusion, then look back at Marcela. “Beatrix Kiddo,” she repeats, as though BJ and I are supposed to know what she’s talking about. “From Kill Bill,” she adds. We still look at her, confused. “I could add Beatrix Kiddo to my buffet. She’s great with knives… well, a sword really, but she could really spice it up with those things.”

BJ and I burst out laughing. I don’t know why I was expecting to be judged by them because these two have become two of my best friends and have never been anything but supportive of our arrangement. The shocking thing is Marcela drumming up people to start knife play with, and I’m in full support.

“She isn't a real person, Marcela. You’re supposed to pick someone you could actually be with,” BJ tells her.

“It’s my buffet, so don’t ruin it,” Marcela retorts. “Plus, you picked James Dean.”

“He’s a real person, though,” BJ says.

“That’s not the problem, BJ. He’s not even alive,” Marcela replies. “I’ll stand behind you in a lot of things, but necrophilia is where I draw the line.” I can’t help but spit out a mouthful of coffee and start to make choking sounds as I laugh.

“What’s going on here?” I turn to see Alexie and Katia walking into the kitchen. Alexie walks over, positioning himself just slightly behind me, running his fingers across my lower back, making me flinch slightly.

“Nothing much,” BJ tells them. “Unless you count finding out about Marcela’s interesting kinks.”

“I certainly do count that. What has my Firecracker been up to?” Alexie asks her.

Katia steps in to rescue Marcela from answering that question. “So BJ, do you have those place settings for the opening you wanted to show me?”

“Opening?” I ask her.

“We’re doing a soft opening for the new Reds in a week.” She gives me a sympathetic look. “You were already dealing with enough, and I didn’t want to bother you since you just came back. Plus, Katia was looking for something to do.”

I couldn’t expect them to stop living their lives just because I wasn’t here, but I wonder what else they were up to while I was gone. “That’s so exciting, BJ,” I assure her. “I’ll be there in full support that evening.”

She starts to walk towards the door. “All your asses will be there,” she demands. “Katia, I’ll show you what I have. My laptop is in the living room.” Katia follows BJ out the door. They aren’t even gone a full ten seconds before Marcela’s and Alexie’s phones go off.

The combined sounds make me freeze because the last time everyone’s phone went off, it was for the horrible video sent by Ivan. I reach down into my pocket and realize I must have left mine upstairs. They both look at their phones, and Marcela rolls her eyes.

“We’re all in the same house, and he still texts everyone,” Marcela grumbles. “Stryker wants us to be in the dining room in five minutes.”

The three of us make our way to the dining room. Katia and BJ must have been given the same orders because they’re headed that way, too. We all enter and assume our places at the table. Stryker is already there, standing at the head of the table. “We’re not waiting around anymore,” he states. “Conrad isn’t finding anything. This bastard really fell off the planet again. I want to hear ideas on how to find this sick fucker.” This is a desperate time if Stryker isn’t coming in with a full-fledged plan. The fact that Ivan is out there lurking makes me uneasy.

Alexie is the first to speak. “We will go to all known Bratva locations in the area. Jaxxon has started to spread the word of what happened in New York, but he is being branded a traitor by some. I need to speak to these men myself and make them understand Ivan will be their downfall. If they do not want to follow me, I will kill them.”

“That will be a lot of killing, won’t it?” Stryker asks.

Alexie smiles, “I hope so.”

A week has passed since we set out to scout all the Bratva locations. Alexie has made some strong headway, convincing many of the members that Ivan will not be a good leader. Ivan’s mistake was sending all of us that video because Alexie has used it to sway the men, and many of them became enraged at what they saw.

The Bratva is a criminal organization at its core, but these men never signed on for what went down in that video. The auctions only allowed certain members access, and those men were vetted and tested before they started working there. Only the cruelest and nastiest went through. Some of the men Alexie spoke with were part of shipping ‘product’ to Vegas but had no idea the cargo was people. Alexie was getting a strong backing from the men, but none of that mattered so long as Ivan was still out there somewhere. Ivan would kill all these men without a second thought, and because of that, no one would give information on his whereabouts.

We’re all at the house again, talking about Alexie’s meetings, but it’s always the same. No information about Ivan, men backing Alexie, or men getting killed for siding with Ivan. I feel like I’m starting to lose hope, and we’re just sitting ducks, waiting to be taken out. Tomorrow is the soft opening of Reds, which gives us something to look forward to.

“Katia and I have a meeting at the club tonight,” Alexie interrupts my demoralizing thoughts. Alexie has started to bring Katia with him to Kandy Shop when scouting the location. It’s the same club where I killed Ingram.

Stryker and Alexie have been talking about what happens when Ivan is gone, and Alexie takes over. He recognizes it will put Alexie back in a criminal organization and on the direct opposite side of the Elite. Alexie has no aspirations of keeping the skin trade, and that will be the first thing he rectifies. Everything else will stay the same. Stryker agreed to stay out of the Bratva’s way as long as they didn’t interfere with the Elite, and both acknowledged they could use each other’s support from time to time.

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