Page 72 of Savage Princess

I feel myself relax against him.The night isn’t over. Not yet.

He lifts me up, carrying me into the bedroom, all the way to the huge, soft bed. When he spills me back onto it, his mouth on mine, I feel his cock press against my belly, already hard for me again.

“All night,” Levin murmurs against my mouth, his hips rocking gently against mine, and I close my eyes, melting into the kiss, into the feeling of him pressed so closely to me.

One more night.

Levin

Understandably, Elena isn’t thrilled with the idea of getting on a plane again, once we’re actually faced with it.

She woke up in a different mood than last night, which I’d expected. I know this is hard on her—knowing that when we get back to Boston, what there is between us is finished. It’s not easy for me, either.

I’ve just been prepared for it this entire time. I think Elena has been hoping, despite everything, that I’d change my mind eventually.

But I know better. She deserves better than a life with me. She deserves someone her own age, someone without all the baggage of my past, someone who can share all the rest of the firsts that she’ll have with her without reservation. I can’t give her that—and I know, deep down, that I should never have had any of those firsts at all.

There were clothes left for us this morning. Elena dressed in silence, pulling the black button-down shift dress in the bag on and turning her back to me as she’d done it up. I saw her chin quiver as we prepared to leave the room, and I knew she wasn’t speaking because if she did, she thought she might burst into tears.

I didn’t know what to say. Anything less thanwe’ll figure this outwouldn’t have been enough, I don’t think. And there’s nothing for us to figure out.

Elena is going to her sister's in Boston, and I’m going to New York. That’s all there is to it—and that’s all there can be.

The closer we got to the hangar, the quieter and more tense she got, until the car stopped on the tarmac, and she looked at me, her face suddenly ashen.

“We really have to get on a plane, don’t we?” she asks, swallowing hard, and I reach for her hand against my better judgment, squeezing it lightly.

“It’ll be different this time,” I promise her. “All the years I’ve flown—private, commercial, small planes and big ones, and that was the first crash I was ever in. We’ll get to Boston in no time, and then if you never want to fly again, you don’t have to.”

Elena breathes in deeply, but she nods, visibly steeling herself. “Alright,” she says softly. “Let’s get it over with, then.”

I walk with her to the hangar, where the plane is waiting. There are several of Vasquez’s black-clothed guards, and I glance at Elena warningly. “Remember,” I tell her quietly. “If anything happens—”

“Stay behind you. I know.”

I know something is wrong when we’re almost to the plane. I see the men turn towards us, the tension in their stances, and I automatically reach for my gun.

“Stop right there.”

One of the men steps forward, clearly the one in charge. “Boss says no hard feelings,” he says gruffly. “But Gonzalez upped the reward, enough for him to rethink the decision he made. So hand over the girl, and we’ll be on our way. Of course, we can’t let you live either, but we can make it quick and easy for you. Otherwise, we might think about taking you along and handing you over to Gonzalez too. I think he might enjoy taking pieces off of you, after all the trouble you’ve given him.”

I feel Elena flinch beside me. My own muscles tense, but I’d been ready for something like this to happen. I’d hoped that it wouldn’t—but I’d prepared for the worst, just as I’d said to Elena. I’m rarely surprised when something like this goes bad.

“Get down!” I snap at Elena, hoping she hears just how fucking serious I am. Before any of the men can get a shot off, I’ve already fired, ducking to one side as they retaliate. “Get down and get to the plane!”

A bullet nearly hits me, whizzing past my shoulder as I fire again, another of the men going down. I hear the sound of another car on the tarmac, and I fire twice more, ducking as shots go off all around me.

Elena makes a run for it, darting around crates in the hangar. One of the men goes for her, and I pivot, about to shoot him—but before I can, I see him double over suddenly, clutching his side.

She fucking stabbed him.

I’ve never been so proud of her—and so afraid for her. I squeeze the trigger again and again, releasing the clip and slamming another in as I try to cover for her as she runs for the plane. The last man drops just as I hear the slamming of a door from the car on the tarmac—or more than one, I can’t be sure.

I’m not about to turn around and find out. Gunfire peppers the tarmac behind me as I run for the plane, and I’m just behind Elena when the pilot steps out, his hands up.

“No–no–this is too–”

“Shut the fuck up and get this plane in the air.” I shove my hand into my jacket, pulling out the remainder of the money we have left, and thrust it at him. “There’s more for you when we get to Boston. But if you don’t get this bird moving, you’ll be as dead as those fuckers out there are. If not by them, then by me, because I’m done fucking around. Boston or this is the last fucking day you live.”

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