Page 19 of The Bratva's Bounty

No matter how desirable they were, there was no way I'd let some woman boss me around.

I was in charge, always.

Smiling sweetly, Nicole patted my cheek. "Whatever floats your boat, sweetie." She chuckled mockingly, pushing me away. "Come on, we have an appointment to keep. If you're good, then I might let you kiss me again later," she said with a hook of her finger after turning her back to me.

Grumbling softly to myself, I rubbed at the soft ache in my chest. "I'll kiss you if I want to and whenever I want to," I muttered while following behind her.

"Where the hell are we going anyways?" This was most definitely not part of her routine. Yeah, she liked to go and do whatever, but she had her typical spots and routes.

"Just keep following me like the good little lion you are, and you will see," Nicole replied smugly with a snicker while continuing her merry way.

Rolling my eyes, I stretched my strides out until I was beside Nicole, matching her pace to keep steady with her. "You're not going to take me to get another tattoo against my will, are you?" I flatly joked with a sneer, hoping to dear lord that I would make it through the rest of the day unscathed from Nicole's antics.

I still wasn't too thrilled about being tattooed against my will, nor was I excited about the wonky design of Nicole's initials with a little cartoon bomb. But, I couldn't bring myself to go get it removed because it was from Nicole. Besides, it was unique compared to all the other ink on my body, and it grew on me a little. Also, it was sweet for her to tattoo me, mark me as hers with her unique little mark.

Just thinking about it brought a goofy smile to my face, the ones where your cheeks ached from how uncontrolled the spread was. I mean, Nicole always brought a smile to my face, but the tattoo made a huge wave of warmth shiver and melt my body.

My body jolted from another stroke of heat from Nicole's fingers brushing against my palm before my hand became engulfed by hers. "Would you lighten up, little lion? It's something fun for both of us." Yeah, as if that made me feel any better. I couldn't help but feel a little wary of her innocent smile because I don't think I've ever seen anything innocent with her.

Letting her drag me to my doom, I grumbled under my breath. "I swear, I'm going to wake up in a cage or something." Or probably something equivalent. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if I woke up with a kidney missing.

Nicole didn't entertain me with a response as she continued to lead me down the block until we came to a stop at a shady-looking building. "Frenzy Fury Fun…" Okay, that was a stupid name for any kind of business; I didn't even want to try and think about what kind of establishment Nicole would lead me into in a moment.

"Aka, the best thing next to therapy and blowing stuff up." Nicole grinned and giddily bounced on the balls of her feet for a few seconds before throwing the door open and dragging me in behind her.

"Nicki!" A middle-aged man with a graying beard greeted her with a grin.

"Room's setup as always for you. See you brought a friend this time." His observant eyes did a quick sweep over me and lingered warily for a moment. Then, the friendliness in them hardened. "You better not be giving sweet Nicki a hard time now, boy. I don't give a shit if you're bratva, you so much as split a hair on Nicki's head, and I will come after you like a hellhound on a trail." Well, so much for friendly old(ish) man over here.

The sound of my teeth creaking echoed in my skull from my jaw clenching, and every hot exhale from me heated the room to where a knife could cut through the tension. "I would mind your own business, old man, before you find yourself without it," I strained out between my gritted teeth. "I may be bratva, but that doesn't mean I don't have any manners. So, I would watch your mouth next time before you go running it because the next person might not be as tolerable as me."

Well, if Nicole wasn't here, then I would have smashed the man's face into the glass counter he stood behind and turned him into a display.

I hated it when people made assumptions about me or my family. Yes, we were bratva, and I knew having any kind of ties to anything mafia-related carried a bad notion, but still. What happened to not judging a book by its cover and shit? I mean, sure, I looked quite rough, but I wasn'tthathorrible underneath. Besides, I was only ever bad to those who deserved it… And those who pissed me off… And maybe those who looked at me the wrong way… And perhaps many others…

Point was, I wasn't abadperson.

If I punched, stabbed, or shot someone, they deserved it one way or another.

"Robby, relax, Lev is harmless to me." Nicole's assurance eased a lot of the tension out of the room.

I didn't begin to relax until Nicole's hand tightened around mine. Her presence invaded my very being with how she hugged my arm and leaned into me as if we were some couple. Then, like the cherry on top, she leaned up on her tippy toes and placed a kiss on my cheek with a giggle. "He knows better than to upset me," she said with an exaggerated smile at me.

Little minx, Iwanted to bend her over the counter and teach her a lesson for that comment.

Forcing a smile, I slipped an arm around Nicole's waist, pulling her against me and gripping her hip a little to assert some dominance. "I know how much of a firecracker she can be." Well, that wasn't a lie; she was rather explosive and dangerous.

Robby's eyes fluttered towards Nicole, softening with concern. "If he bothers you one bit or so much as raises a finger to you, you let me know." Honestly, if Robby didn't piss me off, I would feel a little more warmth with his concern about Nicole's well-being; too bad I wanted to smash his face in still.

"Don't worry, like I said," Nicole paused to grin up at me and lock her warm eyes on me, "he's a good boy."

Instinctively, my grip around her tightened at the words. Something about them, along with the coquettish smirk and look in her eyes, sent shivers down my spine, straight to my dick. Her sweet praise flicked some switch in my mind and body, making my insides melt with pleasure. Some stupid part of me wanted to drop to her feet and roll over to get in her good graces and hear more praise from her. I wanted to let go and not worry about anything besides how to get more sweet words from Nicole.

God, what am I thinking?

Biting the inside of my cheek, I quickly shoved my thoughts away, shutting them into a dark closet that would never be opened again. None of that was me, and I refused to go down that route. I was in charge, always have, always will. Besides, if I ever did try to entertain that unknown side, it wouldn't be with an unstable, bomb-loving tech geek.

"Well, we'll be on our way, and I promise I'll keep my Lev in check." Nicole waved at Robby as she dragged us past him, taking us down a hallway and past a few doors.