Page 52 of The Bratva's Bounty
Frowning her eyes softly, Nicole huffed. "What if you got your arms cut off out there?"
A burst of laughter exploded from me at her ridiculous question. Okay, maybe I shouldn't be laughing because it was a possibility. Who knows, maybe I might encounter a machete-wielding maniac today who gets in the lucky swing. Chances of that happening were highly doubtful, but in this line of work, it wouldn't surprise me to come across something like that.
Hell, I couldn't say jack shit because my girlfriend was a bomb-loving techy who looked like she couldn't harm a fly. Seriously, one look at Nicole, paired with her history, no one would ever think that she was a bomb maker for the mafia.
To be fair, I grossly underestimated her myself. If I didn't, then I wouldn't have ended up with a broken nose or gotten drugged and tattooed by her… Nor would I fall victim to her antics. Yeah, she still liked to fuck with my shit, but only because I didn't know my limits.
It never thrilled me when she would shit my computer down in the middle of the night or limit the service to my phone, but it was for my own good. I never realized how much of a habitual problem I had working late into the night until Nicole started to nag me and control my life. But if it weren't for her, then I'd still be an angry, sleep-deprived asshole. Don't get me wrong, I wasstill an asshole, but the healthy schedule she had me on really helped regulate my energy levels to where I found myself being more tolerable and peaceful.
Clearing my head, I pulled her to me, hugging her longingly. "Zhizn moya, I will come back to you alive and with all my limbs intact and attached to my body," I half-joked with a flat chuckle. "If you don't want to be alone, then go be with Angel," I suggested, kissing her forehead.
"I'll keep myself busy with a project while I wait for you." I barely caught her mumbling words as she buried her face into my chest. Lifting her head, she looked up at me with her big eyes. "What are you planning on doing out there tonight?"
The corner of my lips stretched into an uncontrolled, bloodthirsty smile as I thought about my hectic plan. "Not much, just gonna make a bloody mess, maybe flay the bodies open and hang them up like Christmas lights, might leave some alive and send them back with missing parts." A hard drumming pounded in my ears from my heart beating in my chest, and I became more excited at the thought of the carnage that I was about to cause tonight. "And I might or might not personally pay the Hwangs and Hosths a visit after the fact."
With a cheeky grin, I slid my hands down and grabbed her ass, squeezing them tightly until she squeaked. Trapping her against my body with an arm, I grabbed the back of her head with the other. "You better be ready to spread those pretty legs of yours for me later, empress," I whispered hotly against her lips before swallowing her protest with an all-consuming kiss. "I'm gonna come straight home after my assignment, bend you over wherever you are, and take you until both of us can't come or move." The corners of her eyes sparkled under the dim lighting from her welling tears. "Make our bed and sheets all messy with blood and cum."
Grinning wildly against my lips, she giggled darkly. "You better come back tonight then, after threatening me with such a promising night like that." Biting her bottom lip, she looked up at me with darkened eyes. "Go out, have some fun shooting people, breaking bones, and being a menace. Then, come home and show me how a bratva boss fucks his whore."
The feral growl rumbled out of my chest in response to her words. "Zhizn moya, if you say things like that…"
Nicole might be the Dom between us, but there were some moments of switching in the bedroom. It wasn't often because we liked the dynamic we had set up, but sometimes she wanted to be the one dragged around. Not gonna lie, sometimes I felt the urge to dominate her as well. So, switching worked more than perfect for us to run our wants and needs out of our system.
"I need my bratva brute to remind me of my place," she teased, running the tip of her finger along my jaw. "To pin me down and breed me until your seed takes."
Damn this woman of mine.
She knew just the right things to say to get me going.
Grabbing her neck, I backed her up against the wall and attacked her with a frenzied kiss. "You better be wet and ready for me to go right in because the moment I step through that door, I won't have the patience for foreplay." Hell, I'd be lucky to get my clothes off in the moment.
Fight and fuck. Those would be the only two things on my mind once the adrenaline stormed my body later with the first taste of blood on the field.
Kissing her one last time, I pulled her away from the wall to give her ass a nice smack. "I suggest you test out those new toys of yours while I'm gone," I teased her with a hearty laugh before slipping away from her.
Soft pits and pats of Nicole's footsteps trailed behind me as I made my way out to the garage. "Ã?i ca," she called out for me just as I tossed my bag into the passenger seat of my car. "Please, be careful out there." The worry in her voice ached my heart and made me feel a little bad about leaving her to risk my life out there on the streets. "I-if you die out there, I swear, I will put bombs in your coffin."
Amused, I let my body tremble with a soft laugh. "Gonna blow me sky high to Heaven?" I joked with a half-hearted smile. "I'll make it back to you, I swear," I promised her with a confident smile before climbing into the car.
It didn't take me long to reach the rendezvous point, where our men, Stepan, Hanna, Arseny, Greg, and Bao, were gathered. "Sorry for the hold-up.Nicole was trying to convince me otherwise." If I wasn't so antsy for action, then maybe I might have pulled out of tonight to mess around with her.
As much as I loved sex with Nicole, passing up an assignment in my pent-up state was a huge no. It'd been at least two months since I'd gotten any good action with my men or brothers, so hell was I about to pass up tonight when they asked if I wanted to participate.
"Ew, can you not talk about my sister like that? It's just gross." Bao mocked his disgust with a soft frown as he recoiled a little. "Seriously, I can't believe you and Nicki are together." Bao looked at me with mock concern. "I don't know whether to help you get away from her or commit you to a psych house because you're insane enough to date my sister."
To be fair, I wondered about my own sanity—what was left of it—sometimes because it probably was a little insane for me to be with Nicole. I stalked her, only to be stalked back. She broke my nose, broke into my house, knocked me out, and tattooed me, then had the gall to strand me in the rain after jacking my car. Yeah, she was probably certifiably crazy, but so was I.
Chuckling sheepishly, I reached up and ran my fingers along the edge of my collar. "You should probably have me committed because after all that's happened, I fucking love her still and then some." And this would be the moment where I punch myself in the face for letting that last part slip.
Everyone's faces stretched tight with their wide eyes and shocked mouths. "Love?!" Bao looked like he was about to have an aneurysm as he frantically searched my face for some other answer. "Listen, if you need help, blink twice. I can get you a new identity and set up a new life for you in the blink of an eye. You just gotta say the word." I don't know if the worried look was for me or for his sister.
Honestly, it still boggled me how Bao and Nicki were siblings, given how laid-back and passive Bao was as a person, while Nicole was more headstrong and gung-ho about everything. Also, Nicole was a hell of a lot more violent and bloodthirsty than her younger brother. Actually, come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen Bao intentionally harm anyone or even pick up a weapon. Oh, and Bao wasn't batshit crazy like Nicole.
My body jerked with a gruntwhen Hanna's squealing body tackled mine in a hug. "Aww, Lev, that's so sweet! I'm so happy for you and Nicki!" Hanna gushed with a happy grin. "Never thought I'd see the day you'd find someone crazy enough to tame your ass and love it." She laughed with a shit-eating grin on her face—a subtle jab.
Then, Hanna's face dropped and twisted in amusement. "Actually, I'm surprised you," Hanna jabbed her finger into my gut, "are crazy enough to be with her. I mean, I love Nicki, but girl is on another level of psycho compared to Angel and me." Turning her head to Bao, Hanna held her hands up in defense. "And I mean that in the most loving way ever. Nicki is great, but a little psycho, a good psycho."
I was pretty sure psycho could never be a good thing, but I kept that thought to myself as I looked over to my two brothers, who snickered amongst themselves. "Care to share you two?" I grumbled with a heavy sigh, knowing that whatever would come out of their mouths wouldn't bode well for me.