Hidden Monsters (Volkov Bratva #4)(10)

Her gaze drifted from the tiger to the various images over the ridges of his stomach to the indentations at his waist. He really was very nice to look at…

“Where were you coming from?” he asked as he tossed the towel on the couch and yanked on his shirt.

Before, she might have answered his question with a snarky response, but at the moment, Alex wasn’t in the mood to fight with him. “Nowhere in particular.”

Alex had looked away when she said this and didn’t notice when he crossed to her side and grabbed her arm. Despite the obvious strength he possessed, he was gentle with her. He always had been.

Before he could say anything, she reached for his hand, intending to pull it away, but at the moment of contact, she just left it there. The back of his hand was soft, but his palm and fingers were calloused and she could only imagine from what.

“It was just a party,” she finally confessed though she couldn’t be sure why she was telling him at all.

There was no reason to, not when there wasn’t anything happening between them.

No matter what she felt.

“I don’t want you doing anything reckless,” he said, eyes surprisingly serious. “You have a problem, come to me and we’ll figure that shit out.”

That was what she had always liked about Luka, how easy it was being around him when the tension wasn’t there, when they were just in the same space without the outside world intruding. Times like this, she could be herself without fear of judgment—because he wasn’t trying to change her. She didn’t need to be perfect around him even if she strived to be.

But the moment was broken as his phone blared to life and when he turned his head in its direction, his hair moved, and she could see the angry red splotch on his neck. How she hadn’t noticed it up until this moment, she didn’t know, but now that she had, it felt like a bucket of ice water was dumped on her head.

“How’s Natasha doing?”

Hearing her tone, he looked back at her, briefly forgetting about his phone. “What?”

She poked at the mark on his neck, wondering if her doing that hurt him nearly as much as seeing it hurt her. “How much does that run nowadays? Or is she free because you’re her boss?”

“Alex, don’t start that shit.”

“What shit? I’m just curious. No wonder you needed a shower. I can’t imagine trying to—”

His eyes narrowed, promising pain if she finished that statement, but if there was one thing she knew, Luka would never physically hurt her. If he hadn’t by now, he wouldn’t. Emotionally? Well, he was doing a bang-up job of that.

“Has she ever had to rush through it? Maybe another client was just dying to get at her before your dick even got soft?”

The phone was completely forgotten as Luka turned back fully to face her, and if she had to guess, he was only getting angrier. Except, she didn’t care. When she got started, she didn’t, couldn’t stop.

“Alex, enough.”

Raising a brow, she smiled sweetly. “Or?”

A muscle ticked beneath his eye as he glared at her. “We have to do this shit every time I see you?”

“If I recall, you asked to pick me up, not the other way around. For all I cared, you could have stayed with the neighborhood’s friendly whore.”

That was the thing with Luka, he argued back, at least when it was just the pair of them and as long as it was light-hearted, he bantered with her when others were around—even Mishca. If she wasn’t the one to end it, then it could go on for more than an hour, once for days.

There was just no point in arguing with him about where he liked to stick his dick. Especially if he was just going to keep doing it. It could fall off for all she cared at the moment.

“If we’re done, we should get going. There are people I actually want to see today.”

Luka mumbled something beneath his breath but walked ahead of her, nearly pulling the door off its hinges as he yanked it open.

Donning her sunglasses because her eyes were still bloodshot, Alex followed behind him, choosing to ignore the look he was sending her as they boarded the elevator and headed down.

The ride over to Amber’s was short and uneventful, the pounding in Alex’s skull finally dwindling to nothing.

Alex waved to Amber as she climbed into the Jeep, still ignoring Luka’s presence entirely. She returned to her phone, could practically feel Luka’s gaze on her, but she was very good at pretending, and he was only making it easier for her. Amber cleared her throat, probably feeling the tension between them, especially with Luka’s reckless driving and the way he mumbled every few seconds.

By the time they reached the older building, parking alongside the sidewalk and Luka feeding the meter after he’d climbed out, it was clear for anyone to see that there was a problem, but Alex wouldn’t be the one to break it, not this time. If Luka thought he was stubborn, then he obviously must have forgotten who he was dealing with.

Inside the penthouse, Alex made herself at home, as she always did when she came over, but this time it was more of an excuse to avoid Luka for a little while longer until they were leaving.

She checked her appearance in the bathroom, hunted through the refrigerator for a bottle of water that was usually stored there, and even busied herself on her phone before returning to the living room and taking a seat next to Luka, making sure there was a good amount of space between them.