Page 25 of Bound By Ruin

“Every single one.” She smiles beautifully and loops her arm through mine. “You were headed to the bar, weren’t you?” Taking the first step, she leads me to the bar and perches on one of the padded stools, looping the leashes around her wrist. The men trailing behind her come to a stop at her side while she ignores their presence. She catches me staring and laughs.

Mortified, I’m quick to apologize. “I’m so sorry! I’ve just never, um, seen anything quite like it.” My face heats, and I quickly down the first shot the bartender slides our way. We haven’t ordered, but I don’t care. “Keep them coming,” I tell him, lifting my empty glass to signal him.

Fox smiles as she sips her alcohol. “So tell me, how are things in paradise? I hear that you live upstairs with all four of them now.”

My heart stutters. How many people know that I’m staying here, and withfourmen? “How did you hear that?”

She taps her bright red manicure against the edge of her glass. “I might not be Russian, but I know a thing or two about how this place works.” Leaning over to whisper in my ear, she says, “I’m friends with Liara, their manager. She’s the one who organizes these events.” Sitting back on her stool, she tilts her head to the side. “You haven’t met her?”

“I’ve been a bit—” How should I describe navigating three men’s traumatic pasts? Instantly locking eyes with Thanatos from across the room, I inhale sharply as goosebumps trail down my arms, our prior collision inside the weapons room sending mixed signals to my body. Hot, cold,feverish. I swallow hard and quickly turn back to Fox.

She’s wearing an amused smirk on her painted lips.Shit.Am I that easy to read?

“I’ve been, um, preoccupied.” It’s not only three men’s trauma that I’m dealing with now, but four.

Apparently, that’s amusing as hell to a woman like Fox. “I’ll say.” She lifts her glass and clinks it against mine. “To complications, then. May they be easy to bed and hard once they get there.”

I laugh so hard that the vodka burns my nose.

“Speaking of complications, one of yours has come to visit.” Fox winks at someone over my shoulder. “Hey there, handsome. Want a drink?”

Carefully spinning my chair around, I come face to face—well, mask—with Ruin. “Hey,” I breathe, reaching for his hand. “What are you doing over here? Weren’t you just with—” I glance behind him, then around the perimeter of the room. If Thanatos is nearby, he’s out of my immediate vantage.

“I want you to dance.” Ruin ignores Fox’s greeting and takes a step closer to me, running his gloved hands up my thighs as he slips between them. “Will you dance for me,krosotka?”

My body warms from deep inside, spreading through my chest and deep beneath my belly. “Okay,” I breathe, suddenly eager to please him. Although he’s been going out into the city with us, I can tell it’s a drain on his energy. His body is still healing, despite any wishful thinking he and his brothers might have. “But only if you dance with me.”

Ruin is silent for a long moment. I don’t know what I was thinking, telling him that. Of course he won’t dance with me. I doubt he’s ever danced in his life, and it’s not like I’m an expert, either. “Forget I said anything?—”

Slowly, he slides his hands over my hips and pulls me out of my chair, lowering me carefully to the ground. My heels click on the hardwood, but I can barely hear them over my thundering heart. “Okay,” he says finally, dipping his head to whisper in my ear. “Take off your shoes.”

I lean back and blink up at him. “What?”

“Your shoes.” He taps my heels with the toes of his boots. “Take them off.”

Following his instructions, I lift my feet one by one and unstrap my heels, affixing them together and peering over my shoulder at Fox. “Could you?—”

“Happy to,” she purrs, taking the shoes from me before I can finish asking her to hold them for me. “Have fun, you two.” Winking, she spins me back around, right into Ruin’s arms. He catches me easily, looking as stiff as I’ve ever seen him as he peels me away from the bar.

“You don’t have to,” I say quickly, hating that I’m making him uncomfortable. “Seriously, I shouldn’t have asked.”

“It’s what you want,” he answers simply. “You should get what you want,krosotka.”

So should you, I want to say. After a life of having things taken from him, he must be desperate to be willingly given something in return.

This is my chance to repay him for…

Well, everything.

As we step onto the dance floor, the other guests trickle away like falling water, clearing a path for us. The music is loud, thrumming with a heavy bass that vibrates through the floors. I watch as Ruin unlaces his boots and tosses both his socks and shoes to the side, joining me in barefoot bliss. The floors are cool on my feet, and I can only imagine what they feel like beneath his bandaged soles.

“Are you ready?” I ask, surprised when he suddenly removes his gloves, then even more surprised when he slowly unbuttons his shirt, revealing the fresh bandages across his shoulders and torso. Rebel and I have been working together to keep them clean, so they’re not new for me.

But they are for everyone else.

Muffled whispers and gasps, a few laughs, and some cat-calling whistles fill the room. Ruin pays none of them any mind, stepping up to me with only his black cargo pants and leather belt strapped to his hips. The hunting knife that he used on me a few days ago is strapped tightly to his thigh, a reminder that even if he looks vulnerable with all the bandages and scars trailing across his body, he’s anything but.

Meeting his eyes, I grab the bottom of my sheer top and pull it over my head, tossing it into the pile with his shirt and shoes. I leave my bralette on, but it leaves little to the imagination, especially with such an experienced audience.

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