Page 58 of Violent Possession

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My face burns. I don’t know what the hell to say. This has nothing to do with the fuck. I hate this shit. I wasn’t supposed to feel this way.

That’s why I change the subject. To anything.

“Uh, your cousin... he thought I worked for another crime organization?” I say, zipping up my pants. “The Volkovs? Is that the story?”

Alexei is impeccable in a second. He adjusts his clothes, buttoning his jacket over the stain as if nothing had happened.

“Is that what you’re thinking aboutnow?” he says with a half-smile.

I shrug. “Post-orgasm clarity.”

He doesn’t care about the joke. “You were a Volkov agent,” he says. He’s so firm that I wonder if I really was. “But now, you’re not anymore. In exchange for protection, you’re ours.”

Alexei starts the car, and the engine roars back to life.

“You could have told me sooner,” I complain.

He, again, doesn’t care. “You deserved it.”

The cameras. Of course. I smile unintentionally.

He continues, “He’ll see your next fight. They’ll put you against an experienced fighter. Don’t underestimate your opponent.”

“I don’t underestimate anyone.”

He looks at me, one hand on the steering wheel.

“Rest, Griffin. I want you ready for the Circuit.”

I put my hand on the door. But I hesitate. I need one more thing.

“Alex.”

He looks at me.

“This... what was this?”

He smiles. It’s discreet. And it’s not genuine, this time; it doesn’t reach his eyes.

“It was the beginning,” he says.

I can’t read that expression. It’s more distant than before, colder.

To be the beginning is too heavy. I don’t know of what. And I don’t do that. Relationships. Connections.

“Look,” I begin. “We’re not?—“

“No,” he cuts me off.

He doesn’t even need me to finish. He already knows what I was going to say, and he’s already discarded the idea as...trash.

I nod. We’re on the same page.

But it’s a strange feeling.

I hesitate for another second.

I don’t think there’s anything more to be said.

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