Page 25 of Born in Depravity

I understood the sentiment.

The waitress moved her eyes from one man to the next. I knew what she wanted with that one look. I didn’t care much about that, so I said nothing.

If she really knew the kind of men we were, she would run for the hills, not look like she couldn’t decide who she wanted for dinner.

“We’re done here,” Damien said to her coldly.

She blanched at the look in his eyes, stuttered an excuse and walked away. Nikolay popped another candy in his mouth.

I turned my attention back to Catalina. She was taking a sip of her coffee, closing her eyes and smiling a bit, as if this was the first time she had ever tasted coffee, and she liked it very much.

I couldn’t look away from her.

Heaviness weighed down my heart. It was like this when we’d first met. I didn’t think she remembered, since she was so young at that time, but I had felt something settle in my chest when she’d pulled a ratty old blanket over my body.

Suddenly, she opened her big brown eyes and, as if she could feel my gaze on her, moved her gaze directly to mine.

Her eyes widened almost comically before she quickly averted it back down to her food. The blush on her cheeks told me she was aware of my eyes still on her.

I wondered just how far that blush of hers traveled, and I made it my mission then to figure that out.

I watched her pick up her fork and scoop some eggs into her mouth, her small tongue peeking out and licking away the crumbs at the corner of her lips.

My cock tightened with need from the image of her taking me into her mouth and I shifted slightly in my seat.

Fuck.

“Way to be subtle,” Nikolay said, his voice tinged with amusement as he watched me watch her.

I flipped him off without looking away.

The waitress came back with our food.

She set down my black coffee in front of me, shooting a flirtatious smile my way and setting down Nikolay’s plate of scrambled eggs, three sausage links, and seasoned sliced potatoes. A cup of coffee was placed in front of him as well—some sweet shit, I guessed, judging from the light brown color— before walking away.

It didn’t go unnoticed to me that the waitress barely glanced Damien’s way. Not that he cared. His eyes were now fixed on Catalina, and I noticed the littlekotyonokcasting fugitive glances our way every once in a while, only to quickly look away quickly when she caught either my or Damien’s eyes.

Unlike Nikolay or me, Damien didn’t care for Catalina as anything more than a pawn in this war we wanted to wage against her father.

He hadn’t said much since he helped her pump her gas, but now I wondered what he thought of her.

I looked at Nikolay when he grabbed the coffee cup and brought it to his mouth. He took a sip and grimaced.

“Fuck, that’s disgusting.”

I laughed. Our littlekotyonokhad a sweet tooth. How interesting.

“We’re paying for her,” I told the waitress when she walked by.

Her eyes narrowed and displeasure twisted her lips in the most unattractive way. I let my cold gaze settle on her. She took a step back before she realized it, and seemed to force herself to stay where she stood. Nikolay smirked.

“Of course,” the woman said, pivoting and walking away from us.

We didn’t say anything more. There was nothing to say. We were going to let littlekotyonokfinish her meal, then we were going to take her.

I took a sip of my coffee, Nikolay ate his food, and Damien stared at her.

I looked around the diner.

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