Page 45 of Paved in Venom

“I know you’d be there tonight if you could. We all know that.”

He drops his spoon into his empty bowl and runs a hand through his hair. “I can’t stand them touching me,” he admits. “The very idea of it makes my fucking skin crawl.” He looks up at me, his dark eyes holding more pain than any one person should ever have to endure. “I should be able to fake it, though, right? For her? I should be able to do anything for her.”

“No, you shouldn’t and she would fucking hate that and you would never forgive yourself and you know it.”

He can’t hold my gaze. Looking away, he slams his closed fist onto the counter. I can feel the anger radiating off him. This is why he spends a large portion of his day in the gym we made upstairs. He has to have an outlet or he’ll just fucking explode.

“If we needed you to be there tonight, it would be different, but not even Roman is going.”

He gives a quick nod but doesn’t say anything.

“We’re getting close, Matvey. I fucking know it.” Simona walks into the kitchen in a new pair of jeans and a pink T-shirt and grey All Stars, looking fucking delicious right as I tell Matvey in Russian, “I know there’s a fucking Bratva behind this. If we can figure out who the Pakhan is, then we can track them down.”

As soon as I stop speaking, Simona quirks a brow at me and asks, “Can you say that again but slower?”

I repeat the sentence slower and as soon as I say Pakhan, she snaps her fingers. “That word, what does that mean?”

“Pakhan? It’s the term used for the boss in a Bratva. Why?”

She gets an excited look on her face. “That’s what they called that guy I met. The two men who walked in and saw us right before we were taken to the auction. The guy who drugged me called him Pakhan.”

I shoot Matvey a quick look. “I fucking knew it.”

“Knew what?” Lev asks, walking in.

“Simona said she heard the man who drugged her calling someone Pakhan,” I tell him.

“Holy shit.” He walks over and grabs a mug of coffee. “Do you remember anything else?” he asks her. “A last name maybe?”

I can tell her mind is racing, trying like hell to remember details of a quick conversation in a language she doesn’t speak a single word of. It’s a damn miracle that she even caught this word, especially given she was scared to death with adrenaline coursing through her. When she shakes her head, she looks absolutely devastated.

“I’m really sorry. I don’t remember anything else. I’d recognize him, though. Him and the other guy he was with.”

I wrap an arm around her and pull her in close while I kiss the top of her head. “Don’t be sorry, sladkaya. You’ve been a huge help.”

Lev and Matvey raise a brow at my behavior, and Lev mixes his with a smirk, but I ignore it and keep Simona pressed in close against me.

“We’re going to find these bastards,” I tell them, more determined than ever to get to the fucking bottom of this.

We leave them in the kitchen, knowing they’ll let the others know. I want to get on my computer and dig around, and as soon as we get back in our room, I sit at my desk and quickly turn on all the monitors. Simona comes over and kisses my cheek.

“Let me know if you need help with anything,” she murmurs against my skin. Usually, nothing would be able to distract me from my work. I’d lock myself in my room and spend days working if that’s what it took, but with her, I can’t do that. I look away from the monitors and cup her face, kissing her like our lives depend on it. I fill myself with her, letting her consume me, wanting her to understand how badly I need and want her.

“Damn,” she whispers when I finally pull back and she can take a breath.

I smile and give her bottom lip a soft suck before she pulls back with a small groan. I watch her walk back over to the closet, unable to take my eyes off her just yet, but when she starts unpacking, I force my attention back to my computer.

The rest of the day passes with me barely lifting my eyes from the screen. At one point, Simona brings me a sandwich, and I can’t resist pulling her into my lap for a few minutes of peace, a few minutes where my head isn’t swimming with abducted women and the horror they’re going through. I cling to her, letting her sweetness wash over me until I have no choice but to get back to work.

I don’t push my chair back until it’s time for me to get ready for the party at Tom’s house. I’ve pushed it to the last minute, and Simona’s already in the bathroom getting ready when I step into the closet and grab a dark suit. I strip quickly and start getting dressed. The suit covers most of my tattoos, but there’s no covering the ones on my neck and hands. Roman’s the only one who’s kept that skin ink free, and that’s why he’s the one to meet with all the politicians and men in high positions. He can look respectable when he needs to; the rest of us will always look like well-dressed thugs.

I’ve just finished with my tie when I hear the bathroom door open. As soon as I turn around and see her, my whole body goes still. She’s wearing the blue dress I picked out, the one that matches her eyes perfectly, and she’s paired it with a pair of black heels that make her legs look fucking amazing. Her dark hair is down, brushing lightly against her shoulders, and her makeup has every part of me itching to ruin it. I want to smear the dark lipstick with my cock and watch the black mascara bleed across her cheeks as she gags and chokes on me.

She looks like an angel, a sweet, innocent angel who’s just dying to get desecrated, and I suddenly don’t trust myself around her at all. When I make no move to go to her, she starts to fidget, no doubt reading the situation completely wrong.

“Should I change?” she whispers, looking down at the dress while her fingers tap out a fast, agitated rhythm against her thigh.

“Absolutely not,” I manage to say, but it comes out sounding like a growl when I’m trying so damn hard to be gentle.

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