Page 71 of Paved in Venom

Matvey’s still studying my computer, and I don’t even feel irritated when he touches my trackpad to look around some more. God, Simona is changing me in so many ways.

“Simona’s coming tonight, right?” Lev asks.

“Yeah, I want her there with me,” I tell him, even though I know this club’s purpose is to give these men a safe place to come together without it being associated with the Red Viper and trafficking. “The men will see her tattoo and know what it means, but since we’re running the club, it’ll be expected that I’ll show her off.”

“Emily’s so pissed that she can’t go,” Vitaly says, walking over and stealing a piece of pasta from the plate Simona’s making me. She smacks his hand, but he just laughs.

“Why can’t she go?” Simona asks. “Because she’s pregnant?”

Vitaly laughs again, but there’s no real humor in it. “No, because her dad will be there. He thinks Roman has a Russian pet on the side, and that’s who he’s going to expect tonight. Emily can’t just show up in her slutty dress and wig, though, because daddy dearest will definitely recognize her.”

“That’s fucked up,” Simona says.

“It is,” Vitaly agrees. “It’ll be okay, though. All the women know not to touch him, so she doesn’t have to worry about that at least. Roman would make a big scene if any of them tried to, and we can’t have that, so I’ve told all of them that if they touch Roman or Matvey, they’re fired.”

“They can’t touch Danil either,” she says, making me smile.

Vitaly grins at her. “No, they can’t, but Danil will already be making that clear when he walks in with you on his arm.”

Lev lets out a heavy sigh. “They can touch me if they want, I guess. I’ll take one for the team.”

“How kind of you,” Vitaly tells him.

Lev shrugs. “I’m a giver.”

They laugh while Matvey keeps studying my computer. Tonight will be the first time he’ll be meeting these men, and he’s only doing it because of what Vitaly said. Every woman at that club will be giving him a wide berth. I’m not looking forward to having Simona around them again, but she’ll be glued to my side the whole night, and our security is a thousand times better than anything the Red Viper has. I set up the security system myself, and we’ve hired our own men as bouncers. They’ll be heavily armed, and they’re highly trained. Everyone except us will be searched for weapons, so we’ll already have an advantage. Perks of being the club owners. Unfortunately, there’s no way to avoid the Barinov brothers, who are still under the impression that they’re in charge.

As if the fucker can sense my thoughts, my phone buzzes in my pocket. When I see Oleg’s name, I flip my brothers off yet again and answer.

“Oleg, what’s up?”

Lev and Vitaly laugh while Matvey gives a small smirk.

Oleg seems as surprised as I am that I actually answered my phone. I give Simona a wink and take the plate she’s made me.

“I just wanted to make sure everything was set for tonight,” he says. “Need me to do anything? You and your brothers still coming?”

And this is why Oleg will never be Pakhan of anything. He’s not a leader; he’s a follower who thinks he’s a leader.

“Everything’s set,” I tell him, pulling Simona into my lap. She kisses my cheek and then pinches off a piece of French bread. “We’ll be there.”

“Okay, great. I’ll just see you guys there, I guess.”

“Sure thing,” I say and then quickly hang up before he can ask if we can have a sleepover afterwards and braid each other’s fucking hair.

I look at my brothers. “I’m seriously never going to forgive you fuckers for giving him my number.”

They just laugh while Lev says, “You’ll get over it. You know you can’t stay mad at us. Besides, he’ll stop calling soon enough.”

“Why will he stop calling?” Simona asks and I give Lev a look that makes him hold his hands up with a laugh.

“Sorry, brother,” he says and then walks out of the goddamn room while Simona waits for an answer. Vitaly follows him and then Matvey disappears back downstairs, leaving me with a very curious woman on my lap.

I kiss her cheek and take a big bite of pasta.

“Danil, why’s he going to stop calling?”

I point towards my stuffed mouth, but she’s not going to just forget because I’m chewing. When I go to take another bite, she scoots my plate out of reach and raises a brow at me. I can’t help but grin, because god do I like her feisty side. It makes me want to spank her, and when my cock grows hard, her blue eyes darken and her lips part the tiniest bit.

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