Page 19 of Paved in Hate

“I want you to understand something very important,wife. Your brothers don’t have a say in what happens between us, and they sure as fuck don’t get a say in what happens in our bedroom. This is between us and no one else, and what happens in here, or whatdoesn’thappen in here, is no one’s business but ours.”

She pulls her frightened eyes from the bed and back to mine. “They won’t find out?”

“Not unless you tell them. Are you going to be telling them our secrets, Katya?”

“No,” she whispers, but I don’t trust her. Why the hell should I? I’ve known her for the exact length of our marriage, which isn’t saying much. Five hours may be the longest fucking relationship I’ve ever been in, but that doesn’t mean we have some sort of bond going on. She’s still eyeing me like I’m seconds away from ripping off her robe and tossing her on the bed for fuck’s sake.

I scrub a hand over my face, no longer able to deal with any of this. “Take the bed. I’ll be on the couch if you need anything.”

“You don’t have to do that,” she starts to say, but I wave my hand at her, too frustrated and tired to deal with this.

“I don’t want you worrying about me ripping your clothes off while you sleep. You need to rest, and you’ll do it better if I’m not here.”

She doesn’t argue with what I’ve said, so I turn and walk away, shutting the door behind me. Walking past the gym, I see Matvey hitting the bag, so I walk in and grab a bottle of water from the fridge we keep in here and then take a seat. He’s so into what he’s doing it takes him a few minutes to notice I’m here. When he does, he gives the bag one more hit, letting it swing on its chain before he drops his gloves and runs a hand through his sweaty hair. I toss him a water as he walks over.

“Going that well?”

I laugh and shake my head. “It’s exactly how I envisioned marriage being—absolutely fucking miserable and no one’s getting laid.”

Matvey shrugs and downs half his water. “Our brothers seem pretty happy.”

“They’re outliers. It’s not normal. The majority of married people are miserable.”

“She’s just scared.” He takes a seat next to mine and finishes his water. “Her only family is a couple of psychopaths who enjoy selling women. That can’t be easy to grow up around.”

“No, but she’s loyal to them, Matvey. There’s no way in hell she hasn’t been ordered to spy on us.”

“I know, and that’s why we’re not going to give her anything, but that doesn’t change the fact that she’s scared to death and in a strange place with strange people.”

I try to ignore the guilt that’s starting to claw its way into me. He’s assuming she’s terrified, but I know for a fact that she is because I just saw it with my own eyes.

“She thought I was going to rape her,” I admit. “She begged me to go easy on her.”

“Fuck, man,” he groans. “I’m so sick of these bastards. I’m so fucking tired of having to be nice to them and pretend that I’m just as disgusting as they are. They make me fucking sick.”

“Me too, brother.” I throw my empty bottle of water, hitting the garbage can in the corner. “Soon we’ll get to kill them, and then we’ll never have to be around this shit again.”

“Can’t fucking wait.” Finishing his water, he looks back over at me. “I need to take a shower, but if you want, I can kick your ass in a game of pool when I get out.”

I know what he’s offering, and I’m grateful for it because I’m not ready to spend my wedding night on the couch. Standing up, I follow him out of the room.

“I’ll get it set up,” I tell him when we’re downstairs. I head into the room we’ve turned into a bit of a gaming room while he keeps going down the hall to his bedroom. Unable to resist, I walk over to the bar in the corner and pour myself a large drink. The vodka goes down even smoother tonight, and I’m already on my second drink by the time Matvey walks back in. He’s wearing joggers like me, but instead of a T-shirt, he’s wearing a hoodie. He doesn’t like to show his scars, even though he’s tattooed over all of them. I can see the colorful flames peeking out from the back of his sweatshirt and traveling up his neck to join the other tattoos that decorate his skin.

He pours himself a drink and tops off mine before grabbing one of the cue sticks I offer him. He’s right. I’m about to get my ass kicked. No one beats Matvey at pool, but that’s not why I’m down here playing a game with him. I want to not think about the woman who’s scared and sleeping in my bed. I especially want to stop feeling like a jackass about the woman who’s scared and sleeping in my bed. I tell myself I don’t owe her a damn thing other than keeping her safe while she’s in my care. That’s way more than her brothers would do in this situation.

After four games and several more drinks, I’m still feeling lousy.

“Another?” Matvey asks, and I know he’d keep playing until the sun rises if I wanted him to, but I see how tired he is, and the exhaustion and alcohol are hitting me hard, too.

“Nah, I should get some sleep.” I set my stick down and smile. “I think I was close to winning that last game.”

Matvey shakes his head, giving me a hint of a smile. “It’s kinda sad that you think that.”

“I’m gonna pretend that I was close.”

“That’s even sadder.”

I laugh and follow him out of the room. “Thanks, man,” I tell him before starting up the stairs.

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