Page 64 of Break Me

Very slowly I moved toward the fridge, pulling out the cream, realizing she’d turned on the morning news.

“Are you going to see him again? If that’s the first date, imagine the second. And third. Imagine if you got married.”

I all but spit out the first sip, coughing even though I managed to swallow. “That’s… not going… to happen.”

She shrugged. “Sex and murder. You broke the ice. You never know.”

“In breaking news, late last night in the parking lot of Dreamscape, a popular boutique resort and BDSM club, Alexsey Dmitriyev, the chief operating officer of Dmitriyev Enterprises was nearly gunned down by unknown assassins. As seen here,he was enjoying an evening with a yet unidentified woman, the assassination attempt shocking both guests and employees of the popular hotel.”

While the reporter kept going, his words were dulled into nothing but a light buzzing in my ears. And why? Because I was staring at the pictures of me standing with Alexsey leaving the restaurant with his hand on the small of my back. Another one inside his car when he’d leaned over and had taken my face into his huge hand. Outside the hotel. Inside near the elevator. With his hands all over me. His head lowered, kissing me. And there was no doubt of the identity of the woman in the photograph.

At least if you knew her.

“Oh. My. God.” Kristine’s voice finally slipped through the tinny sounds.

I lifted my head, realizing she’d stood. Suddenly, she lunged forward, grabbing the mug of coffee in my hand before it slipped through my fingers.

Oh, this was bad.

So very bad.

The moment I walked into the firehouse, I was reminded that as of right now, I had a scarlet letter on my chest. Of course, I was single, Alexsey was single. We were adults. Technically, we could see each other, do anything together, and it was nobody’s business but ours.

Yet their male eyes had something else to say.

Locker doors were slammed, a couple of the men turning away in obvious disrespect. What pissed me off even more than their disloyal behavior was that not one of them asked if I’d been hurt.

Not Jeff or Camden. Not even Mark.

That also hurt. I didn’t deserve to be treated badly because I’d been a victim.

I headed toward my locker, spinning the dial while feeling the heat of their stares. Yes, the reporter had gone on to mention that the family was considered Bratva, but had added that the members of the regime were seen as upstanding citizens.

What had been just as damning as the fact I’d been on a date with him was that the reporter had mentioned two assailants had died on scene. No, there’d been no mention of how they’d died, but it didn’t take a rocket scientist to put two and two together.

When they started whispering amongst themselves, I’d had enough. Maybe it was the extra coffee or lack of sleep. Perhaps my anger was just below the surface since I’d almost been killed the night before, but I lost it.

“Alright. That’s enough. I’m still your captain. If you have something to say to me then you fucking say it.”

As expected, the boys were quiet, but a couple dared to snicker. They had no idea that poking the bear wasn’t in their best interest.

I usually wouldn’t make an example of one of my men, but since my privacy had been stripped from me, I felt like ripping a new one.

I chose Steve, who was by far the biggest asshole in the group. When I shoved him against the set of lockers, everyone was surprised.

“Whoa,” Jeff said.

“Don’t whoa me.” I glared at Steve. “Do you have something to say, Steve?” The tension in the firehouse could be cut with a knife. “Do you?”

He snorted, his eyes full of venom. He’d been gunning for me since I’d been promoted to captain, a promotion he believed he deserved.

“I want you all to hear this and we’re never going to talk about it again. I am entitled to a life. Now, I have no clue what the hell went down last night, nor did I realize we were being photographed, but I am allowed to enjoy myself. What I do is none of your business. Period.”

I could swear to God my brash statement echoed in the space.

When he fisted his hands, acting like he was going to throw a punch, I did nothing more than look down at one of them. “Do it, Steve. Go right ahead and do it. Then I’ll be able to finally punch your ticket out of here.”

His entire body was tense. So was everyone else. Including me. But I refused to back down. My glare was a hell of a lot harsher than his.