Page 6 of Brutal Unionn

Another man moves behind me. I hear the shift of his weight, the scrape of his shoe against the wooden floor, and I twist just in time to catch his fist before it collides with my jaw. His eyes widen in surprise.

“You know I always thought it would be cool to be known as the devil,” I say, before driving my knee into his stomach. “What do you think Roki?”

“I think your father already beat you to it.”

I sigh dramatically. “You’re right. He takes the fun out of everything.”

He doubles over, and I use his own momentum against him,grabbing his collar and flipping him over my shoulder. He lands hard on his skull, effectively cracking it open.

“Damn it, Sho!” Roki barks, already pinching the bridge of his nose. “You trying to tear my bar apart?”

“Me? Never,” I say innocently, dodging another incoming punch and countering with a sharp jab to the guy’s throat. He staggers, gasping. “They started it.”

“You threw the first punch!”

I swipe a beer bottle off the bar and shrug. “Details, details, besides if you want to be accurate it was a glass.”

The last guy standing watches me warily, his hands raised in a loose defensive stance. Smarter than the rest. He knows I just took down three of his buddies with barely a scratch, and he’s thinking about whether it’s worth it.

I tilt my head. “What? You waiting for a written invitation?”

The man smirks. “Nah. Just figured I'd deliver a message before I have to beat your ass.”

That piques my interest. “Oh? Do tell.”

He licks his split lip, then straightens up. "The Russian queen is looking for you."

I suck my teeth, flipping the beer bottle between my fingers before setting it down. “That so?”

“And she’s not happy,” he adds with a knowing grin.

I shrug. “When is she ever happy?”Oh I know: when she is torturing, teasing, or on the verge of fucking me.

The guy chuckles like he knows something I don’t, which is impossible because I know exactly what kind of mood Nadia’sin. She’s either pissed off or turned on—sometimes both at the same time, which sucks for me because that's when I think she looks her sexiest.

“Alright, you delivered your message. Now what? You're gonna try and make me go back like a good little errand boy?”

His smirk widens. “Something like that.”

I don’t miss the way his muscles tense, the shift in his stance as he prepares to lunge. He’s waiting for me to make the first move. Smart, but not smart enough.

I grab my beer bottle and whip it at his head. “Whoops, my bad.”

It smashes against his temple, shattering into glass and beer foam, and he stumbles back with a curse. I don’t wait for him to recover. I’m already closing the distance, ramming my fist into his ribs hard enough to make him wheeze.

He swings wildly, but I duck, slipping behind him and driving my elbow into his back. He stumbles forward, nearly face-planting onto the bar floor, but he recovers fast. Gotta give him credit for that.

“Come on, don’t be like the other guys. Something tells me you’re special.” I taunt, bouncing on my feet.

He snarls and lunges, but I sidestep him, slamming my knee into his gut. He doubles over, coughing, and I grab him by the back of his head, bringing his face down onto my waiting knee. Blood splatters across the floor as his nose crunches under the impact.

He drops to his knees, panting hard, but I’m not done yet. Grabbing his wrist, I yank it back at an unnatural angle. Thepop of his shoulder dislocating is music to my ears, followed by his sharp, agonized scream.

“Fucking hell! Stop! Fucking stop!”

I grin, patting his cheek mockingly, while keeping his arm twisted.. “There’s a good boy.”

He glares up at me, breathing hard through the pain, and I lean in, my voice dropping into a low purr. “Now, when you see Nadia, tell her this—if you want me, you need to get me yourself, princess.”