Page 21 of Nikola

No sooner had the sight scorched my eyeballs than another couple to their left seemed to take their cue. A woman was bent over a piano while her partner rammed into her, fucking her in front of everyone.

I stared at it all, appalled and a bit… turned on?

My body tightened and hummed with desire as the wild, erotic scenes unfolded in front of my eyes.

I downed one drink, then the other, and placed them at the first table I spotted just as a man walked by. He smiled, and distractingly, I smiled back. In the next heartbeat, he cupped my cheek and pressed a kiss on my mouth, catching me by surprise.

I pushed him away, scrunched my nose, and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. Before I had a chance to tell him off, he was knocked off his feet in a flurry of movements.

A strong set of inked fingers wrapped around my forearm and I attempted to slip away, but when I looked up, I came face-to-face with none other than Nikola.

“What are you doing here?” I signed, suddenly feeling like I was on fire, the guy who just kissed me completely forgotten.

My heart thundered against my rib cage as he stared at me with a furious expression that I couldn’t grasp. Why was he so upset? He’d made it abundantly clear he wanted nothing to do with me.

“Better question is, what the fuck are you doing here?”

His eyes were blazing as I stared back. Gosh, all this sex going on around me with Nikola so close was a recipe for disaster. A battle raged within me, the temptation to move closer growing stronger with every beat, driven by the infectious rhythm and the sway of a dozen gyrating bodies surrounding us.

Rather than doing that, I looked up at him defiantly.

“I’m here with a date, about to get laid,” I lied, my fingers shaking as I signed. I raised my chin, meeting him square in the eye. “So please get lost.”

He signed and said the next words with a locked jaw. “Is your date the guy who just kissed you? Because it didn’t look like you enjoyed that very much.”

I pursed my lips. “No, that’s… that’s not him.”

He leaned against the wall casually, watching me. “Well, let’s wait for him, shall we? You can watch me break every bone in his body.” He flashed me a shark-like grin. “And then we’ll leave.”

I couldn’t do anything but stare at him, shocked, as he waved over a waiter and picked up two glasses. Suddenly parched, I gulped them down one at a time, then slammed them on the empty tray.

“Do they know you’re underage,zayka?”

I narrowed my eyes on him, annoyed at the reminder. “Go away,mudak.”

Suddenly I wished I knew more insulting Russian words than just mudak.Idiot.How was I supposed to be fierce and badass if I couldn’t even throw appropriate insults at him?

“I’m not going anywhere without you.” The fire in his gaze could have easily set me on fire. He downed his drink in one go, then said pensively, “Maybe you and I can join them on the floor?”

It was hard to miss that he was furious as he uttered those words, signing them at the same time. His fingers were stiff and his teeth clenched, I feared he’d crack his knuckles and his jaw.

Nonetheless, just the possibility of Nikola’s hands on me had my heart racing so fast I felt like I’d just run a marathon. “Really?”

A dark expression passed his face. “Sure, but then I’ll be busy killing everyone for the rest of the night.”

This man was giving me whiplash. “And yet you can’t answer a simple text.”

I was close enough to see the pale blue specks in his eyes, his cologne clogging my senses. It was only once I got to collegeand met new people—men—that I realized his was the only scent that overpowered me, made me feel dizzy, like the atmosphere in every room we shared had been drained of oxygen.

I stood up, ignoring the way his body vibrated with power, and leaned my soft body against his muscular one. I watched the throbbing pulse at the base of his throat. My tongue swept across my bottom lip, yearning to lick it.

“Decide whether you want me or not, Nikola, before it’s too late.”

His gaze zeroed in on me. “That almost sounds like an ultimatum.”

I shrugged.

“Take it as you will.But do you know what I think?” My fingers trembled as I signed.