Page 5

But for the most part, as far as Alexei could tell, everyone seemed able to move on with their lives after an interaction with him.

No one else stared, salivated, or masturbated furiously in the shower to thoughts of pink lips as Alexei had every night for the past week (or at least, Alexei had to assume they didn’t do the last part; he wasn’t exactly following anyone home to check).

The manager though. He paid Jay more attention than Alexei would have liked. He also paid Alexei more attention than Alexei would have liked, scowling at him from across the café. Not exactly prime customer service.

But the scowls were worth it for Alexei’s little interactions with his strange new obsession. He could get quite a few of them, if he timed it right, coming in at a slow hour. He even found himself lengthening his orders, just to hear that sweet voice repeat them back to him.

And yes, he did realize he was acting psychotic.

Possibly this was some kind of mental break after a lifetime of stress, on top of the heightened anxiety of his new life on the run.

That would explain the absurdity of making himself an honest-to-God regular somewhere in his new town rather than lying low as he should have been doing.

But he told himself—in complete opposition to the paranoid reasoning he’d been living with for so long—that it was okay to let himself be seen and known in Hyde Park.

That his brother was satisfied with having run Alexei off.

Why track Alexei down when he finally had what he’d always wanted?

Alexei out of the fucking picture. Permanently.

He also told himself, when he was feeling particularly delusional, that Jay paid him special attention.

And to be fair, the little barista did often wander over when the café was slow, asking Alexei if he wanted anything else, offering up more absurd compliments.

Once he’d asked Alexei if he’d just been baking.

When Alexei had told him no, Jay had cocked his head.

“But you always smell so sweet. Like one of our vanilla cupcakes. Are you sure you haven’t been baking? ”

Alexei had never heard such a blatant fucking pickup line in his life.

Or so one would think. But that was the thing. The incredible, mind-melting frustration of it all. It wasn’t a pickup line. Jay had said it and then just…skipped away, unbothered and completely unembarrassed by his words.

And, to be fair, Alexei had also once overheard Jay compliment his fucking cash register for opening “so smoothly and quietly.” He also greeted every canine guest in the café like visiting royalty, waving and beaming and handing out dog treats like Oprah giving away a free car.

So at least Alexei factored into Jay’s thinking somewhere on par with an inanimate object or someone else’s pet, right?

He made himself leave each day after two hours, deciding arbitrarily that anything longer than that would be truly pathetic.

Walking home after his latest visit, feeling absurdly wrung out after what amounted to several hours sitting still in a comfortable chair, Alexei dialed the only number he knew by heart.

“If this is who I think it is, you shouldn’t be calling me.”

Just the sound of his younger brother’s voice put Alexei at ease for the first time in six weeks. “Sascha.”

Sascha’s answering sigh was dramatic as hell. “Alexei. You really set off a shitstorm this time.”

“I know. You’re safe though?” Alexei already knew the answer. Their older brother would never hurt Sascha. The baby of the family. The only one of their trio not raised to be heartless, ruthless, and cruel.

Sascha scoffed at the question. “Of course I’m safe. You can’t come back though. You know that, right? Ivan seems ready to shoot on sight.”

More like Ivan had already hired goons to shoot on sight, and he’d be happy to have the deed done whether he was there to witness it or not, but Alexei didn’t feel like splitting hairs. “I cost him a lot of money.”

“You cost him his pride. That’s even worse.”

Alexei grunted in acknowledgment of that. Pride would always be the bigger issue with Ivan. It had to be known he was still top dog, in complete and total charge of his kingdom. Alexei purposefully fucking up a major deal, losing millions in a single act, definitely fucked with that image.

He almost had to suppress a smile at the thought, feeling somehow that Sascha would sense it on the other end of the line.

“You’ve found somewhere?” Sascha asked.

“I have.”

“Don’t tell me any details.”

“I won’t.” And Alexei wouldn’t. He loved his younger brother dearly, but Sascha had grown up spoiled, babied by both his brothers and their father. He was often careless, not out of ill intent but pure thoughtlessness.

Alexei loved him, yes, but he didn’t trust him. Not with his life. With other things though…

Alexei cleared his throat. “There’s a barista here, at this café I go to. He’s so…strange. I think he might be an alien.”

There was a moment of silence as Sascha clearly struggled to register the direction of Alexei’s thoughts, and then he was barking out a sharp laugh.

“You’ve lived in New York thirty-five years and never met someone you cared about for more than one night.

Now you’ve been on the run six weeks and you’ve got yourself a crush ? ”

“It’s not a crush. He’s way too young for me.”

“It sounds like a crush.”

With anyone else, Alexei would have hung up the phone by now. He didn’t take kindly to teasing. But Sascha was allowed what others weren’t, and the little fucker knew it. “What would you do if you had a crush? Not that this is a crush,” Alexei hurried to clarify.

“Oh my God, Alexei. Just ask him out. You’re a good-looking guy. I’ve never seen you strike out when you’re interested.”

True. Incredibly true. Although, back in New York, Alexei had been operating under very different conditions.

He’d never known how many of those men had been attracted to his looks—which weren’t bad, he was aware enough to know—or to his perceived money and power.

How many lovers had come to him because they knew his family ran the club they’d found themselves in?

How many were simply attracted to the potential brush with danger?

Flirting with a rumored member of the mob?

But Jay didn’t seem too impressed with money or prestige, as far as Alexei could tell. He’d seen, just the other day, a suited customer trying to show off his Rolex, and Jay had countered with his own glow-in-the-dark waterproof number, of which he was apparently incredibly proud.

So what did get the little barista going?

Alexei hung up after a few more minutes of catch-up with Sascha, feeling foolish for having outed his little obsession, the unfamiliar emotion causing him to scowl at anyone who crossed his path on the way home.

Alexei didn’t know what he wanted. He felt like a dog who wouldn’t give up his bone, even as he choked on it.

He knew he didn’t have space in his life for another human being, especially one as sugar sweet as the one he was currently coveting. He imagined for a moment: sweet, doll-like Jay, faced with one of his brother’s men. Alexei’s blood ran cold at the thought. Jay wouldn’t stand a fucking chance.

No, Alexei should stay far away from him. Find a new place to haunt.

It was just that…after a lifetime of numbness, of feeling cold and distant and apathetic to everything around him, there was now this little bright spot of color. And it didn’t make sense, and it probably—definitely—made Alexei a creep, but there it was. A blossoming obsession.

And that night, straining cock in hand, the shower spray beating on his back, Jay’s pretty face projecting onto his closed eyelids, Alexei had to admit it. He wasn’t going to leave the guy alone.

A good man would.

But Alexei had never been a good man, had he?