Page 8

Alexei

A lexei nursed his third rum and coke in half as many hours, trying his best to let the alcohol shake the funk that had settled in over him.

His obsession wasn’t subsiding. Not at all.

If anything, it was deepening. Worsening.

He couldn’t seem to stay away from that fucking coffee shop.

What was more, he’d walked through that goddamn jangling door that morning and Jay hadn’t been at the counter, and Alexei had needed to fight the most inappropriate, gut-wrenching disappointment at that fact.

And obviously Jay wouldn’t be working every single day, but he’d seemed up to that point to basically live at the damn place, and Alexei’s gut—his heart—hadn’t been prepared for his absence.

It had sent Alexei into a sort of…unfortunate spiral.

What the fuck was he doing here? Mooning over a little alien barista who waved at every living thing and had zero social awareness, especially when it came to flirting.

Who was either incredibly naive or extremely diabolical with the way he had Alexei strung along by his dick without them having even so much as touched a single time.

What was Alexei hoping to accomplish even? Slow seduction via increasingly complicated coffee orders?

And then there was Jay’s friend. His friend from the other day .

Never before had Alexei been so intimidated by such a pretty face.

Not by the prettiness itself. There was just a certain…

menace underneath that odd grin. Alexei had spent enough time around the unhinged to recognize it. He could feel it.

And what else could he feel? Fucking jealousy, that was what.

Burning in his chest. Because the way Jay had greeted the guy with such a warm, beaming smile?

And okay, yes, Jay greeted everyone with a warm, beaming smile.

But there had been familiarity there; that was for sure.

And the guy—Soren—had lingered at the counter.

He’d lingered. And he’d made Jay blush, those pale cheeks adorably pink.

What had he been saying to make Jay blush? What did Alexei have to do to have the same effect?

Alexei startled as the bartender appeared in front of him, shaking Alexei’s now drained glass, rattling the remaining ice. “Another?”

Alexie grunted his assent. “Please.”

It was a bad idea. He’d skipped dinner that night, and the drinks he’d consumed already had gone straight to his head.

But what did it matter anyway? He was nothing more than a ghost in this town.

He had no future, no connections, no purpose other than stalking the poor little barista who’d caught his eye.

What did it matter if Alexei got blind drunk tonight?

If he got blind drunk every single night? Who the fuck would care?

“No one,” he muttered, glaring at the soggy coaster left in front of him. “Not a one.”

“What was that?” The woman on the barstool next to him leaned in, her voice all husky.

Alexei kept his eye on his coaster, fighting the urge to scowl at his neighbor.

She’d chosen the seat next to him, despite a plethora of open stools at the counter, and she was sitting much too close, her breast brushing his arm every now and again, and it was starting to annoy the hell out of him.

He was trying to brood , and her perfume smelled like flowers, and it was washing away the peppermint scent that somehow still lingered in his nostrils, a full day away from any contact with Jay.

“Nothing,” he grumbled. ”Wasn’t talking to you. ”

He gave a nod of appreciation as the bartender placed a new drink in front of him, ignoring the annoyed harrumph from his neighbor.

This was part of why he’d never been one for bars, or at least not those outside his family’s influence.

With his size and his looks, he tended to get two reactions when he hit the town: women who wanted to fuck him and men who wanted to fight him.

The first he had no interest in, and the second would only be appealing if it was the kind of tussle that led to the bedroom. And it never was, was it?

He hadn’t ever gotten to explore the gay scene as much as he’d like; not when his father had been such an unrepentant, bigoted asshole.

And not when, even after his father’s death, Alexei’s nights had so often been spent monitoring their family’s more popular assets: the clubs and the underground gambling dens.

Ivan liked having Alexei out and about in those places, liked flaunting Alexei’s size and admittedly intimidating presence.

In truth, it had always irked Ivan that he couldn’t use Alexei’s size to his own advantage even more.

How he would have loved to have Alexei as his personal bodyguard, his loyal fucking dog.

But they both knew Alexei would never sacrifice his life for his brother’s, would never willingly take a bullet or any other bit of violence meant for him.

How long had Ivan wanted Alexei out of the picture? Since they’d both been in diapers? Since their mother had left them behind?

Probably for as long as Alexei had wanted to be out himself. Since the first time their father had taken them to see some broken-bone retribution, deciding that Ivan being old enough to be inaugurated into the family business meant Alexei had to suck it up and face it too.

Ten years old, practically a man, right, Alyosha?

And now he was out. He was hidden, he was hundreds of miles away, and he wasn’t sure if he was any better off.

He might not be actively committing any crimes, but was he really any more of a good person than he’d been before?

The world was just as dull and gray as it had ever been, just without the bright splashes of blood to color it in violence.

Instead, he had his bright splash of Jay.

Except today he didn’t.

Alexei cut himself off after draining the fourth drink faster than he should have.

Any more than that and he’d be reminiscing past the point where it was healthy or sane.

He summoned the bartender with a raised finger, paid his bill, and stumbled out of the bar, maybe not as steady on his feet as he should have been, but that was the natural consequence of deciding to drink his dinner.

And yes, maybe the bar he’d chosen had been the one conveniently closest to a certain coffee shop.

The one he was now walking past at a much slower pace than necessary, even though Jay would have left hours ago, had he even been there that day.

Alexei couldn’t resist the compulsion to stay close, and he didn’t know why.

Except for the alluring thought that maybe he’d get to smell peppermint again.

Actually…

Alexei didn’t smell anything, but there was a strange sound coming from the alley next to the café. A whimper, maybe?

He knew better than to check, to stick his nose where it didn’t belong. But his brain was a little mushy from booze, and in general he’d been living for weeks in a state of mind light-years away from any sort of common sense, so what the hell.

He strode into the alleyway, straightening his posture and righting his stumbling steps, a lifetime spent masking any weakness aiding him in hiding his semidrunken state.

He realized about ten seconds too late that he was interrupting an apparently intimate moment between two shadowed people, all pressed up against each other and probably doing things they had no need of Alexei as witness of. Because what the fuck else had Alexei been expecting?

“Fuck. Sorry, I’ll—” Alexei’s mouth snapped shut, his brain freezing completely, the apology left hanging half-finished in the night air.

Because his entrance had the automatic light above the back door of Death by Coffee turning on, and it was illuminating exactly who those two figures were.

The tall, gangly guy pressed back against the wall, looking flushed and harried, was clearly the manager, Colin, and in his arms, half a foot shorter, with a head of thick dark hair…

Alexei’s first coherent thought after his brain came stuttering back online was that it was a shame the manager had to die.

Really, he seemed like an okay kind of guy, beyond his daily glaring at Alexei in the café. But he had his hands on Jay’s shoulders, and even with the shadows in the alley, it was clear Jay was…kissing his neck?

Because that little figure was definitely Jay. Even from behind, Alexei couldn’t mistake him for anyone else. And not just because of that hideous fucking sweater.

And why wasn’t Jay wearing a fucking coat ? It was freezing outside.

“What the fuck!” Colin’s hazy gaze focused, and he glared at Alexei with more intensity than usual, clutching at Jay’s shoulders as if to shake him off.

Colin’s yell had Jay turning around, and Alexei braced himself for those big, beautiful gray eyes—for the aborted lust he might find in them—but when Jay turned fully, he only looked…odd. Different.

Very, oddly different.

Because Jay’s eyes didn’t look gray at all. They were completely black, no whites showing. And his cute little lips were covered in—

Was that blood ?

“What sort of kinky fucking…” Alexei trailed off, staring fixedly at his obsession, his fucking barista crush.

Because there was something strange about Jay’s teeth too. Like he had on a pair of those Halloween-store vampire fangs or something.

Jay’s eyes—his weirdly black fucking eyes—widened as he took Alexei in. “Oh no,” he breathed, licking…whatever that was…off his lips, looking positively mournful as he stared at Alexei, Colin glaring over his head. “Well…this is very bad.”