Chapter 5

"I'll explain everything, " he says, wearing that look he thinks makes him look smooth but actually looks constipated.

"Just listen to us, Claire, please," Jenna's voice is thick with emotion, her wide eyes practically flooding. She never stops playing the sympathy card, does she?

I swallow hard, my throat tight.

"I have nothing to say. And you don't need to explain anything." I start to turn, and run smack into a chest.

Aleksei.

The impact stuns me. His scent is the first thing I register, clean, musky, masculine. Like a cold citrus rinse after sweat and heat. I almost bury my face in him out of instinct before flushing and stumbling back.

"Who the–" Austin lunges forward, grabs my arm, tugging like he still owns the right to protect me. "Watch it," he growls, posturing between me and Aleksei.

The sight is so absurd I nearly choke on a laugh. Austin squaring off with Aleksei is like a mouse picking a fight with a tiger.

"Now it's a little mouse," Aleksei says, amused.

I crack up, like something in me just snapped and poured out as wild laughter. How can he say exactly what I'm thinking?

Freya and Jenna gape at me like I've lost my mind.

I wipe the tears from my eyes. "Sorry. That wasn't funny."

"Are you alright?" Austin is suddenly at my side, hands on me like it's still yesterday, like his fake concern still means something. "Did this bastard do something to you?"

I open my mouth, ready to tell him to shove his concern up Jenna's ass, but Aleksei moves.

One hand wraps around Austin's jaw, and in a single motion, he lifts him off the damn ground.

I freeze, wide-eyed, watching in stunned awe. Jenna and Freya scream like they're in a horror film.

Aleksei snarls something in Russian, harsh and full of unspoken danger. I don't understand the words, but I feel them.

My arms break out in goosebumps. My blood stills.

"No one talks to me like that, little rat," he says, or something like that, the tone unmistakable, even if the words are foreign. "Unless they want their skull rearranged."

Austin's eyes are huge. He listens. He understands. When Aleksei finally drops him, he crumples like a wet rag, landing flat on his ass. His mouth opens, but no sound comes.

Jenna runs to him. Apparently, her sprain healed miraculously. "Claire!" she gasps. "Who is this man? Do you even know him?"

I want to say no. I want to tell them I barely met him. That he terrifies me. That I'm not entirely sure he's a good man. But the look on their faces, the fear, it feeds me.

It makes me stand taller. Stronger.

"Yes, I know him," I say, and my chest lifts with pride. "And he's spending the night with me. So I suggest you find another room tonight, Austin."

"What?" He squeaks, stunned. I almost believe Aleksei squeezed his vocal cords instead of his jaw.

"You can't do that. We still have to talk, "

He shoves Jenna's hands off him, scrambling to his feet like some desperate office worker begging to keep his job.

"It's been nine years, Claire. You can't just throw it all away like this."

I nearly shout. "I didn't throw it away. You did." The words slam out of me, fierce and hot, like lava finally finding air.

"If you can move on and sleep with my best friend after nine years, then guess what? So can I. And I'm done spending even one more second crying over how you wasted my life." I breathe hard. "Because you, Austin, you are not worth it."

I turn to Aleksei, grab his arm with both hands, and drag him along. He follows, though it feels like I'm pulling a boulder instead of a man. We step into the elevator, and I close the door in Freya's face.

"Stupid, fucking bitch bastard," I curse, throwing every swear word I know.

"Now where are you taking me?"

I stop mid-rant, suddenly aware of the six-foot- man I've hauled along. The terrifyingly hot man, heavy on the terrifying. Under the elevator lights, I see that Aleksei's eyes aren't black after all, they're deep mocha brown, so dark they could pass for black. The tattoos don't stop at his knuckles either; they snake up his arms, revealed by his rolled sleeves.

"Sorry," I mutter, sounding like I've never cursed in my life. Like I am the meek little bunny he calls me. "That was... my former friends."

"I didn't ask about your friends," Aleksei says,  calm, lazy, like none of this interests him. "I asked where you're going. And why you're dragging me with you."

"I know." I press a hand to my forehead, wondering if I've caught something, maybe a mild case of insanity. Why did I drag Aleksei along? What did I even say to Austin and the others? That I was going to spend the night with him in my room? It had made complete sense at the time. Now it feels like a fever dream.

"I'm sorry," I say. "I'll just let you go once we get to the floor. You don't have to follow me."

"Then how will you give me the anything you promised?"

My shoulders tense. I look up at him, and he's watching me. The twitch of his lips isn't just amusement. There's something else in his eyes.

"I... I'm not that kind of girl," I stammer.

"What kind of girl?"

"I don't do one-night stands." My face burns. And for a second, a terrifying, thrilling second, I wonder if I'd even say no if he wanted me. If he touched me. God, this is probably the hottest man I've ever seen in real life, and I'm me. Next to him, I look like unfinished mold. He looks like a god from some prestige series. I'd be cast as a... seaweed. Would I really say no?

Aleksei turns away, like he just read every thought and finds them unappetizing. "Then don't say you'll do anything to a man you don't know. That's why you're a little bunny. Hopping around, wanting to get eaten."

God. Why does that sound so hot? I have to bite my lip to keep from making a sound. He just said he wants to eat me and I think I want him to. Am I sick? How much did I drink tonight?

None. Not a drop. This is all me. Wild and vivid and very much sober.

I clear my throat, adjust my neckline for the hundredth time, and say, "I'm sorry if I led you on. I just wanted to, uh... get home." He makes my brain misfire.

"It was amusing," he says. "I got to see a cute video out of it."

"Forget about that video," I snap.

"It's burned into my brain." He glances at me, definitely amused now. "I'll never forget."

The elevator doors open to my burning face, and I step out, eager to be rid of the horrifying memory, only to see Jenna and Austin marching toward us.

He's going to the room. My room. The one I paid for. Before I can stop myself, I grab Aleksei, who was probably ready to never see me again, and drag him down the hall. I whip out my card just as Austin sees us.

"Claire! What are you doing? Are you seriously going in there with a complete stranger?" he yells, but I'm not listening. The lock beeps. I push the door open and tug Aleksei inside.

Then I stick my face through the crack and say, "Go sleep with Jenna. You two are already fucking anyway."

He starts to sputter, but I slam the door in his face.