Second Best (Volkov Bratva Book 1) Read online

  “Slavik,” she said, moaning louder. Her hand landed on my chest, right above my heart.

  Staring into her eyes, I was struck by every single part of her.

  The driver came to a stop, and I exited the car. Opening the door, I held her hand, and together, we walked to the elevator.

  I wasn’t touching her enough. I tugged her close, wrapping an arm around her waist, keeping her tight to me as was physically possible. Kissing the top of her head, I watched the elevator descend rather than go up.

  “Slavik, we’re not going to our room.”

  “I know.”

  “What’s happening?”

  “Trust me.”

  She rested against my side, and in the reflection of the doors, I saw her snuggle up against me. No smile teased her lips. She looked sad. I hated it and was about to wipe it from her face.

  The doors opened and I stepped out.

  As per my instructions to my men, the gym was bare. No one was around.

  “Slavik?”

  I moved her past the running machines, the weights, toward the far part of the room. A punching bag hung, looking a little worse for wear, but durable.

  Mitts waited, and I picked them up, securing them to my wife’s hands.

  “I’m not going to fight you. I’d lose.”

  “This is not about you fighting me,” I said. “You think I don’t know a thing or two about pain? About rejection? About not measuring up?”

  “Slavik—”

  “I do.” I’d never spoken these feelings to another living soul. “I use it to help make me a better leader. I don’t need people to like me or to care about me. They have to respect me. There is no shame in being who you are. They don’t like you, that’s on them, because, Aurora, when I look at you, I see no fault, no flaw. I see a woman who is worthy of my attention, and everyone else around here can go get fucked before I let them treat you like that. The Bethanys of this world, they’re everywhere. I can find a hundred of them right here in this building, but I can only find one Aurora. You don’t need to compare yourself to them. There’s nothing wrong with you. You’re one of a kind, and that makes you fucking special.”

  I cupped her face, tilting her head back to kiss her. “Now, all of that pain, the anger. Feed it. Channel it. Throw it at this, and let it leave you, knowing you’re a better person than most. You don’t need all of that other crap.”

  I slammed my fist against the bag, and it swung. “Just unleash it.”

  I moved to stand behind the bag, holding it into place.

  “This feels silly.”

  “It’s not. You’re afraid. Don’t be. I’m here. I’ve got you. I’m the only one that can see.”

  She licked her lips and held her hands up.

  The first jab at the bag was pitiful. There was no real fight to her, and I got it. She’d never given in.

  All these years, she had no choice but to swallow the bitter pill and look the other way. To hide it deep, deep down. She couldn’t do that. If she did, it was only going to make her feel worse.

  “There is no shame in this, Aurora. Trust me to help you through this. Remember, I wasn’t surrounded by family. I had to earn my place here. I was kicked out. Ignored. Rejected. I worked the streets for every single crumb. This is my life now. I will never allow another person to treat me like trash. I will crush them. You’re worth everything, Aurora. One day, we’re going to have children. If we have two girls, or three, would you let one or two feel like they didn’t matter because of the most beautiful?”

  “No!” She slammed her fist against the punching bag.

  It was harder than before. This time, she didn’t need any more encouragement from me. With each hit, I watched the anger come to the surface, the sheer agony of everything she’d been through.

  All of it manifested as she took it out on the punching bag. Her hits got harder. The pain clearly starting to morph into something else as she finally let loose. This time, rather than use her fist, she lifted her leg and kicked the bag hard. The dress was so loose that it didn’t constrict her movement.

  Perspiration dotted her brow, and after she finished, she came to me, wrapping her arms around my neck, holding me close. “Thank you.”

  “You don’t need to thank me. This was all on you.”

  I ran my hands down her back, my dick hardening as her soft body brushed against mine.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Aurora

  I floated.

  Staring up at the ceiling, the water carried me as if I was weightless. With my hands resting on my stomach, my mind started to wander.

  After attacking the punching bag, Slavik had taken me to our room and made love to me for the remainder of the night. It had been glorious. I smiled at the memory alone. His hands all over my body. His lips on mine. His dick filling me.

  Each time even better than the last. I hadn’t wanted him to stop.

  When the morning came, we had no choice but to leave the hotel room and head back to his city.

  We’d been back a week. My birthday was next week, and he’d given no mention of even knowing. Did he know?

  My birthday had never been a big deal back home with my family. There were usually some presents and a few cards. Never a party. No one wanted to celebrate my birthday.

  Taking a deep breath, I spread my arms out, allowing the feeling to completely consume me.

  This morning, I’d woken up and vomited. Slavik had been there to rub my back. He’d promised to spend the day with me, but a call had him leaving. Something big was going down at work, and I knew it caused him great concern, but he refused to talk about it. I was there for him regardless. Whatever it was, he could handle it.

  Left alone with nothing to do, with my thoughts, my attention had caught on the calendar. As my sickness started to abate, realization dawned. The morning sickness, the sensitivity to smells. It was all related.

  Pregnant.

  I had to be. It was the only logical explanation.

  Only, I didn’t know how to go about getting a pregnancy test without alerting my guard or my husband.

  I needed to know the answer.

  Would Slavik be happy? Would he stop being attentive? Was this new closeness with him a ploy to get into my pants more often?

  My mind was ruining everything in my head, driving me crazy with not knowing. I couldn’t stand the thought of Slavik only using me for sex. I knew he had a duty to get me pregnant, but for now, I did feel selfish in only wanting to enjoy the two of us together.

  A baby though.

  My hands returned to my stomach. I’d be able to have a child to love and to cherish it in every single way my parents had failed me. I’d never fail my child. If it was a boy, would Slavik allow me to … be there? Would he take our son away from me? My daughter?

  Tears filled my eyes, and I gritted my teeth.

  I needed to clarify our position, or at the very least, my position in our child’s future. This shouldn’t be something I found out now. There was no way I wasn’t pregnant. The sickness had to be explained that way.

  Releasing my arms, I stared up at the ceiling. I couldn’t spend all day floating my troubles away.

  Arms wrapped around me, dragging me down into the water. I screamed, water filling my mouth.

  I flailed against the arms, but they let me go the moment I started to struggle. Breaking free of the water, I turned to find Slavik, a smile on his face.

  Coughing out the water, I slapped him on the chest. “Don’t do that again.”

  “I couldn’t help it. You didn’t even hear me come in, did you?”

  “No.”

  I pushed my hair back, glancing around to find the guard who’d recently been assigned to me gone.

  “Any news on Gus?” I asked.

  “He’s recovering still.” Due to the extent of his wounds, a short stint in rehab had been needed. I’d been unaware he’d been shot in the hip, and the damage alone meant he was having to learn to walk a
gain. The surgery had gone well in repairing him. Slavik usually gave me updates.

  “Good. That’s good. Do you think we should send him a gift basket?” I hated that someone was hurt because of me.

  “I’ve taken care of it. A man like Gus doesn’t want a gift basket.”

  “What did you get him?”

  Slavik’s brow rose. “Do you really need me to say it?”

  “No.” Women.

  Slavik smiled, and it wasn’t an I’m-about-to-murder-you smile. This was an actual, genuine smile. Not scary. He wrapped his arms around me, and I didn’t fight him as he pulled me close. “Do you want to tell me why you’re all alone in the pool?”

  “You’d be pissed if I took my new guy.”

  “True.” He ran his hands down my back to my waist. I didn’t notice a difference in my stomach. He pulled me close, and I felt the hard ridge of his cock. “Do you have any idea how much I’ve thought about you today?”

  He went to the strap of my one-piece bathing suit. My mouth went dry as he lowered it. I didn’t put up a fight as he pushed it past my breasts, going down my body until it was at my waist. He guided it past my hips. Once in the water, it fell slowly to the pool bottom, and I stepped out of it. Slavik dipped beneath, picking it up, and threw it across the pool for it to land on the edge. “You can put that back on later.”

  Glancing in the water, I saw he was already naked.

  “How did you get in?”

  “I’m trained to go undetected.” He lifted me up in the water. “Put me inside you.”

  Even as my face heated, I reached between us, holding his cock. I placed it at my entrance like he’d shown me to do recently. He sank me onto his cock, and we both groaned. The sounds echoed around the room.

  With each inch, I gripped his shoulders, holding on as he took me.

  “Look at me,” he said with a growl.

  Opening my eyes, I gave him my full attention with a moan.

  “Fuck, yes. I love the way your cunt feels around my dick. I can’t get enough of you, Aurora. I’m tempted to start taking you back to work with me so I can have you whenever I damn well choose.”

  I wrapped my legs around his waist as he pounded inside me.

  Pleasure rushed through me, and I kissed him, not wanting this to end.

  All my troubles faded as I focused on my husband. The impossible man I was falling for. No doubt about it in my mind. I was loving this man in ways I didn’t think possible. He wasn’t nice, nor was he easy. He infuriated me, and at times I knew I hated him, but I couldn’t get enough of him.

  Up and down, he guided me over his length.

  “I want to feel you come all over my cock.” He moved us through the waves until my back pressed up against the side of the pool. “Touch your pussy. Let me feel you come all over my dick.”

  This always made me feel a little embarrassed. I slid my hand between us, touching my clit. I stroked the bud and gasped.

  Slavik’s moan was deep, guttural, turning me on as his cock seemed to pulse and get bigger within me.

  “That’s it, baby, fuck, yeah, finger your pussy. Let me feel you come. You like my cock, don’t you?”

  “Yes,” I said, moaning.

  “That’s right.”

  As I played with my pussy, he started to shallowly stroke within my body. Each thrust driving my arousal higher.

  I fingered my clit, staring into his eyes. Held by his gaze, not wanting to move as I worked my body, bringing myself closer and closer to that glorious peak. When I came, Slavik held my hips, slamming deep inside me. It was like my pussy had something to hold on to and he fed it.

  Driving in deep, fucking me, taking me.

  I couldn’t get enough. I didn’t want him to stop. The pleasure was out of this world.

  The moment I stopped, Slavik turned into an animal, fucking me with all his might, driving in deep, consuming me, taking me. Each hard thrust of his cock turned me on. I had no choice but to hold on as he took me.

  I wanted this more than anything.

  He slammed inside me. His grip was so tight it would leave bruises. I felt his hardness kick as he filled me with more of his cum.

  This was why I knew I had to be pregnant. We didn’t use protection. We never had.

  Slavik kissed my lips. “I’ve been thinking about doing that all day.”

  “In the pool?”

  “No. I imagined you in our bed.”

  My heart fluttered whenever he would talk about us. We, our. I liked it.

  “We got the pool dirty.”

  “I own the building. I can pay for them to clean it.”

  “I don’t know if people are going to like us constantly closing off rooms to them.” The other day, Slavik had found me in the gym. My weight-loss goal had come back in full force since we returned. He’d distracted me by taking me over the bench, on my knees. There had been a full mirror in front of us, and as he took me, he made me watch.

  “Do I need to remind you not to care about what people think?” he asked. “I’m the only one who matters in your world.”

  I touched his cheek. “You are the only one that matters.”

  ****

  Slavik

  With everything kicking off around me, I didn’t have time to spend with my wife. Another attack on two of my businesses, another brothel, not as high maintenance as Cara’s, as well as a casino, had my men stretched. We were doing constant patrols. There had also been another attempt on Ivan’s life. The bastard hadn’t managed it, but he’d been paid a small fortune with promises to the Volkov Bratva if he succeeded. This required me to fly out to Ivan to check on him.

  Much to Ivan’s annoyance, I put him on twenty-four-seven protection. All the brigadiers had supplied men to stay with him at all times. He hated this level of fuss. The bastard who tried to kill him hadn’t succeeded, but it had been close. One wrong move, and Ivan would have been dead. As much as Ivan pissed me off, he was the only person in this world who was like a brother to me. I’d die for him. The only other person I’d die for was currently lying naked beside me, sated.

  All day, I’d been making love and fucking my wife.

  This time was a luxury to me. Stolen to have what I wanted. With all the shit going down, and me putting more people into play, the less time I had for this woman. The less time I had, the more I wanted to spend with her.

  “You’re thinking again,” she said. “How can you be thinking?”

  “I’ve got lots of thoughts.” I ran my fingers up the curve of her back. Each time I caught sight of her naked, I found myself looking at her stomach.

  This morning, she’d vomited again. I held her hair back, soothing her, trying to distract her. After her sickness abated, I’d often leave to return to work. This time, I’d stuck around, feeding her dry toast. I’d sent my man off, and Aurora started the morning curled up against me, watching a movie.

  It had been some action movie with a very hot sex scene. We watched together, and I sensed the change in her. The way she turned toward me, almost as if begging for me to touch her, to fuck her, to take her.

  I’d started by running my fingers up her thigh, slowly at first, gradually building until I cupped her between the thighs. The sweatpants she wore were gone within an instant. While the movie played on, I fingered her to a screaming orgasm, and to reward me for my patience, I’d positioned her across my lap, driving her down onto my dick. Her shirt was gone, as was her bra, and there on the sofa, I’d gotten my wife to fuck me. Her tits bouncing, sinking down on my dick, taking me all the way into her cunt. When I came, I’d sat her back and watched my cum spilling out of her pussy. I couldn’t resist pushing it back in.

  That was our first time.

  We’d enjoyed a light lunch, then I finished by eating her pussy and fucking her across the table.

  A shower together, and I’d driven inside her until the water had run cold.

  Now, as we lay in bed, her on her stomach, the tempting globes of her ass st
uck in the air, I had an idea.

  “Aurora, do you trust me?” I asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Good.”

  I pressed a kiss to her shoulder and climbed off the bed. When she went to move, I placed a hand on her shoulder, telling her to stay still.

  “You’re making me curious now.”

  “Good.” Another kiss to the shoulder, and I went to my private drawer inside my closet, taking out the tube of lubricant.

  Returning to the bedroom, I saw my wife being the good girl that she was, not moving an inch, and this made me smile.

  “You’re so good, Aurora. Such a good woman.”

  She glanced at me, her gaze falling to the tube in my hand. I climbed on the bed and reached for some of the cushions, stuffing them beneath her waist, lifting her ass to my gaze.

  I slid my fingers into her pussy. She was so wet, but then today I’d been very greedy. She was already pregnant, and now my cum didn’t have to just fill her pussy, I could have my fill of every single part of her body, and right now, all I wanted to do was fuck her ass.

  Leaning forward, I brushed my lips against her ear. “Do you trust me?”

  “Yes.”

  I smiled.

  Plunging two fingers inside her, I stretched her pussy. She rocked back, lifting herself onto my fingers, trying to make herself come.

  I opened the tube of lubricant and eased my fingers out of her pussy, tracing that thin piece of flesh between her cunt and asshole, and coated my slick digits against her anus. At the same time, I squeeze some of the lube out of the tube, getting her nice and wet.

  She gasped. “Slavik?”

  “Trust me. Remember.”

  My virginal wife knew exactly what I was doing. I’d slipped into her library in the spare bedroom. The book she’d been reading had been left on the sofa, the pages spread open. I’d picked it up, realizing my dirty wife had been reading an anal sex scene. I didn’t mind. I had avoided her asshole for fear I’d traumatize her.

  That one scene got me curious. Aurora had a system in her library. I’d watched her organize, and I noticed the books I saw her reading were on one side, with those she had yet to read on another. I’d picked out a couple of her books, flicked through, and saw my wife liked to read romance books with an erotic edge.