Second Best (Volkov Bratva 1)

I couldn’t stand heights.

Sergei stayed at my back and knowing he was right behind me didn’t fill me with comfort. I’d noticed the lingering looks he’d been giving me over the past few weeks. They weren’t good. He was a bodyguard.

If Slavik saw him and jumped to the wrong conclusions, we’d both be dead. I didn’t want to be the one responsible for getting a man killed, and Sergei seemed nice.

Entering the apartment, I was stopped as Sergei reached out and grabbed my arm. I froze. He tugged me close and he further surprised me as he pulled me into his arms.

“Sergei, stop,” I said.

“I’m not going to hurt you. I can see that you’re hurting, and I can’t stand to see you in pain, Aurora. Please, let me be your rock.”

He stroked my hair.

This was so wrong.

He shouldn’t be touching me. I needed to get him to stop, but as he held me, at that moment, a wave of emotion struck me hard. Against my better judgment, I held on to him and sobbed.

I didn’t find Sergei attractive.

He was a very good-looking man, but he was a guard. I never made it a habit to fall for a man I could never have. Sergei worked for my husband. This put me in a place I didn’t want to be in.

There was no way I could allow my husband to think anything was going on between us. Sergei was … a friend? I didn’t even know if I could call him that. I never had friends. People didn’t like me.

Was this a ploy to get rid of me? Had Slavik put him up to this so he’d have a reason to kill me?

Fear raced down my spine, and I jerked back. “You shouldn’t have done that. Slavik, if he ever finds out—”

“He won’t,” Sergei said.

“He’s your boss. You can’t hug me or treat me as anything other than work.” I was dressed in a bathing suit and a towel. “You’re a guard.”

“And you think I don’t notice you? You think I haven’t guarded other women and I don’t see the difference?”

My throat felt like it was on fire. “Has … Slavik used you to protect his other … women?”

“I’m not going to say it,” he said.

“Let me guess, they had more of a social life. If you’re bored, I can talk to him. Ask him to arrange for someone else to keep an eye on me.”

“For fuck’s sake, no, that’s not what I’m getting at. What I’m saying, Aurora, is I can see you. I know you’re hurting. You’re right, you’re not like other women. I’m offering to be your friend. The shoulder you cry on.”

“If Slavik heard you, he’d get rid of you. I don’t need friends.”

“Then what do you need?” he asked. “The way I see it, you’re fucking lonely. You have no friends, and your husband comes around to what? To fuck you so you can have his child.”

I physically flinched. “Stay away from me.”

“Damn it, I didn’t mean it like that.”

I’d turned on my heel, intent on putting some distance between us, and now, I whirled around. “You didn’t mean it like that? Then how did you mean it? You were spot on, remember? I have no friends. Slavik is probably out there now with other women, enjoying himself. I’m nothing. I’m no one, but tell me this, Sergei, if you’re such a good friend and you want to be there for me. Tell me what the fuck is wrong with me.”

I didn’t like to curse.

I was normally in control of my emotions, but today, I was all over the place. The ink around my wrist, the attack, the accurate words thrown my way, it was all too much, and there was only so much I could take.

This time, rather than create more distance between us, I advanced toward him. “Tell me, Sergei. Tell me all the great advice about why all my life, people hated me. How I’ve never matched up. How I’ve always been second best in everything. Tell me.”

“Because you’re beautiful,” he said.

Now this made me laugh.

“Wrong.”

With that, I spun on my heel and I left him alone.

A friend would be so fucking welcome, but Sergei wasn’t my friend.

I went straight to the bathroom, stripping naked, and stepped beneath the spray of the water.

Men in our world had mistresses all the time. I had no doubt some of the women enjoyed a lover or two.

I didn’t know where I stood with Slavik.

In the week since the attack, he hadn’t been around. I didn’t know where he was. Some nights he didn’t even come home.

I turned off the shower, wrapping a towel around me, I stepped out of the bathroom, into the bedroom, and gasped.

Slavik stood in the bedroom.

“Wear this. We’re going out to dinner.”