Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 106159 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106159 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Forever capable of reading my thoughts, Saka says, “I was already knocking when he called.” He hits me with his infamous Zoolander glare before murmuring, “You are awfully needy for someone who swears they don’t need anyone.”
“I am not.” I am, but he doesn’t need to know that. “I’m just struggling to determine why Matvei would think the message was for me.” I punch him in the gut when his brow cocks. “I earned those wild child years. At one stage, I didn’t think I’d smell fresh air again.”
“So you celebrated your freedom by spending our first year abroad in smelly underground clubs and bars that reeked like my grandfather's basement after his homebrew mixture blew up.”
“You loved the memories.” After smiling at his lack of response, I blow on the milky concoction before taking a sip. “I more meant there were plenty of other walls he could’ve left his message on. We’ve never decorated, so the walls are as bland as your sense of fashion.” That gets a smile out of him that I steal by confessing, “Taylor also mentioned that he touched her. Her window is next to the streetlight outside, so her dark hair couldn’t have been mistaken for my blonde, no matter how blind the intruder.”
I cuss when Saka mutters in shock, “He touched her?”
In my aim to remove the focus from me, I forgot I promised to keep anything Taylor told me between us. “She didn’t say where. She just…” I bob down to pat Sookie, who’s purring at my feet, when I realize I am making matters worse.
When the tension becomes too hot to ignore, and Sookie has lapped up the leftover milk in the hotel-sized container, I peer back up at Saka and murmur, “If I hadn’t taken down your cameras, we wouldn’t need to wonder.”
“They weren’t my fucking cameras.” He freezes, darts his eyes to mine, then murmurs, “There were cameras in Taylor’s room too?” When I nod, he rakes his fingers through his hair. “She only told me about the ones in the living room.”
Though now isn’t the time to continue breaking my promise to Taylor, I am worried enough to push my pledge aside. “She also swore she had seen him before. I don’t know how. Besides school, she has rarely left her room the past few weeks.” Saka’s eyes bulge. “What?”
“She’s at school. I told her to request a new date, but her professor said she either sits it with the rest of the students or receives a nil grade.”
He grunts when I launch my hand into his trouser pocket, but he doesn’t stop my rummage of his belongings when he realizes what I am searching for.
My first call to Taylor’s phone goes unanswered.
My second is sent straight to voicemail.
“Did you say something to piss her off enough she wouldn’t answer your call?”
“No.” When I shoot him an unsure glare, he says, “I didn’t do anything wrong.”
Just in case he’s blinded to his woman’s anger like most men, I pick up the hotel’s phone, dial 0 to get an outside line, then try Taylor’s phone again.
Since the retro phone doesn’t have speakerphone capabilities, Saka has to wait for me to shake my head before acknowledging his panic that she isn’t answering a stranger’s call either.
“Fuck.”
“Her professor is pretty anal. He could have made her store away her phone before class.”
“Or…” Saka murmurs, aware I stopped mid-theory because I don’t want him to worry.
“Or she recognized her attacker because she knows him.” When my stomach churns in response to my last reply, I dump my half-consumed coffee into the sink, push the button on the cat food dispenser Matvei ordered for Sookie, and say, “Let’s go.”
Saka’s eyes gleam with mischievousness, but it doesn’t stop him from cautioning, “You should stay. Matvei—”
“Isn’t the boss of me.”
Saka grins like I answered how he wanted, before jogging ahead of me to press the call button on the elevator.
26
NATALYA
“I’m sorry,” I apologize to Taylor before dropping my head like a puppy who made a mess on the floor during Thanksgiving. “Sometimes my imagination gets the better of me. We just wanted to make sure you were safe.” When I spot the gawk of hundreds of her classmates, I head for the door. “It won’t happen again.”
I realize my punishment will be far worse than a half-miffed glare as I exit the examination room Taylor and her fellow students evacuated when I pulled the fire alarm. Matvei is here, looking dashing in a tailored suit and an angry snarl.
In my hurry to save Taylor, I didn’t leave him a note or collect either of my phones, so how the hell does he know my location?
“Are you having me followed?”
Ignoring me, he spins on his heels and heads for a dark SUV parked several spots up from Saka’s vehicle, anticipating that I will follow.