Bratvas vow, p.36
Bratva's Vow, page 36
“You were the one begging the chaplain to marry us before you died.”
“I don’t remember that.”
“Good thing Nik has the whole thing on tape,” he said with a smirk. “You can watch the playback. Full drama. The chaplain protesting. You threatening to puke on his shoes. All of it.”
I groaned. “Kill me now.”
“Nope. Not on my watch.”
He raked his fingers through my hair. I turned my head into his touch.
“Maxim.”
“Hmm?”
“Thank you,” I whispered. “For taking care of me. For never leaving me. For everything.”
“I’ll always be here,” he said quietly. “No one’s ever going to hurt you again.”
He didn’t say Archie’s name.
He didn’t have to.
I already knew.
And I didn’t ask because he wouldn’t tell me anyway.
A soft knock interrupted us.
Maxim stood, brushing his thumb one last time over my cheek. “Come in.”
The door opened, and in came Jess and Nik, both in jeans and hoodies, and nestled in Nik’s arms was—
“Jellybean!”
The puppy squirmed the moment he spotted me, tail thumping wildly against Nik’s arm, tongue lolling out like he’d just seen his long-lost best friend.
My throat closed up.
“Hey, boy,” I whispered, tearing up.
Nik set him down, and Jellybean made a beeline for the bed, claws clicking on the floor. He tried to scramble up the bed, and Maxim took pity on him and gently lifted him onto the sheets. He nuzzled his face against mine, whining frantically. His tail wagged like it was powered by jet fuel.
I stroked his ears, buried my fingers in his soft fur, let the weight of him press against my chest as he crawled up and laid his little body across me, head under my chin.
“How did you—” My voice cracked. “How did you get him in here? Is he even allowed?”
Nik grinned. “We smuggled him in.”
Jess rolled her eyes and swatted his arm. “Liar. Maxim had to grovel to the ward manager and get special approval. They only allowed it because your suite is so exclusive—no contact with other patients—and even then, only for fifteen minutes.”
I turned my head toward Maxim, stunned. “You did this?”
He looked almost sheepish. “Sorry. They wouldn’t budge on the time limit.”
“That’s okay.” I bit back my tears. “This is enough. I thought he would forget all about me.”
I clutched the dog a little closer, and he gave a happy little sigh like he was perfectly content to stay right where he was.
Maxim sat down again at the foot of the bed, one hand resting on my ankle over the blanket, as if anchoring himself to me. Jess snapped photos of us and showed me the wedding video on her phone. Maxim had been right. I’d begged the chaplain to marry us. Fuck, I looked awful when I cried. I was never crying again.
Maxim told me they could delete the video if that was what I wanted, but I shook my head. Regardless of how messy it was, it was ours, and I loved every minute of it.
Too soon, Jess’s timer went off.
“Time’s up,” she said gently. “We should take him out before the nurses come to check. We wouldn’t want to jeopardize Wren’s privileges while he’s here.”
Nik scooped up Jellybean, who whined in protest but didn’t struggle.
“I’ll take him.” Maxim stood.
He exchanged a look with Jess. She gave a small nod.
Maxim leaned down and kissed my forehead. “We’ll be right outside. I need to talk to Nik for a minute. It’ll give you some time to talk smack about me behind my back.”
“No smack, I promise.” I mouthed, thank you, as he and Nik stepped out with the puppy.
Jess took the chair closest to my bed, pulled it right up, and folded her legs underneath her like we were about to gossip.
“Well,” she said, voice light but eyes warm, “still feeling good?”
“Yeah, no longer thinking that I’m going to die. Not from this anyway.” I reached out and grabbed her hand. “Jess, we don’t have much time. What really happened?”
Jess didn’t answer but lightly squeezed my fingers. Her gaze flicked to the door Maxim had just exited through, like she was debating how much to say.
“Jess,” I said softly.
She sighed. “He told us not to tell you.”
“Tell me anyway.”
She nodded. “Archie told Leo that Maxim murdered Bradley and tried to get him to interfere with your treatment so you’d… never wake up.”
I stared at her, my breath catching. “Leo knows?” My heart ached for him. He always struck me as a genuinely sweet guy.
“Yes,” Jess said quickly. “But he refused. He told Maxim everything. That’s why you were airlifted that night. Maxim didn’t trust the situation anymore. Not after everything Archie had already done.”
I swallowed hard, stomach twisting.
“That’s not all, is it?”
“No.” She let out a shaky breath. “Maxim confronted Archie.”
I already knew where this was going. I closed my eyes.
“He’s dead,” I said flatly.
“Yeah. Maxim killed him. He did it himself. Darius told me it was awful. He couldn’t sleep that night when he came home to me. I’ve never seen him react like that to anything.”
Silence. Thick and heavy pulsed between us. So much had happened while I was focused on my treatment. It was the first time I was able to get Jess alone.
“Maxim’s selling the house,” she said. “Doesn’t want the reminders. Said that place could no longer be your home.”
I opened my eyes and looked toward the door, heart thudding.
“He loved Archie,” I whispered. “In his own way. They were so close.”
Jess nodded. “He did. But he loves you more. That much is obvious.”
A moment later, the door creaked open. Jess jumped to her feet, looking too guilty. Maxim stepped back inside minus Jellybean. The air around him was cooler than before. His gaze flicked to Jess, then to me.
Jess mumbled that she had to go and would visit me tomorrow. She kissed my cheek and shuffled past Maxim. The door closed behind her, but Maxim didn’t move.
“She told you,” he said quietly.
I didn’t answer but watched him walk toward the bed, that careful heaviness in his stride.
“You shouldn’t have killed him,” I said, not accusing. Just soft, just true.
His face darkened. “I had to. He poisoned you. He killed Vova.”
“I know. I’m not saying he didn’t deserve it. I’m just saying… I wish you hadn’t done it yourself.”
Maxim looked stunned. Like he hadn’t considered that angle.
I stretched out my hand, and he came over to me, taking it.
“How do you feel?” I asked.
He blinked. “What?”
“I mean, you might feel justified. You probably are. But he was your friend. The closest one you had. That couldn’t have been easy. I’m sorry, Maxim. I’m sorry you had to go through that.”
He stared at me, and something behind his eyes cracked—not shattering, just a small fissure in that cold, contained exterior he wore so well.
“You’re incredible,” he said hoarsely. “You know that, right?”
“No, I’m just trying to be here for you the way you’ve been here for me.”
He kissed my knuckles. “You already are. You’re my everything.”
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
WREN
My skin prickled with awareness before I even opened my eyes, a gentle tug of pleasure drawing me out of sleep. Maxim had his hand wrapped around my cock, slow and sure, stroking me like he had all the time in the world.
I let out a lazy chuckle, stretching like a cat in a sunbeam. “It’s been a week since we got home,” I mumbled.
“And?” He pressed his lips to my throat, a smile curving against my skin.
“You promised me twenty-four hours of consummating our marriage.” I arched into his touch. “Not a full seven days of nonstop sex. We’ve been doing it like rabbits.”
“Are you complaining?”
“Never. I’m always going to be a shameless slut for you.”
That set him off. Maxim crawled on top of me, bracketing me with his big body, and planted his lips on mine. He didn’t ease me into the kiss. Fuck, no. He went in for the kill, showing no mercy as his tongue conquered and claimed. His grip on me tightened, a gentle pressure, possessive but never overbearing.
And when he parted our lips, I clung to him. “More.”
“Thought so,” he murmured against my mouth. He pinched my nipple, and I gasped. His hand wandered lower, teasing the ring in my navel, then enclosing around my cock.
He kissed me again, and I lay beneath him, helplessly powerful and aware of what I did to this man. This Bratva Pakhan. My lover. My husband. My life.
I threaded my fingers into his hair as he moved lower, breath catching at the feel of his mouth on me. Gentle. Worshipful. Like he was still making good on that whispered promise in the hospital.
“Turn over.”
I obeyed without hesitation, rolling onto my belly and hitching my hip to give him access. Sheets rustled as Maxim moved, the mattress dipping beneath his weight. Warm hands traced the curve of my spine, down to the swell of my ass, kneading the flesh there.
I let out a groan, burrowing my face into the pillow and gripping the sheets. The anticipation alone made me jittery, every nerve afire and waiting for his touch.
But he didn’t rush. He gave me a slow, openmouthed kiss on my lower back. The scrape of his stubble sent shivers down my legs. He continued to explore, mapping every contour of my body.
His palm came down on my ass, an unexpected smack. I jerked in surprise but not pain, as warmth bloomed beneath the skin. I exhaled loudly, clenching my fingers in the sheets as he chuckled lowly.
“Come on. Keep that sexy ass in the air.” He shuffled across the bed, and the next thing, he was tying my wrists together over my head with his T-shirt. “There you go, pretty little thing.”
I loved it when he tied my wrists together when we had sex. It brought a feeling of helplessness that blossomed into the most intense desire, an extension of trust that I placed in him.
I rolled my hips instinctively, and he held me steady, hands on my cheeks, spreading me open under his gaze. Never had I felt more vulnerable and desirable at the same time. His saliva hit my hole a second. The pads of his fingers tapped against me right there. A spark of electricity coursed through my body, and I arched my back into his touch.
“Maxim, please.”
“I’ve fucked you seven days straight, and you still want more.” He thumbed my hole, removed it, then shoved his index finger in and kept at it like playing the keys of a piano. Every single digit got a piece of the action. He bit my cheek and slapped me twice more, making me cry out. Making me forget that we weren’t alone. That we were guests in our friends’ home.
“Prettiest little hole I’ve ever seen.” He lowered his head and covered my entrance with his lips.
“Fuck.” I clenched, then pushed out, puckering up for him. He licked a circle around my puffed rim, stroking with a whole lot of saliva that dripped down my taint.
I wanted to reach back to hold my cheeks open for him, but my hands were tied. Frustration disappeared when his tongue delved deeper, plunging into me. I yelped and bucked up, the sheets beneath me crinkling with my movements. He hooked an arm around my waist, pulling me back against his face and onto his tongue.
My moans grew with the uneven, unpredictable rhythm of his tongue retreating and thrusting inside my ass. Tight heat coiled in my gut, each stroke of his tongue pushing me closer to the edge. My cock pulsed, ready to spill…
He pulled away, leaving me cold and aching. I whimpered at the loss, trying to push back into him.
“Please, Maxim—”
“Any minute now, solnyshko.”
He took less than a minute, pressing the slicked tip of his cock against my hole. I drove back at the same time he plunged, and I cried out as he bottomed out with one thrust.
“Fuck,” Maxim groaned. “I fucking love you so much.”
I fisted my cock, aching for release but allowing myself a moment to adjust to his size. I moaned against the sheets. His body shuddered atop mine as he tried to still his movements.
“It's okay,” I choked out. “I want to feel you moving inside me. Fuck me, Maxim. Use me.”
As if he’d been waiting for my permission, Maxim withdrew completely, then drove back in with a force that sent me almost crashing into the headboard. I reached up and clung to it, snapping my ass back into his thrusts.
“Look at that,” he groaned. “Ass perfectly bouncing on my cock.”
Slap! Slap.
“Come on, fuck yourself on my dick just like that.”
Slap! Slap
“Now show me that hole. I know you’re eager for my cock, but come on. Show me that pretty little wrecked pussy.” He moaned, his hands spreading my cheeks as far apart as he could as he pulled out and spat against my hole. I clenched instinctively, then pushed out, and he swore.
Maxim mounted me like a beast, his cock sliding home with a low grunt. He grabbed a fistful of my hair, his thrusts growing relentless, each one stronger than the last. Yes, he was being domineering, and I loved every second of it. The sweet hurt of him sliding in too deep, stretching me too wide, not giving me enough time in between to recover from each thrust.
It was a relentless pounding inside my body that left my nerve endings buzzing and my body a coiled spring. I exploded with a sobbing cry, clinging so hard to the headboard it was a wonder it didn’t snap in half.
Maxim buried himself in me one last time, grunting as he spilled inside of me, topping up last night’s load.
He fell onto the bed next to me, boneless and spent, panting like he’d just run a marathon. For a long moment, we didn’t say anything. We just lay there, our skin damp, our bodies pressed together, the only sound the uneven rhythm of our breathing.
Then his hand reached for mine, still tied at the wrists with his T-shirt.
He cursed softly under his breath, fingers working at the knot. “Too tight?” he asked, his voice low, gentler now.
“No,” I whispered. “It was perfect.”
The fabric loosened, and my hands fell free. I barely had time to move before he was pulling me into his arms, wrapping himself around me like he could fuse us together if he held me tight enough.
He kissed my temple. My cheek. My jaw. My nose. Then everywhere again.
“I love you,” he said between kisses, like it was the only thing he could think to say. “I fucking love you.”
I melted against him, turning in his arms so I could press my face to his chest. “I know. I love you too.”
He held me until my heartbeat slowed. Until the post-high fog lifted and we were just two men tangled up in sheets.
Eventually, he stretched, bones cracking in that satisfyingly gross way. “Shower,” he muttered. “Today’s the day, remember?”
I groaned and nuzzled deeper into his chest. “Let’s just stay here. Forever. We’ll order food. Send smoke signals. Hide from society.”
Laughing, he rolled out of bed and stood at the edge with a grin that belonged on a billboard. His whole body belonged on a billboard. He was so fucking hot. He scrubbed one hand through his hair while he rubbed his abs with the other with exaggerated flair.
“I got more of a workout this past week than I’ve had in my entire life,” he announced proudly.
I grabbed a pillow and chucked it at him. “Are you calling me a Peloton?”
He caught the pillow and flung it back, eyes sparkling with mischief. “Might as well. I ride you like one, and you love it.”
He bolted for the bathroom, and I scrambled off the bed after him, still laughing. “You’re disgusting!”
“And yet you keep spreading your legs for me,” he called back.
We showered fast—too many hands, not enough time—and yanked on our clothes. We’d spent almost two months in Pennsylvania due to my outpatient treatment. Since returning home, we’d been staying with Jess and her two men. Not because we had to, but because I felt weirdly nostalgic and wanted to be with everyone under one roof. Maxim had reluctantly agreed.
What greeted us in the kitchen was a wall of judgment. Jess sat at the counter, arms folded tight across her chest. Darius leaned back in his chair, looking like he was reconsidering his life choices. Nik, poor Nik, had the kind of thousand-yard stare people got from war zones or particularly bad Tinder dates.
Darius muttered, “They’re too loud.”
“We don’t need to know how deep Maxim is every damn night,” Jess groaned.
“I’m traumatized.” Nik placed a hand over his heart. “I thought Wren was an innocent, but after this week, I’m billing Maxim for therapy.”
I froze in the doorway. “Oh my god,” I whispered, face burning, and clutched Maxim’s arm like it could shield me from the humiliation.
Maxim, on the other hand, puffed up like a peacock. His chest visibly swelled with pride as he towed me farther into the room, smug as hell. “Well, hello to you too,” he said like he was handing out souvenirs. “I trust your morning was as splendid as mine.”
Jess pointed a knife at us—well, at him. “You’ve got to move out.”
Maxim arched a brow. “Didn’t you invite us to stay with you? In fact, I had a beautiful five-star hotel booked, and as I can recall, you and Wren manipulated us into staying here.”
I held up both hands. “In my defense, I didn’t expect them to have a conference over our sex life.”
“You,” Nik said dramatically. “I thought you were the vanilla one. There’s no safe room in this apartment. No corner I can hide where I don’t hear ‘Yes, Maxim, harder, Maxim, wreck me, Maxim.’”
Darius shuddered. “I heard things I can’t un-hear. You two need to get a Scrabble board or Monopoly or some shit. No one should fuck as much as you two. There are three of us, and we don’t even fuck that much!”
