Four Weeks. Five Days. Thirteen Hours.
When you are cooped up together with someone for as long as we’ve been in this damn cabin, shit that normally doesn’t piss you off, does. Right now, I want to stab myself in the eye with a dull knife. Ivelisse is driving me fucking insane right now and as much as I love her, I need to get out of this place.
Don’t get me wrong, with it being just the two of us; we’ve had sex on every damn surface of this place. That shit I enjoy, but right now she’s making who the fuck knows what. The last thing she made was hardly even edible. I miss being at home where my food was prepared the right way.
Just as I’m about to sneak out the back door, she stops me. “Baby!” I turn to look at her, and I can’t help but grin. Even though her fucking cooking sucks, she looks hot as hell in the apron, my button-down, and a pair of sexy panties.
“Yeah, doll?” I ask.
“Where are you going?” I raise an eyebrow at her and she just gives me her death stare.
“I just need to get out of this place for a minute. How about you get dressed and come with me. We can fuck in the wilderness too.” I waggle my eyebrows at her and she shakes her head with a wide grin on her face.
One thing that this place has done for us is gave us the opportunity to talk about what happened. We talked about how we both felt with the baby being gone and the shooting that landed her in a coma for three months. She even told me that she wanted my uncle dead for what he stole from us. I don’t blame her for wanting that, I want it to.
I held her while she cried, kicked, and screamed. We spent hours one night just talking about what we would have named the baby. She told me all her fears about us being out here in the middle of nowhere and how much she missed her family. Although there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to make things better for her, I was there for her through it all.
In a way, it tore us apart and brought us back together in the same way.
As she comes back through the kitchen, I see she’s wearing a pair of sweats and a tank top. She’s also got a pair of running shoes on. One thing I love about her is that she isn’t afraid of being her. She wears what she wants even when I hate what she has on. “Let’s go, lover!” she says excitedly. I’m just glad I don’t have to eat whatever it was that she was getting ready to make.
Grabbing her hand, we walk outside the front door just in time to see a truck pulling up. I wrap my arm around her and pull her behind my body. Taking the gun from the back of my jeans I keep it at my side as the truck comes to a stop a few yards from us. When the door opens, I see Stavros getting out.
I release my grip on Ivelisse and put my gun back in the waistband of my jeans. “What is he doing here?” she asks, coming around to stand in front of me again.
“No idea, doll,” I murmur, wrapping my arm around her neck. I pull her back into me and she doesn’t fight it. She knows I need to feel her body against mine. She gives me this much.
“Hey, fuckhead, I brought you some shit that you’re going to need. You’ll be having company soon and it’s not going to be pretty.” He grabs a bag from the back of the truck and tosses it on the ground in front of him before grabbing another one. “I have six of my men on their way now. This is all the fire power I have right now.”
I walk over to him and grab one of the bags off the ground. “How many are coming at us?” I need to know what we have coming at us and figure out how to protect Ivelisse.
“At least fifteen. Viktor wants you dead this time.” He grabs two more bags and we walk towards the cabin. “My boys are all coming up in the van and then we’ll hide it in the woods somewhere so they don’t see it. Ilias will call when they are on their way.”
“He hasn’t been turned yet?” I question. I doubt he will, but I need to know who I can trust besides my brother and his men.
“No. He’s still feeding me information and meeting up every day to go over plans and shit. You’re lucky to have that crazy fucker on your side. I watched him kill some bastard a few weeks ago and it was fuckin’ gnarly. You think I’m bad, he’s worse.” He grins at that and I just shake my head. I know exactly the type of killer Ilias is, that’s why he’s on my side.
“What’s going on?” Ivelisse asks when we get closer to her.
“The war is coming down hard,” Stavros says without missing a beat. This type of shit has never affected him. He thrives from the chaos of it all. I get why Harlyn wanted out. Why she didn’t want to raise Ruslan in the violence and chaos that is Stavros.
“Inside, doll,” I state. She opens the door for us and lets us in before she comes in shutting the door behind her. “I don’t want her here when this shit goes down. I won’t risk her life again.” Her eyes narrow at me, but I don’t care. One thing I’ve taught her while we’ve been out here is how to shoot and now I’m regretting that shit. She’s going to think that she can play hero and take people out now.
“I can shoot!” she says stubbornly. I look at Stav and he has a grin on his face.
“I say let her shoot. The more guns we have, the better off we are.” I glare at him, but it doesn’t faze him. He could care less who has a gun as long as they are taking out the same people he is.
We start unloading guns and I watch her handle them from the corner of my eye. I don’t give her an answer right away because I can’t. I can’t let her put her life on the line like this, but I also get that we need as many people as we can get fighting back.
I motion for her to come over to me and she does without question. “I don’t want you in this war any more than you have to be.” She bites her lip and I know she’s trying to keep from saying something to piss me off. The time alone has given her time to work on her bitchiness and smartass attitude. It makes for some amazing rough makeup sex though when I piss her off enough.
“I want to do this. You’re not the only one who lost something because of him.”
I run my hand along her jaw. “Don’t make me regret this decision. Never leave my side.”
She nods excitedly and wraps her arms around me, pulling me in for a quick kiss before she goes off to find a gun she wants to use. Fuck me, this shit is going to drive me to an early grave. When I get back to setting shit out, I can hear his cackles from across the room.
“Such a damn pussy.” I flip him the bird just as we hear the sounds of tires coming up the drive. Both of us freeze and when I look up, Ivelisse is stone still. Stavros looks through the window and shakes his head no before walking to the door to greet his men.
Walking over to Ivelisse, I wrap my arms around her waist and pull her body back into mine. “If shit goes bad, I want you to run. Run as far and as fast as you can, doll.”
“No. I’m not leaving you. Ride or die.” She leans her head back on my shoulder just as the door opens and men in leather come barging in. A few of them nod to me and all of their eyes trail over Ivelisse.
“I love you,” I whisper against her neck before pressing my mouth there.
“I love you too, baby,” she says. My hands are still on her stomach and I don’t even think I realize I’m doing it until one of the guys says something.
“You guys having a kid?” I feel her body tense against mine, and I answer for her.
“No, not right now.”
He shrugs his shoulders and walks back over to the group of bikers.
“You okay?” I ask just loud enough for her to hear only.
“I will be when all this is over and we can get pregnant again.”
I turn her to face me and claim her mouth. “It will happen. Give it some time.” I press my lips to her forehead and I hear the catcalls behind us. I flip them all the bird and kiss her for real this time. “You’re my ride or die, doll.” When I finally release her, I slap her ass and watch her walk over to my brother. They start talking about something, and I can’t keep my eyes off her.
“It’s crazy what a woman can do to you,” Romeo says from next to me.
I look at him for a second before I nod my head. “Yeah, they make you do stupid shit.” His eyes flash something before he goes back to loading ammo into the weapons. “You would know,” I state.
He looks at me again and I see something flash in his eyes. I know some shady shit is going down with him and E, but that shouldn’t have anything to do with today. E hasn’t said one word to Romeo since they’ve been here.
When I look up, I see E watching us. He swears that something is going on with Romeo and right now, I don’t disagree. He keeps looking over his shoulder at E and looking sketchy as hell, but it’s not something I can focus on until I know my wife’s life is not hanging in the balance.
As Romeo walks away, E comes over to me. “Hey, brother. How are the kids?” Although I don’t really care, it’s a way to break the ice.
“They’re good, getting big. You get any information for me yet?” He looks over at Romeo and I can’t help but be a little concerned. If I give him the information that he wants, Romeo very well may die. Not that I disagree with E, but I don’t want to sign a death warrant without all the information.
“Not yet. I’ve been a little preoccupied lately. When this shit is over, I’ll get back to it.” A beeping sound comes from the kitchen and everyone freezes. Stavros grabs Ivelisse’s arm and pushes her in my direction.
“Ilias hasn’t called, but I’m not taking any chances,” he states.
She comes over to me and I grab a gun off the kitchen table. Checking the clip, I cock it and pull her into me one last time. I have no idea what might happen today, but if I die, I want her to know how much I love her. Her eyes meet mine and I know that she probably thinks I’m going to do something stupid.
“Don’t think about throwing yourself in front of a bullet for me.”
She frowns. I kiss her lips gently before responding.
“Sorry doll, but your life is more precious than mine. You could have –” I get cut off by Stavros’ voice.
“They’re here,” he states.
I kiss her forehead once before I get ready.
“Ilias and Stas are out there. They have our backs, don’t shoot them.” He barks out orders and I let him lead this shit. I have a wife to protect and she’s the only thing I want to make sure is safe.
Heads nod, but they don’t say anything. I hand Ivelisse a gun I know that she can handle and tell her to get ready. This shit isn’t like what we were doing outside while wasting time. One wrong move by her and she can take a bullet again. This time she might not be so lucky.
The sounds of guns going off are the only noises around us. I felt a bullet as it tore right by my head. I was barely able to pull Ivelisse out of the way before it would have hit her. Grabbing her hand, I drag her towards the back door and quickly pull her through it. When we get outside, I see Ilias standing somewhat close to us.
We sneak towards him and I dig my gun into his back when we reach him. He doesn’t let people sneak up on him, I know this for a fact. He’s letting me. “Why the fuck didn’t you give us a heads up?” I growl.
“I’ve had Viktor up my ass this whole damn time. He wouldn’t let me off the phone until we fucking got here,” he mutters.
“Take these bastards out,” I demand. I release him and he starts to move with me right behind him.
We take out several of his men quickly and efficiently. Ivelisse is following us around the gravel road, staying as close as she can. Before I can say a word, one of the guys grabs her and puts a gun to her head. I point my gun right at his head and Ilias does the same. Her eyes are on me and she looks terrified but doesn’t make a sound.
“You know Nikolai, there have been nights I’ve spent awake just waiting for this day to come. Your uncle is right, you are a pussy. You’ve done nothing to protect your wife.” The emphasis on the word wife doesn’t go unnoticed by either Ilias or me.
“Let her go,” I state with authority. The fire fight around us is still going strong, but no one is paying attention to us.
“You are nothing in the family now.” He laughs. His finger starts to put pressure on the trigger and my whole world stops. I don’t even think twice as I tell her to drop and I pull the trigger. I watch in slow motion as Ivelisse drops to the ground just in time for the bullet to hit Boris right between the eyes. He falls to the ground on top of Ivelisse and I run to her and drop to my knees, pushing his larger body off of hers. She has blood splattered on her, but it doesn’t seem to faze her at the moment. She throws herself into my arms and I hear the gun go off behind me.
“We need to move,” Ilias grunts out. I help her up and drag her behind me as we make our way across the driveway towards the last of the Levin Family men that are still standing. Stas and Ilias put bullets in the first three’s head without a problem. I take out the next one.
Once every one of them is lying dead on the ground, Stavros comes over to us. He has blood seeping through his shirt, but he doesn’t complain one bit. “Oh my God!” Ivelisse yells. She runs over to him and starts to push her fingers near the bullet hole. He hisses out a breath, but it doesn’t deter her from whatever it is she’s trying to do.
“We need the damn doc,” Romeo says. He has blood seeping from his thigh soaking his jeans with a deep red stain.
“Load them up and get everyone out of here,” I state. I have a date with my uncle.