She released his arm and recoiled, her eyes filling with tears. "Andrei!"
Hearing the hurt in her voice and seeing the fear in her eyes, he shook his head. He didn"t want her to be afraid of him, but the words of remorse stuck in his throat. Why should he apologize to her when he"d caught her f.u.c.king another man?
"You don"t want your little-d.i.c.ked lover killed? Fine. I"ll let him live-after I crush his c.o.c.k and b.a.l.l.s."
"No!" she cried and dropped to her knees, staring up at him with tears streaming down her cheeks. "You"re angry with me and I can understand that, but please don"t take your fury out on him. Please, Andrei. If you want to hurt me, do it, but leave him alone. The only thing he"s done wrong is not be you." She pressed her cheek against his leg. "Don"t hurt him."
"If he didn"t want to be hurt, he should have kept his c.o.c.k out of you. No one f.u.c.ks you but me. I told you that was my p.u.s.s.y, b.i.t.c.h."
"Andrei, please!" She rose and faced him. "If you do this, I won"t ever forgive you."
"And what if I say I don"t give a flying f.u.c.k about your forgiveness?"
She bit her lip. "You might not care now while you"re angry and hurt, but there will come a time when you will care. When that happens, I swear I won"t forgive your thoughtless and needless cruelty." She balled a hand into a fist and hit his chest. "You put him down now."
"Or?"
"Or I"m going to call your bluff and force you to hurt me." She leaned forward and glared up at him. "That might not bother you now, but when you"re in your right mind again, you"ll regret hurting me. By then it will be too late to undo what you"ve done. I"ll either be dead or unwilling to ever forgive you. If that"s what you want, go ahead and hurt him."
"I"m a vampire. I learned a long time ago how to deal with regrets."
"Have you? Well, know this, Andrei. You"ll have to live far longer than you"ve already lived before you meet another woman who loves you half as much as I do."
"Love me?" He glanced down at the unconscious Evan"s limp c.o.c.k. "Is that why you were f.u.c.king him without a condom-because you love me so much? How many times did he f.u.c.k you? Not only can I smell his c.u.m inside your p.u.s.s.y, it"s dripping down your leg."
She blushed but maintained his gaze. "What if it is? You said you didn"t want me. What did you expect me to do? Sit around with my legs pressed together, crying and hoping you"d come back?"
"It would probably take a giant clamp to keep your d.a.m.ned legs closed."
She lifted her chin. "f.u.c.k you, Andrei. I decided to get on with my life. I don"t owe you anything-not an explanation and not fidelity. You said it was over between us."
"So you start f.u.c.king another man the same night you were trying to convince me how much you wanted a relationship with me?"
"Yes."
"You"re a shameless, greedy, c.o.c.k-hungry b.i.t.c.h."
Her eyes sparked with anger and she slapped him.
He growled angrily and dropped Evan onto the floor.
"Evan!" She bent over him.
Andrei grabbed her shoulder and jerked her to her feet. "You"re right. This is not his fault. It"s yours. You probably filled his head and heart with lies, as you did mine." He closed the fingers of one hand around her throat. "You"re the one who needs killing, you lying, cheating b.i.t.c.h."
She grabbed his other hand and placed it around her throat. "Then do it. Kill me, Andrei. I can"t stop you."
He stared at her.
"Kill me or get the h.e.l.l out of here and don"t come back."
Just for a moment, the desire to close the fingers of both hands around her throat nearly overcame him. It would be so easy to hurt her as she"d hurt him. So easy and yet...
Even with rage and jealousy making breathing difficult, in his inner heart he knew he was with a woman who meant more to him than he"d allowed anyone to mean in a very long time.
No matter how out of control he felt, hurting her physically was out of the question.
He sucked in an angry breath and removed his hands from her throat. "You"re not worth the time it would take to kill you."
She bent over Evan.
He turned and stalked across the room.
"Andrei?"
He turned at the door to stare at her. She sat on the floor with Evan"s head cradled on her lap. "What?"
She moistened her lips. "I shouldn"t have slept with him so soon. I know that, but I was hurt and I just wanted to feel as if I was attractive after you rejected me."
"So it"s my fault you can"t keep your d.a.m.n legs closed? f.u.c.k you, b.i.t.c.h."
"Oh, Andrei. Please don"t keep calling me a b.i.t.c.h like that."
"G.o.d, I wish I"d never met you." He raced from the room.
The sounds of her sobs haunted him as he fled. He didn"t dare return. If he did, he would probably kill them both.
Andrei drove well above the speed limit down the interstate for several hours, consumed with rage. The knowledge that Dacoda had slept with another man so quickly, combined with the knowledge that Tat had interfered when he would have warned Evan away from her, felt like a betrayal of the worst kind. Now that Tat had found her bloodl.u.s.t, she didn"t give a f.u.c.k if he was happy or miserable.
Near dusk, he turned into a quiet New Jersey suburb. He closed his eyes and leaned back against the headrest. His rage hadn"t lessened any, and he knew he needed to speak to someone before he did something he"d regret. Ideally, he would have spoken to Tat or Aleksei. Tat was out of the question, and Aleksei had enough on his plate at the moment without Andrei dumping on him. If he talked to Vlad, he would probably suggest Andrei kill Evan and anyone else who went anywhere near Dacoda.
Although he had no particular objection to killing Evan, he feared Dacoda would never forgive him if he did. There was only one other person he could talk to. Before he did that, he wanted to ensure someone besides the lovesick Tat watched over Dacoda- in case he weakened and tried to hurt her in an uncontrollable rage.
There was one individual he trusted as much as he did his siblings. He alighted from his SUV and walked to the door of the large, single home in whose driveway he"d parked.
The vampire who responded to his knock was tall and dark with a shaved head, a neat goatee and dark skin. He smiled and drew Andrei inside. "Drei! What brings you here?"
Andrei sighed and shook his head. "I was sorry to hear about your great-uncle, Michaelangelo."
"You don"t know how lucky you are, Drei, to have a large, loving family. When my Uncle Charles died, I lost my last close relative." He sighed and shook his head. "What brings you here? You look distressed."
"I need a favor. I would normally ask Sei and Tat or-"
Michaelangelo placed a hand on his shoulder. "There"s no need to explain. Aleksei is one of my oldest friends. If one of his siblings needs help, I"ll do my absolute best. Tell me how I can help."
He told him about Dacoda and Evan. "I"m afraid I"m going to kill him. Maybe her too. I need you to make sure that doesn"t happen."
Michaelangelo considered him in silence for several long moments. "How hands-on do you want me to be?"
"Don"t interfere unless you think I might be about to kill both their a.s.ses."
He nodded then frowned. "If this woman means so much to you, why are you running away from her?"
"I have to." He raked a hand through his hair. "I can"t ever remember feeling like this. I want to hug her and kiss her and strangle her for doing this to me. I hate her. And yet I..."
"Love her?"
He swallowed hard. "I need to put some distance between myself and her. But I need to know someone capable of stopping me will be watching if I lose it and go after her."
"Go. I"ll be watching."
"Thank you."
Chapter Sixteen.
Over the next several weeks Andrei avoided everyone close to him. Tat called out to him, but he ignored her. She was part of the problem and one of the last people he wanted to see. With each week that pa.s.sed, he felt more alone and his fury grew.
Finally, seven weeks later, he found himself outside Dacoda"s apartment late one night. He hesitated and then knocked on her door.
When she opened the door, her eyes widened and her lips trembled. "Andrei! Where have you been? Tat has nearly lost her mind worrying about you." She pulled him inside and closed the door. "Are you all right?"
"No!" He leaned against the closed door, struggling to control his feelings. He wanted to reach out and pull her into his arms and hold her and never let her go. He allowed his gaze to sweep over her. It was late and she wore a baggy, oversized nightshirt that ended just above her legs. He"d spent weeks longing to feel those legs wrap around his body as he lay between her thighs, buried b.a.l.l.s-deep in her sweet p.u.s.s.y.
His gaze moved up her legs and lingered over her midsection. Bile rose in his throat and he slowly raised his gaze to hers. "Dacoda? Are you...?"
"Am I what?" She moved her left hand behind her back.
He pushed away from the door. She backed away. He reached out and closed his fingers over her arm, bringing her to a halt. With his other hand, he gripped the end of her nightshirt and pulled it up, exposing her belly. It had never been particularly flat, but now there was a definite swell to it. He stared down into her eyes. "Dacoda?"
She swallowed slowly and nodded, averting her gaze.
He put a hand under her chin and made her look at him. "You"re pregnant?"
"Yes."
He moistened his lips. "How...how...whose...?"
She brought her left hand from behind her back, revealing a diamond ring on the third finger.
"Are you telling me he"s the father?"
She closed her eyes and leaned her head against his chest. "Yes."
"And you"re wearing an engagement ring?" He curled his fingers in her hair and gave a little jerk, pulling her head back. "Are you telling me you"re going to marry him?"
"He"s in love with me, Andrei."
"And are you in love with him?"
"I"m pregnant and I"m going to marry him in two weeks."
"Are you in love with him?"
"I wasn"t at first, but he"s never wavered in his desire for me. When you rejected me, he was there making me feel attractive, loved and desired. Yes. I do love him."
He swallowed hard, feeling as if the world around him was spinning out of control. He closed his eyes briefly. "What about all the lies you spun me?"
She touched his cheek. "They weren"t lies. You know that, but you rejected me, and as painful as it was, I moved on. I know most women would have spent weeks or months agonizing over you. I chose to move on immediately. I"m pregnant by a man who loves me and wants to marry me. I know you"re unhappy. I"m so sorry about that, but when you rejected me, he made me feel wanted and desired. You f.u.c.ked me, called me a b.i.t.c.h more times than I can remember, and told me not to stalk you. What did you expect me to do? Wait for you to come around so you could reject me again?"
His nostrils flared. "You knew I didn"t mean any of that. How could you do this to me?"
She touched his cheek, her eyes filling with tears. "Andrei, please don"t make this any harder than it needs to be. I have needs you weren"t willing to meet. Evan was."
He jerked away from her. "You didn"t give me a chance. My back was barely turned before you had your legs spread wide and invited him to jump between them like a five-dollar wh.o.r.e."
The tears spilled down her cheeks and she pressed the back of her hand against her mouth. "How can you be so hateful and expect me to continue to take your s.h.i.t?" She hit her fist against his shoulder. "Why are you so determined to hurt me?"
"Hurt you? What the h.e.l.l about me? I haven"t gotten anyone pregnant while we"ve been apart. I haven"t been sticking my c.o.c.k into anyone willing to part her legs for me. And I"ve had plenty of offers."
She sucked in a breath and lifted her chin. "Then you should have accepted some of them, because I"ve had enough of your s.h.i.t, Andrei. You rejected me and I landed on my feet with a man who loves me. What"s the matter? You"d prefer I was alone and miserable?"
"I"d prefer to wring your neck."
She slapped him. "I"ve had it with you coming in here and threatening me. I"ve moved on. I"m over you, Andrei. Now you get over it and stay the h.e.l.l out of my life. I" m pregnant, engaged and happy! I"m sorry if that displeases you, but I"ll be d.a.m.ned if I" ll allow you to try to tear me down just because you can"t make up your mind if you want me or not."
"I do want you!" The words were forced from him almost against his will. "And d.a.m.n you, you know it. You knew it when you let him f.u.c.k you."
She sighed. "It"s too late to decide you want me. Even if I were foolish enough to believe you now and risk you changing your mind again-"
"I never changed my mind from the moment we..." He raked a hand through her hair. "You knew I wanted you, Dacoda."
"I also knew you didn"t mind hurting me."
"d.a.m.n you."
"Whatever you feel or felt, it doesn"t matter now, because I"m committed to Evan."
He jerked her against him. "I don"t care about him."
She pulled away from him. "Well, I do."
He felt the rage knotting in his gut rising to choke him. "I... I want you," he said again, his voice softer. "I know I behaved badly and-"