Seth's Cravings: An Endless Series: Book 2 (5 page)

     From the few times I’d heard him talk I’d noticed that
he did that a lot…grumble that is. The man had a deep voice and spoke from his
chest. I leaned toward him with an expression reserved for the Dolly Lama. “How
so?” I breathed.

     Seth’s face took on an arrested look for a second
before his eyes moved away. “They’ve killed more people with diabetes than all
the mass murderers combined.”

     I didn’t bother to hold back my smile or the chuckle
that rose up. When Seth started talking he was quite witty. His gaze tracked
back to me and there might have been an affable connection there for a second;
that is until Dale interrupted again.  

     “Here you go, Nadezhda.”

     Seth’s eyes cooled and he looked away again. “If our
sixth player doesn’t get here soon I’m out of here.”

     Irritation moved over Dales face at either Seth’s
ultimatum or the sixth player’s tardiness. “I’ll give him a call.” He groused
stepping away. 

     “Why don’t you shorten you name since everyone seems to
butcher it.” I looked back at Seth to see him scowling in irritation.

     I considered him for a second and wondered if he was
truly grumpy like this all the time. I couldn’t help smiling at his crankiness.
“I actually do hafe a shortened fersion of my name but I only tell it to
special people…unless zey can guess it.”

     That was a lie. I normally went by my abridged name,
but I had the charade to keep up.

     He grunted out a rough laugh before taking a drink.
“It’s not that hard to guess what it might me…” He gave me another brow lift.
“Nadia.”

     I kept my face neutral, but there was a definite
twinkle in my eye. “Wrong. It’s…” I paused and leaned forward slightly.

     Seth was lifting the beer to his mouth but it stalled
two inches from his lips as he stared at me. He shifted moving his face closer
to mine and my eyes widened at the storm that was brewing in his. My breath
caught in my throat and my heart sped up in rhythm.

     “What?” He murmured. 

     The sound of his low deep voice rolled down my spine
and I forgot what we were discussing. “What?” I repeated in confusion.”

     Heat and lightening blazed in his blue depths. “What is
your other name?”

     I almost said Nadia, but then I remembered the game we
were playing. “Bitzy.” I announced a little too breathlessly for something that
was supposed to be humorous.

     His eyes blinked in surprise, but then his mouth curved
slightly at one corner and I saw something amazing. The man had a dimple!

     “Bitzy, huh?”

     I nodded feeling a bit thunderstruck by this whole coin
flip with him.

     “That name just doesn’t seem to fit you.” He muttered
lowly.

     “And what name would?” I asked.

     “Nadia.” He stated emphatically.

     “Well, I guess Nadia it is then, but that stays between
you and me though, okay.” I relented.

     Grabbing up my bottle I took a sip in agitation. What
in the hell was that!? I didn’t get breathless around men. Sure, I notice when they
were attractive and appreciated that fact like anything that was eye-catching
and sparkly, but I didn’t get all agitated about it.

     Seth leaned back in his chair and I could feel him staring
at me intently. “How about the little detail that your speech has improved
slightly over the last twenty seconds? Is that between us as well?”

    
Derr’mo!
(shit) I can’t believe I let myself
slip like that. One real conversation and I lost my focus entirely. These
people would not like the idea of being scammed. Hoping my face was
expressionless I gave a careless shrug so he wouldn’t think to use what he thought
he had against me. “I have been living in zee states for a few years so I would
hope that my speech would improf.” I only corrected half my v’s and th’s so he
had something to think about.

     He just stared at me in contemplation. I nervously took
another sip of my watered down vodka. His eyes followed the movement. “I’ve
never tried that brand before; is it good?”

     I froze minutely before recapping my bottle. “It’s top
of zee brand; of course it’s good.”

     “You must like it a lot since you always seem to have
it.” He commented.

     “I do…like it I mean.” I fiddled with the bracelet on my
wrist, but then realized what I was doing and immediately stopped. I was
plainly showing a tell. I didn’t do that.

     “Lee’s finally here so we can get started.” Dale
announced sitting down in the seat beside me. I breathed a little easier at the
interruption of
that
conversation. 

     Landon strolled into the room with another new guy I
didn’t know. They each took seats around the table and the game moved quickly
forward from there.

     Everyone agreed on a thousand dollar buy in, and it both
thrilled me and made me restless. Having the chance to take home more money was
great, but the thought of losing it was not, and though I knew I was good there
was always the chance of losing.

     During the game I split my attention between all the
men at the table. It distracted them but at the same time made them want to
invite me back again. Seth returned to giving me the silent treatment. I tried
not to take it personally since he was giving everyone the silent treatment,
but after the dialogue we’d shared I guess I was expecting more.

     Dale, the host, and resident douche bag, wouldn’t leave
me alone. He came pretty close to losing a limb when he set his hand on my
upper thigh. I contained my fury and removed it with a tight smile reminding
him sweetly that touching other players resulted in disqualification and a loss
of his stakes. Turning away I saw Seth glaring at the two of us with a
hurricane in his eyes. It had rattled me for a moment but I pulled myself
together and resumed my farce. Two hours later I was up thirty-six hundred
dollars and decided to call it quits.

     “Boys, I’m sorry but I need to call an end to zis.
Zere’s a party going on and I want to see some of it before I leaf.”

     “Well, shit.” Landon exclaimed draining his beer in
disgust.

     I held back a smile. I guess he wasn’t happy about
losing again.

     “I think Nadezhda has a point. I wouldn’t mind calling
it quits to get in some fun tonight.” Dale concurred. The smile he gave me said
he thought we’d be having that fun together. Yuck and gag!

     Lee cashed everyone out and I locked the money away
tightly in my purse. With a final, and impulsive, look at Seth who was staring
at me with fixed attention that nearly made me squirm I stood and gave one last
smile to everyone. “Hopefully I’ll see you out there then.” I waved vaguely
just wanting to get away from that look. Stepping away I walked out of the
room. I would stay my obligatory thirty minutes and then go home.

     As I walked down the hall my arm was suddenly gripped from
behind and Dale stepped up next to me. “Nadazhda, I was hoping to be your
honorary host for the rest of the night.”

     The rapacious smile on his face had my insides
clenching. I could see immediately that this guy wasn’t going to be so easy to
get rid of. Normally I was able to foist guys off on other girls with some slight
of hand…or girl…maneuvering. All I had to do was join a group that had more
than one single female, get a conversation initiated between him and one of
them, and then I would slip away when the moment was right.

     But I was sensing and overabundance of egotism on this
guy that would make him difficult to shake.

     Maybe I should just cut my losses and leave. “Zat
sounds…nice.” It took a lot for me to get that word out. “Can you show me to
the restroom first zough?”

     His smile widened. “Sure, down this way.”

     Two doors down he waved his hand forward. I opened the
door and stepped in to turn on the light. Only it didn’t reveal a bathroom, it
was a bedroom. The next second I was pushed forward into the room and the door
closed behind Dale.  

     My heart skipped but I remained calm as I backed away leisurely.
“Zis is not a bathroom.”

     “There’s one right over there.” He smirked and waved
his hand to the left.

     I didn’t bother to look. “But why haf you closed the
door?” It took a lot to keep to my charade.

     “I just don’t want you to be disturbed while you use
the lavatory.” He explained walking toward me.

     “Do you not haf locks on the bathroom door?” I was
barely holding back my anger as I stood my ground. No
mu’dak
was going
to push me around.

     Lustful eyes roved over me leaving chills of repulsion
in its wake. “You’re very beautiful Nadezhda.” He said ignoring my question. Moving
forward his hand came up to touch my hair. I raised my arm automatically to
stop him and he suddenly had it in his grip and behind my back along with my
other arm. Pushing his body against mine we stumbled back falling on the bed
with my arms trapped under my body.

     I stared up at him in shock and alarm at the unexpected
move. “What the hell are you doing?”

     His face was two inches from mine and I could read the repulsiveness
of his thoughts as well as feel his excitement on my leg. I would break that
thing off if he brought it anywhere closer to me. “You took almost a thousand
bucks from me tonight, honey. I just feel like getting something in return.”

     I sneered at him and wiggled to see how tight his
clinch was. It was a pretty firm hold, and our combined weight wasn’t helping, but
he would have to loosen it at some point. “You do this with everyone you play
with, do you?

     He pushed his erection into me. I almost gagged. “Only
the pretty ones.”

     “Landon’s pretty, go bother him, because I don’t do
assholes.”

     Anger glittered in his eyes. “I don’t think I was
asking.”

    
Huesos
(cocksucker). I
was
going cut off
his dick, and shove it down his throat, along with his balls. There was no use
talking anymore, I just wanted this over with. I could scream but that just
might bring more assholes to wrestle with, and I was relatively certain I could
handle him. It would also be helpful if I could get to my purse.

     Suddenly the door opened. Dale jerked his head around
but stayed pressed to my body. I looked over his shoulder to see Seth standing
there looking at us with fury on his face and relief washed through me. He
understood what was happening and was going to stop it. Smiling, I opened my
mouth but in the next instant he was gone, closing the door behind him. My
mouth dropped in shock.

     Dale turned back to me. “Looks like it’s just you and
me again.” Leaning down he set his repulsive wet lips to my neck.

     Rage sliced through me so hard I saw red. I couldn’t
believe Seth just left. Didn’t he see that my hands were restrained, that I was
being held against my will? Yanking my head to the left I dislodged Dale’s
mouth from my skin. “Get off my, now!” I growled.

     Another leering smirk. “We haven’t even got started
yet.”

     He bent his head down toward me again and I slammed my
head forward knocking him in the nose with my head. I didn’t do it hard enough
to make me dizzy, just enough to make him hurt and move…which he did.

    “Fuck!” He yelled in pain and jerked away which allowed
me to get my hands free. I brought them forward and pushed him off me. He
stumbled back but remained on his feet. Fury colored his face and he moved toward
me again. “That wasn’t smart, bitch.” Reaching out he went to grab my right
arm. Swinging up with my left arm I struck him in the nose a second time…hard.

     He howled and staggered back holding his bloody nose.
“What the fuck!”

     Jumping up from the bed I dashed for the door grabbing
my purse off the floor on the way, but Dale wasn’t done yet. He grabbed my
shirt jerking me back and I heard a rip. Reflexively, I spun with my left fist
making contact with his nose a third time. If it wasn’t broken before it was
now because I felt the crackling of cartilage under my fist. But then in the
next instant pain flared in my hand and I realized that I had probably just
broken my own fingers as well. This just ramped up my anger.

     Grasping his shirt at the shoulder with my good hand I
brought my leg up and kneed him in the groin with all I had. He squealed like a
pig and dropped to the floor in a fetal position holding himself. I hoped I
dislocated his balls from his dick.

     I stood over him shaking and breathing hard from anger,
adrenaline, and yes, fear. What female could go through this and not experience
fear? Opening my purse I pulled my switchblade out and flipped it open.

     “Look at me,
dolboeb
(fuckhead).” My accent was genuine
this time in my agitation and adrenaline high. Dale didn’t move fast enough for
me so I nudged his head hard with my foot. He looked up with pain filled eyes
that widened when he noticed my knife. It had him scuttling backwards while he
continued to hold on to his useless appendages.

     I followed him but didn’t get too close. This all would
be useless if he got a hold of me again. I pointed the knife at him. “You made
a huge mistake prat boy. Do you know who I am? I’m Nadezdha Cherkesov. My fazer
is head enforcer of zee Russian mafia. When he finds out what you tried to do
to me he is going to cut you up in little pieces and feed you to zee fishes.”
Dale’s eyes widen in horror at my words…my totally made up words.

     “I didn’t know…”

     I cut him off with a wave of my knife through the air.
“I don’t want to hear it,
eblan
(dumbass), because he’s not going to
care if you knew or not. He cuts first and asks questions later.” I might be
going too far but I was having a hard time stopping. I wanted this guy scared
shitless. I took a step closer which had him shuffling back more. “You’re lucky
I’m not as blood zirsty as my fazer. You took a kiss from me so I gafe you back
ten fold what you took. But if I efer hear zat you took more zan a kiss from a
girl again I will sic my fazer on you and he will finish what I started. You
hear me,
mu’dak
?” I yelled waving my knife at him.