Temptation (38 page)

I close my eyes when I hear his voice. Even after all this time of not seeing him, he has all the power. I open my eyes and look at Tony. He doesn’t say anything and I’m glad he’s here with me. I know if Malcolm tries anything, Tony will take care of him. The thought is very comforting.

I turn around and stare at the one man that I want to hate. I tried before, but I realized I can’t hate anyone. No matter how much I despise him, I cannot hate him. “What are you doing here?”

He starts to walk to me but I hold up my hand. I watch him as he shoves his hands in his slacks. Fuck, he’s changed since I last saw him last. If anything, he looks better. His hair is cut short in the back, but long in the front. He has it styled with a little gel and it makes him look older. He’s working his five o’clock shadow and I find that I like the rugged look on him. He even looks like he’s put on more muscle. Dammit, I look away, feeling like crap for checking him out.

“I could ask you the same thing.”

I huff and cross my arms over my chest. “Don’t you dare judge me, you have no right.”

“I know.” He takes his hands out of his pockets and moves towards me. I back up and Tony, bless his heart, steps in.

“Sir, you need to sit back down.” Malcolm stares at Tony and looks up and down at his size. Thinking better of it, Malcolm does as he’s told and sits down. He doesn’t seem happy about it, but I’m glad for the space.

“Look, Ava, I didn’t expect to see you here.”

I cut him off. “Of course you didn’t! You left without a word. How would you know where I work, or what I’m doing?” I step forward, raising my finger to point at him. “You shouldn’t be here. Why couldn’t you just stay wherever the hell you were? Why come back now?” I lower my finger, seeing Malcolm glaring at me. He has no right to be pissed off.

“I didn’t want to, but I’m engaged so my buddies from work dragged me back.” He stands up ignoring Tony as he says, “Sorry to burst your bubble here, but just because you work here and take your clothes off, doesn’t mean shit to me. Who the fuck do you think you are?” He runs a hand through his hair and looks back to me. “I’m sorry. I’m just shocked to see you again and seeing you so angry, pisses me off.”

I choose not to bring up him being engaged. I play it off as if it doesn’t bother me, but on the inside, it’s tearing me apart. He went and started a whole new life, as if Gabbie and I meant nothing to him. I can’t look at him anymore. Knowing he never cared at all about us makes me feel sick.

“Ava, I’m sorry, okay? I know you don’t want to hear any excuses as to why I left, but just know I had a good reason.”

I snap my head up and without thinking, I walk to him and slap him hard across his face. His head slowly turns back to me and I don’t care if he’s angry with me. “How dare you? Are you that fucking selfish? I was eight months pregnant when you left! You left me all alone when you promised to be there. Oh and by the way
your
daughter is doing great.”

“My daughter?”

Fuck, why did I have to bring up Gabbie?

“You had a little girl? You kept her?” He asks and I don’t want to talk to him about my baby girl. I don’t respond back. I can’t. He has no right to her. “Ava, please tell me something about her. I know I fucked up, but she’s mine too.”

I almost lose my temper. I clench my jaw, and take a deep breath. “You lost that right to her a long time ago. You didn’t even know what I was having! And of course I kept her. She already had a father that left her, I’d never leave her. She is not
yours
. Why don’t you do me a huge favor and forget you ever saw me.”

I turn to leave and Malcolm grabs my hand. Which in turn, gets Tony involved. I quickly get out of the way as Tony takes Malcolm by the collar of his shirt and pushes him far away from me. Malcolm makes a horrible choice when he punches Tony in the face. I cover my hands over my mouth as they start to fight. I stand still, not sure what I need to do. There’s no way they are going to listen to me and stop fighting. I watch as Tony hits Malcolm on the nose, and when the blood starts going everywhere, I run out the door. I look down the hall hoping to see someone that could possibly help me. When I don’t, I run down to Viktor’s office praying he’s in there.

His door is shut as I reach it, and knowing he’s in there I open it wide. “Viktor, you have to come right now!” I watch him jump out of his chair, seeing Sebastian doing the same from the couch and we all run back to room four. I let Viktor and Sebastian go in as I stand in the doorway. There’s so much chaos going on in one small room. Viktor and Sebastian try to pull Malcolm and Tony apart, but they aren’t doing a good job at it. Sebastian gets a punch to the head and falls down. Viktor ends up pushing Tony off Malcolm, and thankfully, Sebastian gets up to grab Tony and pulls him out of the room. Then something strange happens.

Viktor and Malcolm stare at each other for a long time before anyone moves. Malcolm slowly gets off the floor, his eyes never leaving Viktor’s. I want to go in and make sure Viktor didn’t get hurt, but I don’t when I hear him say something in Russian. Malcolm wipes the blood from his nose and Viktor turns to me.

“Get out of here, Ava. Go find Sebastian and tell him to come back here.”

I frown as his tone. He’s never spoken to me like this before. “What the fuck? What’s going on, Viktor?”

“Dammit, Ava! Do what I tell you,” Viktor snaps back at me. I take a step back not liking how Viktor is acting.

I look over at Malcolm and he looks like he’s seen a ghost. He turns to me and asks, “You know this guy?”

I shrug my shoulders and say, “He’s my boss.”

“Ava, go!” Viktor cuts me off and instead of fighting with him over whatever has his tempter flared, I flinch and slowly back away. I’ve never seen him so angry before and seeing him so out of control, scares me. I jump when I hear the door slam. I can’t help but wonder what Viktor’s so pissed off about. I look down the hallway again, wondering which way Sebastian went.

I see Sebastian coming around the corner, and I run up to him. He glances at me but doesn’t stop walking towards Viktor’s office. “Viktor said he needs you.” He ignores me and walks in the office. “Sebastian? Didn’t you hear me? Viktor said he needs you to come back to the room with him.”

I watch as he opens a drawer, and pulls out a bottle of whiskey. He takes a long gulp and sets the bottle down on the desk. I shake my head at him. “How are you still here knowing Viktor needs you? What kind of brother are you to him?”

That gets his attention. He stalks over to me, and stops inches from me. I can smell the whiskey on his breath, and I take a step back. He seems just as angry as Viktor and I have the urge to run back to the dressing room.

“You don’t know a fucking thing about Viktor and me. You think just because you let him in between your legs that he tells you everything?” He shakes his head and takes a step to me. “You don’t know anything.”

I can’t stop myself from saying something back to him. “I do know what you did to him years ago with his girlfriend. He did tell me that, and you know what, you don’t know anything about me or Viktor. You think just because he’s your brother, you know what all he goes through, but you don’t see what I see in him. Fuck you, Sebastian. You’re a sorry piece of shit for doing that to him.”

He starts to laugh which starts to make me worry. “Ah, you have it all figured out don’t you? That stripper you’re referring to, was just that. Nothing but a fucking bitch who took her clothes off for men and whored around to get what she wanted. Sounding familiar?” I shove him back, and turn to leave. I won’t stand to listen to him talk that way about me. I feel a hand on my wrist and I turn around, jerking my hand out of Sebastian’s grip.

“Just so you know, that bitch drugged me. Oh and the baby wasn’t mine either.” I look away, not knowing for sure if I can believe him. “See, told you that you didn’t know everything.”

“That’s enough, Sebastian.” I walk away from Sebastian when I hear Viktor’s voice, and as I pass by him, I shake my head. What a fucking mess. Viktor lets me walk away and I’m glad he doesn’t want to talk to me. I’ve had enough drama for one night. I don’t know what happened between Viktor and Malcolm. I don’t know how bad Tony was hurt or if he even was. The only thing I do know is, I’m finding Margo, and taking a few weeks off. Tonight was by far the worst night at the club, and I have a feeling it’s only getting started.

Seeing Malcolm again has shocked me to my core. I thought it was over between us, and I thought I’d never see him again. I walk back to the dressing room, wondering if it’s even worth it to try to find some closure. I know I’ve held onto what he did, but a part of me is sick and tired of it all. I can’t even muster the strength to think about what to do about it. I sigh as I grab my bag out of my locker. I do know one thing for sure, Malcolm should stir clear of us, if he knows what’s good for him.

I wake sometime in the late afternoon to a killer headache and an empty bed. I sigh and rub my temples knowing Viktor never came home last night. I still cannot get over how things quickly took a turn for the worse. After I told Margo I was leaving and taking a few weeks off, I grabbed a taxi and came home. I didn’t even stay up to wait and see if Viktor would come home or not. I went straight to bed, trying to erase the events from last night. I slowly get out of bed, and go to the bathroom. I do my daily routine and grab my comfy pajama’s for the day. I think about going and getting Gabbie, but as I reach the end of the stairs, I decide against it.

I see Viktor sitting at the island in the kitchen with his phone in hand. I can feel his gaze as I grab a water out of the fridge. I lean against the counter as I gulp it down. Our gazes lock but neither of us say a word. I don’t know if he just got here or if he came home late last night and slept on the couch. I notice he’s still wearing the same clothes from last night, just a bit more wrinkled. I’ll admit it stings knowing he wasn’t here last night or the fact he didn’t care enough to let me know he wasn’t coming home. The last time I left without telling him, he came rushing back here. I shake my head, thinking, it’s not important. I take a deep breath as I set my water bottle down and I take a seat by Viktor. He lays his phone face down and turns to me.

“Do you want to talk about what happened last night?” I ask.

“Not particularly, but I guess we should.”

I refrain from rolling my eyes and snapping. Why are men such dicks sometimes? “Well, you can start off by telling me what the fuck was going on with you last night.” He rubs his chin as if he’s thinking of what to tell me. I’m trying not to jump to conclusions, but he’s acting different today. “Vik, why won’t you answer me?”

“It was nothing. I just lost my temper because of the fight between that asshole and Tony.” But why I don’t believe you, I think to myself. Something’s off.

“Okay, it was crazy and unexpected. I thought … I thought maybe you were angry at me for some reason. I mean you do realize that was Malcolm, my ex fiancé.”

Viktor shakes his head as he says, “No, I didn’t realize.” I can tell he’s lying. I sigh, hating that he just lied to my face. And the fact that he doesn’t want to talk to me or look me in the eyes as he does say something. I hate this distance and feeling as though he’s keeping secrets.

“So, are you pissed off at me?”

He sighs and takes my hand. He kisses my fingers and tells me, “I could never be angry with you. I’m sorry you feel as though I was taking my anger out on you. And I’m very sorry for being such an ass to you last night. I should’ve never talked to you that way.”

His words give me a little solace, even though I think he’s keeping something from me. I don’t want to fight with him but I would still like the truth. “I forgive you, but you better not ever talk to me like that again.”

“Yes ma’am,” he says with a chuckle.

“Okay, no need to be a smart ass.” I get off my stool and stand in between his legs. I wrap my arms around his neck as he places his hands on my hips. “Why didn’t you come to bed with me last night? I woke up lonely.”

“I’m sorry
, moya lyubov'
. I haven’t even been to sleep yet. It was crazy after you left, again without telling me. You know I don’t like it when you go home alone.” He sighs and says, “I had to stay and take care of some business.”

“I’m sorry for leaving without telling you. I was just ready to come home and the way you and Sebastian were having a standoff, I thought it would be best to leave you two alone to talk. Did you hear what he told me?” He pulls my arms from around his neck and places them in his lap. His head drops, and I squeeze his hands to let him know I’m here for him.

“Yes. I heard what he said.” He glances up to me and says, “I don’t know what to think about it. I still don’t trust him.”

I sigh and I take a hand out of his. I gently run it through his hair and I smile when he closes his eyes and groans. “I don’t think Sebastian would lie about something like that. I know you two don’t get along, but I think he stays around because you’re his big brother, and the fact that he still looks up to you.” I laugh thinking about it now. “You do realize he did the things he did with me to get us together?”