10. Ranger

[ 10 ]

RANGER

. . . you will always get what you want.

Was he having a fucking laugh? Until Viktor and Locke had escaped captivity alive, my worst fears had always come true: My dad was dead, Folk had come back from war a different man than when he left, and the Kings really had found Rocco’s bones in a fucking dog kennel.

Viktor left the room.

I followed and tracked him as he disappeared into the bathroom and shut the door.

Then I took a moment to breathe, thankful that this version of Vik apparently washed a lot. Shitting hell. How had I forgotten what this dude did to me? How he made my heart pound with his hot stare and drove every ounce of common sense I had out the window with a single fucking smile?

Not that he’d smiled that much in the short time we’d spent together, but Vik had the kind of face that didn’t need much emotion to shine. His eyes glittered, those cheekbones popped, and combined with the scruffy jaw he now sported, I was a certified mess.

You got a boner ten minutes in. I’d nearly kissed him—I’d nearly mauled him when he was a day out from a junk binge. What genre of twat was I for believing I’d be able to handle this shit?

Reeling, I closed my eyes, every other sense trained on the sound of running water filtering from the bathroom, and definitely not on the fact that fucking Viktor was fucking naked on the other side of that door. The slash on my torso itched. I focused on that, and the soft thump in my temple, and finally got my shit under control.

I wasn’t here to fuck Viktor.

Or even think about fucking him.

I was here cos he needed me, even if he didn’t know it yet.

The shower shut off.

My eyes flew open, razor-sharp awareness dragging me out of my lean-to with the doorway just in time for Viktor to emerge from the bathroom.

It wasn’t the first time I’d seen him in a towel in the last twenty-four hours, but I was better prepared for it on my second go. For the roped scars marring his too-pale skin. For the subtle tattoos I’d convinced myself I’d never pressed my lips to in the low light of his Leeds living room, mandy and dubstep pulsing my blood.

You definitely did that.

Viktor left his bedroom door open. On purpose or cos he wasn’t used to company, I couldn’t tell. Didn’t matter. I wasn’t strong enough to control my wild imagination, but I had the manners—just—to avert my gaze before he dropped the towel.

“You have everything you need?”

Fuck. My eyes flashed open again to find Viktor right in front of me. Dressed, thank the lord, but with his wet hair slicked back enough that I just about died. “Need?”

Pretty sure my subconscious had already covered that, but maybe he was talking about something else.

Viktor leaned closer. “I do not know you as well as I used to, but if you are the man I remember, you travel light, no? I’m wondering what you did not think to bring with you.”

“Like what?”

“Clothes. Sun protection. A book. I live a boring life, Asher. You will need to occupy your time when you figure that out.”

I would never get bored of him saying my name like that. Of the orange-blossom scent that clung to him whatever chuffing state he got himself in. And sun protection could fuck off. I couldn’t wait to smoke a cigarette with some rays on my back. Just give me a minute to not worry that he was gunning to sneak off and score. “Thanks for the concern, but I’m pretty mint at entertaining myself.”

Viktor shrugged. “Okay then.”

He clicked his teeth and he and Lida moved off, heading for the patio doors.

I followed him, of course. Every day, every hour, this was my church.

Viktor stepped outside and headed for the billion and one fruit trees that filled his property. A maze of them that made the air smell just like him. Funny that. Of all the things I’d dreamed of learning about him, I hadn’t had Satsuma Island on my bingo card.

Or sunshine hikes, but I dug it. And the view? The mountains, the ocean, and his lithe body?

Yeah.

Take the Monster Munch back, I’d do this shit for free.

Jakov hasn’t paid you yet.

Viktor headed down the mountain, past his sister’s property, largely ignoring me until I saved Lida the trouble of running between us and caught him up.

“You have seduced my dog.” Viktor glanced my way. “She does not leave me for anyone else.”

“She knows I’m good for you.”

“Jake is good for me. She would still never walk at his side over mine.”

We broke the cover of the trees and the sun hit my face. “What does that tell you?”

“That she ate weed when she was with you in Devon and she has never been the same since.”

I kicked a rock, scuffing my already scuffed-to-fuck boots. I hadn’t been the same since I’d rocked up to the RK compound to find Lida living with Locke and his harem, but I wasn’t sure how to explain that. So I said nothing. Let Vik think whatever he wanted. Then died of curiosity as I realised I really wanted to fucking know. “I didn’t drug your dog into liking me. She just does. And for the record, when she was with the Kings, she pretty much liked everyone.”

“Pretty much? That does not imply everyone.”

“She didn’t like the bloke I punched the other night.”

Viktor absorbed that with a wry smile. “She is never wrong.”

“Even when you think she’s eaten an ounce of weed to like me?”

“Even then.” Viktor reached the property boundary and crouched to examine a spot in the fence that looked fucking fine to me. “Did you fix this?”

“No. You did.”

“What?”

I squatted beside him. “This is where you made your great escape from the other night. You fixed it before you scarpered.”

“Before . . .” Viktor’s gaze darted up and down the mountain. “This, I remember. But how did I get back in?”

“Through the gate like a normal person.”

“How do you know?”

“I saw you.”

“How?”

“Jakov gave me extra eyes.”

Viktor pursed his lips, concealing however he felt about that as his hands hovered too close to the live fence for my nerves.

Fuck this.

I grasped his wrist and rose, bringing him with me.

He arched a brow that gleamed with copper flecks in the high sun. “If you have these extra eyes, why do you feel the need to shadow my every step?”

“Cos you’re a slippery motherfucker.”

“I am?”

“You might be,” I corrected. “Time will tell.”

“How much time?”

“Up to you, luv.”

“Nothing is up to me.” Viktor wrenched his arm free and stomped away, continuing his path down the mountain to the gates that would expose him to the outside world.

I was ready if he went through them, locked and loaded with a knife in my boot, every scrap of muscle and bone primed to fight for him. But I was fairly sure he wouldn’t. If there was one thing Jakov had impressed on me more than anything, it was that Viktor’s disregard for life only applied to his own.

“Sometimes I think that dog is the only reason he breathes. I need you to change that.”

Like I could teach anyone how to breathe for themselves.

Viktor bypassed the gates and led Lida on a loop of the southern boundary, letting her rootle about in the earth, the sun too hot to run her properly. The rumble of a vehicle engine reached us, but he didn’t look up.

I did. His sister was descending the mountain in her subtly blast and bullet-proofed SUV, and like the first time I’d met her, I couldn’t help comparing her to Finch, and Orla O’Brian. To Juana, even. Those women—they were fierce. Bold and beautiful. Loud when they wanted to be heard. Katerina—Katya—Petrenko was different. Soft-spoken. Shy. She didn’t even remind me of Viktor, save the cat-green colour of her eyes.

The SUV rolled to a stop. Katya opened the back windows and the children behind her called to Viktor in Russian or Spanish. Did not have a clue which.

He replied without turning around.

An orange launched through the open window, and I caught that fucker before it went anywhere near him.

The kids booed. Katya sent me the smallest of smiles, murmuring something that finally made Viktor acknowledge the car and its occupants.

He noticed the orange in my hand and his face did something too complex for little old me to figure out. Then he spoke and the squidshits in the back of the car laughed loud enough to piss me off.

How very dare they.

The exchange ended. Viktor walked around the SUV, checking it from every angle, before he waved his family on their way.

“Do you worry about them when they leave the property?”

Viktor came to me and plucked the orange from my hand, examining its skin as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. “I do, but they are reasonably safe. The people out there who would see me dead . . . it is business. They want Jake and I gone. If they harmed our family and left us alive, they know we would burn them slowly, limb by limb.”

I was no mobster, but it made more sense than I wanted it to. “Respectful murder. Got it.”

“You have murdered, Ranger. I have seen you.”

“I know. That’s why I flicked the sarcasm switch to off.”

Viktor narrowed his eyes, dissecting me. A year ago, huddled in the rain, he might’ve laughed. Under the heat of the Mediterranean sun, his attention fizzled out to nothing, his gaze blanking before he started walking again, back up the mountain towards the house.

I followed, giving him space this time as Lida was occupied with the bushes, enjoying the view of him. Vik had good forearms. And his longer hair called to me like his lips had inside. But I fought those thoughts, focusing on the practicalities of being here. Or tried to. Cos, man, it was hard, and I didn’t mean my dick. I meant all of it. Seeing him. Hearing his voice. Getting lost in those fucking eyes, cos I’d always been fixated with that.

Alexei didn’t smile much.

Jakov either.

But Viktor . . . he’d grin all day long if you knew where to poke him.

That was before.

I knew that.

I knew it. But I was having a tough time accepting this broken version of my friend was permanent.

So you’re friends now?

Course we were.

We reached the house again. Vik sat on the patio steps, catching his breath in a way that I was grateful pissed him off. That he gave a fuck that his head spun and his legs hurt.

I fetched him a water and sat beside him.

He drank half and passed it back. “For you.”

I drained the bottle and crushed it.

He stared at my hands. Then at my face, before a heavy sigh escaped him. “I never wanted you to see me like this.”

“Look all right to me.” Beat up and tired, but that didn’t stop me obsessing over kissing him. Or over the fact that Jakey had yet to deliver my Monster Munch. “Are those your horses?”

I pointed at the smudges I’d noticed a few days ago. We’d walked close to them on Vik’s morning stroll, but I’d been too preoccupied with him to notice.

“Horses?” Viktor sat up, bumping into me, his balance way off in a way that ground my teeth together. But it was worth it for the faint grin as he looked beyond me down the mountain.

For the laugh I’d been dreaming of. “No, Asher. They are not my horses.”