Chapter 17

“Vitaly.”

“Blaine,” Vitaly replied.

By the time Blaine reached our table, Vitaly and I had stood up. I didn’t like the look on Blaine’s face. He and his guys were ready for a fight. Vitaly looked calm—he was smiling.

“How did you…” My voice trailed off by the time Blaine’s angry eyes landed on me. He was pissed, that much was clear.

“Your phone,” he replied, like if that should’ve explained everything.

“Seriously?” I asked. I was about to say more but his look shut me up.

“Don’t, not after this,” Blaine said, narrowing his eyes at me. He was acting so cold, detached. I finally noticed he hadn’t gotten any closer to me.

“Did he take you?” Blaine asked.

I frowned at him. I was mad that he’d bugged my phone, but I refused to fight with him in front of Vitaly, who’d been quiet so far.

“Did Vitaly bring you here by force?” Blaine asked again.

Yurik was standing behind Vitaly. I had taken a step away from him and closer to Blaine, even though Blaine hadn’t moved. His guys were behind him, looking at Vitaly and Yurik distrustfully. I really did not feel like having that conversation in front of all those people.

“Let’s go,” I told him, reaching out for his hand.

The tension was strong in the room. I felt like any wrong move and a fight would break out between the two sides.

Blaine allowed me to hold his hand, but he was still glaring at Vitaly. Vitaly didn’t say anything. He held Blaine’s stare, and his guys—Yurik included—stayed put.

“Blaine, let’s go,” I repeated, tugging on his hand.

When he finally looked down at me, I saw that it was going to take a lot to calm him down. His grip on my hand was tight, almost painful. I kept quiet, though. The last thing I needed was to complain and have Vitaly fight with him over it.

“We’re leaving, Vitaly. No one is going to do anything, okay? Blaine and I are going to leave quietly.” I was looking at Vitaly pleadingly. Surprisingly, he nodded and smiled at me.

“You’re welcome to visit any time, Madeline. I’m going to stick around a few more days,” he said, smoothly.

His words got Blaine’s attention. He snapped his head back to face me. If he looked angry before, I couldn’t explain how he looked just then.

“You came here willingly?” he asked.

When I stayed quiet, Blaine dropped my hand roughly and walked away from me, heading towards the front door entrance of the restaurant.

“I’m here if you need me,” Vitaly said, taking a step closer to me.

He was only allowed that much. Even though Blaine had taken off angrily, his men stayed behind. One of them took hold of my elbow and they all escorted me out of the restaurant.

I turned back once to look at Vitaly. He smiled and gave me a short nod. It took me a moment to realize that I wasn’t imagining it.

I was at least glad that the confrontation between Blaine and Vitaly hadn’t led to anything worse than a few exchanged words. It felt good to know that Vitaly was fine. But I was left to deal with an angry Blaine.

His guards filled two cars, at least the ones I was able to see.

He had driven there in his own car, where he was waiting for me. Blaine was standing on the passenger side, holding the door open for me. His grayish blue eyes were fixed on me, but they looked so cold. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. I wanted to talk to him—to explain. But I felt like I also deserved an explanation and he didn’t seem willing to give me one.

All I had gotten from him was silence. He’d been staring ahead the whole time. Only clenching and unclenching his fists around the steering wheel once in a while.

“Where are we going?” I asked about ten minutes into the drive.

Blaine didn’t speak. He ignored me. I allowed him time to think. I’d been on the end of jealousy—what with the way his step-sister had welcomed him home.

When I realized that we were driving away from town and towards the city, I spoke up again.

“We already talked about this. I want to go home.”

“We need to talk,” he finally said. His voice sounded strained, like if the last thing he wanted to be doing was talking to me.

“Is that before or after you apologize for bugging my phone? I can’t believe you did that.”

“Are you really going to make this about your phone? It’s not going to distract me from what happened back there,” Blaine said, indignantly.

I understood why he was angry, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t done anything wrong.

“Yurik came to the apartment,” I told him.

My words shocked him—it was easy to tell. “When was that?” he asked.

“He came by yesterday. He snuck in. Your guys didn’t see him. So much for their protection,” I told him, sarcastically.

When I looked up at him, I noticed my comment hadn’t been well-received. Not just that, but Blaine was between frowning and looking worried.

“So he did force you to go with him?”

The look on his face—I knew it was what he wanted to hear. I wasn’t sure how much he would appreciate my answer.

“I’m not going to lie to you,” I warned him.

“Is that a confession of your guilt?” he asked, already clenching his jaw.

“Guilt to what? I know Vitaly kidnapped me, Blaine. But he was good to me. Does that mean I will forget what he did? No, it doesn’t. To answer your question—I went with him, but he didn’t give me a choice.”

“So he forced you?” Blaine asked again.

“He told me that he wouldn’t stop until I had a proper conversation with him. I figured that talking to him in a public place was the better of two evils.”

Blaine cocked an eyebrow. He didn’t say anything, and I wasn’t sure if he was waiting for me to keep talking.

“I met him, we talked, and you showed up. That was it.”

“You make it sound so simple.”

“That’s because it was.”

“The restaurant was closed to the public,” Blaine said, accusingly.

“I didn’t know it would be like that going in. He’s not so bad, Blaine.”

“You’re really trying to pitch that to me?”

“I would’ve left if I thought I was in danger.”

“You don’t think it’s dangerous that he can easily take you out of the country?”

“He promised me that he wouldn’t, and so did Yurik.”

“You believed that?” he asked, incredulously.

“I did.” It was sort of pissing me off that he was making it seem like I was stupid.

“You didn’t think to call me and tell me about this?” Blaine sounded hurt when he spoke. It made me feel slightly guilty, if only because if I’d been in his situation, I would’ve felt the same way.

“You wouldn’t have approved. I knew you’d have your guys on me if I so much as warned you about it.”

“Of course! He kidnapped us, and he used me to threaten you. How else am I supposed to feel about a criminal trying to have alone time with my girlfriend?”

It wasn’t supposed to be funny—not in the least. But I couldn’t help but grin like crazy after his outburst. He sounded so young while making that comment. Blaine was usually a serious and reserved guy. Heck, I was even getting used to his grumpy side. It was strange to hear him so outraged about something so normal.

But it wasn’t just that. He’d just said out loud that I was his girlfriend. I wasn’t sure that Blaine had even realized what he’d just called me. It meant a lot to me, and it sort of stopped my angry thoughts towards him.

“Did you want to see him? Is that it?” Hearing Blaine sound insecure tugged at my heart strings. It made me want to apologize, yet he hadn’t even tried to slip in a sorry for tracking my phone.

He was looking at me expectantly, and I could tell that whatever I answered was going to define a lot of things for us. After all, Vitaly had been the main problem between us once we started getting along.

“I love you,” I said after a few minutes of silence.

I wasn’t sure why I let the words slip out. Once I’d spoken up, I couldn’t take it back.

At first, Blaine looked taken aback, almost shocked. We both sat still, letting the words sink in. I could feel my face warming up—turning red, no doubt. Blaine’s eyes were wide, and he looked somewhat confused. He kept opening and closing his mouth—something he did when I left him speechless and I’d already done that a few times with him.

I realized too late that it was definitely the wrong moment to make such a confession. He was driving, and it seemed like he was struggling to do that and absorb what I’d just said. He pulled over to the side of the road after a while.

I kept waiting for him to say something, especially after the car was parked. He didn’t say anything.

“I do, I love you,” I repeated, just to fill the silence.

I hadn’t been sure how he would respond. Being shocked wasn’t the worst way for him to react, but it didn’t stop me from feeling disappointed by his silence.

Blaine was about to speak when his phone started ringing. I almost grabbed it and swung it out the window because instead of turning it off or ignoring it, he was quick to take the call.

His voice was clipped, and the call didn’t last long. Blaine, however, ended the call with an, “I’ll be right there”.

When he looked back at me, the serious and indifferent expression he wore whenever he was trying to hide his emotions had returned. “Alexander needs me to go back.”

“Right now?” I couldn’t believe that he was going to leave right after what I’d just told him.

Blaine simply nodded.

He pulled back onto the road and continued driving. I didn’t know what to say. He had his usual stoic expression. I kept trying to speak up, but I couldn’t think of something to say. Whenever I got the courage to say something, Blaine’s expression stopped me. It seemed like he didn’t want to be disturbed.

We made it to his place in record time, but Blaine was driving fast. I felt like he just wanted to get rid of me, which made me wonder why he hadn’t just taken me back home. It would’ve saved us the awkward ride to his apartment.

Instead of driving to the garage, he pulled up the car right at the entrance. It was enough confirmation that he wasn’t going to be sticking around, at least long enough for us to clear the air. When I turned to look at him, I found him staring at me.

“I’ll be a few hours. The security team has permission to go into the apartment with you.

He was going to add something else, but I opened the door, got out, and slammed it shut before he had a chance.

I had to admit I was disappointed that Blaine didn’t go after me. Although he waited until I made my way into the lobby, he drove off right after.

The tears were streaming down my cheeks by the time I made it to the elevator. Two of Blaine’s guards—the ones who’d given me a ride home the previous night—walked into the elevator with me.

It was awkward.

They were looking at me pityingly, and I just felt embarrassed. It got worse when I made it to Blaine’s apartment and I realized that two more guards were waiting for me up there. Blaine was unbelievable.

After they did an unnecessary sweep of the apartment, they settled into a room Blaine had recently set up for them. I only passed by it a couple of times, but it was enough to see it had cameras and weapons.

Blaine’s apartment was huge, but I still felt like it was all too much security. I really doubted that Vitaly was going to risk going to Blaine’s apartment.

I settled in Blaine’s room, turned on the TV, and grabbed his laptop—or one of the three he usually kept around.

Once I typed in the password, I noticed that he really had been busy working. There were a bunch of pages, worksheets, and spreadsheets pulled up. It took me time to minimize it all and open a separate browser to go online. I didn’t envy his work.

Although I tried really hard to concentrate on anything else, I couldn’t. The set up Blaine had left me in was bringing back memories of the time I’d spent with Vitaly in Russia. It wasn’t the first time Blaine had done something similar to me.

I didn’t realize when it turned dark outside, until I unglued my eyes from the laptop screen and looked out the window. It was dark. I’d unconsciously spent the rest of the afternoon between looking at the TV and reading online. It wasn’t that I was able to ignore what had happened that day, or that I’d forgotten the way Blaine had just abandoned me. I was distracted trying to concentrate on anything, while also trying to keep my thoughts from further putting me down.

I still had my phone, the one he’d given me. I imagined that he wouldn’t want for me to get rid of it, considering it was his way of tracking me down. For about two seconds I thought about breaking it or ditching it somewhere and have him chase it down.

But the guilt of breaking or disposing of something expensive that he’d bought, stopped me. Sometimes how rich he was really got to me.

I thought about calling Alan. I wanted to vent, and Alan was always willing to listen to me. What stopped me was that I didn’t want to antagonize Blaine any more in Alan’s eyes. Alan already didn’t like Blaine. If Blaine and I survived what had just happened between us, I didn’t want Alan hating him.

Even calling Vitaly or Yurik crossed my mind, but I felt stupid right after I thought about it.

It made me angry that Blaine decided to leave when I told him how I felt. He’d had trouble deciding what our relationship was.

I knew what he wanted. I didn’t think he was against a commitment between us, more like he was learning how to do things. I was afraid I’d shared something that he wasn’t ready to hear. I kept thinking that it was a mistake. I couldn’t exactly tell him to forget what I’d said. It would make me feel worse, and he would still remember it.

But I did love him. I’d known since the road trip, but admitting that to myself was hard. I didn’t think I’d see Blaine again after the road trip.

Thinking about him and what had happened brought up so many emotions within me.

I felt the tears coming back again. It made me angry that while I wasn’t able to stop thinking about anything else, Blaine had easily disappeared. He’d just taken off after I’d shared my feelings with him. I couldn’t let that go.

It was wrong, but I felt like talking to Vitaly—getting in contact with him just to get back at Blaine. My mind was taking me to places I didn’t want to go. Instead of simmering with my own thoughts, I got up from the bed and left the room.

I didn’t even make it to the door before I was stopped by one of the guards.

“You can’t leave, miss,” he said.

He sounded apologetic at least. That didn’t take away from the fact that he had just told me I couldn’t go.

“I’m leaving. You’re not going to stop me,” I stated.

He was one of the two that had been following me—guarding me—as Blaine called it. I knew his name was Trevor. We weren’t exactly on a first name basis, but I’d heard Blaine talking to him. He and the other guard—the usual—were nice enough. They were serious and looked tough, but they didn’t seem as uptight as the guys Blaine kept around.

“Mr. Hale gave us strict orders to keep you here,” he said.

“Are you going to stop me?” I asked, laughing. I didn’t find the situation funny, but he was starting to get nervous.

“If you go anywhere, we will come with you.”

“I can’t stop you from coming, and you can’t stop me from leaving.”

“You’re upset right now,” he said.

“I am more than upset. This isn’t your fault. I know it’s your job to follow me around.”

“It’s my job to keep you safe,” he clarified, sounding very serious. I wasn’t trying to put down what he did. That didn’t mean Blaine’s obsession for security didn’t anger me.

“I know.”

“I was the one who told Mr. Hale that your phone was moving, which meant you were…”

“Leaving,” I finished for him.

He nodded at me. He’d been the tattle tale. And yet I still didn’t feel mad at him.

“If you hadn’t done that, somebody else would’ve.”

Having that conversation with him made me feel like if Blaine’s staff—and he had plenty of them—were too aware of his life. All of his guards must’ve known we were having problems. That in itself was embarrassing.

“He’s worried for your safety. He is just trying to do the best he can to keep you safe.”

“You mean by suffocating me?” I was being honest, but I also felt like I was oversharing. I shouldn’t have been dumping all of my problems on the poor guy—especially when I already thought he knew too much about my relationship with Blaine.

I’d been at Blaine’s apartment for hours. He still hadn’t showed up. He hadn’t called or texted. Yet before my confession, he’d kept in contact with me constantly. Even Alan complained about how much Blaine called and texted. But that afternoon, I hadn’t heard a word from him.

It hurt that he was shutting me out because I’d shared more than he could handle. I didn’t expect him to reciprocate, but I also hadn’t expecting to be cut off.

“I’ve been working for him for four years. His brother gave me a chance even though I was a risk,” he started to say. I assumed he said that because he looked young—tough, but young.

“I’m usually called up when Bryan needs extra help. That happens more often than you’d think.” I knew Bryan was the guy Blaine kept around all the time. He’d told me that Bryan had been his guard since he’d been in middle school. Blaine trusted him.

“What does that have to do with anything?” I asked. I wasn’t trying to be rude, but I didn’t want a history lesson that would make me forgive Blaine and his decisions.

“He’s never kept a girl around, much less have her guarded and protected. I’ve hardly even seen him care about anything else that isn’t related to Hale Industries or his family.”

He was telling me things that I already knew, or had deduced for myself. That didn’t stop me from feeling important to Blaine. While I was happy that Blaine cared that much, I couldn’t kill the nagging feeling that told me I should run.

Blaine burst in through the door at that exact moment. I looked between him and Trevor. Trevor was looking at me guiltily, but he seemed relieved that Blaine had arrived. I assumed he’d been talking to me to distract me from leaving before Blaine arrived.

“Everything I said is true,” Trevor said, before excusing himself.

Blaine frowned as he watched Trevor return into the security room. “What did he say?” Blaine asked, suspiciously.

“I’m leaving,” I replied, instead.

“I told you that this week was a heavy one for me,” he said, closing the distance between us. He didn’t try to touch me or hold me, but he was close enough that I felt him. His presence was electrifying, even if we weren’t touching.

“You expect me to believe that the reason you left after I made that confession was because of work?” I asked, shaking my head.

“It was,” he replied.

“So that’s what you’re gonna stick to?”

“It’s the truth. I needed time to think. Working helps.”

“You couldn’t have told me that before you left?”

Blaine sighed, and nodded, but he kept his decisive expression. “Do you love him?”

His question caught me off guard, enough that I had to take a step back from him. At first, I didn’t know if he was serious. His features changed. He’d looked serious before, but I knew that whatever I said would be majorly important. He really wasn’t kidding.

“I care about his well-being. I was worried about him,” I replied, honestly.

Blaine cringed when he heard my words. He didn’t step away or put space between us, so that was a good sign. He had proven how good he was at blocking people out.

“If he hadn’t found you, would you have tried to contact him?”

“No,” I said, shaking my head.

Blaine was satisfied enough with my answer. He had this thing—I’d picked up on it soon enough. When he wanted to keep his impassive expression but he was pleased by what he saw or heard, his lips would slightly tug into a smile, and he’d clench his fists just once. It was so slight, and happened so fast—he was discreet, it was easy to miss.

I wasn’t even sure he noticed when he was doing it. To put it simple—Blaine was complicated.

“It sounds like he forced you to go.” He still wanted a yes from me.

He’d already asked that same question over and over again. It would’ve been easy enough to tell him that Vitaly had definitely forced me. But I didn’t want to start something between them again, especially when things were already bad.

“I already told you what happened, Blaine. I don’t know what else to say. If I hadn’t met with him, he would’ve been persistent. I thought going to see him on my own terms was the better option.”

“He forced you,” Blaine said, nodding.

And it seemed like he’d convinced himself of that. He was partly right, except Vitaly had done it in his usual classy way. He didn’t shove his opinions down my throat and force me to agree to what he wanted—like Blaine so much loved to do.

"You’re not going to say anything else about what I told you?” I asked, expectantly. I was waiting for him to give me his thoughts—whether it was approving or disapproving. I’d half expected him to dump me—not that he’d even admitted to us being a couple. That didn’t seem likely, though. He was there, and he was as possessive as ever.

“When?” Blaine asked, although he knew exactly what I was talking about.

“You know when—on the way back. I didn’t say that to put pressure on you. You don’t have to say it back. I just, I thought you should know.”

Blaine nodded. I was surprised when he pulled me into his arms. His embrace was comforting. Knowing that he wasn’t pushing me away felt good.

“Now it’s your turn to explain.”

“Explain what?” he asked, pulling away just enough to look at me. He still kept his arms tightly around my waist.

“If you’d told me about the phone, I wouldn’t have gotten mad.”

“That’s a lie” he stated, matter-of-factly.

I laughed, and lightly bumped my forehead against his chest. “It’s too much. I already have to deal with your guards.”

“You just found out about them.”

“But they’re still there,” I retorted.

“You snuck out. They didn’t even realize you were gone until I asked them to check the GPS on your phone. I had been calling and you weren’t answering back.”

“Is that your excuse?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

It was slightly hard because he was holding me so close. I pulled away, grabbed his hand, and dragged him to the room.

Too late I’d realized that there was a camera facing directly where we were standing.

“You’re not freaked out by the newly installed cameras all over the place?” I was annoyed because I felt like I couldn’t go anywhere in his apartment without being watched.

“I know exactly where they are, and I kept them to the commonplaces. I didn’t set one up in the kitchen, my office, the living room, or any of the rooms. I want to keep you safe. I won’t take away our privacy.”

It was too late for that, but I didn’t think that speaking up about it would change Blaine’s mind. He was paranoid because of Vitaly. I imagined that he still couldn’t get over how easily Vitaly was able to take him out of the country. It amazed me too, especially after seeing how cautious Blaine was.

“I want to keep you safe, Madeline. Right now, that’s my main priority.” And his words warmed me up all over.

He sat on the bed, and pulled me into his arms. I ended up on his lap, with his arms tightly wrapped around my waist, and his head snuggled against my neck.

“I don’t like when we fight,” I whispered.

His hands were sliding down my lower back. I laughed when he squeezed my butt. He was being playful. It was a change from how tense the day had been going. He lay down over the bed, pulling me along with him, and bringing me over his lap.

It was easy to forget everything when his lips were on me. He tasted minty, although somewhere there I could also faintly taste alcohol.

I pulled away to look at him. I was going to ask him about it, but he pressed his lips against mine before I got the chance. One minute I was sitting on his lap, and the next he was pressing me into the bed, laying down between my legs.

I wasn’t even sure how it was that we got there. But I had to admit it felt good to be pressed against the bed, with Blaine over me.

Everything was going fine. Minutes passed by that felt like seconds. I was lost in the moment. It was all Blaine’s breath blowing across my face, his lips biting and kissing mine, and his hands roaming dangerous places. I felt it, and it was amazing.

The moment that his hand began tugging on my shirt, pulling up, I froze. I tensed up under him, and he must’ve felt it because he pulled away from me.

“I… don’t, I just—not ready,” I mumbled, inaudibly.

I don’t know what I was expecting, but Blaine grinning and then hearing him laugh was not at all was I thought would happen.

He squeezed my waist, sat up, and pulled me to sit up in front of him. I was sitting with my legs crossed while his hands were sliding up and down my thighs. He was still looking relaxed, and was smiling at me.

“Okay,” he said, and nodded once.

“Okay, what?” I asked, nervously.

“You’re not ready. Right now, what just happened,” he said, grinning at me sheepishly. “I lose control around you.”

“Yeah, me too,” I added, giggling nervously.

He left me a bit stunned when he placed his hand around the nape of my neck and pressed his lips against mine. I thought he was going to start something again, but he pulled away after a few seconds.

“You want to wait. It’s okay, I understand,” he said. His smile was reassuring.

Just because I wanted to be really sure that he was okay, I kissed his cheek and snuggled against his chest. Blaine just laughed, and squeezed me in his arms. It made me laugh along with him.

“I thought you might get mad,” I said.

“It’s your first time. I know it’s important to you. I can’t lie and say I don’t want you, but I can wait. You’re worth it.”

I smiled, although it wasn’t as confident as I thought it should’ve been. Even though I knew that wasn’t the case, I started to worry that Blaine was willing to stick around because I’d never been with anyone before.

It was stupid, but I couldn’t stop that thought from running through my mind, especially after the day we’d been having. I felt like it had blown over too easily.

“Is that why you’re with me?” The question was out before I thought it through. It kept happening with Blaine—things that I didn’t mean to say out loud came out of my mouth before I could stop them.

“Why?” Blaine asked, holding my shoulders to look at me. He was cocking an eyebrow. More than mad, he looked amused.

“Because I’ve never been with anyone before,” I asked in a meek voice that felt shameful.

This made Blaine laugh loudly, like I’d only seen him do a handful of times. “When I stayed behind in Russia, I would’ve taken you back when I thought you were an easy gold digger. I didn’t know about… about you then. I wanted you, badly.”

“Taken me back? We weren’t even together! And I knew it! You’re admitting that you thought I was a gold digger!”

Blaine sighed, but he tightened his arms around me, and dug his fingers into my waist, making me giggle.

“You know what I mean—we weren’t together, but we were starting something. I would’ve stayed with you even if you wanted my money. You can have it,” he said, biting my shoulder.

I slapped his chest, because he kept digging his fingers into waist and tickling me.

“And you thought I was a gold-digger?”

“I thought you were after money. I simply put it that way because it’s the phrase you always use to describe it. It would’ve been perfect—if you were a gold-digger. I have a lot of money, and you would’ve been able to spend it. Instead, you hate taking anything that I buy for you. For the life of me, I still can’t get through your stubbornness.”

It made me laugh, and Blaine joined along. I was about to ask him what he would’ve done if I really had just been interested in money, when a knock on the door brought us out of our little bubble.

Blaine sat me back down on the bed. We were both fully clothed, but he insisted I wait there while he checked who it was. I smiled because he got annoyed that someone had interrupted us.

It was Trevor. He looked away when Blaine crossed his arms and frowned at him.

“Your brother is here, sir. He’s asking for you,” Trevor said, in a low voice. I was walking towards Blaine, and I’d only caught those words.

Blaine nodded, and closed the door.

“I left abruptly,” Blaine explained to me. “We were in the middle of something when I got the call that you were leaving.” The playfulness from moments before was gone. I was still amazed by how fast he was able to hide his emotions.

“Are you ready?” he asked me, lightly patting my back and pulling me towards him.

“Am I ready for what?”

“To meet Alexander,” Blaine replied, casually.

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