Chapter 20

“Blaine,” Eleanor, Blaine’s step-mom said, her eyes still on me. “Who is this?” I could hear in her voice she was forcing the words out without trying to be rude.

I felt my face burning up. The way she was looking at me, I was definitely not welcome there. When I scooted closer to Blaine, he wrapped his arm around me and started walking us closer to Eleanor.

“This is Madeline, my girlfriend,” Blaine said, leaning down and brushing his lips against my cheek.

I smiled at Eleanor, a tight smile that also felt forced. She was still looking at me in a way I did not like. Blaine noticed. He didn’t look happy either.

“Madeline, this is my step-mother, Eleanor,” Blaine said.

Eleanor outstretched her hand towards me, and she kissed my cheek. I didn’t pull away, although I wanted to. It was all so fake.

“I’m going to show Madeline around,” Blaine said, and with that, he walked us away.

I could feel his hand tight on my waist, and he felt tense beside me. He was ticked off. I had seen him mad enough times to recognize that look.

“This is exactly why I stay away,” Blaine explained.

He started dragging us down a hallway, before he opened a door and walked us into a dark room. He closed the door, pushed me against it, and pressed himself in front of me.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, placing my hands on his chest.

Blaine nestled his head in my neck, peppering kisses on my skin. “It was complicated, living here. Justine and Eleanor have a way of being... I wanted to keep you away from them and now I’m dragging you here.”

“You didn’t want them to meet me?” I asked, not sure if I should’ve felt offended by that.

“No,” Blaine said, pulling away to look down at me. From the little light that was coming in through  the windows I realized that he was smiling. “I wanted to keep you clear and safe from all of this.”

“You insisted on coming,” I told him, although I had liked his explanation.

“I want everyone to know that you are mine,” he replied.

That was such a good answer, and not something I expected him to say.

“Everyone, who?” I laughed. “It’s not like any of these people care about me.”

“Vitaly,” Blaine said in a low voice. “He’s in town, so there would’ve been a chance for him to find out.”

Again, he hit me with an answer I was not expecting. He was still hung up on the Vitaly thing. We had hardly talked about Vitaly ever since he’d seen his picture on my phone.

I had not spoken to Vitaly either. He had called and sent a few texts. Exchanging texts made me feel less guilty, so we’d talked a few times like that. I had not answered his calls.

“We don’t have to be here, Blaine.”

“I know,” he nodded. “You’re going to meet them sooner or later.”

“I am freaking out that you know how bad they are.”

Blaine chuckled, and kissed me. It was a small kiss, sweet. His hands were on my waist, and he squeezed it playfully. “I’m here with you. I’m only warning you that my family aren’t the easiest people to get along with—at least Justine and Eleanor.”

“We’re leaving, though?”

Blaine nodded. “It was too soon.”

“I agree, although I don’t really know your step-mother.”

“You’ve already met Alex. I want you to meet my father too,” he said.

“Is he here?”

“Probably upstairs,” Blaine said.

He was cupping my cheek and one of his hands was on my waist. His eyes were closed, and he was pressing his forehead against mine. He kissed me before we left the room.

Blaine had not told me what we were doing there in the first place. Whatever he had been about to show me, he had changed his mind. Blaine himself knowing that meeting Justine and Eleanor was going to go down badly was a big red flag that things were going to be shaky.

We were upstairs. Blaine’s hand was intertwined with mine and he was leading us towards his father’s room. He was still ill. Blaine thought it was a bad idea that Justine was having her dinner, code for throwing a huge party, while his Gerald was still sick. Justine had not listened when Alexander had tried to dissuade her.

I expected for Gerald to be in bed, looking under the weather at least. He wasn’t. Blaine knocked on the door of what I assumed would be Gerald and Eleanor’s room. It would’ve been weird to meet him there but Blaine was dragging me and I was following after him.

We ended up in a home office in the second floor, with Gerald sitting behind the desk, reading something. It wasn’t a book. I could only assume it was something that dealt with Hale Industries.

“Blaine,” Gerald said, nodding at his son.

He smiled at Blaine, and then his eyes landed on me. His smile did not let up, he did look surprised though. There was nothing wrong with that. At least he hadn’t acted cold while looking at me.

“We’re just dropping by to say hello. I wanted Madeline to meet you,” Blaine told his father.

I was surprised when Blaine pulled us over to the desk, around it, and Blaine hugged his father, who still didn’t get up from the chair. Too late I realized that he was actually sitting on a wheel chair.

Gerald Hale, who I had seen pictures of before, was sitting in a wheel chair, and looking older than how a fifty-eight year old man was supposed to look.

After Blaine and Gerald hugged, Blaine moved me forward to his father. Gerald pulled me in for a hug and he kissed my cheek. It was unexpected.

“Blaine told me about you,” Gerald told me.

“I did,” Blaine said, and he was grinning.

Blaine was grinning. I had seen him smiling and laughing with me. I had never seen him do anything that even showed his amusement or excitement with anyone but me. It was good to see him looking happy though, I liked it.

“Hey,” I said, and gave him a small wave even though it looked awkward.

“This is Madeline, you already know. Madeline, this is my father, Gerald,” Blaine introduced, wrapping his arm around my waist, and pulling me to his side.

“You take her to Russia and bring her to me after your trip,” Gerald said, in a playful but accusing tone.

“I told him we were in Russia for my business trip,” Blaine explained to me, giving me a pointed look.

So his father still didn’t know about the kidnapping. It was probably for the best. Blaine was right. Justine should not have been throwing any kind of party. Gerald looked happy to have Blaine there, but it was obvious he was sick or recovering from something.

His eyes—he had Blaine’s same eyes. He looked thin, more than he did in the pictures I had seen of him. His hair was graying and thinning, and he looked pale, weak.

“I’m glad you two stopped by. You’re coming for the dinner tonight?” Gerald asked and his eyes on me.

“We’re not coming. We have some last minute things to do. I wanted to make a quick stop. Madeline is staying with me, so I thought it was a good time to bring her over,” Blaine smoothly lied.

Even though Blaine had said it was a quick stop, we ended up staying with Gerald for almost two hours. There was a sitting area in the office. After a few more words, Gerald and Blaine moved the conversation to the sitting area. It was homey, obviously made for comfort.

Gerald and Blaine talked most of the time. I got a word in once in a while. I could tell that Blaine hadn’t really stopped by to talk with his father after we got back from the road trip. It was easy to tell they had both missed each other.

Gerald had called up for coffee and some cute little cakes. I knew for sure the little cakes were from the party. Gerald was laughing, saying Justine would throw a fit if she knew we were taking her food. He had a hearty laugh, one that Blaine had not inherited. That in itself made me laugh.

Blaine was usually so serious and reserved. He was not like that at all with his father. I was so shocked to find that Gerald was so nice. I had not expected that from him. I knew about him, but I had never paid much attention. All I knew was that he had been the one to start Hale Industries from the ground up. I figured someone who had amassed such an empire had to be tough.

He must’ve been. But before all of that, he was a kind man.

I could not help but wonder how he had ended up marrying Eleanor. That was a lot of what I thought about while Gerald and Blaine talked.

By the time we made it out of Blaine’s father's office, he looked happy and relieved. We were talking about our plans that afternoon.

“We’ll go to dinner,” Blaine said.

We were walking had in hand when we stumbled onto her—Justine. She was not alone. She had an entourage of girls, all looking scarily similar to her—hair done, nails done, looking glassy and fancy.

They were looking directly at us. By the time they got to us, I felt like we couldn’t get out of there soon enough.

“Blaine,” Justine said, her eyes on me, looking me up and down disapprovingly.

It was unnerving. Blaine stiffened by my side, and his arm went around my shoulders, his fingers brushing softly against my skin.

I was only glad that Justine had not gotten up close and personal with Blaine by kissing him. Now that Blaine and I were officially dating, I would have definitely been a whole lot more pissed off by it.

“We were leaving,” Blaine stated, flatly.

“You’re coming to the party? You can bring your—friend,” she said, pausing and saying the word very distastefully.

“I’m his girlfriend, and we’re not coming to the party. Happy birthday, though,” I told her, offered a fake smile, and began walking away.

I was not in the mood for bitchy. I didn’t dare turn to look at them, but I did hear her friends gasp and talk about how rude I was. I wasn’t sure why they thought that—I had taken the time to wish her a happy birthday.

Blaine was by my side, and he had a huge grin on his face.

“Maybe you are prepared to deal with them,” he told me, hooking his arm around my neck and pulling me to his side, kissing my forehead gently.

“You won’t hate me if I don’t get along with them?”

“I could care less about them, and I’m aware of how that sounds. I only care about my brother and my father.”

“And me?”

Blaine grinned. “You are different. You’re mine,” he said, squeezing me to his side.

His words gave nothing away. He didn’t tell me how he felt about me. He practically gave me an answer that was enough to satisfy me for now, but still left me wondering.

After stopping for frozen yogurt, which I had suggested and Blaine had just laughed about but still gotten for me, we ended up at his place. We were going to a fancy place for dinner, and he suggested I wear some of the things that were in the apartment. Two of the dresses were more casual than the rest.

I hadn’t tried them on. I had only tried on the silver gown I’d decided to wear before I found out about the price.

Blaine was standing next to me while I looked between the two dresses, trying to decide which one I was going to wear.

“I like the red one,” Blaine said, nodding at the knee length dress.

“It’s not too risqué?” I asked, smiling up at him.

“You can pick whichever one you like. I’m going to make some calls, and then I’m going to get ready. We’re leaving in an hour,” he told me, nuzzling his nose against my neck, kissing me, before walking back to his office.

I ended up going for the red dress. Much like the silver one I had liked, the red dress dipped low on the back and it also had cleavage. It looked expensive. It also felt too sexy. I wasn’t much for showing skin, wearing dresses, and especially wearing dresses that showed skin.

Blaine liked it, though. After confirming that we weren’t going to Justine’s party, I just felt really appreciative, so I wanted to please him.

I ended up taking longer than an hour to get ready. My first problem started when I couldn’t pick out a pair of heels. I had told Blaine that I did not want him to call anyone to help me get ready. One, I felt stupid by having a group of people dress me up. Two, I didn’t want him spending his money on that. It felt kind of snobby to have someone telling me what heels to wear or what color went better with a red dress.

I was all on my own and I couldn’t decide between some black strappy heels that looked like I was going to struggle to walk on or black shiny heels that looked like I was going to struggle to walk on. At least they had that in common. When I finally settled on the strappy heels, I picked out the accessories and some make-up from the tables that were still set up, over half an hour had gone by.

I rushed into the bathroom, jumped in the shower, and tried to do the rest as fast as I possibly could.

I did the make-up, I left my hair down and added a simply diamond studded pin in my hair to pull it back on the side, and I slipped on the dress. Over half an hour had gone by already but Blaine had not bothered me. He had been in and out of the bathroom while I was in the shower, and then in and out of the room while I was getting ready.

After I was finally going to slip into the dress, Blaine disappeared. He wanted me to surprise him—that’s exactly what he had said after I finished my hair and was wearing a t-shirt and a pair of shorts.

I put off wearing the heels until I knew we had to go. Blaine had been out of the room for about fifteen minutes and I wanted to ask him if we were already going to go so that I could put them on. I was feeling nervous about them. They were nice, much like the rest of the things Blaine had picked out, but they looked intimidating. I was not used to wearing heels.

I was wondering around in his apartment. I had already gone to his office but he had not been there. His laptop was open, and there was a mug of coffee resting right next to it. He had been working most of the day. While it bothered me a little, I knew it was him. Work distracted him, and he actually seemed to like it.

I wondered down the hall, until I heard voices by the front door. I passed by the security room, and four of Blaine’s guards were there. Although the door was opened, they had stayed in that spacey room all of the time Blaine and I were there. Trevor and another one of the guards who saw me pass by nodded at me.

I didn’t want to sneak up on them, but I stayed hidden in the hallway when I realized that the voices I heard were from Eleanor and Blaine.

I could not believe that she was there. It seemed like she had already dressed up for the party. She was wearing a gown, her hair was done differently than when we had seen her earlier, and she was looking a lot more dolled up.

“Blaine, you have not answered my question,” Eleanor said.

“I have nothing to tell you. You shouldn’t be here,” Blaine replied, and he sounded annoyed.

“Why are you dragging that girl around? She doesn’t belong here.”

Her words… hurt. They felt like a stab because I knew she was right. Although I also felt like she was so closed-minded for thinking that class or wealth should divide people. It seriously bugged me.

“I will only warn you once. You do not speak about Madeline. You do not think about Madeline. She is my girlfriend and you have no say in my relationship with her,” Blaine explained, and he sounded ticked off.

“You think she cares about you? That girl is only here for one thing. Alexander told me that she was stalking you,” Eleanor said.

The mention of Blaine’s brother and what he had said about me felt like another stab.

I was trying to sneak in closer to hear them out without making it obvious. The lights on the hallway were dimmed down, and they weren’t focusing on the area where I was at. Still, I wanted to be closer to where they were.

“I doubt that is what Alexander said, but it doesn’t matter. Alexander has his relationships and I have mine. No one but Madeline and I have a say in ours. You can leave now, because I am busy.”

“She’s the reason you’re not coming to the dinner, isn’t she? Is she jealous of Justine? Does she know what Justine is to you?” Her tone was demanding.

Blaine, it seemed, had had enough. He walked to the door and opened it for her. “Justine and I are nothing, and you are not welcome here if you keep thinking that way,” he told her, his voice tight.

“She is just using you!” Eleanor complained.

It was straight out of the being a rich snob book—the way she was behaving, it was not even funny.

Blaine shook his head at her, and chuckled. “I wish you were right. She doesn’t want to touch my money. You can leave now, Eleanor,” he said, and he sounded harsh.

I couldn’t even feel bad for her, though. She was not getting a clue. She had not moved from her spot, and she looked pissed off.

I wasn’t sure what I did that got her attention, but she saw me. Her eyes, looking cold and angry, were on me. “She says that now, and you’re falling for it. That’s how they are, the innocent looking ones, only after the money. You’re being foolish,” she told him, but her eyes were on me the entire time.

I finally walked out of the hall and into the foyer. As soon as Blaine saw me, he frowned.

“I love you, Blaine,” I told him.

I was wearing the dress, but I was barefoot. The floor felt cold against my feet, although that helped, considering how warm my face felt. I could feel Eleanor shooting daggers at me, but my eyes stayed with Blaine.

His eyes were on me, roaming down my body, and that only made me blush harder.

“That’s why you want her?” Eleanor asked, venom spilling right threw her words.

She was trying to act calm and collected, but there was only so much faking one could do before it started looking obvious that they were angry and bitter. That was what she was.

“You look beautiful,” Blaine told me, his voice husky, and his eyes focusing only on me.

I nodded, looking down at the ground. “I don’t know if you’ll believe me, but I really don’t care about your money,” I said, looking up at him.

“Get out,” Blaine ordered.

I was taken aback by his tone, and the fact that his eyes were still on me. I looked at him confused, not sure why he was telling me that. He then turned to look at his step-mother, and he repeated the words.

“Get out, now.” His words were low, but still harsh.

Eleanor was about to open her mouth to protest. Blaine narrowed his eyes at her, and that was enough to shut her up. She was mumbling words under her breath, looking pissed off, before storming out of the apartment.

Blaine closed the door after her. He didn’t approach me, but his eyes remained on me. He again slid his grayish blue eyes down my body, his face still serious.

“I could stand here, gazing at you—I wouldn’t get tired,” he finally said to me.

My face got warmer, and he smiled at me.

“Come here,” he said, nodding at me.

I closed the distance between us and stepped into his arms. His arms wrapped around me, and he leaned down to nestle his head against my neck. I kissed his neck, and Blaine squeezed my waist playfully. I was getting used to him doing that. He knew I was ticklish, but he still did it. I loved it, though.

“Say it,” he whispered against my neck, brushing his lips against my skin.

“What?” I asked, my voice also a whisper.

Being in his arms, it made me feel breathless. He smelled so good, and I loved how he felt—hard and safe.

“You know what. Tell me,” he said.

I smiled against his skin, and wrapped my arms around his neck to pull him lower to me. “I love you, Blaine,” I whispered, kissing his jaw.

“I know,” he said, playfully biting my neck.

Blaine tightened his arms around me, picked me up from the ground, and started carrying me back to his room. I was wearing the red dress. I was thankful it wasn’t short, but it was clingy and I could feel it pulling up.

Blaine took me to the bed. The way he was holding me, touching me, and how hungry his lips felt, I thought he was getting some ideas.

He set me on the bed, and climbed on top of me. Only a few minutes, I told myself. I was going to let him kiss me and then I was going to push him away. I was enjoying his kiss. His lips were demanding, but still soft. His hands were on my stomach, but they were sliding up to cup my breast. He was gentle. He massaged my breast, before he slid his hand back down my stomach.

“Blaine,” I said in a breathy whisper when he pulled away from my lips and started kissing my neck.

“We’re leaving right now,” Blaine replied, but he didn’t stop kissing me. “I like this dress,” he said, his hands sliding down to my legs.

He really did like it.

Blaine had already gotten ready for dinner. He went with a suit, all black. He looked handsome—dark and dangerous. I loved it.

After a few more minutes of having a hot make-out session in the bed, where his hand managed to slide under my dress before I stopped him, we finally got up.

He was dressed to go. Only his hair looked messy, but he ran his hands through it a few times and he was ready to go.

I had to fix my hair again by the time Blaine and I finished. I was in the middle of brushing my hair when my phone started ringing.

I walked out of the bathroom and to my purse. Blaine had left the room. I thought it was going to be my mom or Alan. I hadn’t seen my mom before Blaine and I took off to the city, and I knew Alan liked for me to check in, especially now that I was spending more time away.

It was Vitaly.

I didn’t know whether to answer his call or not. The phone stopped ringing. Not even a minute later, he called again.

I answered in the second ring.

“I want to see you,” Vitaly said as soon as I pressed the phone to my ear.

“What?” I whispered, walking over to the bathroom and shutting the door.

I had not expected for Vitaly to call me. Now that he had, I had definitely not expected for him to tell me that he wanted a meet up. It was not going to be happening.

“I need to see you,” he repeated, rephrasing his words, but asking for the same thing.

“You know that I can’t.”

“I need to talk to you about something—it’s important,” he said.

“There’s nothing that we could talk about. I can’t, that’s the end of it,” I told him, trying to sound firm so that he knew I was not kidding around.

“It’s about Blaine,” he said.

I had closed the door, but I had not locked it. Blaine walked in, and he was cocking an eyebrow, looking amused. I could feel my face warming up, and I could feel my heart beating erratically in my chest.

“What about?” I asked, trying to sound casual.

“I can’t talk about it through the phone. I know you’re at his place. I’m free tomorrow,” he continued, ignoring everything I had told him about not being able to meet.

“Is that your mom?” Blaine asked.

I shook my head before I could think about it, and then felt stupid. I could’ve just told him it was my mom and he’d leave me alone.

“Alan?” Blaine asked.

I nodded. Blaine shook his head and tapped his index finger to his watch. “We have to get going,” he said.

“I’ll be out in a while,” I told him.

Blaine kissed my cheek, and walked out of the bathroom.

“He’s right there with you?” Vitaly asked, but he knew the answer to his question.

“You know I can’t,” I told him.

“It’ll only be for half an hour at most. I will tell you what is happening, and then I am returning to Russia. I want to say goodbye in person,” he said, quietly.

His words made me feel guilty, and sad for some reason. I was actually considering it—meeting up with him. I was definitely curious about what he had to say about Blaine.

I knew the circles Vitaly ran in. I wasn’t an expert by any means, but he, Yurik, and Blaine had made it pretty clear that Vitaly’s life could be on the dangerous side. If he had something to tell me about Blaine, it might’ve been better to listen in.

There was also the fact that if he was leaving, and he sounded how he did, I also wanted to say goodbye. I felt bad. I cared about him too.

“When?” I finally asked. I had taken my time, and Vitaly had not pressured me to speak. He had stayed quiet until I spoke.

“I am leaving tomorrow night. Whenever you are free, call me and I will have Yurik pick you up,” he said.

“Alright,” I nodded.

I disconnected the call after that. I was nervous, and I didn’t know if I would be able to hide it from Blaine. He was really perceptive and stubborn, especially when it came to me.

I put on the heels, and realized that it wasn’t as difficult to walk in them as I’d thought it would be. They looked good with the dress.

I was wearing what was the most expensive outfit of my life—I couldn’t even focus or worry about that. My meet with Vitaly the following day was the only thing on my mind.

The rest of the night went by too quickly. I enjoyed it. I was with Blaine, so of course I had a good time. At first, I was nervous and uncomfortable. The restaurant, as much as I didn’t like it, reminded me of the time Vitaly had taken me out when we had been in Russia. It was fancy, it was huge, and the only way in was with a reservation—which Blaine did not have, and we still got seated as soon as we arrived.

The food was good, our conversation was light and pleasant, and Blaine was really sweet. I felt distracted, and Blaine caught on to it. He questioned but he didn’t push. It was strange, since Blaine was definitely a pusher, especially when he wanted to know stuff.

We both went to bed once we got home. I had been watching TV, and Blaine had been quietly sitting next to me with his laptop on his lap. I’d rested my head against his shoulder, and Blaine had let me. He was busy typing away.

I didn’t remember dozing off, but when I woke up in the middle of the night, I was on lying on my stomach, with Blaine’s body mostly on me. The room was dark, the TV was off, and there was no sign of Blaine’s laptop.

I stayed awake for a little while, just staring into darkness, thinking about the following day, before I started getting sleep again. The last thing on my mind was Vitaly, wondering if he was okay.

“I need to go into the office today,” Blaine told me as soon as I woke up. He had been sitting on the bed, beside me, watching me sleep.

“You’re dressed,” I commented, sleepily.

He was already showered and was in a suit.

“It’s Sunday,” I told him.

Blaine nodded. “I am trying to make up for the time I was away. I will only be out for a few hours. Do you want to come?”

“To the office with you?” I asked, not too excitedly.

Blaine nodded, but he was smiling. “You don’t have to. I could show you around.”

“Another time, I’m still sleepy,” I told him, and I snuggled in the sheets.

Blaine was still looking down at me, an amused look on his face. I pulled on his hand to look at the time. I only had to look on the other side where the nightstand clock was at, but I preferred to take his hand.

I realized that it wasn’t even eight in the morning yet, and that made me groan. I had been waking up too early lately because of Blaine. There was no point in having a summer vacation if I was going to be woken up at ungodly hours all the time.

Blaine laughed at my expression. “Sleep and maybe I will be back before you wake up,” he said, making it sound like I was going to sleep past midday. I hardly ever did that.

As soon as I was sure that Blaine was gone, I called Vitaly.

“Only for a little while?” I asked him.

“Where are you?”

I had grabbed one of Blaine’s shirts and hurried out of the room and down the hall. I should not have been surprised to find that Trevor and three of the other guards—whose names I really would have to learn—were hanging out in the security room.

Trevor spotted me, and he was looking at me weirdly. I still had the phone pressed up to my ear.

“Coffee?” I asked Trevor.

“Coffee?” he repeated, looking confused.

“Do you guys want coffee? I’m making some,” I told him.

“Right, sure, if you don’t mind,” Trevor replied, sounding either uncomfortable or thrown off, I couldn’t pick one of the two.

To Vitaly, I said, “Never mind, I have guards.” My words were quiet. I still didn’t know where all the cameras were at and I didn’t need anyone listening in on me.

“Can you get rid of them?” Vitaly asked.

“I’m thinking I can’t. I’m also thinking I shouldn’t, either,” I told him. “I don’t want Blaine to get mad at me again.”

“Again?” Vitaly asked, sounding amused. “He was mad?”

“We argue, nothing out of the ordinary,” I told Vitaly. I didn’t want for him to get any ideas about Blaine and me. “Maybe you can tell me what’s going on right now?”

“Get dressed, and I’ll meet you downtown. I’ll call you again, have Yurik extract you,” he said, and hung up before I got a chance to argue with him about it. He was going to have Yurik ‘extract’ me. I shook my head at that.

I called him back three times, and he ignored all of my three calls. I knew he ignored them because his phone rang at first three times before it went to voice mail. On the second and third call, he was sending me to voicemail right after the first ring.

I was going to show up. I was mad, but I was also curious. He was being so cryptic, and I didn’t like it. I especially was not a fan that he had mentioned something about Blaine.

After making coffee and toast for me and the boys—who did not look like boys, but guys ready to kick some ass—I went to get ready.

“We’re going out,” I told Trevor as soon as I made it to the front hall. He had been waiting for me, watching me suspiciously.

“Mr. Hale did not inform me that you were going out,” he stated.

“Mr. Hale is not here, and Mr. Hale is perfectly okay with me going out. You can come, you can stay. I’m still going,” I told him—giving him attitude that I felt bad about after the words had left my lips.

Trevor had been cool with me. I didn’t want to be bitchy. Trevor nodded, called up the boys, and they followed along.

“Didn’t mean to sound bitchy, sorry,” I told Trevor.

He had looked serious since the moment I had spoken earlier, up until I spoke again. He nodded, and offered a small smile. “No problem,” he said.

I was forgiven, and that had been too easy. I still felt better. Trevor didn’t look as serious with me after my apology.

We drove in the car I was assuming was officially for driving Madeline around. Trevor and another guy drove with me. The other two followed in another car. Trevor had already asked where we were going. He was surprised to hear that I wanted to go downtown.

“Why do you want to go downtown?” he asked.

He was on the passenger seat, and his phone was in his hand. I knew who he was texting. It had to be Blaine. As soon as we had stepped into the elevator, he had called Blaine to tell him we were going out.

Blaine had not called me. He was keeping tabs on me, attempting and failing to be discreet. It seemed like he wanted to know what I was doing exactly at the moment I was doing it. I wasn’t sure how to feel about that, but I let it go. Blaine and I would have enough time to argue about that later.

“Shopping?” Trevor asked, and his questions started to sound more probing that simply out of curiosity.

“Yes, I have a lot of shopping to do,” I told him, smiling.

He so did not believe me. He grinned at me and shook his head. Trevor was definitely cool.

He was still typing into his phone, and the guy driving had not said a word. He was focused on the road. I could tell that he was still paying attention to our conversation.

As soon as Trevor finished his typing into his phone, and I did not miss it, my phone rang in my lap. It was Blaine.

“Madeline?” Blaine asked.

“Hey,” I said, getting comfortable in the seat. I should have expected for the call to be him. I was supposed to meet Vitaly downtown and he had yet to call or text me where.

“Trevor has the credit card. He will be with you while you shop. Just… keep it casual,” he said, sounding uncomfortable.

“Keep it casual?” I asked, because that was the first thing that I could focus on.

“Regular things. Nothing that might see odd to buy in front of your guards,” he said, and he didn’t explain anything else.

I let it go, mainly because I still had the ‘Trevor has the credit card’ comment. “I don’t want you to buy me anything. I was bored and wanted to go out to look,” I explained.

“You don’t have to look. You can buy,” Blaine said, and I was starting to hear the edge in his voice.

He was getting mad. He was going to get mad if I argued with him about it. “Okay, but I don’t want anything. Thanks for the offer, though,” I said. I was not willing to pick a fight about money with him again, especially after what I was going to do.

“Madeline,” he said, his voice serious.

“But if I want something, I’ll tell Trevor,” I finished.

I had caught him off guard. “Good,” he said, and he sounded satisfied.

It was what I needed. I didn’t need for Blaine to stop whatever he was doing to catch up with me and make sure I spent his money.

I walked down the sidewalk, people littering the place, walking on either side of me. Trevor and one of the guards was up front, the other two were walking behind me. They were close, but not too close. It was easy to see, though, that they were there for me. They were intimidating, they were wearing all black, and they looked dangerous. I had no doubt in my mind they were armed.

It was freaky, but also cool. The part of me that thought they looked cool was kind of crazy, but I decided not to focus on that.

I got a text from Vitaly, telling me to walk into a store. It was crowded, a lot more than the rest of the places I had been passing through. It was early, but it was also a weekend so I shouldn’t have been surprised.

Yurik was waiting for me inside. He was hidden towards the back, standing in the hallway where the restrooms were at. He motioned for me to go to him. I turned back and realized that not only were the guys not looking, but they had not followed me.

Trevor and the rest of the guys decided to wait for me outside, and I realized that was what Vitaly wanted. After all, the shop was tiny. It didn’t seem like I would be in any danger of running into trouble.

Yurik took my hand and started walking me out through the back. The door at the back had been locked, and it led to another store. We walked through that one, all the way down, and ended up on another street.

Vitaly was there, waiting for me.

“Where’s your phone?” Yurik asked.

I patted my back pocket. I yelled and slapped Vitaly’s hand away when he slipped my phone from my back pocket and gave it to Yurik.

“Hey! What are you doing?”

“Your phone is bugged. I’m taking it for a walk. When you two are done talking, I’ll return it,” Yurik said, before walking away.

I was not happy. When I turned to face Vitaly, I found him smiling at me, trying to wrap his arm around my shoulders. I shrugged him away.

“You’re out in the open,” I commented.

“I needed to see you. Are you upset?” he asked, but he was smiling teasingly.

“Why are you looking so smug? I’m only giving you a few minutes before I have to go back.”

“We’re not talking here,” he said.

A black car pulled up then, and Vitaly took my hand in his and tried to get me into the car with him. “Where are you trying to take me?”

“We are going to talk, away from here. I will bring you back.”

I had his words running in the back of my mind. I couldn’t stop thinking about what Blaine had told me. Vitaly could easily take me out of the country. I had to be careful.

Against my better judgment, though, I ended up sitting beside him in the car. His hands were in his lap, and his leg was brushing dangerously close to mine.

“Okay, talk—what about Blaine?” I asked.

Now that I was in his car, Yurik was not in sight and he had my cell phone which I knew was bugged, I was starting to feel unsettled. I should have thought twice about meeting with him, although he had been calm and not pushing for anything.

“You look beautiful,” he told me.

“I’m wearing jeans and a t-shirt,” I told him, flatly.

“Not a fan of jeans,” he shrugged.

I couldn’t help it, I laughed. “You prefer girly dresses?” I asked, remembering Russia. Despite our situation back then, I had laughed with him a few times. We’d had our moments.

“Definitely,” he said, easily.

“I still looked beautiful?” I asked, teasing him.

“I prefer dresses, but I don’t mind the jeans, on you, at least.”

I laughed at his words. He was way too suave for my own good.

For a moment, it crossed through my mind that we were flirting. It had not been my intention, but that’s exactly how it felt. As soon as I thought about it, I tried to scoot away from him and I cleared my cheery expression.

“What’s going on with Blaine?” I asked, not wanting to get distracted with him again.

Vitaly’s guy that was driving the car had parked it on the side of the road. He kept it running, and got out to smoke a cigarette—a lame attempt to give us privacy. The windows were tinted dark, but that was about it. We were still inside a car parked at the side of the road. We were on one of the less traveled streets, but there were still people around.

“Blaine is going to be angry with me when he realizes I’m gone. You said it would be fast. Tell me, what you were going to say about Blaine.”

Vitaly sighed. He took a few moments, and I waited for him to speak. “I found trouble-” he started to say, before we were interrupted.

I could honestly not believe my bad luck. I also had no idea why we were getting shot at. I didn’t know what it was at first. I heard a loud popping sound, the windows in the car shattered, and Vitaly was trying to cover my body with his.

“What the hell!” I shouted, but Vitaly was pushing me down against the floor.

He was looking as shocked as I was feeling, although with my shock also came panic. The first person that came into my mind was Blaine. Although I was a hundred percent sure he would never shoot at me.

Vitaly cursed in his language, and he was taking out his phone. Guy with the cigarette, I noticed, was gone.

“I found trouble,” Vitaly repeated to me, before the doors on either side of us were opened and some angry Russians were taking both Vitaly and me out of the car, roughly.

I knew they were Russian because I had heard the language enough times to recognize it. They were trying to talk to Vitaly, and they looked really pissed off.

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