Raw Bloody Power

Chapter 16

16

TEN POINTS FOR RAVENCLAW

Benedikt

She’s a tasty little morsel, one I can’t wait to sink my teeth into. I watch her from over the rim of my glass, indulging in what’s quite possibly the largest slice of chocolate cake I’ve seen in my entire life. It’s not the sight of her eating it that has me grinding my jaw and palming down the semi tenting my slacks beneath the table, though. It’s the way she brings the spoon to her mouth and seals her lips around it, dragging it out slowly as she laps up every speck of chocolate fudge left behind. If that’s what she can do to a spoon, I can’t wait to see what she’ll do with my cock.

Her gaze lifts to where I sit, drowning me in their warm, golden depths. As if she realizes I’ve been steadily watching her this whole time, a swarm of heat builds beneath her cheeks. “Did you want some?” She points the utensil toward the baked good .

Of you? Yes.

I knock back the rest of my drink and set the glass onto the table, tilting my head to the side. “Not unless you’re offering to feed me a bite.”

Ivory purses her lips and breaks eye contact, but manages to surprise me with a follow through. She scoops up a little bit of everything onto the sizable piece of silver: cake, vanilla ice cream, even whipped cream, then holds it up in offering. Folding my arms onto the table, I lean over the plate and pop my mouth open, keeping my gaze fixed on her pretty face as she rises to the challenge.

“Mmm.” I savor the confection, making a show of licking my lips as the cake descends the column of my throat.

“Good, right?” She delights herself with another bite.

“Not as good as what I’m imagining you taste like.”

I expect her to falter, even the tiniest bit, but her composure remains ironclad and unaffected. The only tell that she actually heard my suggestive comment is the fiery glimmer in her eyes and the way she waves the spoon at me. “Five points deducted from Gryffindor.”

The elder millennial in me chuckles at the reference as I lean closer and wipe the bit of fudge clinging to her plump bottom lip with my thumb. “Then it’s a good thing I’m Slytherin, baby.” Said thumb plunges into my mouth, and that’s when I see it.

The wave of pure, unadulterated lust that washes over her.

Too-fucking-bad for me my phone decides to go off like a magnitude eight earthquake within my pocket before I can explore its depth.

I consider ignoring it, but I’ve been dealing with a pressing issue since asking Ivory to dinner earlier in the week. My guys have been on it, doing a deep dive on how this even happened, and I told them to call me if they found anything of substance. Fishing the device free, I take note of Ivan’s name on the screen and curse under my breath. He wouldn’t be calling if it weren’t important…

“Answer it,” Ivory insists, redirecting my attention. “I don’t mind, honestly.”

There’s no suppressing the grin that undoubtedly claims my expression as I inch my way into her bubble and press a hot kiss into her cheek. “Ten points for…”

“Ravenclaw,” she murmurs.

“Beauty and brains, I should’ve known,” I jest. “I’ll be right back.”

I’m not even outside before I’m answering Ivan’s call, pushing my way out the door. “Pogovori so mnoy.” Talk to me.

“Eto on. Vse sovpadayet,” Ivan stammers quietly, his Russian accent thick. It’s him. Everything matches up.

Rage threatens to best me in the short amount of time it takes for me to process what my right-hand just confirmed, but I can’t lose my shit right now, forcing myself to take a deep breath. “You’re positive?”

“Da.” Yes. “Dimitri confirmed before leaving.”

Another deep breath.

A hand brushing along my jaw.

I’ve had enough .

I instruct Ivan to dismiss everyone and to go home. We’ll worry about it later. Logic pointed in that direction, but I had to be certain before making another move. Stuffing the phone back into my pocket, I inhale one last calming breath and head inside.

Ivory’s reclined in her seat, one arm slung over the back of her chair as she scrolls through her phone. I try my damnedest to slip the mask in place and keep my cool, but she’s not so easily fooled.

“Is everything okay?” she queries, locking her phone to give me her undivided attention.

My head bobs. The look on my face, however, says otherwise.

“Are you sure? If we need to go, I completely understand.”

“No,” I reach for her hand, running my thumb along the sharp points of her manicured claws. “I’ve run into an issue. Can’t say I wasn’t expecting it, I just…I don’t know.”

“I’m a good listener,” she offers. “Just throwing that out there.”

“You don’t wanna hear about this. Business related and all that.”

Laughing softy, she gives my hand a squeeze. “You forget who you’re talking to. If anyone’s going to understand that, it’s me.”

She’s got a point…

I’d been taken with her from the moment I laid eyes on her in that bar, but learning she was from similar roots, a mafia family, added to the allure. She could understand me in ways the average woman couldn’t, could fit into my life the way an average woman would never dare. It’s the main reason I wasted no time asking her out tonight.

“All right, I’ll bite. Your dad ever deal with someone by the name of Guerra?”

Ivory snorts and leans in closely. “He and I both. Tommaso’s eldest son is the bane of my existence.”

“Rio?” I confirm, to which she nods.

“I grew up dealing with his shit. Adult life is no different.”

My eyebrows shoot up to my hairline. I’ve never been one to believe in fate and the Universe, and all that phony crap, but right now, right here in this moment, I can grasp why people fall for it. It’s as if she fell from the corrupt corners of heaven, a package all tied up in a pretty red bow with my name all over it.

To: Benedikt

From: The Universe

*Don’t fuck it up*

“It would appear we have a common enemy, malish, ‘cause I’m more than positive he’s responsible for the missing deliveries at my distillery,” I explain, mentally circling this girl’s name in my little black book.

She will be mine.

“Oh, I have no doubts he is.” Leaning onto the table, she beckons me closer with a crook of her finger. “Rio just set my dad back two-hundred-fifty grand in freshly washed cash, and considering it was my job to pick up that shipment, I have to get it back.”

“I know a printer who can sort that out for you.” My gaze falls on the mouthwatering curves of her cleavage for a beat, then back up to those siren-like eyes. “How would feel about aligning forces for the greater good? You help me. I help you.”

The iniquitous curl of her lips tells me everything I need to know.