The Bratva’s Bounty (Volkov Bratva #3)

7. Nicole

Chapter 7

Nicole

~1 week later~

Something's not right.

I couldn't find Lev, no matter how hard I looked. Well, to be fair, I wasn't looking that hard because he was usually within a few feet of me if he wasn't by my side. Yet, he was nowhere to be felt or seen today. Damn asshole left me on read, too, when I texted him and asked about his whereabouts! I mean, he never really replied to my messages before with any actual responses, but he sent me a period, at the very least, to show that he acknowledged the message.

Tracking his phone was pointless as well because he either left it at home or bugged it somehow; the blinking dot on my tracking app hadn't moved one bit over the last three hours. But, considering how he saw my message, I assumed he had his phone on him, so the fucker bugged his phone somehow.

The hell is he doing? What's more important than following me around like a lost puppy? How dare he leave me on read like he did. Who the hell did he think he is? The fucker better have a good explanation for this later when I track his ass down.

Grumbling to myself internally, I continued to sip at my drink and pick at my salad that grew blander by the second because of my souring mood. Seriously, we should be sitting for lunch together right now. Instead, I sat here by my lonesome self without my handsome hunk to ogle between my bites of food.

My handsome hunk.

God, that was weird to think about, but not thinking about him as mine made me feel empty. As annoying as Lev was, he grew on me. A day without him lingering around felt amiss, like missing a part of a daily routine; it bugged the shit out of me if he wasn't around and didn't let me know beforehand. We weren't 'together' by any means, but a heads-up was common courtesy.

Granted, I should give him some slack. He was usually on top of things and always informed me at least a day before unless it was a true emergency or something similar.

This could be one of those situations, but the fact he hadn't moved for a few hours was suspicious.

Actually, wait, I needed to not be dumb for a second.

Huffing, I pulled my laptop out of my bag to boot up one of my tracking apps to get a better idea of Lev's current location. I could dig around in my phone's app, but the internet at the café wasn't the best for the phone. Plus, I could do a lot more on my laptop, like hack the cameras at his location to get a better view of everything.

Imagine my surprise when I pulled up his full location and saw that he was currently occupying a gentleman's club. Better yet, he was inside with some scantily clad woman who had her manicured talons on his body, and he was just letting her feel him all up.

Fucking asshole! How dare he go see other women?! Seriously, this is what he ditched me for today!? To go play hooky?!

Growling softly to myself, I slammed my laptop shut with a deep scowl. I shouldn't be bothered by this; he was his own person, and we weren't an exclusive couple. But still, I couldn't help but feel hot anger burn through my veins like lava oozing down a volcano. Lev shouldn't be paying anyone but me any kind of attention !

Guess he needs a reminder of who he belongs to.

Okay, maybe I've officially lost some more nuts and bolts in my brain with this impulsive plan of mine.

Well, also, I might not have really been thinking much about this whole thing… Oh well, it was too late now. But also, Lev had no one but himself to blame for this. He should have known better than to look at another woman when he should be obsessing over me.

"Girl, I knew you had a crazy bitch in you, but goddamn, this is a whole new other level of insanity to you," Mark, a good artist friend of mine, commented with a chuckle as he snapped his gloves off. "There are other ways to mark a man as yours, ya know."

Playfully shrugging my shoulders, I let out a nervous laugh. "Go big or go home?" Too late for regrets now; the deed was done.

Flashing Mark a grateful smile, I gave him a quick hug before letting him finish his packing so that he could scram before Lev woke up. "I owe ya big time."

Rolling his eyes in response, Mark waved his hand at me dismissively. "Hey, ya saved my ass too many times with my systems and finances, so this was the least I could do for you." He assured me with a smile before leaving out the door with a small wave.

The gravity of my actions sank down quickly with the silence that filled the room, along with Lev's rather cute snoring. Seriously, for a huge guy like him, I expected some kind of blaring ship horn of a snore, not the tiny baby grunts. Also, he looked so adorable asleep, as if he were a harmless little fly and not a brutish bratva boss. It kinda made me feel bad for wanting to wake him, but I haven't got all day to sit around and wait for him to naturally wake.

So, with a sigh, I walked over to the buckets of iced water, I had set out in the corner of room, and hauled them over to Lev, who remained knocked out and tied down to a chair .

Bucket in hand, I stood there for a moment to blatantly check him out.

Fucking, hot ass bastard.

It really shouldn't be fair for someone so handsome and sexy like him to be walking the earth, ruining every man out there for me. Whenever I looked at another cute guy, all I could picture in their spot was Lev's bearded and scarred-up face with his dashing smile and haunting blue eyes. Then that body of his, just, fuck. He was a piece of art that belonged in a museum. Every dip and curve of his hard muscles seemed like they were carved from marble. Even when he wasn't flexing, his muscles stood out naturally.

It's not fair!

Huffing, I tightened my grip on the bucket and threw the water at him. Lev instantly sputtered and gasped for air as he was startled awake. His body jerked, and he struggled against his restraints for a second before his eyes landed on me. "What the fuck?" Quickly, his eyes narrowed into a glare, and his struggle intensified. "You crazy bitch, let me go! What did you do to me?!"

"Wow, usually people say 'thank you' when others give them a gift," I remarked sarcastically with an exaggerated roll of my eyes.

Grinning at Lev, I plopped down into his lap after pulling my phone out. "Smile. It's our first picture together as a couple." I joked with a laugh before snapping a selfie with Lev, who was most definitely not pleased or smiling.

"The fuck did you put in your coffee this morning, you psycho?" Lev bit at me with a scowl.

"Nothing," I replied in a cheery voice. "Well, maybe an extra pump or two of caramel." I joked with a giggle.

"But, no matter." Smiling, I spun around to face him fully after straddling his lap. "How do you like your little gift?" Leaning onto his shoulder, I softly poked at the fresh tattoo on his chest, right over his heart.

Lev's scowling face stretched out into shock the moment his eyes landed on the reddened area on his chest. "You have five seconds to tell me this is a stupid prank, that it's fake, or else I will throttle you against the wall and give you something permanent to remember me by after I'm done with you." His face twisted with fury and a little horror the more I just sat there smiling at him.

Giggling, I reached up and poked his scrunched-up nose. "I gotta say, think this is my favorite tattoo on you." I rubbed it into his face with a full laugh. "I figured since you like you to follow me around so much, I'd give you something to remember me by." Drawing out my last word with a soft sigh, I gripped his face. "And after what happened today, you need a constant reminder of who you belong to."

Leaning in, I ran the tip of my nose along his taut neck with a low chuckle. All while my fingernails dragged themselves down his pecs and abs, leaving trails of red in their wake until I stopped at the waistband of his pants, where his happy trail continued under. "I really hate how fucking perfect you look, smell, and feel." I groaned softly against his lips as I ghosted mine over them.

If I had no pride or came across him years ago, then I'd be shamelessly throwing myself at his feet, vying for his attention by any means possible. Too bad I grew up and found my worth in this rotten world.

I bowed to no man, even if he was perfect for me.

"If you're going to kiss me, then do it already," Lev growled under his breath with half-closed eyes.

"What if I don't want to?" I teased with a smirk, running a finger along the seam of his lips.

Leaning his head in, he brushed his lips against the corner of mine. "Yes, you do," he remarked with a smug smirk of his own. "Kiss me, Nicki. Kiss me and put us both out of our misery."

Grabbing his face, I slammed our lips together in a hot and messy kiss. Our tongues clashed wildly as our heavy breaths washed over each other, along with our moans and groans. Throwing my arms around his neck and shoulders, I held him tightly and pressed my body flush against his. "Please, tell me that's your belt," I groaned against his lips, shamelessly grinding my hips down against the bulge beneath my aching core.

Lev gritted his teeth and sucked in a sharp breath through it while bucking his hips to grind back against me. "You think my belt is that big?" He strained out a dry chuckle with a hard thrust, jerking my body forward a little .

Hot arousal poured down my body at the feeling of his tongue running along my neck. "It's just your thick pants making you feel bigger, so don't start talking a game you can't win," I mustered against his ear before nipping at it.

Gasping softly with pleasure, I rolled my hips against him, letting his straining hardness press right against my throbbing clit. The only thing that stood between us fully connecting was our clothes, but that could have been an easy fix if I really wanted to be crazy and take him. All I had to do was unzip him and take my panties off from under my dress.

"Nicki, don't start something you aren't going to finish." Lev strained out a groan as his hips started to stiffen under me as if he held himself back.

Deviously, I grinned and kissed him deeply. "Oh, I'll make sure we finish alright," I whispered hotly against his lips before pressing myself down against him, humping him. "I'll give you another thing to remind you of me."

Settling my hands on his broad shoulders, I steadied and braced myself to properly dry fuck him. "I need to be in you, please," Lev begged against my lips with a needy groan.

"No," I denied him smugly, picking up my pace while smirking. "If you want to get in my pants, then you have to at least be a gentleman and take me out on a proper date, wine, and dine me and all," I teased with a giggle, pressing down hard against him when his groaning picked up.

Throwing his head back with a deep groan, he started to buck his hips more at me. "All this for a date?" Lev said in a single breath.

Chuckling against his lips, I teasingly licked the edge of it. "We can talk later." All I wanted and needed right now was an orgasm from grinding against this sexy beast of a man. "Come with me," I whispered hotly against his lips before capturing them in a tantalizing kiss. "I'm so close." And he probably was, too, judging the way his groans were dragging and picking up in pace with his breaths.

My tongue grazed down his succulent neck to his chest, where my lips kissed the edge of my new mark on Lev. "Come on, little lion, come for me." I did my best to sound and look as sultry as possible when I locked my eyes up with his. Then, to encourage him some, I raked my nails down his chest to his abs again, this time harder than before .

Lev's body went rigid under me with his strangled gasp. " Gavno !" His hips sloppily jerked to a stop, and his body trembled with his heavy breaths.

I wanted to enjoy the sight of Lev coming undone a little longer, but my orgasm tore my attention away as the crash of pleasure tightened my cunt and hardened nipples, causing more pleasure to pulsate throughout my body. "Fuck, Lev," I moaned softly with a happy smile.

Unable to help myself, I slipped my fingers under his waistband, just enough to swipe at the oozing mess inside his pants. Sitting up straight, I carefully pulled my fingers out and brought them to my smirking lips.

Giggling softly, I threaded my fingers into the back of his hair, gripping it and making him look at me. "If I were a little nicer today, then I might have cleaned you up properly," I teased with a chuckle before slipping my tongue out and slowly licking my cum coated fingers with a moan.

Or maybe I should spoil both of us a little because, fuck, did he taste good! The strong, musky, tangy scent permeating the air was enough to arouse me into the mood for another orgasm. Then, the salty, bitter-sweet taste of his cum nearly drove me over the edge a little for a mini-orgasm.

A whimper of disappointment gripped my chest when I kept licking and sucking my fingers for more but found them to be clean. Without thinking, I slid off his lap to the ground, kneeling before him as I hastily licked down his abs to his pants, pulling at them impatiently to lower them enough for me to lick his pelvis and pick up more of his seed.

" Blyat' !" Lev shuddered above me with darkened eyes that made his icy blues storm over dangerously.

Getting a grip on myself, I quickly fixed his pants and kissed the front of it with a pout before getting up to my feet.

Straightening myself out, I shoved my burning desire for the bratva boss into the depths of my mind.

Swallowing my emotions, I turned around to face him with a saccharin smile. "Sorry, but I gotta run," I lied through my teeth.

Going over to the corner, I picked up my bag and slung it over my shoulder. Digging through it, I fished out a pocketknife and flicked it open as I approached him again. "I would say let's do this again sometime, but there won't be another time for us," I spoke through my exaggerated smile while tapping the blade of the knife against his cheek.

Giving him one last, long kiss, I looked at him for a good moment with a cheeky smile.

Backing away, I threw the knife down by his feet, embedding it into the wooden floor.

"Bye, anh ."