Chapter 16

“Is Vitaly here…” I mumbled.

“He’s been going crazy since Hale took you out of Russia. We’ve been trying to track you down, but the other Hale kept giving us fake leads.” His thick accent was making me smile, although I should’ve been scared, anxious at least. He sounded genuinely worried—so different from how a kidnapper would act.

“Yurik, I-”

“Madeline,” Yurik said, raising his hand to stop me from talking. “Vitaly had to go back to Russia to take care of business. It seems like the Hale brothers have been busy getting into Vitaly’s affairs.”

“Why are you here?”

“You already know.” He shook his head at me. “He wants you back. He’s not going to give up.”

From what I could tell, Yurik was alone. There wasn’t anyone else in the apartment with him. I hadn’t seen an army of Russians outside ready to ship me back to Vitaly. I was hoping that meant he didn’t have backup.

“I’m with Blaine.”

“So now you’re with him?”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“In Russia, you wanted us to believe that you and Blaine were not together,” he stated, flatly.

“We are, and I’m happy here. You understand that, I know you do,” I said, pleadingly.

Yurik softened up. He wasn’t even speaking, but I could tell my words had gotten to him. “Vitaly wants to see you. He’s coming back tomorrow.”

“He wants to take me again.”

Yurik shook his head. “For now, he just wants to talk.”

“For now… So he’ll ask me if I want to go with him, but if I refuse, he’ll just take me.”

I should have kept my guard up while Yurik was there, but I knew he wouldn’t hurt me. I sat down on the bed, and put my head in my hands, trying to think. I had been hoping for Blaine to get there quickly.

But the more I talked with Yurik, the more I realized it was better if they didn’t run into each other. I could handle Yurik when he was alone. Blaine would make a bigger deal, and I would never hear the end of it.

“You could give him a chance to talk. I am not here to fix any problems between you and Vitaly. But he is not going to give up. Talk to him. If you want to stay here, he won’t take you,” Yurik said—his voice serious but still soft.

“Am I supposed to just believe you? Yurik, he kidnapped me. I’m pretty sure he’s not just going to let me go.”

“He will, if that’s what you want.”

“It’s what I want.”

“Then tell him that.”

“I’m telling you right now. Can’t you just get the message back to him?” I asked, hopefully.

“No. You will talk to him when I come and pick you up tomorrow.”

“I won’t go with you. Blaine is about to get here, and I’m going to tell him about this,” I warned him.

“If you don’t come to Vitaly willingly, he will still come after you, and you probably won’t like it.”

Yurik’s words silenced me. I stared up at him, wondering if he was really being serious. I was glad that he wasn’t just taking me. At least he was throwing me a warning. He looked so calm, even after I told him that Blaine was on his way.

“I will leave, for now. I have people watching your place. Don’t hide from me because I will find you.”

“Yeah, you tell me that and expect me not to be scared of Vitaly taking me,” I told him.

Yurik just laughed. “I missed your humor,” he said. “I will see you tomorrow, Madeline.”

And then he just left. I kept expecting for Blaine to burst into the room dramatically while Yurik was there, but that never happened. Blaine still took a while to arrive after Yurik had left, and that gave me time to think.

Vitaly wanted to see me. Yurik claimed that Vitaly wouldn’t take me. I wanted to trust Yurik. He had been nothing but good to me. In retrospect, Vitaly had been nothing but good to me too. He had never hurt me, had not even dared to touch me inappropriately, and he had so much power. Vitaly had been respectful, but I still couldn’t forget that he had kidnapped Blaine and me.

When Blaine arrived, he walked in without knocking. He already knew that my mother wouldn’t be home, and I assumed he thought I wouldn’t mind. I was sitting on the floor, in front of the TV. I’d walked out of my room earlier to check if Yurik was really gone. Blaine found me there.

“Are you okay?” Blaine asked, picking me up from the ground. He sat me down on the couch next to him like I if weighed nothing.

“I’m mad at you.”

I was still wondering whether to tell him about Yurik’s visit. I assumed he had no idea that Yurik was around, which meant Yurik had been careful not to be seen. Blaine’s guys had not spotted him.

“You will have a security team with you at all times. I am not going to change that,” Blaine stated.

I rolled my eyes at him. If only he knew that Yurik had still been able to get to me despite his guards.

“I don’t want them.”

“We’re not going to argue about this. I’m not changing my mind. They are for your own protection.” Blaine stood up from the couch, and he pulled me up with him. “Do you know when your mother will be back?”

“Why?” I looked up at him. He was looking at me with a thoughtful expression.

“I am going to be on a tight schedule all week. I want you to stay with me for the next few days. I won’t have time to be making a trip outside of the city,” he said

“You want me to sleepover all week?”

Blaine nodded. “It makes sense.”

I had to admit that I loved that he wanted me to go stay with him. But that still made me feel weird. I didn’t want to be so dependent on him, and I felt like I was already doing a bad job at that. Alan had said it himself; he thought I was leaning too much on Blaine. That scared me. I kept thinking about Blaine leaving me, not that he had admitted that we were officially dating, which was another thing we had to discuss.

“Only in your world,” I told him.

“Madeline…”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea, as nice as your offer sounds.”

“Why?” Blaine asked, looking offended.

“I don’t know. You just said that you’ll be busy all day. Am I supposed to be waiting around at your apartment until you have time to pay attention to me?” I couldn’t help that my voice sounded whiny when I spoke.

He took my hand in his, pulling on my arm so that I was more or less leaning on him until we sat back down on the couch. “I would make time for you,” he said, quietly. “It would be easier if you were in the city with me. I would have an excuse to give to Alexander.”

“So you’re just using me to get out of work?” I asked, with a smile on my face.

Blaine leaned closer to me, and he nuzzled his nose against mine. He smelled so good, and he felt so warm. I wanted him to hold me. When I brushed my lips against his, Blaine wrapped his arms around me and sat me on his lap.

I had missed him. I had missed him so much. He was kissing me, his lips moving desperately against mine like he couldn’t get enough of me. It felt like we hadn’t seen each other in a long time, even though we had been together just the day before.

“Will you come with me to my apartment?” Blaine asked.

Whenever he asked me questions like that, I couldn’t help but notice the demanding tone on his voice. He asked, but he also expected for me to agree. He and Vitaly had that in common.

I had so many things to consider. I was still on the fence about Vitaly. I wasn’t sure whether to tell Blaine about it or not. There was no way I could meet up with him if Blaine was there. I shouldn’t have been thinking about it, but I did want to clear things up with Vitaly. Yurik hadn’t tried anything. He’d left quietly. It made me think that maybe Vitaly would respect my decision of staying with Blaine.

That was what mainly kept me from agreeing to leave with Blaine to his apartment for the week. But I also didn’t want to start getting used to being in Blaine’s life so much. I knew myself well enough to know that I was just going to set myself up for a huge fall by spending so much time with him.

“I already told you I can’t,” I said, and the disappointment slipped right through my voice.

“What else are you going to do?”

“I hate when you talk like that.”

“How?” he asked, frowning.

“Like if I don’t have a life.” I couldn’t really argue with him, but that didn’t mean he had to consider his time more important than mine.

“I want to spend time with you. Is that so bad?” he asked, and he sounded offended.

“No, it isn’t.”

He was making me feel guilty. The entire conversation had me torn. On the one hand, I wanted to spend the most time with Blaine that I could. Unlike him, I wasn’t confused with my emotions and I knew what I wanted.

“Come with me for the week. I will get you back home by Sunday.”

“Will you ask me to go back to your apartment next Monday? If you don’t have free time this week, I doubt you’ll have free time next week.”

“I will make time,” Blaine insisted.

“Why don’t you make time this week, then? You can come and see me during the week, and I’ll sleep over on the weekend.”

It was pitiful that I wanted to just drop everything and leave with him. Alan was right; I was becoming too dependent on Blaine. But I didn’t mind it, and I wasn’t sure whether that was good or bad.

“I want you to come with me.”

“I want to spend some time with my mom and Alan.”

Blaine was not happy. I expected him to argue with me until I finally decided to leave with him. Instead, I somehow ending up with my lips pressed to his.

Our kisses and make-out sessions were always steamy. It was almost always intense, and he liked to be in control. I didn’t mind, for the most part. His hands were usually on my waist, or my lower back. Once in a while, they’d go a little lower, but that was still okay. A part of me was scared of how far he would want to go.

I wasn’t ready to take that next step. Although I pushed the limits, and did plenty of kissing and touching with Blaine, we never ended up without clothes, but his hands did end up in dangerous places.

I ended up laying on my back, with Blaine over me. I was surprised that he had pushed for that much while we were there. He was usually more cautious, especially around a place where my mom could find us.

I’d had to stop him several times when he tried to take my shirt off, and while I laughed it off, it still made me nervous.

We were in my living room when my mom arrived. The door opening had already gotten my attention, but when I pushed Blaine to get off, he simply ignored me, until my mom cleared her throat and got his attention.

Blaine went red, and I couldn’t stop myself from giggling. He looked really embarrassed. I was sure if I touched his face, it would feel warm. We both stood up from the couch, Blaine pushing me in front of him. He was standing so close to my back, I could feel what he was trying to hide from my mom. It made blush.

“I didn’t know you would be dropping by, Blaine,” my mom said, a teasing smiling on her lips.

“I wanted to see Madeline. I didn’t realize it had gotten so late,” Blaine replied, fixing up his dark gray suit. He looked perfect. He always did.

“Are you spending the night?” my mom asked, casually, like if she was inviting him over for lunch or dinner. I was just as surprised as Blaine was to hear her question.

“Actually, I was just leaving,” Blaine said.

“It didn’t look like you were leaving,” my mom told him, cocking an eyebrow. There was still a knowing smile on her lips.

I again, couldn’t help but giggle.

“I should get going. I have a meeting early tomorrow morning.”

“You can stay here, if you want,” I told him, so that he knew I wouldn’t mind.

It was almost three in the morning. I hadn’t expected for Blaine to stay so long. We ended up… making out and time just passed by without us noticing.

“No, I should go,” Blaine said, wrapping his arm around me.

“I’ll leave you two alone. You can stay the night if you want, Blaine. I don’t mind. It was good seeing you,” she said, before walking to her room.

It was already way too late, and she had looked tired. I assumed she was turning in for the night.

“This wouldn’t have happened at my place,” Blaine said as soon as my mom was out of sight.

“I’m still not going with you,” I told him, playfully slapping his chest.

“I have to be at the office by ten. I have a conference call, and Alexander and I have a meeting at eleven.”

“You weren’t lying about the busy week you’ll have?” I asked, placing my hands on either side of his face. Blaine had to lean down so that I could reach him, and his hands were securely wrapped around my waist.

“A hellish week is what I would call it. If you would leave with me, it would be easier for both of us.”

I laughed at his insistence. “Wouldn’t you love that?”

“Yes, I would,” he said, leaning down to brush his lips on mine. “I should go.”

“No,” I shook my head. “You’re staying here. You can sleep in the room with me.”

“Madeline…” he mumbled, nuzzling his nose against mine.

“Come on,” I told him, grabbing his hand and pulling him towards my room. I led the way, but Blaine didn’t even put up a fight. He was letting me take him to my room.

While I started looking for clothes, Blaine once again began inspecting my room. It was small, but cozy. He just seemed interested in checking out every single thing I had.

“You added pictures of us… of me,” Blaine said. He was smiling when he turned to face me. “You should pin up more pictures of us together.”

“I don’t have any clothes for you. I’d call Alan, but he would probably make a big deal about it.”

“Why would he even care? And I wouldn’t wear his clothes either way.”

I rolled my eyes at the hard tone he’d used. I didn’t know what to do to make them like each other. Blaine seemed to be jealous of Adam, and Adam thought Blaine was consuming my time. I no doubt thought Alan was also a little jealous of Blaine.

Since the moment Alan and I met, we had gotten along. He never had anyone to compete with. I had a few friends but no one that I actually hung out with outside of school. And I’d never had a boyfriend.

“Do you mind sleeping in your boxers?” I asked, awkwardly.

Blaine grinned at my tone, and shook his head. “I don’t mind if you don’t.”

That night, we both slept on my bed. It wasn’t the first night we slept together. It had happened plenty of nights before that. On our road trip, Blaine and I had shared a bed almost every night—whenever he actually went to bed, and he didn’t stay up all night working. At his apartment, we had shared a bed. The only difference was that this time, my mom was in the apartment.

Having Blaine in my room felt so private—more than when Alan or any of his friends invaded my space, because I cared about what Blaine thought.

Blaine was up the following morning by six-thirty. He had only slept a handful of hours, which wasn’t unusual for him. He had to wake up early for the two hour drive back to the city. He also needed to make time to go to his apartment to shower and change.

“I will be busy the entire day,” he told me.

“I know.”

“If you want to come with me right now, I will take you to the apartment. I can make time for us to have lunch.”

“But you will still have to go back, and you’ll probably stay at Hale Industries until late at night.”

“Not if you leave with me.”

“Just go,” I said, pushing on his chest.

We were standing by the door. My mom was still sleeping, so we practically had the apartment to ourselves. Blaine had only dressed up, and we had talked a short while. I had made coffee. Although I was still way too sleepy, I sat in the kitchen table with Blaine while he drank coffee and ate some toast I’d made.

Other than hating that he had to go, I liked the setting, until he reminded me that he had to get back to the city.

“If you change your mind, I can have somebody pick you up,” he said, caressing my cheek.

“Don’t you mean you’ll call your guys outside and tell them to come knocking on my door?”

“They are there for your safety, Madeline. I want you to understand that.”

I felt guilty for hiding Yurik’s visit from him. I didn’t want any secrets between us, but I didn’t know how he would react to it.

“I understand. I don’t have any choice,” I sighed.

“I will call you,” he said.

“Okay,” I nodded.

After kissing me, deeply, and holding me tightly until I felt like he was squeezing the life out of me, he finally left.

I went back to bed after he left. It felt empty without him there. I could faintly smell his scent on the pillow he’d used—a purple one, much like most of the things in my room.

I hugged it close to me and tried to fall back to sleep.

Alan woke me up a few hours later. I heard him moving around my room, before I sleepily sat up on my bed.

“Hey, when did you get here?” I asked him, my voice croaky from sleep.

I rubbed my eyes. I almost didn’t believe Alan when he told me it was past midday. I had been sleeping in way too much. When I was still in school, I reserved sleeping in for weekends. Now it was happening almost every day, especially since I had met Blaine.

“I’ve been here for a while. Your mom’s up. She made pancakes,” Alan said, rubbing his stomach happily. He was sitting on one of my bean bags, his laptop on his lap.

He was wearing khaki shorts and a black t-shirt—typical attire for Alan, especially in the summer.

“I heard the not-boyfriend-that-wants-all-of-your-attention slept over.”

“You have something to say about it,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“I told you I’d be cool about it, and I will be. I’m trying to keep an open-mind here, Mads. The dude is just too… I don’t know. At least you look happy.”

“I am. I’m really happy. I really like him, Alan.”

“I know, I know.”

Alan used my Wi-Fi for about an hour or two after that before he had to go. He and Lara were going to meet up for a date, in the city, coincidentally. I didn’t tell him that Blaine had been pestering me about leaving with him. It would just add another reason for Alan not to trust Blaine.

My mom ended up leaving to run some errands while Alan had been there with me. By the time Alan left, she still hadn’t returned.

I had nothing to do, so I ended up lazing around the apartment after Alan left. I was watching TV when Yurik strolled into my apartment like he owned the place.

“Are you ready?” Yurik asked, looking down at my attire. I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt, the clothes I’d worn to bed. They weren’t too showy, since I had shared the bed with Blaine.

“Where is he?”

“We rented a house. It is close by. I will take you there.”

“It sounds like a place where Vitaly can hide me if I don’t want to stay with him,” I said.

Yurik smiled, and shook his head. “He won’t take you if you don’t want to.”

“So you say. I will meet with him in a public place. That’s the only way.”

Even meeting with Vitaly out in the open didn’t seem safe. But I still kept thinking about Yurik’s words—Vitaly would find a way to get to me if I didn’t go willingly to him. I figured it was better if I confronted him on my own terms.

I expected for Yurik to argue with me about it, but he simply nodded in agreement. “I will have to tell him, but he will agree.”

“Just like that?”

“I told you he wouldn’t take you by force. He wants to talk. Whether you come back home with us, is up to you.”

I looked at Yurik curiously. I didn’t bother to tell him that I was home. He was the one who should’ve been back in Russia. Yurik only shrugged at me, and headed for the door.

“I have to change,” I told him.

“You have five minutes.”

I changed into a pair of denim skinny jeans with a neon green t-shirt. I laughed when I looked down at my attire. Something that always got my attention when I had been with Vitaly was the girly clothes he’d bought for me. Most of it had been dresses, provocative but still classy, and a lot of them were in pastels. I slipped on my converse, and braided my hair on the way to the door.

“Blaine has two guys watching me. If they see me walking out of the apartment, they will follow us and tell Blaine I’m with you,” I told Yurik on the way out.

“I saw them when you arrived last week. We will go through the back,” he simply said.

How easily we managed to hide from the guards Blaine had hired to babysit me was almost comical. They only expected me to go out through the front. The back was, of course, completely unprotected.

Arty, who had been in charge of taking care of me while I was in Russia, was driving the car that Yurik and I climbed into.

Yurik sat on the passenger seat, while I took the back. There was another Russian guy in there. He didn’t speak, or even looked up at me when I climbed in.

I was surprised with how calm I was acting. I was nervous, but that was about it. I should’ve been more alert, about Vitaly and the entire situation. But I wasn’t. It was strange, but I wanted to see him. I wanted to see how he was doing. Other than when Blaine and I talked about it, I hardly heard anything from Vitaly.

We had only been on the road for a couple of minutes when my phone started ringing. It was Blaine. Since there was no way I was going to talk to him with Yurik there, I let it go to voicemail. Blaine kept calling me after that. Yurik turned back to look at me, but I just shrugged.

“My mom,” I told him.

I ended up shutting down the phone. I didn’t need Blaine to distract me if I was going to see Vitaly. I wanted to make it clear to Vitaly that I didn’t want to go with him.

The time I’d spent with him, as short as it was, had made me realize so many things about him. He had been so lonely. I remembered feeling bad about him at times, and how sad he looked. He was tough; no one would take that from him. According to some people, Yurik and Blaine included, Vitaly was ruthless. I could see that being true, but that didn’t mean he was like that with everyone, and he hadn’t been that way with me.

It was weird to even think about it, but he had been kind and sweet to me.

We met in a restaurant in town. I had been there before only a few times and always for special occasions. It was one of the more expensive local restaurants in town.

Vitaly had apparently rented out the whole place for us. How he managed to do that in such a short time was beyond me. The place was empty, except for the people serving us or the manager of the restaurant. Yurik walked me down to where Vitaly was waiting for me.

“Don’t be too hard on him,” Yurik whispered to me just before we arrived at the table.

He was sitting there, alone, with a drink in his hand. His dark brown eyes zeroed in on me when he spotted me standing next to the table. He looked as handsome as ever, with his longish hair falling neatly. Just like Blaine most of the time, Vitaly was wearing a black, neat suit.

“Hey,” I mumbled, waving my hand awkwardly, not sure of what to do.

Vitaly grinned, not unusual for him when it came to me, and stood up from his seat. I was startled when he took me in his arms and picked me up, like if we were long lost friends seeing each other after years. Neither of those things were the case.

“I missed you,” Vitaly whispered against my hair, placing a gentle kiss on my neck. It was so soft; I barely felt his lips on me.

“Yurik said you wanted me to tell you in person that I don’t want to go back to Russia.”

“Is that what you really want, to stay here, with Hale?” Vitaly asked.

“It is. I don’t want to go back. Yurik promised that you won’t take me against my will.

Vitaly put me down, but one of his arms remained wrapped around my waist. He was looking down at me with a soft look, his brown eyes gazing at every part of my face. “You look so beautiful.”

I never understood that from him, or Blaine. I saw why they were who they were. Both of them were so attractive, in different ways, but they were equally handsome men.

I never saw the attraction they had towards me. It wasn’t because I didn’t think I was pretty, although it was not something I ever really thought about. Both Vitaly and Blaine always made me feel self-aware, if that was even a thing, when they made comments like that.

“Thank you,” I mumbled.

“Sit down,” he said, moving to take out a chair for me.

“I’m not going to leave with you,” I told him.

I wanted him to know that I didn’t want to go. No matter what he said or did, he wasn’t going to persuade me. It was good to see him. In a weird way, I had missed him too. But I didn’t want to leave.

“You can have a meal with me. We will talk. After that, Yurik will take you back home,” he said, standing behind the chair he had pulled out for me.

“A meal...” I said, finally taking a seat in the chair he was offering.

Vitaly moved his chair right next to mine. It wasn’t uncomfortable, but it felt really personal. He was sitting really close to me, and he had taken my hand in his. When I tried to pull it away, he sighed. “Just give me this meal, Madeline. I will not try anything.”

“One meal,” I repeated, and he nodded back at me, smiling.

“How have you been?” I asked him. He looked tired. Although everything about his clothes and his hair was neat, his eyes looked slightly sunk in—like if he’d been worried or not getting enough sleep.

“Better now that you are here,” he said.

I laughed, because he sounded like he had genuinely missed me. “Have you been sleeping?”

Most of the things that Vitaly and Blaine had in common—a lot had to do with how hard they worked and the long hours they put in.

“Very little these days,” he replied.

“I don’t want that,” I said, moving my hand so that I was holding his instead, and squeezed it.

“I want you to come with me, back home.”

He sounded just like Blaine. “You already know how I feel about that. I don’t want to go to Russia, Vitaly. I wasn’t even supposed to be there. You took me.”

“I apologize for that,” he said.

“I don’t believe in your apology,” I told him, flatly.

Vitaly laughed, and shook his head at me. “It’s not sincere. I wanted you, so I took you.”

“That’s how you usually do things?” I asked.

He shrugged. “People usually like to please me.” The smug way he said those words made me laugh. That sounded like him.

We talked, a lot. He did most of the talking. He wasn’t quiet, not that he ever was before. But he seemed energized as he told me about a business deal he’d had with someone important and how a group of criminals—much like he was—had crashed their meeting. He had almost gotten shot, and he was laughing about it. Only he would find that funny.

Before I knew it, time had passed—a lot of it.

Vitaly had relaxed in his chair, his arm resting on the back of my seat. Every time I sat back, I bumped against his arm and he would gently touch my back. He never tried to do any more than that, lightly caress my back or my hand.

I was convinced that after we finished talking, he would let me go back home. He had been extending our conversation, asking me about anything and everything, and sharing the same with me.

A scuffle at the entrance of the restaurant interrupted Vitaly in the middle of an awkward conversation—he wanted to know how Blaine and I were doing. I had no interest in sharing any stories about Blaine with Vitaly. It felt wrong, and I didn’t want to hurt him more than I already had.

I was surprised that Vitaly was hurt, more than I’d ever expected, by my rejection. During the time we sat in the table, eating a meal and then dessert, he asked me several times to go back with him. I declined his offer every single time, and each time, I felt a pang in my chest with the look he got. He looked so unhappy, and it was breaking my heart.

I was shocked, to say the least, when Blaine walked into the restaurant. He was followed closely by his guards, six of them it seemed—the two that I’d seen the night before and four of his usual guys. Yurik was also headed our way as well.

Blaine’s eyes were focused on me. He looked really angry.

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