Russian Roulette (Russkaya Mafiya) (5 page)

I burst out, quickly before I have a chance to think it through, “Do you have a personality disorder?” I gaze at him curiously. The people with personality disorders will admit it, right?

Tate glares, fuming for a few beats before he growls, “Fuck! I’m just going to drive, okay?”

Man, he looks pissed. Yep, he could totally have a personality issue. The back of the SUV got dead silent, too. I wonder if they think the same thing.

I stay silent. I know he didn’t really mean it as a question, it’s best if I just keep to myself.

“Christ! No, Emily, no personality disorder, okay. Fuck! Did you ever think maybe you’re a little naïve and I’m just looking out for you?”

Tate’s cheeks are flushed angrily and he looks like steam could come out of his ears at my little question. That was completely uncalled for. He didn’t have to get so heated, it was an honest query.

I feel my blood start to boil, embarrassed by his outburst insinuating that I’m naïve. He has nerve.
How dare he talk down to me in front of our friends!

“Naïve? Naïve?” Swinging my head back towards him, angrily, “Fuck you, Luka!” I shriek, riled up. “I’m sure I’ve been through way more shit than you could ever imagine!”

Huffing, I turn back to my window. “Just forget I said anything, okay? Just be broody and drive and I’ll keep my naïve thoughts to myself.” Crossing my arms angrily I stew in my thoughts. Tate grunts and turns up the radio to a newer song I’ve never heard before.

Asshole. Dick. Motherfucker.
He has no idea. None! He has balls to call me naïve. We just freaking met! No wonder he’s single. Wait, is he single? He probably is if he makes comments like that to women.

We head through Knoxville to get to the club area. The lights and traffic make my heart beat faster with excitement. It feels big to me, but then I came from a small town. We don’t have all the people and busyness unless you head to one of the cities.

Everyone is so supportive of the Tennessee Vols. It reminds me of home and all the football fans around Austin with the Longhorns. I can’t wait until I have some free time to check out the museums and the farmer’s market right by the college.

We end up at an area that has a bunch of shoebox-sized clubs and stop in front of the largest. The building is a dark grey color, and has a large silver sign that says ‘OO7’ with lights illuminating it.

Wrapped from the front entrance to around the building is a long line of people. Everyone waiting is dressed to the nines, with the majority focused on their phones.

After circling the lot a few times, we eventually park. Tate hops out, rounding the vehicle quickly to open my door for me.

I hesitate only a moment when he reaches for me, and then I grasp his hand to let him help me climb down from the raised SUV.
At least he has some manners.

Avery happily loops her arm through mine and we practically run to keep up with Cameron and Tate’s long-legged pace. Avery hobbles like she may break her ankle in her gorgeous, high shoes. I love her outfit but I would probably kill myself in those shoes.

She leans in, eyes lit up with mischief and starts whispering in my ear. Her nose bumps into me a few times; she’s so close it makes me chuckle.

“My God, Emily, I about died when you asked him if he has a personality disorder!” Avery whisper-yells, “Cameron’s face was so red from holding his laugh in, he looked like a fat tomato! I thought Tate was going to explode.” She flails her arms with mine in tow, “He looked like he wanted to rip someone’s head off! You are freaking crazy and the sexual tension between you guys is insane!” She giggles, but I don’t like what she’s implying. I am so not going there with Tate Masterson!

Rolling my eyes, I grumble, “Ha, sexual tension my ass, he’s a jerk face that needs to relax a little. I would not let that man have sex with me, no matter how hot I think he is. He’s infuriating!”

She grins big and then squeals, “I knew you thought he was hot!”

“Shhh!” I quickly check to make sure the guys didn’t hear her, but they are walking ahead, deep in their own conversation. “That’s all you heard out of that?”

Shrugging, she smiles and gestures for me to look forward. We finally make it to the entrance after our trek through the parking lot. Avery and I step up on the curb, me helping her so she doesn’t fall over and I glance up at the building again. The sign appears huge and almost magnetizing up close.

I’m guessing that apparently Tate knows the guys up front because he’s heading right for them. Maybe we’ll get lucky and get to bypass this long line.

There are three tall, largely built men dressed in black, whom I’m assuming are the bodyguards or door guys. One normal-sized guy in the middle is dressed in a sharp black suit with a strong nose and short black scruff on his face. He oozes money and self-confidence. The suit guy turns to Tate and nods at him.

“Luka, moy braat (my brother).”

Whoa! What is that?
That sounded so sexy!

“Viktor,” Tate rolls out in his deep, raspy voice and nods back.

He doesn’t stop, just walks right in. We all shuffle in, close behind Tate. As we get through the door, I hear the men start talking in a language I don’t understand. With the music, it’s hard for me to really catch any piece of it.

Making our way into OO7, I’m instantly hit with trance-like music. It’s like I’ve entered a different realm or something. The lights are dim and flashing to the beat of the music.

It’s busy but not so crowded that you have to bump into every person you walk past. There are beautiful, exotic-looking females dressed in red or black fitted dresses. They must be the servers, because they carry around trays full of different colored martinis and pass them out to whoever asks for one.

Do you have to prepay or something in order to get drinks? This is awesome, but looks so ridiculously expensive. I didn’t even get asked for an ID. I’m only twenty; I hope I’m allowed to even be in here right now. No one said anything about specific age requirements.

I feel like I just fell down the rabbit hole in ‘Alice in Wonderland’ as I take in everything. In the middle of the club is a two story dance floor surrounded by glass walls. It almost appears as if they are in a giant glass elevator.

Well, obviously this is why the club doesn’t seem too busy inside. The majority of people are dancing. I glance to Avery and she nods her head upward.

Looking up toward the ceiling, I expect to see ceiling beams or maybe dancers or something. I never expected to see a silver Aston Martin, suspended from grey metal cables above us.

This place is insane! It’s like walking onto the set of a James Bond movie. No wonder Avery loves this place so much!

Avery yells, “Let’s get a table,” trying to make up for the loud, thrumming music. Both of the guys nod at her and I give her a thumbs up.

Tate leads us to the VIP section. Even though the club is posh enough as it is, they still have a section sanctioned off. I walk up a few stairs, lined with rope lighting, to the raised section. The smaller area holds about ten different sized, round booths.

As soon as our butts hit our booth, a server is waiting with a friendly smile on her face. I bet these women make a ton in tips; they are all so gorgeous.

“I want a Cosmo, please!” Avery perks up, eagerly.

“Courvoisier on the rocks,” Cameron rumbles.

“We will both have bottled water,” Tate orders, gesturing to him and me, before I have a chance to say anything.

“Thanks, but you can have a drink if you want to, Tate,” I turn toward him and offer loudly.

“Nah, I don’t drink a lot. I like to be aware of my surroundings and stay in control of my body.”

Hmmm… Something else we have in common. I’m sure it’s for entirely opposite reasons, but at least he’s out of dick mode from earlier.

Avery grabs my hand and starts tugging to get me out of the booth. “Come on, Emily, let’s go hit the dance floor, I freaking love this song!”

‘Cracks’ remix by Belle Humble is vibrating off the walls. I love this song too. It’s perfect to move to and get lost in.

Avery downs half her drink and jumps up out of the booth, pulling me in tow. The guys stand up with us and I pull back on Avery, peering up at Tate, confused.

“What about our drinks? Shouldn’t we finish them first? It’s not safe to leave them and come back.”

I’m not about to take unnecessary risks just because a couple of guys are with us. I feel a little safer that we are in a group but I have to try and think about stuff safely.

“Don’t worry about the drinks, everything will be okay. The server is actually called a Table Assistant.” He nods at our lady handling our table. “It’s her job to watch our drinks, jackets, purses and anything else we leave behind. She will even walk you to the restroom for safety, in case you feel unwell or need a cool towel or whatever. There is a girl assigned to each table.”

I’m impressed; what a great idea for a club to keep people safe! So many women have gotten taken advantage of by date rape drugs or being out alone.

“Wow! That is such an awesome idea!”

I smile at him and we make our way to the dance floors. There are a few and we head straight for the large one in the middle. Avery and Cameron automatically start dancing together.

Well, this is a little awkward
. I look to Tate, unsure, to see if he feels the same as me. He meets my eyes wearing this sexy little smirk on his face. His lips kind of go up on one side and he has some hot-ass dimples.
Sweet Jesus, I could seriously lick his dimples.
He’s so yummy when he finally starts to relax.

He reaches out and lightly pulls me toward him. Tate leans in closely. He’s so warm; it feels like his whole body is wrapped around me. I guess I didn’t realize just how big he is compared to me. I always see him and Cameron next to each other so he doesn’t appear that big.

He draws me in more and lowers his lips right next to my ear. I can feel his breath flutter against my neck and it’s giving me goose bumps. His body molds to mine as we dip and move to ‘Cracks.’

The beat is insane on these speakers. Mixing the music with his firm body and warm breath, it turns me on.
Maybe he’s not so bad after all.

“So, little one, why did you decide to go to college here?” Tate’s voice has a deep, rich timbre and it makes me want to snuggle even closer to him. If I could crawl into his pocket right now, I think I would.

Shrugging, I go with a basic answer, “I just thought it was a good school. Good place to start my life, you know? What about you?” I don’t really want to delve into my personal life with him.

“Pretty much the same for me.” He returns my same answer and it makes me a little suspicious.

I take in the servers and all the drinks being handed out so freely.

Turning back to Tate, puzzled, “I don’t understand, I keep seeing people take drinks off the server’s trays. Did they prepay or something? I don’t remember seeing you pay for anything either.” I scan the floor again to see if anyone goes to the bar, but they don’t.

He shakes his head, “There’s a door fee when they come in. A hundred dollars per person if they drink. They can drink as much as they want from the server’s trays. It’s all good quality liquors, so it’s a more than fair price.” He gestures to the bar and I glance back at the long, oak bar top, running almost in a large circle.

“If anyone wants certain premium liquors, champagne, et cetera, then they can order it from the bar and pay the bartenders. If they don’t drink, then they only pay twenty-five dollars for a glow band.” Tate nods towards a young girl dancing next to us with a lit up bracelet. “When they are ready to go, a door guard will remove their glow band so they can leave.”

He pulls me back to him as we sway to the beat, “The glow bands have sensors in them, in case someone under twenty-one tries to take them off while in the club, to drink. As you can see though, how everyone is dressed, this place attracts a certain older wealthy clientele with younger women.”

I huff a small laugh, this guy could work here if he wanted. His scent surrounds me the entire time we dance, pulling me into craving more of his touch.

“Geez, you must come here a lot, you know everything.” Probably where he gets his booty calls he was talking about the other day.

“Eh, I stop in once or twice a month to check out things.” He shrugs.

We dance for four more songs until I decide it’s time to sit for a few minutes and get a drink. I’m a little out of breath and my feet are hurting already. I wave for Avery to follow but she just shoos me to go on without her.

Avery attends college on a volleyball scholarship, and playing the game keeps her body in great shape. She looks like she’s not even a little winded, whereas I probably look like a wet cat at this point.

After a quick break, we head back to dance some more, and Tate pulls me close into him again. It seems more familiar and we start to really get into it.

I rest my hands on his solid chest and I swear I can feel something by his nipples.
Holy shit!
He has barbells in his nipples. That is so freaking hot.

I start to rub over his nipples, being brave for the first time in so long. It’s erotic and we are already grinding to the sensual beat. I feel like I’m in a drunken haze, yet I’ve only had water tonight.

Tate moves his hands down my back until he’s closer to my ass. I softly rub over his chest and arms. His arms are flexed tight and I can’t stop picturing him holding me, while pushing inside of me.

I close my eyes tightly, breathing deeply to get myself back under control. Tate smells fucking edible, making my mouth water in anticipation each time I feel his breath while he talks. I keep craving to be able to suck on his nipple rings.

My eyes shoot open when all of a sudden he’s gone, and I almost fall forward.

He grumbles, “That’s enough, I’m done.”

Tate starts walking back toward our table and Avery sends me a confused look, questioning what just happened. I shrug, because hell if I know what I did.

She quickly makes her way to me, “What happened, Emily?”