Chapter 26

"I'm not sure we should be here Anya," Claudia whispered to her friend as they entered a dark building in the heart of the city's most seedy district. "I'm all for taking our friendship to the next level, but I thought you meant a bottle of wine, listening to classic rock on the radio and pouring out our recent tragic heartbreaks to each other."
Anya laughed and, taking Claudia's hand, squeezed it. The two women stood like night and day next to each other on the threshold of one of the city's more notorious underground gambling clubs. Anya had asked Claudia to come as her wing-woman because she had no other friend she could ask. She needed to find Ash and sources told her he would be here tonight. She hadn't wanted to be alone when she confronted him.
"We're perfectly safe here, Claudia. I promise. These men couldn't touch me even if they wanted to."
The tall, beautiful blond was starting to draw stares from some of the city's most dangerous men. Claudia was always stunning, but tonight she looked like sexy elfin princess meets city chic in a thigh length blue bandage dress with her waist length blond hair flowing loose around her bare shoulders. Anya had told her friend to dress for a club night, but she hadn't told her exactly which club they would be coming to. Anya would have felt a tiny bit guilty over bringing Claudia here, except she suspected this is exactly what her reserved friend needed to push her out of her orderly eclectic lifestyle and into some fun.
"Okay, you may be safe because of your mystery brother whom you won't tell me about, but what about me?" She eyed a group of men at a nearby table apprehensively. One of them was staring at her so hard she felt stripped naked in the middle of a room full of men.
Anya searched the room intently, looking for Ash. She tried to reassure her friend. "As a guest of mine, the Sitnikov protection covers you as well. No man here can touch you without very bad consequences. It won't happen."
Claudia nodded, but was still bothered by the openly aggressive look of the man who continued to watch her. The suit, covering a massive body, looked as though it cost more than a year's rent in her small apartment. Finally she asked, "Who is that man?"
Anya glanced over to where Claudia indicated and frowned when she spotted the man staring so intently at Claudia. Maybe bringing Claudia here wasn't such a good idea. "Damn it. That's the one man in this city that might be more powerful than my brother."
"Okay," said Claudia, her normally take-no-shit attitude evaporating under the man's intensity. "Why is he watching me Anya?"
The look he was levelling at her friend said more than words. He wanted to devour her. "You need to stay away from him. Tyson King doesn't play nice, and he always gets what he wants."
Claudia stared back at the big black man and lifted her chin very slightly, not willing to back down from his challenging stare. "No problem," she said. "He doesn't interest me."
Claudia turned her back on him. Anya caught the fierce frown aimed at her friend. She suspected Tyson King was about to stake a claim with a woman that wouldn't give him the time of day. Under normal circumstances, Anya would sit back and enjoy the fireworks, but she liked Claudia and knew a man like that would crush her friend.
"Come on, let's play," Anya said, deliberately leading Claudia away from Tyson King and his entourage.
The two women had joined a lower stakes poker game and had been playing for several minutes when Claudia looked up frowning. "Umm, Anya, there's a man coming this way and he doesn't look very happy. Do you know him?"
Anya didn't even have to turn to know who Claudia was referring to. She could feel the heat of Ash's fury as it licked over her like a physical presence. She ignored the big man bearing down on their table and calmly placed her cards in front of her. "Full house," she announced, lips curving in a wicked smile.
Claudia continued to stare at the blond giant who stopped a few feet behind Anya's chair, watching her like a predator stalking prey. Anya waved a hand in front of Claudia's face. Claudia frowned and looked down.
"I have nothing. A pair of tens," she said, dropping her cards on the table. Claudia watched out of the corner of her eye as the man approached Anya and brought heavy hands down on the back of her chair.
Anya held a finger up at him. "One minute Ash, I'm about to take the table. Then we can talk."
Claudia gasped at his growl of anger. He looked like he might tear everyone at the table apart just to get at Anya. "Leave," he snarled at the table. People stood dropping their cards and picking up their belongings. No one argued. Clearly the guy was a big deal around here.
Claudia sat frozen and looked around uncertainly, not sure what to do. She couldn't just wander around the room by herself, and she didn't want to leave Anya alone with this seething man who looked like he was about beat her.
"Anya?" Claudia whispered.
Anya took her hand and they stood up to face the man. Claudia stood at her back trying to look tough.
"I have nothing to say to you," Anya snapped.
Claudia cringed at Anya's challenging tone, gaze lingering on the shoulder holsters with two blatantly visible guns strapped to the man's wide chest. The tattoos on his forearms popped out when he crossed his muscular arms over his chest. His fists were clenched, in a poorly veiled attempt to keep himself from grabbing hold of Anya and shaking her.
"If you have nothing to say then why did you come here looking for me?" he growled down at Anya. He looked toward Claudia. "Who's the blond?"
"She's none of your business," Anya said back. "And I didn't come looking for you. I have business here."
He looked skeptical. "You seem to have business everywhere I am these days, Anya. Don't lie to me."
"I'm not lying!" Anya snapped furiously. "I'm meeting someone. He asked me to come here."
Suddenly Ash went from annoyed to furious. "Who is he? Why are you meeting a man in my place of business? I want a name."
She swallowed and said quietly, "I thought you didn't care. After after the casino, you walked away from me. You didn't even try to talk to me. I've given you three days to come around, and you haven't even bothered to call me."
"I was surprised, Anastasia, and I couldn't exactly ask for a phone number with Boris the enforcer standing at your back."
She flinched.
"Why didn't you tell me who you were?"
Claudia watched their conversation with breathless anxiety. She had no idea what to do, but it was suddenly clear why Anya needed her here tonight. She needed a buffer between herself and this huge furious man. Claudia had no idea what she was supposed to do, but her protective instincts flared and she continued to back her friend.
"I never tell anyone who I am. Not even Claudia, my closest friend, knows who I really am," Anya snapped back. "Your response the other day said it all. You're just like everyone else. You disappointed me Ash."
"I don't recall your response as disappointment while you were laying underneath me with my cock all up in you," he said crudely. "Don't you think its time to quit playing games with me baby? We both know why you came here. You want another ride with the ex-junkie fighter, because the rich bitch likes to get dirty."
Anya gasped, her fists clenching at her side. Claudia put a soothing hand on Anya's arm, understanding how much his words were cutting her friend. "Shut up," Claudia snapped angrily. "You don't know her at all!"
He turned icy eyes on Claudia. "Apparently you don't either, or you wouldn't be clinging so tight to the sister of a murderous mob boss."
Anya paled and glanced guiltily back at her friend. Claudia shook her head and simply held tighter to the other woman. She was about to respond furiously when she felt a presence at her back, searing her with such intense heat that she spun around. Her wide eyes collided with a massive chest, only inches from her face.
"Is there a problem here?" a deep voice rumbled.
Claudia stumbled back against Anya and watched as the biggest, meanest man she'd ever laid eyes on challenged Ash. Ash didn't back down. Instead he nodded at Tyson King. "I need to have a conversation with my woman here, in private."
King took in the situation at a glance and nodded. "I can take care of the other one."
"No!" Claudia gasped.
"Thanks man, I owe you," Ash said, reaching for Anya and jerking her into his arms. He dragged her away from the table, toward the club exit.
"Hey!" Claudia cried out, starting to go after her friend. A massive dark-skinned hand came down on her shoulder and pinned her in place. The shock that ran through her body at the contact had her gasping. She was thrown further off balance when the hand abruptly turned her around.
Dark eyes studied her face as he wrapped long, thick fingers around her slender throat and tilted her chin up with the edge of his hand. He watched her angry, frightened green eyes flare in challenge. She wondered if he could feel the wild flutter of her pulse under his fingertips. Claudia wanted to shove his hand away and run as fast as she could, but sensed the danger lurking beneath his civilized appearance.
"Come," he said to her, releasing her neck and taking a firm grip on her arm, "we have things to discuss."
Claudia gasped and went with him. He gave her no choice. She tried resisting his hold, but it was unbreakable. "We have nothing to discuss Mr. King," she hissed. "Let go of my arm!"
King gave her a chilling smile and said, "We have everything to discuss Miss Cantore. Starting with your protection fee. If I was able to find out who you are, it's a certainty that other interested parties could also find out."
Claudia stared at him. Understanding coloured her expression, shifting it from anger to absolute terror. She went with Tyson King unresisting, suddenly aware that he was possibly the one person standing between her and death in that moment.