Savage Heir by Jagger Cole

26

Sweat dripsdown my face and chest. I grit my teeth, swinging one more time and grunting as my fist connects with his face. Misha snarls, going on the defensive as I swing at him again. But then suddenly, he’s exploding onto the offensive.

He comes at me hard. Misha might be a rich kid from a rich life, but there’s still pain beneath the surface. Pain, and rage enough to make him a fucking demon in the ring. Friend or not, he comes at me like a fucking gorilla on steroids.

I hiss as his glove connects with my jaw—then the other one. I stagger back, grunting as he hits me in the stomach, hard. I double up, catching another hit to the chin before the switch flips in me.

With a roar, I charge, hammering him with a fury he wasn’t expecting.

“Hey!” he roars, glaring at me as he puts up defensive hands. “Chill, fucker! Chill out!”

“Quit crying and hit me back, you little bitch,” I hiss.

A rage shadows his face. “Watch it, Volkov.”

“Watch me kick your bitch ass, you little pussy—”

He snaps. Like I intended him to. He comes at me like a truck this time, smashing right into me. His swings connect every time, pummeling me back until I’m against the ropes of the practice ring. I throw up hands, but Misha’s in full Tyson mode now—swinging until I drop to my knee and tap the floor.

He still gets one more knock to the head in. But I deserve that for goading him into this rage.

When we’re done, both of us are heaving for air. I drop onto my back on the mat. Misha does the same. We both lie there, vaguely listening to the Nine Inch Nails record playing in the background in the underground garage beneath Lordship Manor.

“The fuck was that about, man?”

I frown. “Just needed a workout.”

Misha snorts as he rolls over and gets to his feet. He yanks his gloves off, tosses them aside, and sticks a hand down to help me up.

“You weren’t looking for a workout. You were looking for punishment.”

I shrug.

“This got anything to do with the redhead in your bed last night?”

I resist the urge to whirl on him.

“Poked my head in last night to see if you were home.” He chuckles. “Who was that?”

“No one.”

“Well,” he shrugs and shuffles over to grab his water bottle. “Glad to see you back on the horse, man. I was getting worried about that celibacy of yours.”

I grab some water too, feeling my head still ringing from the onslaught I instigated. But the need to hit and be hit wasn’t some sort of punishment. It was to rattle the gears in my head and see if I’m still thinking the same way when it’s over.

So that’s what I do. I take a deep breath, trying to center myself. I close my eyes and let my mind go blank.

My jaw grits.

Nothing’s changed.

A part of me was hoping it would. I was hoping a Misha Tsavakov beat-down would rattle me enough to get back on track with who I am—the real me, not the me who has fucking sleepovers with Tenley Chambers.

Full-on spooning, not screwing her, sleepovers.

Who the fuck am I?

But three rounds with Misha later, nothing has changed. No gears have been knocked back on track. In fact, all I’m thinking about is the girl still asleep in my bed upstairs.

“I’m gonna go up and grab some coffee. You coming?”

Misha leans back on the couch. “I’ll be up.” He turns to grin at me. “Coffee, huh? That her name?”

I roll my eyes, ignoring him as I walk over to the staircase. I climb the two flights up to the regular basement of the Manor with the full theater-style entertainment center. I head up into the kitchen. But I skip coffee.

That’s not what I need right now. The throbbing bulge in my shorts agrees.

I prowl up to my room: sweating, my pulse thudding, and ready to climb into bed with her and finish what I started last night. I swing the door to my room open, and suddenly frown.

My bed is empty.

I scowl as I storm over to the bathroom. But she’s not there either. My teeth grind as I pull my sweaty shirt off and stalk over to my phone on the coffee table.

“She left.”

I turn to see Lukas leaning against my doorframe.

“When,” I snap.

When he doesn’t reply, my eyes narrow.

“When did she—”

“What are you doing, Ilya?”

My jaw tightens. “Excuse me?”

“With Tenley. What are you doing?”

I glare at him. “The fuck are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about the fact that you’re ignoring the glaring differences between you and between your worlds.”

I roll my eyes. “I’m not in the mood for a Lukas lecture on class divides, okay? Congratulations, you used to be poor and now you’re not. Find a new song to play.”

He glares at me, his mouth thin. “Feel better?”

“Not really. Where the fuck did she—”

“You’re playing games, and she doesn’t know how to play them.”

“Well, thank you for your fucking concern,” I growl. “Now fuck off.”

“Leave her alone, Ilya.”

My eyes narrow at him, still standing there in the doorway.

“Got a little crush, Lukas?” I say thinly.

He rolls his eyes. “Jesus you’re an asshole.”

“Got a little thing for her? Feel like dragging her into your fucking lair and chaining her up with cattle irons or something?”

He smirks at me. It pisses me off, massively. I ball my hands to fists and move towards him.

“I’m going to ask you one more fucking time—”

“I sent her the fuck home.”

My fist raises as I bolt into him. He roars back, blocking my hit, but not the second. We topple to the ground, and I hiss as his fist slams into my gut. My forearm smashes his nose, making him roar before he flips me with a strength I wasn’t expecting. He hauls me up and slams me into the wall before I can get another hook into his jaw. Lukas winces, getting a punch in to my side before we crash to the ground.

“What the fucking fuck!?”

I roar as hands grab me and haul me off of Lukas. Misha shoves me away, slamming me against a wall before he turns and jabs a finger at Lukas.

“Enough!” he roars. His eyes narrow as they dart between Lukas and I.

“What the fuck is going on?!”

I glare at Lukas. He glares right back.

“She’s a fucking world apart from all this, Ilya,” he hisses.

“Just like you?” I snap. “That where this crush is coming from? The two kids without trust funds at Oxford—”

“I have a trust,” he grunts. “And I do not have a fucking crush on her.”

He glares at me.

“I’m not talking about rich and poor, I’m talking about Bratva and not. I’m talking about the fact that Volkov and Chambers are on opposite sides of a fucking Cold War.”

Misha whips his head around to stare at me. “Tenley Chambers? Is that who you had in your—”

“What the fuck did you say to her,” I snarl past him at Lukas.

He brings a hand up, rubbing the blood from the corner of his mouth. “Nothing, asshole. All I’m saying is, there are a lot of girls in this school who know the game. They know what stakes are, and they know how to play. Tenley isn’t one of them, and you fucking know it. So act like it.”

I shrug Misha off of me and glare at Lukas.

“You stay the fuck out of my business. Do you understand me?”

He sighs and shakes his head as I start to storm away for the stairs.

“Misha can be your punishment, Ilya. I’m just your voice of fucking reason.”

I raise a middle finger over my shoulder as I head downstairs and out the door.

I don’t even knowwhere I’m walking. But woe to whoever crosses my path, I know that much. I’m seeing red, seething as I blaze a trail of fury across campus.

Fuck Lukas.

But the second I say it to myself, I stop.

Goddamnit. He’s not even wrong. That’s the most annoying part. Tenley is not part of this world—the world of the rich and powerful, but also the world Lukas, Misha, and I come from. And that’s a world not a one of these rich kids here can fully grasp.

We three might be wealthy, and privileged, and connected, like they are. But we will live our lives in the shadows. Our world is on the other side of the coin, and the law, from these other people.

The other students at Oxford Hill will, like us, go on to the best colleges, and the best graduate programs, and maybe beyond. But then, they’ll become corporate CEOs, hedge fund managers, or world leaders.

But our world is the bratva. Our world is strength, power, and violence.

That’sthe main divide between Tenley and I. She’s going to go on with life and judge the law. I’m going to thumb my fucking nose at it.

So what the hell am I even doing with her? I groan. And why the hell am I fighting with my best friend over it?

My phone buzzes in my pocket. I yank it out, still scowling as I answer.

“What,” I snap.

“Catch you at a bad time?” My uncle’s voice growls thickly.

My face scrunches. “Shit, sorry.”

He chuckles. “It’s fine. Everything okay?”

“Yeah, just…” I shake my head. “It’s nothing. How are you? How’d Chicago go?”

“Still here, actually.”

There’s an edged tone to his voice that makes me pause.

“Everything okay?”

He sighs. “Sort of. We’re staying in Chicago a little longer so Viktor’s legal team can do a once over of Volkov interests to make sure everything’s shielded and firewalled, just in case.”

My brow furrows. “Just in case what?”

He grunts. “Sorry, I forgot it’s early there. You probably haven’t seen the news yet.”

“Fuck, what happened?”

“Nothing specific. But George North gave a town hall meeting last night in Delaware, which is where all the major banks are based out of in the States. He made an offhand comment to the crowd about safeguarding the banking sector from Russian criminal meddling.”

I groan. “Shit.”

“Yeah, exactly. It was an offhand comment, but I know it was directed at us. That was a shot across the bow, and I’m not going to ignore it.”

My uncle sighs deeply. He’s young still; still in his forties. But sometimes being the king of the Volkov family can be a heavy crown to wear. I can see that clearly.

“I don’t suppose getting close with Tenley Chambers has yielded anything?”

I shake my head, wincing. “Sorry. Nothing yet. Not on North, either.”

He grunts. “Okay. Keep at it, and do what you have to in order to get close. Can you do that?”

I nod. “Yeah, of course.”

“Thanks, Ilya. Listen, I’ll touch base soon before we head back to Russia.”

When we hang up, I realize that did it. That, not the boxing with Misha—or Lukas, for that matter—did it.

Now, the gears are back on straight in my head. And I can see things clearly, like I should have from the start.

My duty beyond anything else—walking this dangerous line with Tenley included—is to the bratva. My duty is to get what my brotherhood needs in order to best our enemies and stay at the top.

This thing with Tenley, whatever it is, or was going to be? I grit my teeth. Whatever it was, it’s done. Over. Finished.

And the sooner I can untangle myself from that redheaded temptation and thorn in my side, the sooner I can get on with everything else.

I raisemy hand to knock. But suddenly, the cottage door swings open before I can even bring my knuckles to the wood. Tenley, now wearing running shorts and a t-shirt, gasps and jolts back a little. But when she focuses and realizes who I am, she frowns.

“Funny,” she smiles thinly. “I was just on my way to your place.”

I frown. “Probably best you don’t. Look, the games are done.” I look into her face, letting my eyes pierce into hers.

“No more bullshit. No more holding you to this fucking tutoring thing. We’re done. I’m—”

“Okay, great!” She beams at me. She genuinely smiles. What the fuck, does she look relieved?

“That’s great, Ilya. You just saved me a trip to your ridiculous mansion.”

I frown. “What do you mean?”

“I was just about to head over and tell you that last night was fine, and kind of fun and all, but—”

“Kind of fun?” I grunt.

She shrugs. “I mean, I didn’t have a bad time?”

My jaw tightens. “You’re trying to fuck with me.”

She shrugs again, smiling curiously as she shakes her head. “Nooo, I’m just…” she sighs. “I’m trying to be nice, actually. Look, Ilya, I’m sure there’s a girl out there who wants to play these childish games with you, but I’m good, okay? So, again, you can do whatever you want. If you really feel the need to fire me from the tutoring thing? Well…” she shrugs. “I guess that’s your prerogative. But I think it’s best if we don’t hang out anymore. I have a lot of balls up in the air right now.”

I stare at her. What the fuck is happening?

“Are you trying to me me?”

“I’m trying to let you down easy, actually.”

My eyes narrow. “Careful,” I growl.

Tenley smiles thinly. “I think I’m all set with you telling me what to do, Ilya.”

My lips curl. “No, I think you’re wet with me telling you what to do.”

Her face blooms red. Her lips purse.

“I…” She swallows. “I would appreciate you not speaking to me like that, and keeping away from me.” She takes a breath. “I have a boyfriend, Ilya.”

Jesus fucking Christ, is she serious?

“Oh?” I smile thinly. “Now does he know who’s tongue you were riding last night like a greedy little—”

Her palm hits like a bat across my face. I blink, actually stunned by the force of it before my eyes narrow at her. I snarl, curling my lips.

But Tenley glares right back at me, her own teeth bared.

“Don’t ever fucking speak to me again,” she hisses. “Ever.”

The door slams in my face.

What the fuck.