Russian Bastard | A Mafia Novel ✧

Chapter 36

Chapter 36

Tatiana

She stood abruptly, so quickly that her knees banged loudly against the table and nearly spilled their water, catching the attention of the customers nearby. Pain rang through her body at hitting her bruises so harshly yet she couldn't bring herself to care in that moment. The pain was in the deepest, most inconsequential part in the back of her mind.

"I—" She began, but was at a lost for words, still staring in Zeke's direction. To a passerby, he would merely appear like a man lounging against an outdoor wall and relaxing, staring off into space, but she knew better. She knew that he was definitely not relaxed.

Ramsey stood as well, looking concerned, a hand reaching out towards her. "Tatiana? Are you all right?"

"I have to go." She told him urgently, gathering her things. This was not good, she thought as she hastily tidied up and slung her bag over her shoulder.

"Where are you going? Hold on, I'm coming with you—"

"No!" She all but screeched. Realizing how she must've sound, she backtracked, "I mean— no, I'm fine. Don't accompany me, please. I must go alone."

He didn't appear to believe her, but she wasn't about to stop and argue with him. She turned away before he could voice anything else he wanted to say.

Tatiana hastily drew away, but was only able to take a few steps before a hand clasped her around the elbow and sharply turned her around. She crashed into a solid chest, one she was no longer too acquainted with, and hands were snaked around her waist. When she turned her head up to demand Ramsey release her, the words were evaporated into thin air when soft lips mashed into hers.

She was frozen, taken completely by surprise. Her eyes widened and before she even realized it, she was hesitantly kissing him back. Taking it as a sign of encouragement, he kissed her more forcefully, his hands bunching around the thin fabric of her dress by the waist. This dragged on for a few seconds, before her brain finally caught up to her actions that were betraying her.

Lifting her hands and squeezing them between the tight space between them—which was no easy feat—she tried with all her might to push him away. He didn't seem to notice at first, entirely lost in the kiss. With a sharp move, she wretched her lips away from his and turned her face to the side just in time for his lips to ram smack into her cheek.

"Ramsey." She said his name so venomously that she felt his arms flinch back. "Let. Go. Of. Me." When he didn't move as fast as she'd have liked, she added, "Now."

That snapped him out of his trance. Soon, they were a few steps apart. He stood in a daze, while she stood with a foot behind her, ready to run the instant if he tried something else with her. She eyed him cautiously, before she spoke. "What the hell was that?" She demanded.

"I— I'm sorry it just happened." He said, looking confused himself. "It's just— I really— ugh." He raised his fisted hands to his temples, digging them into the skin in anxiousness. He took a few, quick breaths before lowering them and looking her in the eye. "I missed you, Tatiana. More than you can ever know."

"You don't have the right to kiss me— nor touch me that way anymore. You left me. Don't think that just because I was happy to see you that all of that immediately goes away because it doesn't."

"You're right." He said so sadly that it almost broke her heart. Almost. "I did leave you, but it wasn't by choice."

"Our lives are laid out with all the choices in the world, Ramsey." She said, a dead look in her eyes. "You just didn't look hard enough."