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"I'm a pain in the ass? Ha!
Better than being an ass, no?"

- Jade
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Chapter 24 - On Bended Knee

▪️S E R G E Y▪️

We arrived at our destination a few minutes before the cake tasting was scheduled to begin.

The quaint little bakery, aptly named The Flying Apron, was a place that was well-known to Aleksandr and myself since they had some of the best Russian tea cakes in Aelbank City. After Natasha had introduced Litizia to the bakery's double chocolate chunk cupcakes, it had become one of Litizia's favourite go-to quick stops since she had moved in with Aleksandr.

The place was run by an elderly Dutch couple, Mr. and Mrs. Meyer. Their daughter, Senna, also worked with them and from what I remembered, would take over soon once her parents retired.

Naturally, since Litizia enjoyed their baked goods, she wanted them to make her wedding cake and cupcakes.

I myself had been a regular customer and enjoyed the Meyer's Russian tea cakes immensely. No one usually believed me when I told them I enjoyed baked goods. 

Sure, I knew that it might seem odd that men such as myself appreciated sweet indulgences, but I felt no shame, knowing that I was not the only Aelbank mafia man who enjoyed such. 

From what Aleksandr had told me, options for the dessert table for the wedding had already been decided on. There would be treats like molasses-pecan sticky buns, donuts, fruit tarts, and of course, Russian tea cakes, among a few other things.

In fact, as I glanced discreetly through the window and caught a glimpse of Mikayla and Hannah, my mind went back to the last big mafia wedding I had attended. Which those two, coincidentally, had been in charge of as well.

Dominic and Jade's wedding had been pretty amazing and I vividly remembered seeing men like Vincent and Aleksandr grinning as they devoured chocolate donuts and sprinkled cake pops.

There was no doubt in my mind that Mikayla and Hannah would do a great job with Aleksandr and Litizia's wedding. Especially since I had witnessed first-hand what they were capable of and it was obvious that their reputation for fantastic work was well-deserved.

After Aleksandr met with Mr. Meyer at the side of the building and gave him the ring box, we waited another minute or so before heading into the bakery.

From the moment we entered, all eyes were on us.

My gaze was immediately drawn to Natasha who had been standing by one of the display cases, looking at some cake slices with Jade. With her hair pulled back away from her face, I could not help but notice how beautiful she looked today.

Not that she was not always stunning, but there was just something about her that seemed to glow. Perhaps it was the dress that she wore, I did not know. But nonetheless, she took my breath away.

Not wanting to make it obvious that she had my attention, I pretended to look around the bakery while inconspicuously taking in her appearance.

Even though I glanced at her for no more than a second, I had been able to get almost every detail of her outfit and sufficed to say, she looked great. Letting out a deep breath, I willed myself not to look at her again, at least not for another few seconds.

Natasha had on a cream-coloured dress that appeared to be a feminine take on the classic tuxedo style. It was sleeveless with peak lapels and what appeared to be a wrap-over fastening around her waist. The dress had a bodycon fit, showing off her curves, stopping just below her knees.

Refocusing my attention back to Aleksandr, I found him watching me with a playful glint in his eye.

"What?" I asked in a low voice.

"Oh nothing", he replied with a grin before turning to greet everyone while walking towards Litizia.

"So good to see you again, Mr. Tolstoy!" Hannah beamed.

"Likewise."

"Everything for the appetisers and main courses has been confirmed, we just need you and Litizia to decide on a cake then we can make the final preparations where the rest of the food and desserts are concerned," Hannah stated as she gave him a quick summary.

Aleksandr listened carefully, then nodded, "Perfect! Sounds like everything is well underway. Not that I had any doubts, you and Mikayla came highly recommended."

"Yes well, we aim to please. If you need us, we'll be sitting in a corner while you two enjoy your tasting," Hannah said before leaving to join Mikayla at another table on the other side of the bakery

With Aleksandr moving to sit by Litizia, I walked over to Viktor and greeted him.

Leaning back against the wall, I observed Litizia sitting at a large rectangular table that was positioned in the middle of the bakery, noting the way her entire face lit up when Aleksandr sat next to her.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Jade marching towards me, seeming to drag Natasha with her.

"Great..." I inwardly groaned.

Jade had a glare in her narrowing gaze and it was clear that she was irritated with me. But I could not understand why as I had not done anything to incur her wrath. At least not within the last day or two.

"What did you do now?" Viktor whispered.

"Don't make me smack you!" I grumbled before answering his question, "And how the hell should I know, I just got here for fuck's sake!"

What had Jade been expecting me to do, interrupt her while she was talking with Natasha?

"Good luck, I'm just going to stand over there," Viktor said, moving over to where the other bodyguards were.

"Coward!" I muttered.

When the two women approached, Jade purposefully put Natasha to stand at my side, while she remained in front of me, a scowl on her face. I did my best to keep my expression impassive, not wanting to glower back knowing that it would just lead us to start arguing.

"So, you can't say hello?" Jade stated softly.

Tilting my head towards the direction of the cake slice display they had been at, I replied, "You both seemed busy."

"Well, we aren't now," she retorted.

Natasha let out a sigh that indicated that she was slightly uncomfortable with the attention Jade was bringing towards her. I found myself wanting to lean my shoulder into Natasha, offering a subtle form of comfort, and this only made my impatience towards the purple-haired woman grow.

Frowning at Jade, I said, "Why are you always like this? I swear, you can be such a pain in the ass!"

"I'm a pain in the ass? Ha!" She scoffed then added, "Better than being an ass, no?"

Even though we were whisper-yelling at each other, we both made sure to keep our voices low so as not to draw any attention to ourselves, not wanting to disrupt the peaceful atmosphere.

"Look, can we not do this right now?" I implored, my eyes glancing over her shoulder.

Jade looked behind her, seeing Aleksandr and Litizia sitting at the table and watched as Senna walked over to hand them a small booklet.

Seeing as there were so many cakes to be sampled, they thought it would be a good idea to have a small menu to go along with the display. From what Aleksandr had told me, this way, it would be easier to keep a track of what flavours they liked as there was a space to jot down notes next to it.

"Fine, we can continue this discussion later..." Jade conceded then asked, "Oh! Before I forget, I have some extra money that I need to wash, are any of your guys free tonight?"

"Depends, are you going to keep being in my face all evening?"

With an irritated sigh, she said, "Don't be such a dick, can you help me or not?"

Folding my arms over my chest, I lowered my voice even further, "I'm curious, don't you usually just take your extra cash to that friend of yours at the bank?"

"She's on maternity leave, plus it's in small bills!"

My brow creased, "And? Just tell them you're a stripper."

A soft giggle escaped Natasha but she quickly cleared her throat to try and hold the rest of her amusement in. It was such a melodic sound that my impassive facial expression almost cracked, giving away to a smile of my own.

"It's over twenty grand, Sergey!" Jade huffed softly.

From her aggravated response, I felt the corners of my lips twitch. It was taking everything in me not to smile as I just knew that the next suggestion I was going to give would piss the Calvetti woman off even more.

Tipping my chin up at her, I said, "Just tell them you're a good stripper then."

At this, the laugh that Natasha had been holding in came out in full force and she snorted softly. The skin of her cheeks immediately flushed and she put a hand over her mouth to stifle the rest of the sounds she made.

"You're lucky she likes you..." Jade glanced at Natasha before glaring back at me, "We'll finish this later."

I scoffed at her empty threat.

Shaking her head, Jade took out her mobile phone and walked over to where Hannah was sitting with Mikayla by a nearby table.

With Natasha and I now alone, I whispered, "You look beautiful."

"Thank you, you don't look half bad yourself," she replied with a small smile.

"You seriously need to tell your friend to back off though. I think you and I can figure out our situation on our own."

"What's with you two anyway? Why are you always so mean to her?"

My head snapped back a bit as I retorted, "Me? What about her?"

"I know that she can be a bit in your face, but that's just how she shows her affection sometimes. She's just trying to be nice–"

Cutting her off, I hissed under my breath, "Jade? Nice? More like the Queen of Havoc and Sadism! That woman is a fucking menace!"

Natasha chuckled softly, "The two of you are so alike."

"Don't insult me!" I grumbled.

Moving my hand to touch her lower back, I ushered us to walk along the wall, moving us a bit closer towards the centre of the room, so that we could have an even closer look at the cakes being delivered to the large table.

By now, Senna and her mother had begun to serve Aleksandr and Litizia.

They arranged various numbered plates on the table. Each white plate that was placed on the table had a different slice of cake on it. There were twenty cake samples in all, and to my knowledge, there were ten listings on each page of the menu.

While scanning the booklet in her hand, Litizia gushed to Aleksandr, "I love the names!"

"Indeed, I'm excited to try Death By Chocolate, although the Summer Berry Grunt cake sounds interesting," he commented with a chuckle.

"Yes well, Mr. and Mrs. Meyers are known for their humour, I mean there's even a cake called the Spotted Dick, I think Jade would like that one based on the name alone," Litizia said, her shoulders shaking slightly with a laugh.

"I heard that!" Jade called out, causing Aleksander to chuckle even more.

Leaning back into the wall, I discreetly touched my shoulder to Natasha's, wishing that I could feel the bare skin of her upper arm against me. I felt her press back into me while we both silently watched Aleksandr and Litizia continuing to evaluate the list of cakes and their corresponding number.

They would both occasionally glance, seeming to admire all the different flavours and colours. In my head, I was counting down to the big reveal and I unconsciously let out a deep breath when that moment came.

"Oh look! They even have one called Will You Marry Me!" Litizia gasped excitedly.

"This is it..." I whispered to Natasha.

Litizia glanced over the table, clearly very eager to see what the cake slice looked like. She then focused on the plate labelled number fifteen which Senna had just placed at the centre of the table.

However, what stared back at her was not a slice of cake at all. It was in fact a black jewellery box which held a beautiful diamond ring that glistened brightly in the light. From where I stood, I could see the way her eyes blinked a few times, as though not believing what she saw.

Hannah and Jade squealed simultaneously in the background while Litizia continued to stare at the exquisite radiant cut engagement ring in front of her.

Leaning into her fiancé, I saw her whisper something to Aleksandr and his lips curved into a small smile as his blue eyes stared intensely at her.

For some reason, my heart started to beat a bit faster as I watched him take in her reaction, this was it, he was going to pop the question. I knew that Litizia would say yes, so I could not understand why the hell I was feeling so nervous for my best friend.

"Will you?" Aleksandr asked.

Litizia choked back a sob and nodded, "Yes!"

"Hell yeah! My babies are really getting married!" Jade screamed out as she jumped up and down and came over to the table with her mobile phone in hand.

Everyone else followed her, the sounds of their claps filling the room as they began to surround them.

Natasha and I quickly moved towards the table, watching as Litizia hastily dabbed at her eyes to get rid of her unshed tears, while Aleksandr stood up and took the ring out of the box.

There was a huge smile on my face as I watched him get down on one knee next to her chair before placing the ring on her left hand. Aleksandr and Litizia seemed to be having a silent conversation as they gazed lovingly into each other's eyes.

It was in this very moment, while on bended knee, my best friend solidified his commitment.

This wedding, which initially started out as a business transaction, ended up becoming a union of love. Honestly, as much as I enjoyed pestering Aleksandr about being head-over-heels for his fiancée, I could not wait to see him and Litizia walk down the aisle together as husband and wife.

"What are you two waiting on? Kiss dammit!" Jade hollered while she recorded.

A few chuckles erupted before Aleksandr leaned in to touch his lips to Litizia's who wasted no time in wrapping her arms around his neck as she kissed him back. They got lost in each other and when they pulled apart, everyone was clapping and cheering.

The men patted Aleksandr on the back, while the women admired Litizia's ring.

"Now it's officially, official," I teased my best friend when I hugged him to me, my words soft so that only he could here.

Grinning back at me, he replied in a whisper, "All that's left is you now."

"Don't start–"

"To the bride and groom!" Hannah exclaimed as she popped open a bottle of wine.

I was happy for the interruption, my eyes telling Aleksandr to drop the subject as now was definitely not the time to harass me about Natasha. With a sly smirk, he relented as he walked back to Litizia.

Taking a glass, we all toasted.

Once the initial excitement had settled down, Senna and her mother finished placing the rest of the plates on the table and Aleksandr and Litizia went on with their cake tasting while the rest of us idly chatted amongst ourselves.

Although I spent a good portion of the time handling some calls.

Jade knew not to harass me since in our line of business, there were always things that would need to be handled. I was Aleksandr's right-hand man after all and since I could not be there in person to deal with some of the things, I delegated over the phone.

In the end, Litizia and Aleksandr decided on a Pink Champagne cake with strawberry and white chocolate mousse filling, seeing as it was a summer wedding.

Once everything had been finalised, we all prepared to head to dinner.

Mikayla and Hannah had managed to put together a quick engagement party with the help of Jade and Natasha, who had been able to sneakily find out some details of what Litizia would have liked if she were to have such a celebration.

Upon exiting the bakery, Aleksandr and Litizia would be escorted by Viktor.

Not wanting to cramp their style and give them some privacy, I had purposefully driven over in one of my own vehicles so that I could follow behind. As I began to head towards my black G-Wagon, I heard Jade shouting my name.

"Sergey! Wait!"

Turning around, I saw her walking quickly towards me, pulling Natasha behind her.

"Can Nat ride with you?" Jade asked.

Hell fucking yes! Of course, she could! But I did not say such out loud. 

Needing to keep up appearances, I scowled slightly.

I noticed that everyone else was driving off by now and I purposefully scrunched up my face to show how against the idea I was and that I would rather do anything else than be alone with Natasha.

Letting out an annoyed huff, I enquired, "Must I really? Why can't she go with you?"

"Well, we can't drive over with Litizia, who had been out ride for the day mind you. And yes, I have my own escort but we need to stop by the Calvetti residence for something quickly and you know how Dominic is about having people over."

It was obvious that Jade was making an excuse about going back home.

She clearly just wanted Natasha to go with me so that we could be alone. It was obviously part of her plan in trying to set us up I suppose. However, as much as I would not have minded taking Natasha with me so that we could have some privacy, I had to keep pretending that I was not interested.

Unfortunately, as much as I did not want to right now, I needed to be the asshole they all thought me to be.

With a nonchalant shrug, I said, "Then let her wait by the gate..."

From the way Natasha bit her bottom lip and lowered her head, I could immediately tell that she had actually thought that I did not want to be around her.

Damn! I had not intended to hurt her feelings.

In fact, I would have thought that Natasha would have caught on to my act. But then again, even though we had agreed to be discreet and keep whatever was going on with us between us, we had not really discussed what that would entail yet.

We would need to rectify that tonight, I thought to myself.

I wanted nothing more than to sooth her insecurities away, but I would have to wait until we were alone. It killed me to not drag Natasha into my arms and run my fingers over her brow, smoothing the crease lines away.

Even though Natasha was doing her best to hide the abject expression on her face, Jade, like myself, had seen it and like the protective best friend that she was, Jade snarled and narrowed her eyes at me.

Just great! I braced myself for her wrath.

Lashing out at me, Jade fumed, "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

Natasha held onto her, pulling her back, "Jade, it's okay–"

"No, it's not!" Jade cut her off before refocusing back on me, "Why do you always have to be such a cunt, Sergey? You know what, never mind, she'll come with me."

"No!" I exclaimed, shocking the three of us.

Raising an eyebrow, Jade looked at me, waiting for me to explain my outburst.

Quickly regaining my composure, I swiftly came up with an excuse, "I mean, if you have to go back to the residence that means you'll take a while to get to the restaurant. And even though Aleksandr would be at her side, I know that Litizia wants her best friends there as well and who knows how long it might take to re-join us so I can't have the both of you running late for this special dinner of theirs."

Jade listened, before turning to face Natasha, "Do you want to go with him? If not, I'll drop you off at the dinner party then go home quickly. I shouldn't take too long to get back to the restaurant."

I guess Jade really did have something to do, I silently mused.

Shaking her head, Natasha said, "That seems like too much of a hassle, I'll go with Sergey if he really doesn't mind. That way you'll be able to do what you need to do quicker."

"Alright, I'll see you soon..." Jade kissed her cheek before adding, "Let me know if he gives you any shit so I can fuck him up later."

I scoffed and walked off, leaving them to whisper amongst themselves.

With my black and chrome key fob in my hand, I idly fiddled with it as I walked. Once I made it to my G-Wagon, I unlocked the doors while I stood on the passenger side and waited for Natasha to catch up to me.

She looked so beautiful in the light of the setting sun. The skin of her cheeks flushed with what I could only assume was embarrassment. When Jade's black SUV drove off, I opened the door to help Natasha into my vehicle.

Upon getting into the driver's side, I heard her softly apologising.

"I'm sorry again about Jade, I–"

Turning to face her, my hand gripped the back of her neck and I pulled Natasha in for a kiss that immediately silenced her. She stiffened against me, but her shock quickly wore off as I felt her body relax. Her whimpers turned me on and I growled my approval when I felt her mouth nipping at mine as she proceeded to kiss me back fervently.

Due to the heavy tint on all the windows, I was not worried about anyone seeing inside.

Groaning at the feel of her hands gripping on to the lapels of my jacket, pulling me to her, my mouth slanted while my tongue sensuously attacked hers. Wanting another angle, I deepened our kiss, my fingers moving to tangle into her hair.

I found myself getting lost in her taste and smell and fuck me was I tempted to drag her across the console and onto my lap where I could feel her grind herself down onto my hard on.

For the first time in days, we were alone and it would seem as though we were making up for lost time. 

It felt so good to have Natasha in my arms again and I continued to kiss her to the point where I felt as though I never wanted to let her go. Truth be told, I probably would have kept kissing her until the sun completely set, but unfortunately, we needed oxygen.

When we parted, we were both breathless and it was my turn to apologise.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you just now. I thought that you would have realised that I was just pretending."

Chuckling, she replied, "Pretending to be an asshole? No wonder I couldn't tell the difference..."

"Fair enough!" I choked out a laugh and continued, "But you said that you wanted to keep us a secret, so I couldn't really show Jade how eager I was to be alone with you."

Natasha's eyes rounded, as she looked up at me and asked, "You were eager to be alone with me?"

"Are you not?" I smirked, turning the question back on her.

"You know I am, Sergey."

Leaning forward, our lips almost touched as I demanded softly, "Then shut up and kiss me some more..."

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A/N: Whew... 🥵

Thanks so much to LaurelisAnais for her "Queen of Havoc and Sadism" comment! It fit so perfectly with the pre-existing dialogue 🤭

Also, I'll be away for the Easter holidays, so I won't be posting until sometime next week. Keep an eye out! Be safe everyone 💜