Icing on the Cake Chapter 12

The grotesque word that pierced sharply into his ear made Yuri furrow his brow so deeply it was almost frightening. Did he just call me honey? To someone he’d met just a few hours ago, and an alpha at that? Though Yuri had thought Cheriot was bold, he hadn’t expected him to cross the line this far—yet recalling how Cheriot had told him his nickname upon their first meeting, it somehow seemed plausible.

“Honey, don’t make such a scary face. I was just having a friendly chat with this handsome gentleman here—he said he’s from America too, just like me.”

His unwanted prediction had hit the mark. Cheriot adjusted his mask back into place, rose from his seat, and approached with a light, swaying gait that didn’t suit his large frame. Pressing close, he grabbed Yuri’s wrist with a grin.

A hot body heat spread across Yuri’s skin. Had anyone touched him like this recently? Probably not since he’d crossed over into Canada. That was why this intimate contact felt chillingly unfamiliar.

Every instinct screamed to shove the hand away the moment it touched him, but reason held Yuri back. Having already gone so far as to use that disgusting nickname to avoid drawing attention, he couldn’t afford to cause any more of a scene. Enduring an uncomfortable moment for a while was better than failing the mission.

But just because he was putting up with it didn’t mean he had to play along with this insanity.

“I told you to stay in the lobby.”

Yuri turned only his eyes sideways and whispered quietly. His voice dropped so low it sounded like a threat.

“I was being good and listening. But Yuri left me alone for too long. My legs got stiff from sitting, so I took a little walk.”

It had taken about fifteen minutes for Yuri to check in and come back. At the word “alone,” Yuri’s lips tightened into a stern line.

“You can’t even wait a measly ten minutes? You’ve got less patience than a toddler.”

“Exactly. So you have to take care of me, since I’m just a little kid.”

With that, Cheriot bent his shoulders and whispered close to Yuri’s ear.

“Unless you’re going to leave me with that guy, pay for my cocktail. Alexei hasn’t brought my wallet yet.”

A tangled retort rose to the tip of his throat, but for now, Yuri decided to play along with his client’s tune just to get out of there. Wiping the displeasure from his face, he walked toward the bar, and Cheriot trotted after him.

Glancing briefly at the omega, who was looking at them with a bewildered expression, Yuri pulled forty dollars from his wallet and set it down firmly beside the freshly served cocktail glass.

“My companion has been rude. I’ll cover the drink.”

“Oh, well then, please drink it. Why don’t you both join me?”

As if he’d drink something ordered by a complete stranger. Yuri put on a cold curve of the lips that could hardly be called a smile and declined with appropriately polite firmness.

“We have things to do, so we’ll be going.”

Giving no room for further conversation, Yuri cut it off sharply, turned around, and grabbed Cheriot’s arm as he waved to the omega. Pulling him with strong force, Cheriot sputtered nonsense like “Ow, honey, isn’t that too rough?” as he followed along.

Perhaps it was because everything that had happened in those few short minutes was so far removed from Yuri’s life. His already pale complexion had turned ashen by the time they left the bar and started walking toward the elevator. Standing guard and fighting in subzero cold all day would be less exhausting than this.

As soon as the elevator finally arrived at the lobby, Yuri dragged Cheriot inside. With slightly impatient fingers, he pressed the button for the 12th floor—but it didn’t light up. Frowning, wondering if it was broken, he felt a heavy weight land on his shoulder.

He whipped his head around and saw Cheriot’s nose bridge and white cheek. They were close enough that lips almost brushed against his cheek. This man had a talent for relentlessly pressing in from behind without the slightest respect for personal space.

“What are you doing?”

“Yuri, you got the hotel key, right? You have to tap the card over there to get it to go up.”

“Give it to me,” Cheriot whispered, his breath tickling Yuri’s ear so much that he shuddered. Shoving him back with his shoulder, Yuri pulled out the check-in card he’d tucked away and placed it flat against Cheriot’s chest.

He’d done it that way because he didn’t feel like handing it over nicely. Cheriot slowly lowered his gaze, looked at Yuri’s hand touching his chest, and curled the corners of his mouth upward. Smiling with fresh, squinting eyes, he lowered his voice coyly and whispered.

“If you wanted to touch my chest, you should’ve said so. After we get upstairs and wash up, I’ll make a special exception…”

Adding to the earlier incident, what Yuri had learned in just a few hours was that Cheriot was the type to spout nonsense no matter what, and that you had to cut him off mid-sentence. Before he could hear any more weird talk, Yuri interrupted him.

“It’s room 1201, so get up there on your own. I’ll pick up your things.”

“I asked Alexei for a lot of stuff, so it’ll take a while. You’re my bodyguard, so you should stay glued to my side.”

With that, Cheriot deliberately reached his long arm toward Yuri. With practiced ease, he tapped the card key against the touch pad at the bottom, pressed the 12th floor, and this time the button lit up, unlike before. Yuri watched in silence. It was such a trivial action, yet it gave him an odd sense of dissonance.

How to put it. The only hotels Yuri had ever been to were old places that didn’t even require tapping a card key. Saratov was a barren frontier where tourists never came, and there was only one hotel in the whole city. And even that hadn’t been his choice—he’d gone because an omega he’d met to handle a rut had asked, and he’d obliged.

He’d never brought anyone to his own home. He’d only ever let Alexei, his close friend, crash there occasionally. When meeting omegas, he didn’t fuss over locations. He’d meet them at motels on the outskirts, part ways, or just satisfy his lust in a club room. That was his life, so he’d had no reason to go to high-end hotels.

After leaving Saratov and crossing the border to come here… he hadn’t been with any omegas at all. It had been well over three years since he’d last stayed at a place like this. In the meantime, he’d gotten through his ruts with suppressants. And when even the cost of the meds felt like a waste, he’d often drunk cheap vodka and locked himself away to endure.

That’s how it would continue to be.

The omegas he’d been with had all been of rather low quality. He’d never gotten entangled with ordinary people his whole life. He didn’t want to drag civilians into his world—where he could take a bullet any day—and cause them harm. The only ones who wanted someone like Yuri were omegas who sold their bodies when they came to buy drugs, or omegas who hung around with trashy crowds and indulged in pleasure.

They all had one thing in common: they lurked at the bottom of society, so they weren’t afraid of scum like Yuri. Only those who’d let go of many things could do that. People like Yuri Kiselov.

But this place was different. In this ordinary, comfortable metropolis, the people he met were far too normal—he shouldn’t mix with them. In the first place… the moment they saw his naked body, they’d run away.

“Yuri.”

While he’d been briefly lost in thought, they’d arrived at the 12th floor. Startled by the voice calling him, Yuri blinked, and Cheriot looked at him with a worried face.

“Are you really tired? You didn’t hear me calling.”

Seeing that pretty face tilting its head to meet his eye level gave him an odd feeling. Those clear green eyes that seemed to know nothing, that gaze laced with concern—they were the kind of thing Yuri had deliberately kept away from.

“…Let’s get out.”

Swallowing the discomfort of being in a place he shouldn’t be, with a person he shouldn’t be with, Yuri stepped out first. Out of habit, he quickly scanned both sides of the hallway, but there was no sign of anyone. Because he’d booked the room closest to the elevator, 1201 was right next to them. After checking behind him and signaling with his eyes, Yuri approached the door first and tapped the hotel key. Even after hearing the lock disengage, Yuri waited a few seconds before turning the handle. Carefully opening the door, he checked the bathroom and closet first—but there was no one there.