back of my truck.” He explains. I should have expected no less from paranoid Nikolai. No DNA left behind. Our poor imaginary children. It’s a long way off but he needs that time to work out some of his crazy.
I am surprised at how happy I am to see Yuri and Yelena again. It feels like they are the true family of Nikolai. Not those other monsters he calls the family. Speaking of which, Nikolai returns to the table where he sat all day and retrieves a cigarette and lights it while continuing to speak on the phone in Russian. He looks angry at whatever is being discussed and his words seem very menacing.
I bury my nose in what I’m reading so that anger doesn’t spill over onto me but I can’t help myself when he hangs up and sits down at the end of my lounger. “Tough day at the office dear?” I ask with a smirk. Trying to keep the mood light.
“It’s only just beginning.” He answers cryptically.
Yuri addresses him now and it appears it is time for him and Yelena to leave us. I wrap my cover up around my waist and the three of us go inside together where much hugging and Russian is involved in Yelena and Yuri saying goodbye. We walk them out the door thanking them and I see that indeed there is Yuri’s little truck next to Nikolai’s Benz and it indeed has Trash bags loaded into it. Nikolai catches me staring at it and shrugs his shoulders at me. I smile and say “You aren’t making off with our silver or something are you?”
He smiles and says “No need. I’ve taken the greatest treasure this house ever held.”
I love this guy. We are corny, I know, but I eat it up.
The house smells so good that I decide to go up for my shower and get ready for dinner now. Nikolai says he will pick up around the pool patio and be up in a few minutes. More covering up his tracks I can only presume.
Seventeen
When I get to my room, I see everything is pristine. My original comforter has been cleaned and replaced on my bed. My room is never this spotless. I see the little mirror is still in plain sight on Nikolai’s night table along with the two remaining lines of cocaine. So he hasn’t taken any today. Does that mean he isn’t an addict? Just a recreational user? I am tempted to flush it but I am afraid to start a huge fight so I ignore it.
I strip to take my shower and study my body in the mirror. I am bruised and marked like I have had some kind of painful traumatic experience. I feel warmth between my legs at the thought of what Nikolai has done to my body. I need to talk to my therapist when I see her this week. Is this unhealthy? I know it isn’t normal. Am I a masochist? So many questions as I rub my hands over my throat and down my chest where I am marked over and over again by Nikolai. I am getting completely hot and bothered so I stop staring in the mirror and jump in the shower.
I take my time with the full shampoo, condition, and shave. While bending to shave my legs I remember that tomorrow I am going to book a full body wax. Ouch. But again, I am excited by the thought.
Finishing up, I step into the bedroom to find nude Nikolai with a drink in his hand, sitting on the bed and waiting for his turn I guess.
He reaches his free hand out for me. Wrapped in a towel around my body and one around my wet hair, I go to him and bend to his kiss.
“The smell in here is my favorite. I’m addicted Lyubov Moya .” He says as my eyes go to the cocaine immediately and see it’s still there.
“Not that. I am addicted to you. To your smell.”
He seems kind of upset with me and he can tell where my thoughts lie.
“My work means for the most part I have to be sober. I indulge when I can. Like when I am with you. I have lived this kind of life for so many years I’m not sure how to be a normal guy. Or a good guy like that cocksucker Lawson you think so highly of.” He sneers into my temple with his gruffest voice.