Authors: Zoya Tessi
O
nly when initial shock had passed, I noticed that the black pattern was broken in some places by pale marks. Scars. And there were more than a few. It didn’t take long for me to realize that two round ones, on his stomach and right shoulder, had to have come from bullet wounds.
That bizarre interplay of dark shapes, symbols, tribal patterns, words and scars would make anyone feel disturbed, but his sculpted body, with its perfectly toned muscles, could only leave you breathless in the end. With the ruffled hair, his half-open eyes and that certain aura of pent-up aggression, he reminded me of a model from some stylized, avant-garde Diesel ad.
Again, a million little butterflies started twitching in my belly and I wondered whether the bald gorilla might have been a better choice after all.
“What's wrong with her?” Alex drawled, pointin
g the top of the carton at Beth and bringing me back to reality.
“I don’t think she expected to see a tattooed monster jumping out of our
fridge.”
Hoping no one could detect too much emotion behind my
tone, I wrenched my eyes away from him and turned to Bethany, who maintained the same pose, looking utterly confused.
“I’m so sorry, I should have told you
earlier... mmm, this is Alex. Our new roommate.”
Beth turned to me with wide eyes, “Excuse me?”
“Well, it seems we’re somehow related, unfortunately, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there’d been some mix-up at the hospital. He’s transferred to our university and I basically agreed that he could stay here with us. You know, we have the spare room and all… I just hope you’re not angry with me?”
I put this question to Beth carefully, since in all the confusion it had totally slipped my mind to tell her about our new houseguest. She started shaking her head, a disapproving look on her face as she raised one finger in accusation, her shiny
blond hair flying in all directions.
“You’ve been forgetful lately and see what’s happened now! There was no need for me to give the guy such a fright.”
I was wondering whether to point out that she was the one who’d screamed, when I found myself being shouldered out of the way. I could only watch as Beth rushed to offer Alex her hand, her red lips spreading into a wide, inviting smile.
“Hi! I'm Bethany, but you can call me Beth,” she chirped in a syrupy voice, almost eating
him up with her eyes.
“Hi,” Alex replied in a bored tone as, not paying attention to us any more, he retreated to the living room with his carton of milk.
Looking him over from top to bottom, Beth didn’t take her eyes off his back until he was finally out of sight, and then quickly turned to face me.
“You and I need to talk.
Now!”
She grabbed my arm and dragged me behind her until we reached her room. Pushing the door closed loudly, she sat me in a chair and, hands on hips, fixed me with a stare.
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me!”
“Well I'm sorry, I completely forgot. He showed up unannounced a
nd...” I began to explain.
"I didn’t mean that. Well yes, that as well, but... I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you have a piece like that in your family!”
“What?” I asked, probably looking kind of stupid.
“Don’t make like you’re all naive now. Maybe you kept it quiet ‘
cause you want him all to yourself? Well OK, I could understand why! But God I do envy you! He’s so….ahhhh!” she let out a gasp that reminded me of an animal’s cry in mating season.
“
Beth, I...”
“You know, to me you never looked like the kind of girl who’d fall for bad boys, but boy was I wrong, ‘cause Tyler was no kitten, even if he did have a cute face… Do you remember when…
”
“Beth!” I tried to stop her, but she wasn’t paying any attention to me.
“...last winter he got into a fight with that guy? Wow... he looked so homicidal...”
“
Beeth!”
“
But this guy! I guess he’s everybody’s type. Mmm… Did you get a load of those abs? And all those tattoos. Soo sexy! My gosh! I’m getting hot just thinking about them!”
“BETHANY!” I shouted and finally managed to get her attention.
“God!”, I nervously ran my fingers through my hair, “I’m happy for you, but I don’t share your enthusiasm and the last thing I wanted was some jerk crashing at my place. If you like him, feel free to do whatever you want. He might be everybody’s type, but really, he’s not mine!”
“ You
sure?”
“Yes!”
“And, does he have a girlfriend?” she asked, trying to sound innocent, an idiotic grin on her face.
“I have no idea and I don’t care. You'll have to ask him yourself.”
I saw that she was ready to continue this line of questioning, so I got up quickly and headed for the door, shaking my head in disbelief.
“There’s something I
gotta do. Talk later,” I called back as I left the room.
I decided that I wouldn’t stand in Beth’s way if she wanted to hook up with
tattooed ogre, even if I was sure it would end badly. But, if she did make moves in that direction I’d have to let her in on a few facts. Subtly, of course. Without going into details.
Even if it didn’t seem like it, Beth was actually naïve as to the ways of the world because she’d grown u
p protected from a lot of stuff and she’d certainly never come into contact with characters like Alex. If she had even an inkling of the line of work he was in, she’d run away and never look back. I’d tried to do that myself, but it seemed I could never escape, no matter how hard I tried.
I wondered sometimes what it would be like to be part of a normal family, the way Bethany was. It wasn’t because I felt my life was awful or anything. I was just... curious. How would it feel to spend childhood with other kids, playing in the park, going on vacations? All those things had been denied to me. Ever since they’d first tried to kidnap me, just after I turned five, I’d been under constant surveillance wherever I went. Nikolai even tried to home school me instead of letting me go to ordinary school, and probably would have had it his way if it hadn’t been for my mother.
To an outsider, my life might have looked perfect. Anything I asked for, I got. Anyone looking a little closer, though, would have seen that a life lived in constant fear wasn’t so great. I’d been locked up in my own gilded cage. It might have been a beautiful cage, but it was still - a cage. However, I didn’t know any different. Without anything to compare it to, I couldn’t judge.
I stopped at the door to the living room and studied the possessions around me.
When I left home, I made a vow that I would never again have to deal with my father or his business and decided to open a new chapter in my life. That’s easier said than done when you’re the only child of one of the biggest arms dealers on the planet, of course.
I caught sight of Alex then, standing on the balcony, his arms resting on the rail. Deep in thought, he was smoking a cigarette, his eyes cast down over the rooftops below. It fascinated me, I realized, that he could radiate such an aura of dominance while appearing so calm. I wondered what had brought him to Nikolai.
Money? Excitement? Something else?
Unable to help myself, I found that I was tracing the lines of his bare back and arms with my eyes, admirin
g this template for perfection.
For as long as I could remember I’d been surrounded by a host of men. As part of Nikolai’s entourage they lived with us, so running into them from time to time in various states of undress was inevitable. It goes without saying that in their line of work they had to be strong specimens of manhood, a fact that wasn’t lost on me as I entered puberty. Even so, I was certain that I’d never seen a more beautiful body than that of my new guard dog. Though his muscles were all
well defined, he didn’t look like one of those gym types who spend every spare minute lifting weights. He was more like one of those adrenaline junkies who climbed up sheer rocks with just some chalk on their hands and no ropes at all.
Realizing that I’d been ogling Alex
like some teenager, I mentally gave myself a slap in the face and quickly run to my bedroom. However irritated I might be by Alex’s presence, seeing him almost naked sure made my thoughts race.
I looked for something to take my mind off Alex’s body and started going through my stuff, trying to find the curtains I’d put away a few months earlier. After investigating a few boxes and emptying several bags, I saw them and smiled to myself.
Still grinning, I pulled out a wad of pastel-pink material embroidered with
flowers. Tucking it under my arm I left the room, trying hard to suppress a chuckle as I tiptoed down the corridor imagining the look on Alex’s face when he saw this latest addition to his decor.
When I got to his room I dragged a stool over to the window, climbed up and, with one foot balancing on the sill, started to hang the curtain. I was humming to myself cheerfully, and feeling proud of my efforts, when a sharp voice came from behind me.
“What the hell?”
I flinched and tried to turn around, when my left foot, which was resting against the window, started to slide from under me. Unbalanced, I let out a scream as I found myself falling. Trying to regain my balance, I grabbed the silky curtain, which o
nly slipped through my fingers.
Closing my eyes shut, I braced myself for crashing down on the floor, but instead I was swept up by two strong arms, my head coming to rest against a warm, bare chest.
Inhaling the subtle smell of soap and aftershave, I slowly opened my eyes and came face to face with Alex’s dark scowl.
“What the fuck are you doing?”
“Watering the plants!” I shouted in his face, “Isn’t it obvious? Haven’t you seen anyone hanging curtains before?”
“Are you totally nuts? You could have broken your neck!”
“If you hadn’t given me such a fright, I wouldn’t have come so close!”
Registering that I was still in his arms, my eyes just inches from his own, I forced myself to look anywhere but at his bare chest and tried to wriggle out of his arms.
“Let go of me... right now,” I hissed
“
I’m no good at following orders. Maybe you should try asking. Nicely.”
“Hah!
In your dreams!”
“
OK. As far as I’m concerned, we can stay like this till tomorrow...”
It didn’t cross my mind to reply,
so I immediately began flailing around, doing my best to get free of his arms, but it was no use. He didn’t budge at all and held me like I weighed nothing at all. Figuring out there was nothing I could possibly do to wrestle free, I let out a groan and sunk my teeth into his shoulder, biting down hard.
“You crazy bitch!” he barked
and threw me down on the bed below, making me bounce twice.
I had a feeling that I wouldn’t come out of it well if he got his hands on me, so I clambered over to the other side of the bed and sprang down. Taking a quick look in Alex’s direction, I saw him clenching his jaw. Catching a murderous gleam in his eyes, I yelped a
nd fairly flew out of the room.
Reaching my bedroom, I quickly turned the key in the door behind me just a second before he
got to it and brought the palm of his hand down with a thud. Backing away, I eventually felt the edge of the bed behind my legs and collapsed in a heap.
You idiot, who knows how many people he’s killed just for looking at him the wrong way, and here you’ve just bitten the guy.
“Tomorrow morning, Princess...” I heard Alex’s voice from the other side of the door, “...we’re going straight to the pet store to buy you a nice muzzle.”
“Hah!
Very funny!”
“We'll choose a pink one. It’ll match your outfit.”
“Get lost!” I took a pillow from the bed and launched it at the door with all my strength.
Given the way things were going, I decided it was best to stay locked in my room, so I stretched out and reached over for my laptop. I started going over the
some essay that was due the next week, when the sound of Beth giggling came through from the living room. For a while I tried in vain to concentrate, but then I squeezed the laptop shut, changed into an old shirt of Tyler’s and went to sleep on an empty stomach.
Chapter
3 - An Important Lesson
The alarm had been ringing for a full five minutes when I finally reached out a hand, felt around for the phone and tossed it across the bed. It was time to face another day in hell.
Sliding out from under the quilt, I dragged myself to the bathroom, turned on the shower and stepped in. Slowly turning the faucet from hot over to cold and letting the water flow over me, I felt myself growing more alert.
Oh, it would be so good to imagine all my problems somehow disappearing with the water.
Riding this wave of optimism
, I remembered that once there would have been three goons following me, but now there was only Alex.
I mean, how much mess could one
person actually make? I’ll just pretend that he’s not even there. He’ll be gone soon, anyway.
Lifted by these positive thoughts on leaving the bathroom and heading down the hall, I’ve almost convinced myself that things might soon go back to normal. That bubble burst the second I entered the kitchen.
Reality hit me in form of a huge tattooed guy dressed only in baggy cargo pants, kicking back in my home, drinking my coffee and, it seemed from his face, planning new ways of disrupting my life. Looking like he’d really made himself at home, Alex was sitting at the kitchen table, flicking through a newspaper. Though the room was actually pretty big, he seemed to fill it, and the once familiar space felt suddenly cramped and hostile. It was obvious he’d heard me enter when he turned his cold gray eyes in my direction.
It seemed so strange that someone could make you want to hot tail it and run just by glancing over, while at the same time part of you felt like jumping right into his lap. That was really annoying feeling.
Maybe you should stop staring at his chest, like you’ve never seen shirtless man before!
I
quickly looked over at a box of cereal on the counter, but then only shook my head and poured some milk into a glass. Even though I’d felt like I could eat a horse a few minutes earlier, my appetite was suddenly gone.
“Is that what you call breakfast?”
”You have a problem with that?” I turned and found Alex studying me over the top of his newspaper
“You can’t just have milk for breakfast. Make a sandwich or eat some fruit.”
“And when did I hire you as my nutritionist?”
Hands on hips, I lowered my eyebrows and gave him a seriously dark look. Ignoring the sarcasm in my voice, he only shrugged and went back to reading the news.
“You're not getting out of here till you eat some real food.”
“Really?
Just watch me.”
I brought the
glass down on the counter with a bang and turned to leave, but Alex was too fast and in two strides he filled the doorway, barring my way with both hands on the frame.
“Get out of my way or you'll regret it,” I hissed, remotely aware of how dumb it must sound.
When he only shook his head and gestured with his eyes towards the table, I made an angry grab for one of his arms and pulled with all my strength. It was no good, of course. Alex only stood there, towering over me as usual.
“
Back off!”
“
No.”
“I can’t believe this.
”
I took a step back, let out a cry and grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl on the counter.
“Satisfied?” I started, waving the banana under his nose
Saying
nothing, Alex just nodded once, returned to his chair and continued reading his paper. It was as though nothing had happened.
“Control freak,” I shouted in his direction and marched off to my room.
Muttering under my breath, I picked up the books that lay strewn across the floor and stuffed them into the bag. I didn’t lose much time in quickly making up my face, tying back my hair and putting some silver hoops in my ears. Still in the process of fastening the left one, I stormed back out of the bedroom.
“You ready?” Alex asked me when I walked into the hall.
Although he’d managed to get fully dressed this time, he obviously hadn’t seen fit to find anything decent to wear. Despite what lay in store, he’d just put on a black t-shirt with the name of some band printed on the back. I thought he’d have at least covered up his tattoos, but no, and I really hoped that they won’t let him in the university building in that outfit.
“That’s interesting...” he muttered and leaned toward me.
Reaching out, he took the heavy silver pendant hanging around my neck in his hand and started studying its engravings from different angles.
“Don’t touch that!
”
Frowning at him with menace, I quickly snatched it from his hand and tucked it under my
shirt. The pendant was the last gift my mother had given to me, and I was never without it, except when I slept, and then it was on my bedside table.
Sighing, Alex picke
d his keys up from the dresser and left the apartment in silence, apparently expecting me to follow.
Coming out of the dark building, bright sunlight hurt my eyes and I had to lift one hand to shield them. It took a few moments to adjust to the light, but when I did I could only stand there, stunned.
“You
gotta be kidding me...”
“What do you mean?” Alex asked
, kicking the stand up on a big black motorcycle parked close by.
“You don’t think we’re going on that?”
“That’s exactly what I had in mind. Why? Are you scared, maybe?”
I sized up the huge machine and decided it didn’t look safe at all. Was I scared? No, I was terrified
.
“
Don’t be ridiculous.” I smirked, feeling a lump forming in my throat.
Stubborn to the last, I cautiously climbed behind him and started looking around for something to hold on to, but there seemed to be nothing.
“Here...” Alex grabbed my wrists, drew my arms around his waist and without any warning, started the engine.
Frightened of the noise and the jolt that
came, I grabbed his waist and cursed under my breath, squeezing with all my might. As he accelerated my stomach seemed to flip over, so I shut my eyes tight and felt the air rush past my head, trying to imagine being someplace else. With my head resting against Alex’s back, somewhere between his shoulder blades, and my thighs pressed firmly against his, the feelings I experienced were a world away from the disgust I wanted to feel.
The bike slowed and came to a stop, but I was still too afraid to open my eyes. When I finally did, I found we’d arrived in the parking lot. Jumping off the back like a scorched cat, I moved away from the damn thing and nervously brought my hands to the task of restoring order to my now chaotic hair.
“
The bloody Academy of Art University.” I heard Alex’s voice “Oh, I’ll kill him!”
Looking up, I saw him leaning forward slightly in his seat, one arm resting on the tank, watching me curiously.
“What?”
The corners of his lips seemed to curl up slightly, forming an amused expression, but not a smile as such. Interesting... at that moment he looked almost human to me.
Almost.
“Nothing... you just reminded me of a plucked chicken,
”.
Shocked by his statement and outraged by how hurt I felt by it, I turned around without a word an
d made a dash for the entrance.
Striding through the halls, I didn’t need to turn around to see if Alex was following; the expressions on the faces of the girls passing by told their own story. Wondering what was wrong with the floozies who fell so fast for tattooed bad boy types, I entered the lecture hall and purposefully moved back towards the last row of seats, where only one was empty. I put my bag down with a smack on the tiny desk in front of me and sat down heavily.
Entering the hall, Alex glanced over the heads of other students down at the front, until he caught sight of me and moved towards an empty seat in the third row. The professor walked in soon afterwards and began his lecture, ignoring those students who continued to whisper amongst themselves.
I made an effort to concentrate and make some notes about Roman architecture, but my eyes continually wandered in Alex’s direction. He was leaning back in his chair, one leg bent at the knee, looking totally bored all while the girl to his right was whispering something in his ear, twisting one of her curls between her fingers. Disgusted by this movie cliché, I rolled my eyes and went back to my notes, forcing myself not to look again until the lecture was over. I was probably the only female in the room who wasn’t staring wide eyed in his direction, drooling.
As soon as the professor left the room, I grabbed my books and was one of the first to get out into the hallway, hoping that if I was fast enough I might somehow escape my nemesis. I didn’t rate my chances highly, though.
“Sasha!" I heard someone calling my name and felt the twist in my gut.
Oh shit! Why today?
Resigning myself quickly to the situation, I turned around slowly.
With the seductive smile that was almost his trademark, Tyler pushed away from the wall he was leaning against and started towards me. It wasn’t really any wonder that I’d fallen for him. Looking like an improved version of Channing Tatum, all sky blue eyes and innocent lips, any girl he looked at just had to melt on the spot. The white shirt he was wearing brought out his broad shoulders, and in a pair of dark jeans he looked even better than ever. I wished the ground would just swallow me up.
“You don’t answer my calls. Why, honey?”
“Why do you think?” I
asked, wishing my voice weren’t starting to tremble.
It was too much to bear, seeing his perfect face and the blue eyes I’d once dreamed about, so I pretended to look for something in my bag and directed my attention there.
“Come on, don’t be like that. I made a mistake, I admit that. I wanted to explain everything, but you’ve been avoiding me all week.”
“I don’t need your explanations, Ty. Everything’s totally clear.” I bit back and was turning to leave when he grabbed my arm and pulled me towards him.
“Don’t turn your back like that,” he whispered and stroked my cheek. “You know she’s not the one I care about. It was just a… weak moment, that's all. We shouldn’t let one stupid mistake ruin what we had. Can’t we just try to forget everything and start over?”
I looked at him with shining eyes, appalled that he could even suggest it.
“Go to hell,” I leveled at him as coolly as I could manage and tried to wrench my arm free, but he wasn’t letting go.
“Sweetie...”
“Let go of my arm. Right now!”
“
Oh, come on Sasha. I know you still care about me and...”
“You'd better listen to her,” a deep, gravelly voice came from behind me.
The bustling hall, which had echoed with noise a moment before, fell silent in an instant and I was sure that if a fly batted its wings, everyone would hear it. The fingers gripping my arm relented a little, so I twisted free, took a step back and felt Alex move his arm around my waist protectively.
“Who the hell are you? What makes you think you can butt in here? We’re talking,” Tyler snapped at Alex.
People had stopped by the walls of the corridor and some were whispering excitedly, clearly expecting some action. When Alex didn’t bother to answer and just went on staring at him ferociously, Tyler turned his stunned face to me.
“
What’s going on? I didn’t know you’d started hanging around with this kind,” he scanned Alex up and down, a sour, surprised look on his face.
“Get lost
pretty boy, or I'll mop the floor up with you,”
Hearing Alex’s cold tone, I felt goose bumps rising at the back of my neck. It sounded more like a statement of fact than a threat. His eyes were fixed on Tyler the whole time, and it was obvious, to me at least, that he meant business. Within my field of vision, I s
ensed Tyler clenching his fists and that a vein in his neck had started to throb visibly. No one who knew Tyler would have dared speak to him like that.
I put one hand on Alex’s bicep and shot a nervous look at Tyler.
“Alex, don’t make a scene. Please,” I whispered.
Alex let his black look linger over Tyler a few moments longer,
then took my hand in his and when he turned toward exit, I let out a sigh of relief.
“This
ain’t the end o’ this,” Tyler called behind us, and I wasn’t sure which one of us he was talking to.
When we came to the yard, it took me a few moments to remember that my hand was in Alex’s, so I tugged it free at once. Heading over to the parking lot, I avoided looking at him, feeling tears start to prick at the corners of my eyes. I couldn’t get over the fact that seeing Tyler had upset me more than it should. Seemed like the asshole didn’t even
realize how much he’d hurt me.
Did he really think I’d run back after an empty apology and some sweet talk?