Chapter 2 #2
I knew keeping a secret this massive from my best friend would backfire eventually.
I just didn’t know it would be this soon.
But it’s not like it’s something that comes up in regular conversation, and I know it would be hard for Darby to understand.
She doesn’t come from the mafioso. Her mom was a psychiatrist, and her stepdad was a doctor.
They lived a completely normal life up until their untimely deaths, far away from crime and drugs, unlike my own family.
“Uh, I, um,” I stammer in response to her question; but thankfully, I don’t have to finish, because a bell sounds, signaling that the fight is about to start.
I stare at the two men in the ring, noting their differences.
Dimitri is maybe a couple of inches taller than Ethan.
He’s lean and muscular while his opponent looks like he drinks steroids for breakfast. Ethan’s arms bulge as he pounds his fists together, hyping himself up as he circles the ring, his beady, dark eyes drilling invisible daggers into Dimitri’s skull.
Dimitri simply stands in the middle of the ring, a half-smile touching his lips as he watches the other guy circle him. After a few minutes, Dimitri seemingly grows bored and points to his chin before he says something to the other fighter.
“What did he say?” I hear several people ask.
And then someone closer to the front calls out, “He told him he’d give him a free hit!”
I watch in horror as Dimitri’s opponent does just that.
Ethan rears back and punches him square in the jaw.
Dimitri stumbles back a step but absorbs the strike somehow.
And then he smiles. He actually smiles! Blood coats his teeth as he lifts his hand, signaling to his opponent to come at him again.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever been this turned on in my life,” Darby says from beside me before she squeals in delight.
I’m glad she’s excited, because I am absolutely terrified right now. My hands are fisted at my sides as my heart pounds like a war drum inside of my chest.
Dimitri steps forward, and Ethan swings.
He misses as Dimitri easily ducks out of the way.
And then the fight is on. Dimitri lands a solid punch to his opponent’s ribs.
And then Ethan gets a nice right hook on Dimitri’s jaw once again.
Punches land like gunshots, and the crowd goes wild as the two fighters go at each other.
After a few rounds, I can tell that Ethan is gassing out.
He’s beginning to stumble around the ring and even falls backwards a few times, needing help from the crowd to get upright once more.
Dimitri had gotten in several hits to Ethan’s head, so I’m sure he’s close to blacking out.
But Dimitri keeps pushing and pursuing him like Ethan is his prey and he’s not going to stop until he’s passed out… or dead.
I watch as Dimitri circles him, blood dripping from his split lip. He looks more like a wild animal than a man at that point. It’s almost like he’s looking for Ethan’s weaknesses so that he can strike at the right moment.
And then that moment comes.
Dimitri pounces on Ethan, knocking him to the ground. Dimitri begins swinging his fists, raining blows down upon his opponent as Ethan desperately tries to dodge and block every single hit but fails miserably.
Blood sprays onto the dirty, concrete floor as the crowd gasps. I don’t even think Ethan is moving anymore as Dimitri continues to punch him.
“He’s gonna kill him,” my best friend whines beside me.
Before I can even second-guess my decision, I rush through the crowd, pushing past everyone as I stumble my way to the makeshift ring in the middle of the cave.
I stand at the edge of the chalk, screaming Dimitri’s name, trying to draw his attention away from the man he’s currently turning into bloody mush on the ground.
“Dimitri!” I yell. But the determined expression on his face as he pounds his fists into the guy’s face doesn’t change. I doubt he can even hear me with everyone in the room yelling around me. “Dimitri, s-s-stop!” I scream as loud as I can.
A visible change happens when he finally hears my voice above all the others. And then his familiar, icy blue eyes lock onto mine, freezing the blood in my veins.
He slowly stands, seemingly forgetting about his unconscious opponent.
He takes a step in my direction. “You…shouldn’t…
.be…here, privighetoare mic?,” he says menacingly, each word punctuated with slow determination.
His accent is still there; stronger than ever and still engrained inside my brain.
His voice is deep and powerful, and it takes everything in me not to flinch at his words.
It feels like time is standing still as he stalks towards me, eyes narrowed and glaring at me like he wants to either kill me or kiss me. Maybe both.
My mind races as I think about what will happen when he gets to me. What will he say to me? What will I say to him?
He’s close to me now. So close I can smell the blood on his skin and the sweat on his brow.
But I don’t get the chance to find out what happens when he reaches me, because a group of burly teenagers grab onto him, jumping up and down and yelling things about Dimitri being the champ. Dimitri’s eyes stay glued to mine as they pull him backwards through the crowd and out of the cave.
Only when he’s out of sight do I pull some air into my oxygen-deprived lungs. I can finally breathe again.
“That was…intense,” Darby says as she approaches me.
“Where d-do you think they’re g-g-going?” I ask as my eyes stayed glued to the exit.
“Probably out to celebrate,” she says with a shrug. “They bet a lot of money on him to win.”
“Oh.”
“God, the way he stared at you.” She shudders. “Wow, it was…”
“C-c-creepy?” I offer.
“No. Freaking hot,” she says while emphatically fanning herself.
I scoff. “T-t-try to be on the r-r-receiving end of that glare,” I tell her before walking with the crowd as it slowly departs the cave.
“I wish I could be. Damn, I bet he fucks like a stallion.”
“Darby!” I hiss, my face flushing in utter embarrassment.
“What? It’s not my fault you’re the only virgin between the two of us,” she whispers.
I squeeze my eyes shut forcefully. She’s right.
Darby has been experimenting with boys for a while now, and she has screwed all three of the boyfriends she’s had over the past year.
Me, on the other hand, try to stay away from the opposite sex.
I didn’t read over the contract when I signed it, but my stepmother has informed me several times over the past two years that I’m not allowed to even date, let alone have sex, before I fulfill the contract.
I wonder if the same holds true for Dimitri, but I doubt if he would even follow the rules.
He’s probably already lost his virginity.
And for some reason, that makes me feel sick to my stomach.
“So, are you going to tell me how you two know each other?” Darby prompts, pulling me from my inner turmoil.
“Long s-s-story,” I mutter.
“Ooh, a long story between you and the Romanian,” she says, fluttering her lashes dramatically as she gathers her hands near her face. “I see a sleepover in the near future. I need all the dirt, girl.”
“Oh, there’s d-d-definitely a lot of d-dirt,” I say more to myself than her.
Where would I even begin? Anyone that’s not in our world would never understand the history and meaning behind arranged marriages.
As far as an outsider is concerned, the whole idea is foreign or just downright bizarre.
Darby comes from old money, not blood money, like me.
I don’t think there’s a way I could make her understand.
And as far as talking about Dimitri, that’s the absolute last thing I want to do.
In fact, I’m hoping that tonight is the last time I see him for a while.
I’ve enjoyed the mental break over the past two years.
I want to go back to him not existing in my world, so that I can keep on pretending that everything is fine, that I’m living a normal life and that I’m not secretly betrothed to a certified psychopath.