CHAPTER ELEVEN #2
To anyone else, it might sound like an insult.
But Barrett knows what it means. She’s spent the last few hours in silence, one of which staring into my eyes without a word.
She’s been trying to find a reason to leave for days.
But she belongs here, and she’s going to see that before the sun rises tomorrow morning.
She holds my eyes with her stormy gaze that I enjoy more than anything and then stands up, turning to walk away. But when she arrives at the edge of the sectional, she spins back around.
“I love you, Sergei.”
She says it sharply, like she’s pissed off about it. And as soon as she does, she immediately averts her eyes like her own words have caught her by surprise.
“Is that weird? It’s pretty weird.” She purses her lips, looking angrier by the second. “But I guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise, after what you said to me this morning.” Her tone sounds downright accusatory now.
I smile up at her, thoroughly amused. “You should probably start diagnosing yourself, then.”
“With what? Stockholm Syndrome?” she spits back.
“I'm not Swedish.”
“Oh, is there a Russian version?”
“If there is, it's probably much worse,” I smirk.
Barrett lets out a huff and rakes her hair back from her face. I move to stand as she glances around the room nervously. In a matter of three steps, I come to a halt, inches from her chest.
“You are not weird,” I tell her in no uncertain terms. “You are the only other person who belongs here in this house with me. And, I told you,” I lean down, until my lips brush the edge of her hair line, and lower my voice, “you are my Printsessa, my treasure, and my entire world.”
She doesn’t look up, only lifts her hands and rests her palms on my chest.
“But you are going back.” It’s not so much a question as confirmation of her intentions.
“Yes.” It’s barely a whisper, but it cuts through the silence like a knife.
I reach for her hand and bring it to my lips, kissing her satin skin. “If you have to go, I will take you down the mountain tomorrow.”
Barrett’s eyes dart away as her jaw tightens and her chin trembles slightly.
But she tamps it down quickly, covering it up with a smile as she gives my hand a squeeze.
For someone who facilitates the emotional healing of other people, it seems like she’s far more accustomed to ignoring her own in favor of duty.
I glance out the window at the sun dipping behind the trees. Night comes quickly on the mountain and it will be dark soon enough, which means I have things to accomplish that I’ve put off too long already.
“I’ll go down and check the roads,” I tell her. “I’ll be back before long.”
Barrett gives a nod as I cup her face, tilting it up to look at me.
She clenches my shirt in her fists as I kiss her, each one reminding her that I meant what I said.
I don’t get close to just anyone, but I’ll be her constant, her rock, her lover, and one day, maybe even her husband.
I’ll be the one she comes home to, the one she goes to sleep with, and the one she wakes up next to every day, never having to second-guess whether it’s real. Because she’s the one I want.
And I mate for life.
Plans change. Plates shift. And, eventually, we come to terms with accepting that we deserve the things we want. She just hasn’t reached the last part yet.
I step back, letting her hands fall from my chest. Grabbing my coat from the hook, I open the door for the first time to the crisp chill of the wintry air. But then I give pause.
“And remember what I told you,” I say over my shoulder, “do not open this door or go outside until I come back.”
And with that, I step out into the shimmering snow and pull the door shut behind me.
●●●
“How's your captive doing?” Lutz snickers over the speaker. “Are you the best of friends yet?”
“She’s not captive,” I correct him. “She came back voluntarily. And she could have left by now. The airport is open again.”
“Does she know that?”
“She knows the airport is open.”
“Uh-huh…” He knows me well enough to decipher my intentionally vague responses. “She's been asking Brett about you, searching for intel.”
Of course she has.
“She is smart.”
“See? She’s pretty cool, right?” he says smugly. “I knew you all would get on like a house fire.”
You have no idea.
“Yes,” I agree, “she is the one.”
Lutz is silent for a moment and then a warmth seeps into my heart, just like every other time I render him speechless, which is not often.
“Wait, what do you mean, the one?” he finally asks. “You want to be with Barrett?”
“Want assumes uncertainty.”
“Again, does she know that?”
“She knows enough.”
“Now you’re starting to sound like me,” he gloats.
“After this long, I suppose I can’t completely ignore your influence.”
I’ll let him think that. I have a soft spot for Lutz, after all. Other than my parents, he and the two Barreras are the closest I have to family.
“And here I was thinking I was the one,” Lutz scoffs. “A few days in that house with you, she probably knows more about you than I do.”
“I assure you that it’s no slight against you.”
“It’s alright, I’m sure she’ll tell Brett all about it, eventually. I’ll find out all the shit you’ve been keeping under wraps.”
Barrett seemed pleasantly surprised by the things I keep under wraps.
“After tonight, she can tell Brett whatever she wants,” I declare.
“You don’t waste time, do you?”
“One shot.”
I can’t see Lutz’s face, but I know what it looks like, just like every other time I remind him of how I would have expedited the dispatch of that waste of flesh, Garrison.
And the same is true in this situation. Now that I have Barrett here, I won’t give her a chance to leave, especially since I know that she doesn’t want to.
But she’s a professional and she has integrity, which I respect, so I understand her dilemma.
Which is why I’m about to take control and force her hand.
She will thank me later.
“Oh, yeah, I sent you that information you wanted. Did you get it?” Lutz asks.
The text notification is still on my screen, I just haven't opened the message yet.
“Yes. Thank you.”
“Pretty bold of you.”
That's rich, especially coming from Lutz. I helped him secure his woman, it’s only fair that, now, he helps secure mine. We have known each other for years now, and he's like my brother, but even he doesn't know everything I'm capable of.
“You don’t approve?”
“I didn’t say that,” he argues. “Again, it seems like something I would do. And I can’t wait to hear about it.”
I smile as I scan the terrain through the windshield. “Won’t be long now.”
“Merry fucking Christmas,” he chuckles. “Good luck, brother.”
As soon as I end the call, I pull the black gaiter up over my nose and toss my blue coat onto the passenger side seat in favor of the black one I carry in the truck box.
I have no intention of checking the roads into town tonight.
I have more pressing matters to attend to, ones that involve making sure that Barrett remains on this mountain.
She’s probably packing right now, waging an internal war with herself about leaving.
But she won’t. That part about her catching a flight tomorrow back to that god-forsaken flatland isn’t true.
None of it is.
She shouldn’t have taken one step outside the door last time, lest she find out what’s really out here.
But I knew from the start that she’s not someone who blindly follows orders.
Normally, I would find this an appealing quality in a woman, but nothing about the last few days is normal.
That house is hers now. She’s the fire and the warmth that belongs here with me, burning silently until the embers pop every so often, only to return to a quiet inferno.
It's what I love about her, but based on this fact, I assume she’ll opt to be a pain in my ass about this request. But who can say? Now that she trusts me, maybe she’ll decide to listen to me tonight.
I don’t think she’ll want to witness what will happen if she doesn’t.