Chapter 10
CHAPTER
TEN
Sia
“Hey! How’ve you been, girl? Haven’t talk to you much. You okay?”
I sat on my bed and laid back. “Yeah. Sorry. I guess I didn’t want to bother you at school.”
“Oh my God. You’re not bothering me.” Lettie was bopping around where she was. I could hear about a million people in the background, all of whom she shouted at to shut up so she could talk on the phone. Suddenly, things were quiet on her end like maybe she left the room or closed the door. “And, believe me, hearing from you is a relief. They’ve been working us to the bone every day. I feel like I’m icing my feet every night.”
I smiled, trying to picture Lettie on stage in a pair of ballet shoes. She definitely had the body of a dancer, but her overall bubbly exterior was the complete opposite of the serious ballet dancers I’d seen in the media. “Are you having fun though?”
“Oh, loads. Dancing is my life. It’s just hard AF, and I’m feeling a little bitchy. Tired.”
I laughed.
“Anyway, how are you? Glad I caught you.”
There wasn’t much to catch up on in my life considering I didn’t go anywhere. I got up, then went through my drawer for some bed clothes. “I’m good. Just working with Polly.”
“Sweet. She been doing okay?”
“Amazing actually.” I grinned, thinking about what I taught her today. “She can stand on her hind legs and do a little dance. It’s funny.”
Especially since she was so huge.
“Oh my God. I love that. Has Dad seen her do that?”
He would have if he’d been around enough to see anything, and when I told her that, she sighed.
“I’m sorry. I warned you he works all the time.”
He did work a lot, but he was home some of the time. Like today, when he’d once again come home covered in blood.
I pulled my things out of the drawer. “I’m kind of thinking I know what he does for a living. Or at least part of what he does?” There was silence on the other line, and I swallowed. “You obviously don’t have to tell me details, but I have a feeling working outside the law is a vast understatement.”
I waited for her to say something about that, anything. Regardless of what she said though, I intended to keep my promise to her dad. I wasn’t going to say anything about what I saw here to anyone. I made a choice to stay here, and since I did, I was going to keep a lock on what I generally thought Mr. Petrov was a part of regarding his job.
Or I guess I should say the organization I believed he might be a part of.
“God, Sia, I’m sorry,” Lettie said, and I sighed. “I very much don’t know the details like I told you, but… I’ve suspected things. Lots of things over the years.”
“Don’t apologize.” I sat on the bed with my stuff. “But I do feel a little blindsided.”
The girl told me I had nothing to worry about in regards to her dad when it came to the cops. But being in the mob meant the police could come sniffing around at any time, and I just got out of all that.
“You just…” Lettie paused. “You know, seemed desperate.”
I laughed, still desperate.
She sighed. “Are you going to quit? I completely understand if you do, and you can, you know.”
Her dad would welcome that. “I said I was going to stay. I need this job, Lettie. No one will give me work with my record.”
This still remained true, and when Lettie released another breath through the phone, I did too.
“Well, maybe you can look for something else while you work for my dad. Being there can at least buy you some time?” she stated, and I hoped so. She huffed. “But you are safe there. The place is literally Fort Knox.”
She wasn’t lying about that. Whatever security Val set up came with loads of armed men on the regular. Mr. Petrov literally had people everywhere and eyeing the situation. When it came to his home, things weren’t a joke, clearly.
“Are you mad at me?” Lettie asked, sounding worried. “If I thought you were in any kind of danger, I never would have suggested the job.”
I scrubbed my hands into my hair. “I know. This place is safe, and Val is cool.”
“Oh, you met Val? She’s great, isn’t she?”
She was and was also just about the only social interaction I had outside of the household staff.
I told Lettie that too, and when I did, she huffed again.
“My dad is…a special breed,” she said, and I laughed at that. She did too. “I guess that’s putting it lightly. He’s just really focused. He has a lot going on with his job so, yeah.”
I got that, wondering every day the reasons why he was covered in blood. Was he torturing people like they did in the movies? Was he doing worse?
I pushed my hair out of my face, deciding to move the conversation on. I didn’t want to alarm myself that I did want to know more details about what he did no matter how morbid and disturbing. That was unusual, and I knew that.
I blamed my intrigue on the fact that I wanted to go into the healthcare field. The art of putting things back together fascinated me. I wanted to help people, make things not so broken like they had been for me most of my life.
I ended the conversation with Lettie by hearing about her classes, and she asked me if I was thinking anymore about school for myself. I dodged the question though. I couldn’t focus on that right now. I was just trying to keep my head above the water.
Swallowing hard, I stripped down and put a robe on. I took my bed clothes into the bathroom, then started the shower. I had a long day out with Polly today. We’d explored the Petrovs’ vineyard.
I threw water droplets off my hand after testing the water. I needed a towel so I headed to the closet to get one. That’s when I spotted Mr. Petrov. The pool was right below my bathroom window, and he was in it.
He was naked again.
Tanned, tatted skin cut through clear water surrounded by pool lighting. I hadn’t caught him in the pool since he exposed himself to me, but then again, he was never home.
I pushed out of the window curtains, angry that he just did shit like that. I mean no one wanted to see his junk, but there he was, naked and doing a freestyle swim. He was so cocky, arrogant.
I put my towel on the toilet and hopped into the shower.
Mr. Petrov was getting out of the pool by the time I finished. I was passing the window when I spotted him again, and I thought he’d towel off, then head inside, but he didn’t. He waltzed over to the outdoor shower, turning it on, then cutting into the water. He did this naked too, but when he’d been in the pool, I’d only been able to see the back of him.
I saw all of him now, his perfect body chiseled and completely tatted. There were very few areas he didn’t have tattoos. He turned, facing my window full on when he pushed fingers through his inky black hair.
I watched him despite myself. The moon hit him just right, the pool lights doing the rest. I couldn’t look away.
I mean, he was beautiful.
He was, despite how arrogant and godawful he was. I hated I found guys in general intimidating. Especially if they were older. I didn’t trust men because nearly every one I came across in my life had an agenda. Because of that, I didn’t date a whole lot, which was why I had to get myself off in the shower just about every night. My hand didn’t betray my body, nor did the adjustable shower head when I used it between my legs.
Christ.
Mr. Petrov closed his eyes under the water. He guided the water down his body, fisting himself at one point.
My heart hit my chest. My legs eased apart, and I found my hand moving between them.
What are you doing?
I told my brain I touched myself because he did, but he wasn’t doing it in the same way. Truth be told, he only touched himself briefly. He was taking a shower and cleaning off, but that wasn’t what I was doing.
My fingers picked up between my legs when he got soap and moved it over his cock. Again, he was only there briefly before washing his hair, but that didn’t matter.
My folds were so wet watching him, slick. I was spying on this guy…this older man while he washed himself and here I was touching myself like a pervert.
But I didn’t stop.
My lids hooded, my body panted. Mr. Petrov guided his head beneath the stream of water. He stood there still like a marble statue, his hands laced behind his neck while he enjoyed the warm water. He let the steady stream hit all those dark tattoos, and my fingers strummed my clit in quick time.
Stop.
I couldn’t stop, my fingers suddenly moving in and out of my body. I clenched the curtains with my other hand. If anything, for stability. I couldn’t breathe and was hot everywhere. I touched my breast, pinching my nipple.
Oh, God.
Oh God was right as I didn’t just hit that peak but tumbled over it. My walls vibrating around my fingers, I closed my eyes, my thighs shaking. Letting go of the curtain, I touched my head to the wall.
Why did you just do that?
I didn’t know. I didn’t like that man at all and him being Lettie’s dad only made things worse. I literally got off watching my best friend’s dad, but not only that…
I liked it.