Chapter 3 #2
“It came across my mind often.” I admitted, for some reason, telling the lonesome thoughts I hadn’t told anyone in years but repeated every day.
“Being inside four walls can drive any man crazy. The only thing I wanted was to be far away from that cell, to be someone else so I can get my life back.”
“Mmhm,” she pondered loosely for a moment, staring into my gaze. “Then why did you take the fall?”
“Who says I did?”
Her lips parted, partly shocked and dumbfounded. “Well, I just assumed.”
“Maybe people would. After all, blackmail against wives, children, and family is a trick as old as time, but I had none of that.”
“Then what happened?”
“I was betrayed.”
Silence masked the air, turning the conversation dry.
Curiosity played in Blair's hazel eyes. It was so clear she wanted to pry; she wanted to know more, but she didn’t dare to intrude as she closed her lips.
A knock rang on the door, followed by a serene voice calling out. “Blair, are you ready?”
“Shit!” My kotyonok mouthed, covering her hand over her lips.
My brows jumped at her overreaction.
“Seriously, we need to go before Reverend Mother gets mad!” What I presume was another nun, a young nun, began to knock. “Blair!”
“Just a moment, Marie!” Blair’s eyes bulged out as she strode towards me; her hands landed on my wrist as she pushed me around the room, running in a circle, finding somewhere to hide me.
“Pretty sure the bathroom works,” I murmured, being a smartass on purpose.
“Shut up!”
She snapped her head at me, scrunching her nose as she redirected me as she twisted the knob, opened the door, and shoved me inside with a harsh push. Lifting her index finger in a menacing show of authority, as she said.
“Stay put! If I find you putting your nose where it doesn’t belong, I swear to God—”
“Who are you talking to, Blair!” Marie whined, starting to knock incessantly. “Seriously, if we end up late, I won’t leave you anything for dinner! Oh, and tomorrow’s breakfast too!”
Her eyes rolled to the back of her head as she bit her tongue.
“Blair!”
“Go on, sister, you wouldn’t want to get punished.”
She fluttered her eyes open as the fire in them had gone out. The will to fight back vanished. Her light ceased to exist.
My chest twisted at the thought.
No, she couldn’t go, not like that at least.
“I’ll be waiting for you, kotyonok.” My words of encouragement were the last she heard as she slammed the door shut in my face.
A contented smirk found its way on my lips.
I just loved pushing her buttons.
But then again… There was something about the look in her eyes that didn’t settle right.
I approached the door apprehensively, feeling drawn to it.
It was almost as if Blair was on the other side, in a maze of despair looking for a ray of hope in this saintly place, but everywhere she looked for answers, she came up empty.
She sniffled for a bit as my hand fisted against the door, hating to think of her cry. Hating to think that something tormented her while I couldn’t do a single thing about it. That only lasted a second before she pushed off the door and exited the door.
“Finally! What took you so long?” Marie sighed, pleased.
Blair deflected. “I was just fixing myself up.”
The sound of her heels echoed while they walked. Taking the leisure to open the bathroom door and listen to their conversation further as I sat on her bed.
“Ah, nonsense, you look perfect just the way you are.” Well, that was one undeniable truth. Blair didn’t need all that extra unnecessary makeup most women used; even if she did use it, it would only enhance her beauty. “Also, who were you talking to?”
“Myself.”
“You talk to yourself?”
“Mmhm, just me and the Lord. You know some profound personal experience.”
“Ooh yes! Divine encounters are one of a kind, Blair! When you open your heart to God, God speaks to you, literally!” Marie rambled on and on until her voice drowned out at the end of the passageway.
Leaving me to an infinite time of misery during which I did a series of workouts, took another shower, followed by completing an unfinished crossword puzzle Blair had left like she did every morning, and when there was nothing left to do, I sat and waited.
Eventually finding a photo of something Blair only knew about. But I wouldn’t press it.
Sometime later, when the moonlight shone through the slits of the window, the door creaked open silently as my hand reached for my gun on my wrist paint, and then Blair slipped through quickly.
I retracted my hand and cracked my knuckles one by one. “Well, kotyonok, didn’t you take your sweet time?” I had waited so long, I felt like a puppy wagging its tail to see its owner.
Blair sighed, closing and locking the door, then walking over to the tallest wooden drawer and retrieving a nightgown as she passed right by me and went into the bathroom.
I’d follow her if she didn’t slam the door in my face.
One of my eyebrows drew an inquisitive point.
Didn’t she see me? Or was she straight up annoying me?
No. No. It couldn’t have been me, maybe just something that bothered her during one of the activities the nun hosted. Definitely had to be it.
“Alright then, I’ll wait.” I went ahead, stalked over to the bed, threw pillows to the floor, and began to prepare my sleeping station.
Sitting on the floor with my back against the frame of her bed, my legs extended in front of me, after an excruciating amount of time, I lifted my wrist and checked my Rolex again.
“An hour?” My jaw tightened. “Come on, what’s taking her so long?”
“Hey, you can’t rush women. Especially ours. You can tell she was made with time and care, so let her get all pretty for us.” Dya’s voice intertwined with mine.
I groaned deeply, fighting for domain of my body. “Again, not ours. But, to think about her beautiful long hair loose, craving her face, glowing against her fair skin,
“You were saying?”
“Shut the fuck up, or I’ll shoot us both out of this misery.” I grunted loudly when the door popped open, and embarrassment crawled in the back of my neck. Shit, I hope she didn’t hear me.
My foot shook as I watched her turn off the light switch of the bathroom, casting us in complete darkness. The moon now hid behind the curtain of gray clouds, leaving the atmosphere feeling somber.
She closed the door, turned to look at me— well, more so through me, as she barely acknowledged me again. Shuffling her feet to the bed, my eyes attached to her, waiting for her to initiate some conversation while all she did was move the comforter and slip in. “Night,” she whispered so lowly.
I angled my head back to her, eying her so tensely that it burned her conscience, to see if she was serious or just shitting with me.
Her body was still like a dead man’s, but she had been muttering something incoherent; my ears would barely have caught it if I weren’t so close.
She tossed and turned in bed, letting out a long, exhausted breath before she lay flat on her back. Well, it made sense since she had been decorating the church and monastery all day.
Her name inched on my tongue when she spoke first.
“Come to bed.” She patted the empty side of the bed.
Drawing my head up and looking at her, I drawled lowly. “Is this an invitation?”
The kindness fled from her eyes. “Forget it and suffer then.” She tossed a pillow in my face and flopped around to the other side.
That little feisty act made a chuckle stumble from my throat. “Ah, you don’t want me in your bed, kotyonok?”
“Go to hell!”
“Come on, do you know how many women have begged me to stay in their bed?”
“Well, they were either desperate, stupid, or drunk,” she huffed, keeping her arms crossed. “Plus, why would I care?”
“Because…”
“Because?”
“Look at me.”
She shifted around in the bed, hitting the pillow, as her gaze fell from mine, slowly dipping to my lips and then elsewhere. There was a flame of desire embedded in her search, at least that’s what I thought when she clicked her tongue and flipped her hair over her shoulder. “Ridiculous.”
I blinked.
What?
Did she really not care? At all? Or was she bluffing?
Her disregard hurt my pride a bit.
Clearing my throat, I trod carefully. “Kotyonok?”
“Good night.”
Desperation grew like poison ivy infecting my skin as I kept my attention on her. “Alright. Alright, Blair, I promise to keep your vow of chastity. No touching or anything indecent.”
Silence challenged my proposal before she sassed back. “Liar.”
“I never lie.” That’s a huge statement.
She mocked a laugh, keeping her back turned to me. “You just lied about lying, aka breaking the third commandment.”
Right, that whole “Thou shalt not lie” business and whatnot.
“Let’s just call it a lie by technicality.”
“A lie is still a lie, no matter what you try to disguise it as.”
Tightness grew in my chest. “Blair, give me a break, please.”
“Fine,” she pushed through her teeth like she didn’t want to regret the decision. “Get on the bed.”
She didn’t have to tell me twice as I stood up and sat on the bed, accommodating myself.
I couldn’t fit lying down completely; the bed was too small for my size, so I settled my back against the frame of the bed, sitting upright as I stretched my legs in front of me.
The softness of the bed was a great contrast to the hard wooden floor.
Blair’s shoulders grew stiff, her breathing all labored as she fisted the edge of her blanket.
My gaze was attached to her face; up close she was much smaller, her lashes were naturally curled, her long strawberry-smelling hair fell to my fingertips as I softly wrapped my fingers around it, craving the touch ever since the first night.
Everything about her threw off my senses and weakened my defenses.
“Stop staring,” she tsked.
“Do you ever stop giving people orders?”
“No.”
“You should really fix that, kotyonok.”