58
No matter how fast you run...
Andrey
Aleksa looked at me angrily from the bed. From the moment I entered the room and he saw me pull out the suitcase, the expression of happiness that had enveloped him upon seeing me vanished instantly.
”Are you moving?” was the first thing he asked me. I raised my eyebrows and replied, ”What does it matter to you?” ”Seriously, you”re not going to tell me why you”re packing your bags?”
He was more irritable than usual after I grabbed his damn bell and threw it out the window to stop him from pestering me with his absurd requests.
If my job had been that, I could have called it harassment. As I approached the bed, his arms multiplied like those of a Hindu god, groping me like an octopus everywhere.
Fed up with his harassment strategy, I assigned another one of my men to take care of him. Don”t think he didn”t protest. He raised hell over the nurse change, driving poor Omar crazy, who went up and down sticking his tongue out.
He annoyed me so much that the hundredth time I heard the damn bell ring within an hour, I was the one who went up to the room to snatch it from his fingers and throw it against the garden tiles.
Aleksa complained and I ended up telling him to file a complaint form, slamming the door so loud it echoed throughout the house.
I was fed up with his offended teenager digs. But what did he think, that this was going to make me come closer? He had another thing coming.
My salvation came in the form of a call that was going to give me the space I needed to breathe and reorder my thoughts.
I needed to get away, clear my head, not see him, hear him, feel him, or smell him. That”s why I was sleeping on that uncomfortable sofa where my feet stuck out, instead of in the bed, next to him.
I had to leave the room because sharing a mattress with Aleksa was a fucking torture and my dick threatened to pierce the box spring every night, just by feeling his body heat nearby.
A cushion tried to reach me unsuccessfully. He had thrown it at me, as a call for attention, without taking into account that his ribs prevented him from making sudden movements.
”I don”t owe you any explanation,” I grumbled under my breath.
Our relationship was so tense that if it were a guitar string, it would have already snapped.
”Of course you owe me one! We”re in this together, remember?”
”You and I are not together in anything. And, for your information, my leaving has nothing to do with your boss. You have no business meddling in what doesn”t concern you, you seem like one of those old village ladies who spend all day peeking out the window to see what they can find out.”
”Maybe it”s because I care about you, although I shouldn”t. You”re the worst partner I”ve ever had! You tell me nothing, you ignore my ass, and I, on top of that, am confined to a damn bed that keeps me away from everything that”s happening out there. I”d like to see you in my situation to see if you wouldn”t become the old lady behind the curtain.” His dark fingers drummed on the white sheet.
”I don”t have the pleasure of knowing that lady, but if she”s anything like you, I can imagine,” I muttered. I had just packed my toiletry bag and some shoes.
I went to the dresser and then to the closet. I also didn”t want to overpack; in Saint Petersburg, I had clothes, there was my house, my home, not next to that madman. A couple more garments and I would be ready.
I placed them meticulously and closed the zipper. In half an hour I had to be at the father-in-law of Koroleva, where his mother and sisters were staying. There I would pick up Sarka and go to the airport.
”How many days will you be away?” Aleksa insisted. But what a fucking pain he was!
”As long as necessary,” I answered ambiguously.
Deep down, I liked that he was uneasy. With what he had been undermining me these days, he deserved it, for being annoying.
”Oh, come on! You know that if I call Romeo, he”ll tell me where you”re going, and I don”t need to ask you, right?” I shrugged my shoulders.
”Well, do it.” He was getting exasperated.
”Is this some kind of secret mission? A special assignment where your life is at risk and that”s why you don”t want to tell me?”
”I don”t want to tell you because it”s none of your business. And my life isn”t in danger, if you”re not around to screw me over with your nonsense, of course.” I saw him tighten his expression in disgust. ”Don”t make me repeat it again, I”m leaving and that”s it.”
”Only tell me if something could happen to you.”
His voice dropped and I looked into those beautiful dark eyes that were a damn downfall.
”Do you say that to send flowers to my grave? Or do you want to dedicate a prayer and light some candles in my name?”
No matter how much I masturbated and sought relief in a gay bar I went to, ending up sleeping with a guy who reminded me too much of my damn toothache, he was still there, sipping every one of my thoughts.
”I”m worried,” he confessed. ”Not being able to do anything is taking its toll, is it so hard to tell me what”s going on?” I sighed resignedly, maybe I was being too harsh for no reason. After all, he wasn”t asking anything out of this world. I decided to relieve him.
”I”m taking Sarka back to Saint Petersburg, happy now?” He fell silent and looked at me curiously.
”And why is that?”
”She wants to study her final year there. Jelena and Irisha don”t want to return to Russia, so I have to accompany her.” He blinked several times and asked cautiously.
”Are you telling me you”re going to stay there? That you won”t come back?” ”I wish I could not return and thus forget about you,” I thought to myself.
”Although I would accept that proposal with my eyes closed if it were made to me, no, my job is next to Koroleva and she lives here now. I”ll be away for a few days.” Aleksa watched me carefully.
”Don”t you want to return because of me?”
His tone was not cheerful or joking, rather cautious and restrained.
”Don”t flatter yourself. I liked my life before, it was dangerous but peaceful. I didn”t have a damn Croat-Slovenian bothering me all day. That”s all.” He clenched his teeth.
”Yeah. Well, have a light trip and be careful when you go out, don”t let a flowerpot fall on your head and thwart your plans.”
He was irritated and his comment made me want to burst out laughing. I didn”t do it, I just kept my distance and watched him with weariness.
”My head is too hard for a simple flowerpot to ruin my day.”
”On that we agree, your head is too hard. No matter how much you run or the kilometers you want to put between us, because I have settled in every fucking memory and I”m not leaving.” I smiled half-heartedly.
”I”m a specialist in squatters and memories are just that, memories,” I clarified. ”Take care, and don”t hassle Omar or he”ll stop holding your dick when you pee.”
”Omar doesn”t hold anything, as you know. Although maybe I”ll find someone who does, not everyone makes as many objections as you,” he suggested spitefully.
”You”d do well.”
That was the last thing I said before dragging the suitcase out of the room with his eyes drilling into the back of my neck.
I wasn”t going to make a scene, nor was I going to approach him to kiss him as I felt like doing. It was much better this way, for him to become disillusioned and understand that what we had was a fling, nothing more.
I closed the door with a fucking knot that I planned to untie as soon as he was out of sight. I just needed a few days away and I would manage to erase him from my life.