13. Nona
NONA
It’s been almost three weeks and Alex has been making a concerted effort to either not be alone with me or make himself scarce in one way or another.
All the while, not daring to leave me alone should he leave the house.
It’s getting so that when I get up in the morning, the first way I know he’s not here is if Yeva is greeting me instead.
I’ve had some chances to get his attention and I’ve been trying to be more sure of myself and more assertive.
A few times, he’s caught me sitting in his pristine living room and he’s paused, looking me over carefully, probably trying to figure out if I’m going to dirty up the pretty upholstery on his couch.
But every time, he just walks away, saying nothing at all.
And he still hasn’t touched me. There have been a couple of times this week when I’ve woken up in the middle of the night to find him gone. Once, I went to look for him and found him sleeping on the living room couch. It’s almost insulting how he does everything he can to keep away from me.
This… arrangement is just not working out.
In addition to not making any headway in getting my husband’s attention, I’ve found very little to bring back to my father.
And since Alex has shut me out almost completely since that day he found me in the parlor, there’s just been nothing more for me to find.
He still takes meetings at the house, but it’s all very informal.
Sometimes, he’s sitting outside with someone on the back stoop, or talking over coffee in the kitchen.
A couple of times, I’ve happened by him talking to Kostya while shooting pool in the den.
The little bits of conversation that I’ve heard are confusing as he they typically speak in a Russian dialect I’m not familiar with.
I’ve heard some of the words before from my father, but I don’t know it and he’s never bothered to teach it to me.
The more and more I think about it, the more it becomes clear that there’s only one way to get anything out of this whole secret spy quest I’m on.
I have to get Alex to like me. The one thing that I know is that he’s attracted to me, whether he wants to admit it or not.
After our first night together, he started arranging the pillows and blankets between us to give me some modesty, or so he said at the time.
That’s all fine and good, except he talks in his sleep.
The other night, he woke me up with soft moans and whispers, followed by my name and some half-muttered commands.
And I know that getting him to fuck me alone won’t do the trick, but it might open the door a little. He’s got to be climbing the walls by now.
Hell… I’m climbing the walls right with him.
This morning, I got up early, leaving him in the bed for once. He’ll probably leave to do whatever Bratva thing he’s got planned and send Yeva over here to babysit me. As much as she and I have been bonding, I don’t need her for what I plan to do today.
I managed to shower and get dressed without waking him up and now I’m out the door. It’s a good thing we live in the city. I might not have a car like my husband and sister-in-law, but I can still get around through the subway, which is only a few blocks away.
I’m only fifteen minutes in when I get a text from him.
Where are you?
I’m mildly touched that he noticed I was gone.
Doing a little shopping. I should be back this afternoon, I text back.
He doesn’t text me back to confirm, but I see that he’s read the text.
Within the hour, I’m walking through the mall and making my way to the lingerie store. Of the experiences I’ve had in my life, this one is new. I’ve never even considered buying bras and panties just for the man in my life, but this chapter of my existence is all about new experiences.
I walk into the store and the electronic two-toned sound of the door chime goes off. The heavy smell of perfume immediately hits me in the face just a step or two in and I find myself rubbing my nose absently. Kind of smells like somebody spilled a whole bottle on the carpet.
“Welcome to Lady’s Things,” the checkout girl says to me from the back of the store.
She looks like she can’t be older than sixteen if she’s a day.
Her shiny brown hair is pulled into a neat ponytail and she’s wearing dark eyeliner with wings and glittery lip gloss. If she’s of age, I’ll eat my hat.
I can’t imagine my father ever letting me work in a lingerie store. He’d probably drop dead of shock right after he put my head through a wall.
The checkout girl doesn’t even look up as she speaks. Her eyes are trained on the phone in her hands. “Someone will be with you in a moment.”
I doubt that, since she appears to be the only person here. I wander over to the racks of clothing… and I use that term lightly. Most of the material hangs delicately on hangers like strips of fabric. Red and black, pink and white, not a whole lot of variation between them.
I just need something to go to bed in. Something that will break his resolve the moment he sees me. And if, in the end, I gain nothing else, at least we’ll both get the release we’ve been needing.
I walk around the rack, looking through each ensemble, trying to picture myself wearing them, when loud laughter grabs my attention.
I look up just in time to see a group of teenage boys as they pass by the store entrance.
One of them just pushed his friend toward the door, saying. “Go on, get some panties, you pussy!”
The boy’s face goes red and he punches his friend in the shoulder. The whole bunch of them are laughing and tripping over themselves as they pass by. Ugh. I’m glad I’m not a teenager anymore. To think I used to find guys like that hot.
I go to turn my attention back to the rack when I spot something right outside. I look back to see a man in a leather jacket walking by. He’s glancing over his shoulder as if he’s being followed.
He slips into the hallway between two stores and as he does, I realize that I know this person. The dark hair with a little gray on the sides, the rough beard, and soft blue eyes.
It’s one of Alex’s people. His friend, I think. Gedeon… yeah, Gedeon’s his name. He’s close with Rikki and one of the higher ranked brigadiers. They talk about him like he’s a third Molotov brother.
What is he doing here?
I watch as he steps into the shaft of flickering lighting overhead and a moment later, a different man comes walking out from another door somewhere just behind him. They shake hands, smile, and start talking to one another. All the while, looking around for anyone who might be listening.
“Are you finding everything okay?”
I start to find that the checkout girl is now standing next to me.
Now that I’m this close to her, I can see she’s got on glitter eyeshadow to match her lipstick.
I smile at her and ask, “Have you got anything in a size nine or ten, maybe? Maybe something with a little less fringe and more satin or silk?”
She nods and says, “Sure. Over here.”
As she walks away, leading me to another rack across the room, I look back at the flickering walkway. Gedeon’s gone.
He was supposed to be up here at least an hour ago.
I’m standing here looking at myself in the mirror one last time in the lingerie I settled on.
I’ve been second guessing it ever since I put it on.
It’s a red satin teddy with lace fringe over the top of the bra.
It fits me well, coming down about halfway across my ass so the bottoms of my matching panties can be seen.
I like how it feels on me. Smooth and comfortable…
I should have chosen the bra and panty set that I almost got. The moment when he ripped my panties off me that first night lives rent free in my head. It’d be nice if he did it again.
But he has to be here to do it. And I feel stupid just standing here waiting for him to notice my half-nakedness. I slump my shoulders as I glance up at the alarm clock on his nightstand. Fuck.
I sigh and grab my robe. Well, I might as well get a snack and then go to bed. Wherever he is tonight, I’m not about to wait up for him like some puppy.
On my way downstairs, I start to think about the other alternative to this whole, stupid thing I’ve been forced to do.
Running. The money I have isn’t mine. It’s never been mine.
It was my father’s and now it’s my husband’s.
I don’t know how far I would get without anything and I don’t dare steal it.
The Bratvas would never stop hunting me down.
As I look through the kitchen cabinets for the chocolate chip cookies I stashed here, I realize that I’m just tired, mentally and physically. This entire experience has been draining me day by day.
I find my pack of cookies and I lean against the counter as I open the bag and pull out one to eat. I stand here and munch on chocolate chip cookies, wondering how I can get my husband to fuck my brains out.
And then I hear what sounds like pool balls. It’s faint… but I definitely hear it.
So. He’s home and he’s in the game room. Wonder if he’s taking a late meeting. I eat a couple more cookies, listening to the heavy balls bang against one another. Slowly, I realize I don’t hear any voices.
He’s in there alone. Suddenly, Yeva’s encouragement comes back to me. That innocent act isn’t going to fly with Alex.
Innocent act. Like some timid little thing hiding in the bedroom waiting for him to find me. Well, that’s one thing that I’m not. Not anymore.
I set down the cookies and leave the kitchen.
As I walk down the hall, I keep listening hard for any other voices. Or any voices at all. My anxiety is starting to get the better of me as I approach the door and my heart is beating a mile a minute. Every fear I’ve ever had starts to surface the closer I get…
You are not innocent, Nona. You are a beautiful, strong, sexy woman. You just need to let him know that.
I walk up to the door and I open it slowly.
The game room is just as it always is, a big, overstuffed leather couch in one corner of the room in front of a fifty-inch screen that I’ve never seen turned on in the few weeks I’ve been here.
An electronic dartboard in the far corner, and an air hockey table against the wall…
A variety of items that I imagine he and his brothers use for entertainment.
He’s leaning over the pool table, the cue in hand and pointing toward one of the balls. He glances over his shoulder at me, then turns his focus back to the game.
“What are you doing down here?” he says.
“You haven’t come to bed yet,” I say as casually as I can. “I thought you weren’t home. Then I heard you in here.”
He hits the ball. It rolls across the felt and into the right corner pocket. “So?”
“So… I couldn’t sleep.”
He stands up and sighs. “Go back to bed, Nona.”
The authority in his voice almost makes me listen. I keep my stance firm, however. “No,” I say. “I want to stay down here.”
He rubs the bridge of his nose like a headache’s coming on. “I’m not in the mood for this.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” I say as I undo my robe. “I think maybe I might have something that will lighten your mood.”
My robe drops to the floor. He looks up at me… and does a double-take. His eyes move over my body slowly, taking in every curve as if he wants to memorize it.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he says to me, yet he’s not looking away.
“You don’t know?”
He looks up at me, and now we’re staring at one another. He tears his eyes away from me and back to the pool table. “If you came down here to seduce me,” he says, “I’m not interested.”
That stings a little, but I’m not ready to give up so easily. He walks around the table to measure up another shot. As soon as he leans in to take it, I walk over and lean against the table, right in his eyeline. He glances up at me for just a second. “Stop it.”
I smile at him and pull myself up onto the table. The movement sends one of the straps down my shoulders and I see him home in on it. He’s pissed… but he’s also getting hot.
“Make me,” I say.
Something clicks behind his eyes and his expression darkens. He stands up slowly and says, “You’re really asking for it tonight.”
I’m practically begging for it. I push the balls out of the way and lean back on the table. The other strap comes down, and now he’s looking at the line of lace just above my tits.
He walks around the table and grabs me, yanking me up to my feet. He holds me by my shoulders, his breath in my face as he looks into my eyes.
“I told you next time, I’d take a strap to you,” he says. “That what you’re looking for, little rabbit?”
My nipples are so hard that very fabric rubbing against them is making me so fucking hot. “Do your worst.”
A little smile turns up at the corner of his mouth and he drops one hand, grabbing my ass with it and squeezing hard before slapping. The sound rings out against the walls as the warm and welcome pain shoots through my body.
I’m so wet that my thighs are starting to get slippery.
He pushes me back toward the pool table and grabs my leg, lifting it up and propping it on the edge.
Then he pulls my teddy down, freeing my nipples.
He leans in, his tongue circling them as his hand moves around and slips between the fabric of my panties, sliding his fingers inside me.
The feeling of his tongue against my nipples… then his teeth as he gently bites them, his fingers fucking me while he presses his thumb against my clit. I’m holding onto him, but I’m starting to fall into his rhythm. How does he know just how to touch me?
He wraps his arm around me to stabilize me, then with a growl, he bites me hard as he slips another finger inside me. I dig my nails into the back of his neck. Shit… he’s going to make me come…
And then… he stops. His fingers slow and his biting turns to gentle circles with his tongue around my swollen nipples. And then, he steps away from me, releasing me as he smiles lazily at me.
He sticks his fingers in his mouth, licking away my juices. “There’s more than one way to punish a person,” he says. “Next time, don’t interrupt my game.”
And with that, he turns and walks away, leaving me there.
Bastard. I’m so wound up, I could cry.
Instead… I smile. He can say and do what he wants, but I’m getting to him. Next time, he won’t be able to walk away so easily.