Her mouth drops open. “You didn’t?”
“Right then. I’m glad that’s cleared up. Looks like we’ve got the chemistry thing out of our systems and discovered we are anything but compatible. So … let’s get back to the business at hand, shall we?”
She nods her head slowly, her eyes blank. “Yes, I think that’s for the best.”
“Yes,” I lash out, angry at the easy way she gave up. “And while we’re laying down ground rules, here’s one of mine. When you get scared tonight, don’t come running to my room.”
It sounds petty even to my own ears once I’ve said it aloud and I want to take it back. I am such a dick. No wonder I had to pay a girl to pretend to like me for my aunt’s sake.
She smiles at me, the fake smile she uses when she’s about to take Petra down. I hate that I have pushed her into a place where she feels she has to use it on me.
“Don’t worry I won’t be bothering you tonight or any other night for that matter. If I get scared, I’ll go and see Babushka.”
“Are you going to introduce me then or are you scared she’ll fall for my charms?” Yakov’s brother, Vladimir says, coming over to join us.
It’s bad timing. The atmosphere between Cindy and I isn’t exactly warm and fuzzy, but the chemistry is still sizzling between us. Even though she makes me so angry I see red, I still want to grab her, throw her against a wall, and fuck the living daylights out of her. The look in her eyes tells me she would still let me do it.
“There’s no chance of that,” I say, forcing a laugh. “Cindy, this is an old friend, Vladimir. Vladimir, this is Cindy, my fiancée.”
I emphasize the word fiancée, to subtly remind Cindy why she’s here. To be a professional and act the part of a loved-up fiancée even though I’ve made her hate me.
“Pleased to meet you, Cindy,” Vladimir says formally.
Cindy smiles charmingly at him. “Likewise. So you’re the one to go to for all of the stories about Alex as a teenager, huh? You will tell me everything, won’t you?” she asks with a little laugh.
She’s still playing her part, and I am at least grateful for that.
I put my arm around Vladimir’s shoulders, laugh and shake my head. “There’s no chance of that. It’s the bro code. What happens between friends stays between friends,” I say.
He laughs and nods his head, but then winks at Cindy. “I’m sure I can pass you a few juicy snippets though.”
The rest of the dinner is hard. Cindy and I are very much acting our parts and sometimes it feels so real, I have to remind myself I won’t be taking her up to my bed tonight.
I am glad when eleven o’clock rolls around and people start to leave. I excuse myself around half past eleven. We say our goodnights to everyone and go upstairs. We walk along the silent corridor without saying a word. At her door, she quickly says goodnight, and turns the handle. The door shuts before I can even respond.
I enter my room, close the door behind me and bite back the roar of frustration. I move into the room and punch the mattress hard. It gets out some of the anger, but it does nothing to make me feel any better.
Alex
Although I am determined not to go to Cindy, I can’t sleep for thinking about her. Only a few steps separate us, but it might as well have been a deep chasm. It doesn’t help that I can still smell her scent on my sheets.
I hear her moving around and then the sounds stop and I know she must have gotten into bed. I bet she’s not losing any sleep over this. I mean I was a dick, there’s no way around that, but I didn’t really say anything we didn’t already know. What we have is a business arrangement. She’s probably done the sensible thing, shrugged it off and moved on, just like I should.
I roll angrily onto my side and close my eyes, but sleep won’t come. I’m tired and I thought sleep would be easy, but it’s the farthest thing from my mind.
Still, I must have finally fallen asleep after hours of tossing and turning, because I jump awake suddenly, awakened by a noise that I can no longer hear. I roll over and look at the clock. It’s just gone half past two, which means I managed all of about thirty minutes of sleep. There are no more noises. It must be those damned pipes again. I close my eyes, determined to go back to sleep. I am just drifting back off when I hear it. A whimpering sound. And it’s coming from Cindy’s room.