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I look around my bedroom. It’s filled with familiar items that bring back a lifetime memories. The damp bedsheets that were wrapped around me barely an hour ago as I was having my wild-wet dream, are rumpled beneath the same comforter I’ve had since I was a kid. The bookshelf holds books from my childhood, now worn from multiple readings.
I left the heavy drapes shut after I got up. There is only a small side lamp in the room that is illuminated; it feels like a place of mourning right now as I try to grasp the fact that I’ve just spent my last night here. Everything around me holds a weight of nostalgia and the realization that it will all soon be left behind.
Which is strange, since so much of my life here has been filled with loneliness.
“Jesus. I don’t know what to say… What a dickwad, babe. I’ve always known your dad was a piece of work, but this…” Roxie trails off.
“Tell me about it,” I mutter. I sink back against my soft pillows, pull the comforter up to my chin, and tuck the phone between my ear and my shoulder as I hug myself. I have to force myself to unclench my hands, which have curled into fists. “I mean, Dad’s never been the kissy-lovey type, and let’s face it, he hasn’t been around much, either. I just never expected this, though.”
“He’s your pops, Tee! He may be an ass-hat, and sure, he never let you have a life, but he’s your father. I mean… how could someone do something like this to their own flesh and blood?”
I give a one-shouldered shrug even though she can’t see me. “I don’t know, Rox.” My voice is small. I pull my knees up to my chest. God. I don’t know what to do. I felt trapped my entire life by my father, but this… this is a whole new level of trapped.
Roxie makes a huffing sound. “I hope his dick rots and falls off… the bastard! But never mind that. Who is it? Who did he sell you to?”
I frown. “I don’t really know. I think he’s some kind of mobster, which is not surprising since my dad has never really been above board. And besides, only a lowlife would do something like this, right?”
“For sure,” Roxie says. “Do you know his name? Your owner- I mean, this guy?”
“Someone called Vyronov. Russian.” I recall the details from the conversation I had with my father afterward. The conversation that had ended with me screaming and throwing things, and finally being locked in my room. It’s not the first time. But this time feels worse than any other.
There’s a choking sound on the other end of the line. “Wait… Vyronov? Kirill Vyronov? Are you kidding me?”
“I think so. Do you know him?”
“Babe! Everybody knows him!” Roxie pauses. “Well, everybody knows of him. I’m sure I’ve heard my dad talk about him when he’s been hanging with those thugs he calls buddies. The guy stays out of the spotlight mainly. Big time badass Bratva boss.”
“Bratva?”
“Yeah, you know… Russian mafia.” Roxie’s father has a moral compass almost as skewed as my dad’s, and she’s grown up surrounded by dodgy types. Well, almost as skewed. I don’t think he would ever sell his daughter like mine just did. But if anyone would know what I’m about to get into, it would be Roxie.
“I know what the Bratva is, Rox.” I swallow hard. “I just…” Never expected to be tangled up in it, is what I’d meant to say, but now that I think about it, I’ve probably been tangled in shit like that my whole life. Through my father and his shady deals.
This one tops the list, though.
“So, did you meet him?” Roxie is asking. “I don’t think there’s ever been any photos or footage captured of the guy. I think he’s old, though. Like forty-something. Did you see him?”
I stay silent for a second. “Um. Yes,” I finally say.
“And? Is he wrinkled and gray?” Roxie is determined to dig out every detail.
“No, actually…” I’m suddenly reliving the moment when those predatorial eyes locked with mine. It had been like the air was sucked from my lungs. My skin had tingled, and I was frozen, unable to look away from his magnetic gaze. The intensity of it was overwhelming, making my heart race. I had never experienced anything like the power of his stare before. It was as if he could see right through me. “No, he’s not wrinkled. Or gray.” There may have been a few threads of silver in his impeccably styled black hair, but there was nothing gray about him. Dark and brooding would be a better description. For a moment, I think back to the wild dream I had about him a mere hour ago. The way he touched me, the way he caressed me, the way he made my body throb with need.
What the hell Tee?
You need to get your head examined!
“Right, so you saw him.” Roxie’s voice pulls me back from my thoughts. “And he’s not gray, and he’s not wrinkled. Is he saggy and paunchy? Because I’d barf if I had to-” She stops. “Sorry, babe. I mean…”
“Rox, he’s not gray, wrinkled, saggy or paunchy, alright?” Totally the opposite, actually – tall, muscular, with insanely broad shoulders. Very good-looking in an intense kind of way – but there’s no way I’m going to say that out loud.
“So then, is he hot?” Roxie says the words for me. “Like one of those silver fox types?”
“For God’s sake, Rox! Some people might say he’s hot, okay?” Probably any woman in her right mind, but I’m not going there. I cannot think of him that way. That can never happen again. “But that doesn’t change the fact that he’s a sick pig who buys women. And pays extra for virgins.”
“Oh, geez… Shit, I’m sorry, Tee.” There’s a shuffling sound, and I can imagine Roxie shifting awkwardly. “He bought your V-card, didn’t he?”
“Shut up,” I mutter. This wasn’t the way I ever expected to face losing my virginity.
