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“Is dad in a mood? Did he do something to you?”
“Oh, no, he never came home. I think I just had too much coffee.” I didn’t touch coffee today, but I couldn’t tell her the truth. Katja was a good person, but I wouldn’t trust anyone with a secret like this. “How was your date?”
“God, Ludmi, it wasn’t a date. He just feels bad for me because my only friend is my dad’s wife.”
Oh.
“Katja, don’t sell yourself short. I’m sure he likes you.”
“No, and I don’t care, anyways. We spent most of the time talking about you and dad.” My heart slammed in my ribcage.
“How so?”
“He was just curious.”
“So, you didn’t have fun?”
“You know what? I did. He’s a nice guy to be around. We’re going to the movies after the weekend.” He was going to her again.
“Oh.”
“Yeah. I don’t have to drag you around New York anymore. I have a friend now.” She laughed while getting a bottle of water from the fridge. “He’s funny and smart, and honestly, not bad to look at. And he can make me laugh, so what the hell? A movie never killed anyone.”
I nodded, keeping my face smiling, but I was strangled by my emotions. Did Katja really like him? And how much of a bitch was I to hope for her to feel horrible with Enzo?
“I hope you have fun.” Lie.
“I’m sure I will. Enzo has this way of taking all your worries away. I don’t know what it is about him, but it makes me feel good. I’m going to take advantage of that.”
“Good.”
“Hey, I have to go take a bath and go to sleep. I don’t know why I’m so tired. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
“Goodnight, Katja.”
She said it back over her shoulder while she was halfway up the stairs and then disappeared.
Khristos, this was a bad situation I found myself in. I should have just gone to my bedroom, put a pillow over my head, forgotten everything about Enzo Nucci, and hoped he’d make Katja feel better because she deserved it. I couldn’t do it. I knew that I should have, but I couldn’t. My stupid heart wanted me to be the one who enjoyed him, and it pushed me to do something reckless. I grabbed Katja’s phone and found Enzo’s number. I ran upstairs and got under the covers, looking at the phone almost like I expected it to do something on its own.
This was stupid. I was far from being a teenager who needed to text with her boyfriend late at night, but maybe his words would be enough to make me feel at ease and stop acting like an idiot. It was better doing this than doing something stupid that might cost me greatly.
Chapter 7
I came out of the shower and dropped the towel that was hanging on my hips in the middle of the room. Sweet, sweet bachelor life, right?
After taking a shot of whiskey to help me relax, I jumped into bed and threw a hand over my eyes, thinking about the things Katja told me. I had trouble going to sleep knowing that Ludmila was in the same city, in her husband’s house. After talking to Katja I was positive that everything I believed before was true, the man was an abusive fuck, so what if he was doing something to her? Or worse, what if she was in bed with him…that last though made me so furious, I roared into the empty room. How the hell was I supposed to just live my life and ignore the fact that the woman I wanted was out of my reach? It wasn’t in my nature – in my Nucci DNA – to just sit and watch from the sidelines. I needed to do something.
My phone rang next to my pillow, and I looked to find a text from a number I didn’t recognize.
I’m cold. It read. It had to be a mistake, so I texted back a wrong number and threw it away, but I got a reply very fast.
Number: I’m cold because a naughty boy stole my lingerie today.
Motherfucker! It was Ludmila. This time I didn’t waste a second before texting her back and saving her number in my phone as RQ – my Russian Queen.
Me: Is that so? You must have liked it if you let him, doll.
RQ: I liked it.
