She rode me until she couldn’t move anymore. I couldn’t really blame her, she’d already came three times. I flipped her over and with my lips against hers, I finally stopped trying to hold myself back. I came so hard, somehow triggering yet another orgasm for her.
This went on for months. I’d show up at her place and she’d take me in. I never knew which woman I was going to get but it didn’t matter. It seemed that at some point in the night she would eventually soften to me, even if it was for a moment before she shut me out again.
There were times we got tired of fighting with our words and we fought with our bodies instead. Each of us clawing and gripping and pounding to be the one that came out on top. But I guess in the end it was really both of us that won.
Days when it really got to me, I hit the gym hard. I tried to run and punch the fact that I was her dirty little secret out of my system. That was what it felt like. She never mentioned coming to the compound. She never hinted that she wanted to go out. She hardly ever showed up to big events like cookouts, and even then it was because Cami had invited her. She never stayed long and she barely looked at me the entire time she was there.
“Bad day?” Yuri asked me as I shouldered my way deeper into the gym.
I grunted in response.
“You’ve been coming around more often,” he said and I stopped mid-step and turned to him.
“That a problem?” I asked and wanted to know why the hell he’d taken notice. But then again, it was just smart business to know who was coming and going.
“Not at all. Just an observation. You ever need to spar, I can set you up.” His eyes shifted to the middle of the room where there were two rings set up.
“Nah, thanks. But if I change my mind I’ll let you know.”
I walked on. I didn’t want to start anything and I was uneasy about picking up a Russian sparring partner. One wrong move and I could shift the balance of what we had going on. I may have been a criminal but I preferred the peaceful kind of crime. If that even made sense. I only wanted to keep the bloodshed to a minimum, it was kind of my job after all.
I got to work, throwing myself in the zone and ignoring what was around me. Well, mostly. I was still on alert in case someone wanted to fuck with me. But I tuned my ears off to the conversations around me. Some shit I just wasn’t meant to hear.
Maybe it wasn’t the smartest thing to choose to work out in the Russian owned gym. The one where all their underground fighters trained at. But, I had my reasons for it.
Even though I came in wearing my colors, I didn’t always think I’d been seen. Wearing my patch wasn’t me trying to disrespect the Russians and I think they knew it. It was me, being a welcomed outsider, trying to show as much respect as possible. It was like a neon sign telling everyone that I was there and that I wasn’t trying to sneak around, trying to get information I wasn’t supposed to have.
That wasn’t to say that I hadn’t heard plenty of stories. Mostly stupid drunk things. And sometimes it was then boasting about their latest conquests. Typical man shit, ya know.
“Hey, Vladik, what’s this I hear about girlfriend?” someone shouted halfway across the gym.
By the tone he used, he was joking in a mean sort of way. I had a feeling that this ‘girlfriend’ wasn’t someone they approved of.
“I’ve seen her a few times,” Vladik said sounding defensive. “So what of it?”
“You too good for Ivana, no?” That was Pyotr’s oldest son speaking and he was talking about his baby sister. “You think this would be alright?”
Vladik had the good sense to hang his head.
“Ivana is fifteen,” Vladik said, an edge of disgust in his tone. Then he took in a deep breath like he was trying to calm himself. “She’s too young.”
Vladik was at least in his mid-twenties. My guess was that Pyotr had set up some sort of arranged marriage type of thing with his youngest daughter and Vladik. I kind of felt sorry for the guy. But it wasn’t my business, so I kept working trying my best to tune it out. Of course that didn’t work.
“Leave him alone,” someone else spoke up, laughing. “He still has time to play around.”
“How is that going anyway. She know she can’t have you?”
“It’s fine,” Vladik answered. I detected a hint of frustration in his tone. If shit was going to go down, I needed to get the hell out of here. “She says her neighbor gives her creeps. So I have been over there trying to make sure she’d be alright.”
“Yeah, sure that is why.”
There was a chorus of snickers that surrounded me.
“You met this guy?”
“No,” Vladik answered. “He keeps curtains closed tight all the time. I’ve never seen him come out. I think she might be crazy.”
“Most women are,” Andrei said coming out of the back. “Stop going on like a bunch of chattybabushki. This is a gym, not a quilting circle.”
Then came the grumbles all around and thank fuck, everyone got back to work.
Andrei eyed me for a long time. Though I didn’t turn to face him, I could feel his eyes on me. I ignored it as best as I could and pushed harder. This was just not my day and I suddenly wished I’d stayed in bed. Though it wasn’t like I’d really heard anything, certainly nothing I could use against them even if I wanted to. So Vladik had been chosen for boss-man’s daughter. Shit like that happened all the time in these organizations. Was it right? Well, it wasn’t my place to say anything. Especially because it seemed like Vladik had no interest in the girl while she was underage.
So yeah, again, not my business. And nor did I care about the shit storm he might bring to his table when the time came that he had to choose. Wasn’t my life.
I had enough shit to worry about. My own head was a mess and I didn’t need to even think about anyone else’s, that was for sure.
By the end of the night, I wanted nothing more than to relax and watch a movie. I ended up at the bar, because it was still too early to head over to Laurel’s. We sort of had this unsaid rule. I wasn’t really sure how it came about, maybe it was just that we’d gotten into a pattern and neither one of us made a move to break out of it. I wouldn’t usually go there until late, slipping off in the darkest part of the night and returning home just as the sun started to kiss the sky.
