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“That’s me buggered then, I have no rhythm, no sense of timing and two left feet.”
He let out a laugh which was obviously contagious because I chuckled along with him. “You have rhythm, Myshka, it just has to be unlocked, your timing is perfect, after all you’re here and as for the two left feet? That makes you unique.”
I felt something strange fleetingly whirl through me at his compliment. If I’d have said that to Max he probably would have said something like; That’s because you’re useless, you’re only good at looking pretty.
I broke my hold from Nikoli and rushed towards the wall where I’d left my bag, and stooping down I frantically rooted around inside. The tears prickled behind my half-closed lids, my breathing became shallow and my head began to thump. My fingers located my Valium, I popped the lid and shoved one in my mouth before a panic attack gripped me.
Nikoli squatted down behind me, I felt his arm reach over my shoulder and he removed the bottle of pills from my hand. “Valium?” He questioned quietly in my ear. I nodded.
“I have …panic …attacks,” I stuttered. My breathing began to even out and the fog that had clouded over me from nowhere, began to lift.
Nikoli chucked the bottle back in to my bag and sighed. “Are you okay?” He whispered.
I nodded and felt his hands slide under my arms to lift me back to my feet. “Seems I have my work cut out in many ways. What triggers them?”
I looked around the studio and swallowed hard. “It doesn’t matter. It’s passed now. I’m going to go home and I’ll see you at the next lesson?” I asked, as I bent to grab my bag.
“Wait! I’ll drop you off, make sure you get home safely,” he said when my hand reached for the door handle.
“NO! …. No, you can’t. I’ll be fine,” I growled. I opened the door and again, ran from him.
*
For the second time since meeting this curious and fascinating woman, she ran from me, again. Anger coursed through me at the way she had snarled at me, but it was the fear in her beautiful and enchanting eyes that was angering me more, and I wanted to know what the fuck she was hiding.
My gut instinct told me her husband had something to do with it.
I slammed the door behind her with annoyance and strode to my office completely pissed off, agitated, and irked by how the lesson had ended. I fired up the computer and prepared myself for a long night ahead. I was going to find out anything and everything I could on Mr. and Mrs. Peters.
CHAPTER SEVEN.
“Nikoli, wake up!”
I rolled over and groaned, pulling the duvet over my head. I felt the be
d dip next to me and instantly pushed back, forcing myself to sit upright. “Petra?” I rasped through sleepy vision as I tried to focus on my sister’s face just inches from mine.
“What are you doing still in bed?” She asked with a giggle, “Was it a woman?”
“What? No Petra. What are you doing in my apartment? I gave you a key for emergencies.” I threw myself back down in to the comfort of the bed and closed my eyes. My head was throbbing from the whisky I’d consumed over the course of the hours I had been cyber-stalking Raine.
“This was an emergency, Niki. I’ve called you a dozen times with no answer and it’s nearly 5pm so I came over. I was worried about you.” I felt her body weight sink into the bed next to me.
I rolled onto my side to see her lying there, her hands clamped behind her head as she stared up at the ceiling with a wide smile. She sighed in such a contented, happy way, that it made me smile, too. “Spill it, you pulled last night, didn’t you?” I asked.
She let out a squeal that made my head pound a little harder but I winced through the pain.
“I did!” She announced. She thrashed her feet around in excitement. I couldn’t help but grin at her. My little sister’s happiness meant a lot to me, although she was a big girl at the age of twenty-four, I still saw her as the fourteen-year-old girl she was when we first came to Manhattan to make a new life for ourselves. It had only been she and I for the last ten years. Lovers and friends had come and gone over that time but we always had each other.
“You’d love her, Niki, she’s gorgeous. She looks just like Mila Kunis. Maybe tonight? We are going to Mexicana opposite the Plaza if you’re up for it?” She asked and turned her head towards me, fluttering her eyelashes.
“Don’t do that to me, Petra. You know I’m a sucker for caving in to fluttering eyelashes,” I said. I moved myself to sit at the edge of the bed and grabbed a pair of lounge pants.
“Come on, Nikoli. You won’t be the third wheel! Misha, Jodie, Jenson and Mike are coming too.” She rolled onto her stomach and poised her hand under her chin, holding her head up.
“I’ll think about it,” I mumbled. I walked bare foot across the cold flooring to the kitchen at the far end of my open plan apartment. I loved this place, everything was big, open, and bright. The only two doors that were visible, was the one to the front door, and the other to the bathroom. It had four floor to ceiling windows that gave a great view at night, most of the time I didn’t even draw the blinds, preferring to move around it from the glow of street lights below.
“You want a coffee?” I called over my shoulder. Switching the machine on I grabbed two mugs with a yawn.
