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I take that to mean it’s official, and I don’t even wait for Demetri to kiss me. Like he said, I’m blackmailing him, so a kiss would be meaningless. I turn to walk back down the short aisle, but suddenly Demetri pulls me back by my shoulders, spins me to him, and crushes his lips against mine. It takes me by surprise, and I open my mouth in shock. His tongue easily glides in, massaging mine.
I’m left breathless and confused when he releases me, and as we take one step back from the officiate, another name is called in the distance.
“My car will take you to my place,” he says gruffly, and my feet stop moving. His stride continues until my hand halts him when I don’t move. “I have business to attend to.” His brow rises with obvious annoyance.
I’m not sure what I was expecting after this, but I know it wasn’t to feel like he penciled in getting married to his busy schedule. My feet move again, and I try to catch up to his pace. “I thought we would have a discussion about what happens next,” I say to his back.
“Don’t worry; we will consummate this marriage tonight. Until then, you can pamper yourself. I have a waxer coming to take care of business for you. And a massage and mud bath for you to relax.”
I flinch. Nothing sounds nice out of his mouth. For the first time since I made this decision, I worry about what I’ve gotten myself into.
We exit the building. No one is congratulating us. There’s no rice or bird seeds thrown into the air. No warm hugs. The only sound is my heels. My throat feels like it’s slowly closing up, and I breathe harder.
A car pulls up, and Demetri practically tosses me inside. “See you tonight, wife.” He dismisses me with a slam of the door.
My full-on panic attack comes barreling at me with force. I’m thankful no one is here to witness it. My eyes tear up and leak down my cheeks as each breath comes out as a wheeze.
Demetri
Iwatchmynewwife through the window. As soon as she thinks I’m no longer looking, her shoulders sink and shake. I step away, filled with the need to hurt someone—anyone. I open the door to my car behind the one Katrina is in and drive to The Horsemen.
I walk in, and the place is almost vacant. Not surprising for a Monday during the day. “You look stressed,” my once-favorite waitress greets. She squeezes my shoulders, and I grip her hands to remove them from me. “I could relax you,” she purrs, not getting the hint. I knew better than to show any employee extra attention. I broke my rule a year ago, and now I have to deal with issues like this, even if I haven’t touched her since my eyes landed on Katrina.
I raise my left hand, and she gasps at the sight of my wedding ring. “Be a good girl and get me a drink.” My request has her scurrying away.
“Boss, we have him,” my cousin, Mikhail, tells me. I walk with him to the basement, away from the bar where Katrina ran from me all those months ago.
I walk over to the tray of knives. Feeling the weight of one, I fling it at the man who is thrashing against the ropes that hold him firmly to the chair in the center of the room. It pins his foot to the ground, he screams immediately and his movements become more frantic.
“Why were you following Katrina Rossi?” I demand, but the man just curses at me and spits. I walk back to the table, grabbing the empty pail and turn on the hot water tap for our makeshift shower and cleanup station. Steam billows from the tap as it pours into the large bucket. My patience only allows for me the wait until it’s half full, before I dump the boiling water over him. “I’m done being nice. Why were you following my wife?”
The man’s eyes widen with shock as he clamps his mouth shut. From the corner of my eye, I watch as Mikhail’s head jerks up from him sharpening knives at the table.
“Do we have a hatchet?” I ask my cousin, impatiently. He quickly scans the table, the surprise on his face at my news becoming masked over with indifference. I wish there was a better time to tell him the news.
“Congratulations, by the way. Sorry I missed the wedding.” Mikhail gives me his back, looking for a hatchet for me, but I heard the confusion and hurt in his tone.
I should have had him there as a witness. He’s like a brother to me. I wish stuff like that came easier for me, that I thought to invite him. I don’t think anyone ever expected me to marry again, but no one could be more surprised about it than me.
“Would an ax work for what you have in mind?” he asks as he turns back toward me.
I shrug, keeping my focus on the guy in front of me. “I’m going to ask one more time before I decide you know nothing and have become useless to me.”
The man defiantly stays silent. His eyes dart from my cousin to me, and shakes his head vigorously as Mikhail comes over with a rusted old ax, and I sigh.
“Cut him up. I need to get home.” Coming here was a waste of time, when I could have my wife in my arms.
I ascend the stairs and when I reach the last step I hear, “Wait!”
I turn around to watch Mikhail already in his swing and the ax slips easily through the flesh and bones. Whatever he was going to say dies along with him, making this trip pointless.
Katrina
Thecarpullsupto a beautiful, large home. I’m shocked by the landscaping around it and the hanging flower pots. My door is opened, and bright sunlight glares into the back seat. I didn’t expect him to live in a place that looked so domestic, like a family is inside. I wonder if the neighbors wonder why a bachelor lives in the middle of suburbia.
“This is it.” Vadim nods toward the house. I was expecting the silent treatment as we drove but he talked to me the entire time.
“Maybe you can drop me off at the airport instead?” I joke, my nerves getting the best of me.
