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I slid my arms around him, still marveling at how he allowed my touch so freely now. “Good. You hear all these conspiracy theories about lizard people, but I never thought I’d meet one.”
Ivan’s confused what-the-fuck face had me snorting in laughter. “What? Lizard people?”
I shook my head in mock pity. “Have you never visited Reddit? YouTube?”
He raised an eyebrow at me. “What do you think?”
“Come on, let’s go say hi to everyone then we can go home, and I can introduce you to Google.”
At my sarcasm, he gave me his own look of mock severity, his big hand crashing down on my backside. “You’re being very sassy, neposlushnaya devochka.” he said in a low voice, his palm rubbing over my lightly stinging flesh sending waves of confused arousal through me. Why did I crave this? Spanking hurts but try telling that to my wayward body.
“I probably should be taught some lessons in proper respect for my elders…” I replied in a serious tone, barely restraining my smile.
A feral grin broke out across his face, his hand tightening on my ass. “Oh, you really are asking for it, aren’t you, naughty girl?”
“Let’s get out of here,” I said urgently, as I pulled Ivan behind me, his delighted laughter ringing in my ears.
*****
My mad dash to the bedroom was unfortunately and definitively halted by the small crowd waiting for us by the auditorium exit. Whatever was left of my lust was quickly vanquished by my mother's presence.
Her face was wreathed in proud smiles, but this was the first time I’d seen her since discovering that Armstrong was my father. Of all the people surprised by this revelation, my mom didn’t qualify as one of them. Facing my mother for the first time since finding out, a sudden anger bubbled inside me like a newly activated volcano.
“You were fantastic, Em!” Katya said, throwing her arms around me. I was relieved that she stepped in, allowing me a moment to regulate my suddenly seething emotions.
“Thanks!”
“I didn’t even realize I liked classical music until tonight, so thanks for that, Em,” Anya chimed in.
I laughed at that, certain that her childhood hadn’t provided many opportunities to attend classical concerts. “You’re welcome.”
“I was desperate to hear something that didn’t have an Irish drum in it,” Anya playfully griped, earning her an equally playful growl from her Irish boyfriend.
“Yeah, awesome job, sis,” Hannah said, her tone a bit more subdued. I knew that she’d been dreading seeing our mom, unsure if she’d be able to control the need to confront her about the situation with Armstrong. Nikolai had his arm firmly around her shoulders, his face tight with concern as he stared at her. She was probably exhausted from managing her emotions since she’d been seated next to our mom all through the performance.
“Oh my god, Emmy, you were amazing! I’m so proud of you,” my mom gushed as she threw her arms around me. My body tensed as I woodenly accepted her praise. As if sensing my sudden emotional volatility, Ivan put his hand on my shoulder, lightly rubbing out the tension.
“Thanks, Mom.”
“Everyone was great, but you were particularly fantastic, better than the rest by far.”
Even though I was angry with her, I couldn’t help but feel a wave of affection for her enthusiastically biased evaluation of my skills. She had always been like this whenever Hannah and I had participated in anything—excitedly proclaiming our excellence no matter how we actually performed. Ultimately, it has made her significantly unreliable in terms of providing honest feedback.
Her smile faltered as her eyes darted from me to Ivan’s hand resting on my shoulder, her forehead wrinkling in confusion. Oh, right. She had no idea I was even fake dating Ivan, let alone really dating him now.
Her mouth flattened completely as she jumped to the probably correct conclusions. “Emmy? Do you have something you want to tell me?” she asked in a quivering voice, her hardened gaze moving back and forth between Ivan and me.
“Uh, well, I hadn’t really planned to share this tonight, but since you’re obviously putting two and two together, I’ll just come right out with it. I’m dating Ivan.” God, dating sounded like a painfully juvenile word for the relationship I had with Ivan.
“Dating Ivan?” she said, clearly aghast.
I frowned, tension starting to tighten my gut at her dramatic response. “Yes, you remember him, right? He’s Katya’s brother.”
“Yes, I remember,” she spoke through stiff lips.
“Well, we’re together.” I intentionally neglected to mention the part about us living together.
She shook her head. “No, Emmy, no. You can’t do this. You can’t. I won’t allow it.”
