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“I want to play professional soccer. You want to party. Go party. Go screw around every night like you were doing anyway. You’re free to do whatever you like.”
“So, are you serious with this bitch?”
My eyes narrowed.
“Don’t speak about Carla like that, and yes, I’m serious about her. Unlike you, she gets the need to train and perform, we have things in common ... and she’ll be here in a minute, so time you headed off. Thanks for dropping in.”
“So a sweaty athlete turns you on now?”
“A champion,” The Russian corrected her.
I didn’t hear anything for a moment, but she must have looked upset because The Russian spoke again in a softer voice.
“I don’t mean to hurt you, Leesa, but we’ve flogged this horse. There are so many more men out there better suited to you than me, you’ll know that the minute you find one that you click with, and you’ll wonder why you wasted so much time with me,” he said.
“Because I love you,” she said.
“Love or habit?” he asked.
I heard her scoff. I took another breath; I’m sure I had forgotten to breathe given the ache in my chest. I loved what The Russian had said about me but I imagined the pain of being in Leesa’s shoes and having those words spoken to her about some other woman. I would just die.
I heard her voice again, this time raised and a little hysterical. “You don’t even give a fuck about ... forget it, you’re weak, you’re just a fucking weak asshole,” she was yelling now.
“Fine, happy you’ve said that? Time you left,” The Russian said.
“I’m really pleased I slept with Jason, because you’re a loser,” she continued.
I heard a loud thump, like The Russian had punched the wall, and she screamed.
I raced in – Lord knows why, you would think I would run the other way, but I couldn’t leave her alone in there if he had hit her. I’m sure he wouldn’t have hit her. Would he hit her?
Then I saw her slap him hard across the face; The Russian was a big man but that even knocked him back with shock more than impact. His face was red with the imprint of her hand, and then he saw me.
“Carla,” he said, turning to face me, his eyes wide. Behind him was a huge hole in the plaster wall. So that was what he had thumped.
“So this is Carla,” Leesa said, taking me in. “Nice to meet you, I’m Leesa. I’m sure you’ve heard a lot about me,” she said, smiling.
“No,” I said, “I haven’t. Are you okay?” She had a bruised cheek and a large scratch down the left side of her face; it was red and raw and recent. But surely The Russian hadn’t been part of that, had he?
I saw The Russian look at me with shock, then to the wall and to Leesa as he put it all together.
“I didn’t do that to her, you can’t seriously think I’d hit a woman?” he said, his voice hurt. “Tell her, Leesa.”
Leesa just gave him a smirk and then turned to look me over.
“Tell her,” The Russian thundered, well out of patience. I stood there with my cheese and chocolates, caught between the two of them, my romantic night gone for good.
She rolled her eyes. “Fine, he didn’t do it, but he could go after whoever did it,” she said, and turned to face him again. “You’re a fucking pussy.”
His lips thinned, his eyes narrowed and I saw how she really pushed his buttons.
“If you want to tart around and party with every guy who has a joint to offer you, then this is what’s going to happen. Get daddy to rescue you.” He hissed.
Oh yeah, we’re really going to be able to get tonight back on track after this. I started to move backward towards the door and The Russian ran his hands over his face. In the background I could see the ocean through the large glass doors of his balcony, and a table set for two with champagne glasses.
“Don’t go,” he said, to me. “Leesa was just leaving.”
“ I’m not going anywhere yet, we haven’t finished talking,” she said, and then glanced in my direction. “But you can leave anytime you like.”
“Carla’s not leaving,” The Russian said through clenched teeth.
“Neither am I.” She sat down on a chair in his lounge room and kicking off her shoes, she wrapped her legs around her. “We’ve been together since high school, we’re not just throwing it away on some whim.”
I held up my hand to get their attention. “I’m just going to leave you to it,” I said, gazing at the hole he had made in the wall and the mad woman in front of him. I turned and headed out the door, hearing his deep voice call me back. I got to my car, unlocked it, and throwing my offerings onto the passenger’s seat, I sped away. When I got far enough away I started to cry.
I knew he was too good to be true. I believed he hadn’t hurt her and wouldn’t, plus she confirmed that, but he had put a hole in the wall. Was he capable of more? But she ruined our night, our lovely romantic night.
I didn’t go home; Josh and Spencer were having a night together. I rang Aimee and luckily she was home for the night and told me to come straight over. I took my cheese and chocolates to her place, where she promised to have a good red open and breathing when I arrived. The disappointment overwhelmed me. I had been waiting for that night since dinner at his family’s house, and now, I had entered someone’s soap drama.
I took a deep breath. I’m okay, I’m going to be okay. Thank God for my new job. I would just throw myself into that, I’d be fine, in fact I was so excited about it that I was going to be more than fine. I might get a cat for company. Yep, that was my future sewn up.
