17
Aurora
Two more weeks, and I had enough of being trapped in a car, or in an office, waiting for him.
Slavik still refused to provide a bodyguard for me, so I went wherever he went. I couldn’t do anything. He didn’t even allow me to bring a book.
Boredom had become my new best friend.
Until one morning, I had enough. Rather than wait for him to drag me out, I’d made my escape. There hadn’t been a guard on the door, and I’d noticed this a few times when Slavik marched me out of his apartment.
Rather than take the elevator, I took the stairs, making my way out of a fire escape.
Alone in the big city, I’d had a taste of freedom.
It was wonderful.
No guards.
No Slavik.
No commitments.
I had his credit card, and so I did something I never did, I went shopping.
It was early, so a lot of the shops weren’t open, but I walked around, watching people while I waited for stores to open.
The moment they did, I went in and shopped.
Maybe what I did was so childish, but I didn’t care. The moment some of the women who were helping me enjoy my husband’s money saw the name on the card, they had a mini freak-out.
Of course, by the time they made the necessary calls, I was out of the shop. The clothes and shoes were all being sent back to the apartment.
Still not calling it home.
Childish or not, that place was not my home.
I didn’t know what had gotten into me. Slavik still hadn’t touched me since that night where I’d pushed him too far. When he’d pushed me over the sofa and cupped me between the thighs, I truly thought he was going to rape me.
He hadn’t.
The way he held me in bed that night, though. I loved that so much. Since then, he hadn’t touched me.
The space on the bed mocked me.
One night of feeling afraid one second, and then comforted the next. I wanted it again. Not the fear, but certainly the comfort. I liked it when he held me. The simple things, especially when he held my hand. Damn it. I sounded like a sulky teenager. I was going to be twenty soon. I shouldn’t be having these feelings, wanting my husband to hold my hand.
I left the tenth shop I’d spent a fortune in and came to a stop.
Slavik stood, sunglasses on, arms at his sides.
I folded my arms. “Yes?”
“Are you done?” he asked.
“No. You told me I could shop any time.”
“Get the car,” he said to his driver.
I stayed perfectly still, refusing to make a scene out in public. People kept looking toward us. Where I blended in, Slavik stood out like a sore thumb. A very handsome and dangerous sore thumb, but still sore.
“Do you have any idea how many of my enemies would have loved to have captured you?” he asked.
He gripped the back of my neck, pulling me in close. His lips brushed across my forehead. To any onlooker, we were enjoying an intimate moment. They didn’t know the threat he was warning me about.
This morning, I didn’t go out thinking about his enemies. I just wanted freedom and the harsh reality was that, for me, there would never be any freedom.
I was Slavik Ivanov’s wife. I would be worth so much to his enemies.
“Slavik?”
“They would’ve raped you, torn you apart, and delivered me each piece of you. I’d have failed you, Aurora.” He pressed a kiss to my forehead.
“I only went shopping.”
“And you were a fucking fool to not have a guard with you.”
“Nothing happened.”
“Today.”
“Next time, I won’t-”
“There won’t be a next time.” He grabbed my hand, ending our conversation.
He led me to the car, and like that, my rebellious shopping trip was over. I hadn’t even made it to lunch. He must have run a trace on his credit card. I didn’t know how he could have found me so fast. It wasn’t like I held a neon sign.
Sitting back, I stared out the window.
We came to a stop at a fast-food place. He handed me a brown paper bag and ordered me to eat. I hated how he treated me like a child. Still, I ate my food without a single complaint. The milkshake was nice. I wasn’t a big fan of the chocolate as I preferred strawberry, but I didn’t tell him that.
He didn’t eat.
With the food finished, he took the bag, and the next thing I knew, we were entering a private gate, driving down toward a private residence.
The house was huge. Reminded me of my parents’ house. They had a huge country estate and often had many soldiers patrolling the grounds.
Slavik got out of the car and held out his hand.
I took it, again being the good girl I was, without complaint.
We walked into the house, and I knew it wasn’t any ordinary house.
This was … different.
No words were spoken as Slavik put me at the bar. “Sit and stay.”
With my hands pressed to the counter, I had the childish urge to get up, but I stayed seated.
He left me alone.
There wasn’t a guard left to wait with me.
I just sat here.
Bored.
Again.
He would rather kill me with boredom than hire another bodyguard. What the hell was wrong with that?
I quickly came to the conclusion I didn’t like to be told to wait. Sitting at the bar in this … I wasn’t exactly sure what this place was, but I was annoyed. Slavik had interrupted my shopping spree, which I’d taken out of anger and desperate need to get away from him. Now he’d brought me along for his business again, and this time, rather than leave me in the car, he’d dumped me at the bar.
This wasn’t fair.
I knew many would argue life wasn’t fair, well, so what. I’d played the part of a doting wife. I’d done everything he asked of me, and it still wasn’t enough. Today, I’d attempted for the day to all be about me, and instead, it ended up with Slavik invading my time. I didn’t even get to have lunch by myself.
The man infuriated me.
Why couldn’t he just leave me alone to deal with these feelings I had about him? I still didn’t like him.
He was so bossy, and it was proven today with the way he dragged me off the street. Not that I’d had a whole lot of fun. Maybe I had when it came to handing over his credit card, but the clothes were pointless, as were the lingerie and the shoes. I wasn’t the kind of woman to need a new outfit every day. Today was a waste of my time. There were going to be many packages to send back.
I needed to find something to do.
Now I sat in this house, I think it was a house, waiting for him to come back to me.
The scent of cigar smoke and alcohol was heady in the air.
No one was around.
No guard to keep an eye on me.
I’d been playing the good girl role for too long now. Look where it had gotten me. A loveless marriage and a boring life. Still with no friends, but that wasn’t a surprise. No matter what I did, no one seemed to like me.
I spun around on the chair and glanced at the furniture. It was all expensive and classy. Getting to my feet, I moved toward the door and opened it. Rebel in the house. There was no guard on the door, and I smiled. Slavik clearly expected me to be good, or he simply didn’t care to have another guard wanting to kiss me.
I had no idea where I was.
Nibbling on my lip, I explored, checking out a couple of the rooms, but they were all vacant. Soft music played through the walls. Seductive. Somewhat alluring. I liked it. Still, no one stopped me.
Slavik wasn’t there to yell at me.
I set about my newfound freedom and rebellion with relish. Putting my hand on the staircase, I made my way up. Each step gave me a thrill that I was finally fighting back against the chains of my life.
Death had always been a threat.
Life always seemed like a gift and a curse.
Tucking my hair behind my ear, I walked past a couple of doors. I heard moaning. The kind that I imagined couples made. I paused. On instinct, I spun away as if to hide. This was a world I wasn’t allowed to be a part of. My only sense was that of duty. I had no other role to play.
I got to the top of the stairs and paused. No. I refused to run and hide. I wanted to know what those noises meant.
Quickly, I made my way back. The doors were all shut until I got to the end of the hall. It was open wide enough for me to see.
The feminine sound echoed around the room, and I felt an answering pulse between my thighs. I couldn’t help but press them together. This was arousal. Licking my suddenly dry lips, I focused on the occupants in the room. I saw a woman. With long red hair, she was completely naked, and between her thighs, she was bare. She wasn’t alone. A man stood behind her. His hand in her hair. He was naked, like her. I saw his naked body. Not a single mark of ink, but he had chest hair.
I didn’t recognize the man or the woman.
“Yes, fuck, just like that, baby,” she said.
“Yeah, I can feel how tight you are.” He growled and sped up.
All of a sudden, she tugged out of his hold, and she sank down beside him. I saw everything.
His cock was huge, and it was covered in a condom that she pulled off. Then she covered him with her mouth.
He groaned. His hands went into her hair and used it as leverage, forcing her to take his cock.
I heard his moan and hers.
When he pulled her in close and he rocked his hips fast, she gagged on his length but didn’t stop. The woman on the floor grabbed his ass as if she wanted him to go deeper. Tears fell down her eyes, and the man groaned. I watched his neck tense up and then he released her.
The woman sat back, opening her mouth, and then I watched her swallow.
I’d read enough books to know what she’d done. The man looked hypnotized, but he wasn’t done yet. He grabbed her, pulling her back up to the bed. Within seconds, his mouth was between her thighs, and the woman in question cried out, begging for more, and then arched up, looking like she was in a state of bliss.
I couldn’t move.
The man, once he was done, dropped a kiss to the woman’s lips, stood, and gathered his clothes.
“Next week?”
“Yes, next week, and I can’t wait.”
“Love you, Cara.”
I stepped back, but the man stopped when he saw me.
“It’s okay, Drake. I’ll deal with it.”
The woman, Cara, came to the door with a smile on her face. I didn’t know what to do. I’d been caught watching them.
My cheeks felt hot to the touch. I was aroused. I’d watched this couple have sex, and I was so wet, it was crazy.
“Hello, Aurora,” Cara said. “Come in.”
“You know my name?”
“I think I should. I was at your wedding.”
“You were?”
Cara laughed. “Of course. It’s not every single day I get to see Slavik married. I had to be there.”
“You know Slavik?”
“I do. We go way back.” Cara began to strip the bed. “Damn, fucking is so much fun, but it does sure get messy.”
I looked at the bed. Cara seemed happy.
I was being rebellious today, so I might as well go all in.
“You enjoy … what he did to you?”
Cara turned to me with a smile. “Fucking? Hell, yeah. There is no better feeling in the world than having a man rock-hard inside you.” She groaned. “Sorry, I’ve always been in touch with my inner sex goddess.”
I frowned, looking at the bed then at Cara. I’d read about a lot of sex. The times I’d done it with Slavik, well, it wasn’t like I was lining up for a repeat performance.
“You have no idea what I’m talking about, do you?”
I wanted to bluff but at the same time, what I’d just seen, was it wrong to want that?
“No.”
“Wait, you are Slavik’s wife, right?”
“Yes.”
Cara snorted. “Wow, leave it to him to leave his woman hanging.” She shook her head. “Look, sex can be horrible. I’m not going to lie. With the wrong guy or girl, it can be crap. There’s no other word for it, but with the right person, it can be, well, you saw. I personally love it when Drake visits me. He knows what I like, and he’s not afraid to give it to me.”
I felt like she was talking in riddles.
Her gaze looked me up and down. “The life you’ve lived, I doubt many men have given you the time of day, have they? You were a virgin, if my memory serves me right.”Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.
“Er, yes, I was.”
Cara sighed. “I will never understand why women don’t help each other out.” She tutted. “You know you can take care of yourself, don’t you?”
“What do you mean?”
Cara smiled. “Slavik brought this on himself. When you’re alone, and you have these same feelings you’re experiencing now, touch yourself. We know what we like. Put your hands on your pussy, and stroke, explore. See if you like it hard or soft. You’re the only person who is going to give you that kind of pleasure.” She moved toward a drawer and retrieved a card. “If you have any kind of questions. Call me.”
I took the card she offered. It had a couple of phone numbers.
I went to open my mouth to ask her more questions, but suddenly, my name was being yelled, and I tensed.
“Oh, I’m guessing someone is learning to be naughty. I like it.” She winked at me.
I spun on my heel, about to find Slavik, seeing as he seemed intent on waking everyone to find me.
He was at the doorway. His gaze landed on me then on Cara. She’d put a robe on, but she still looked like she’d been having lots of sex.
“Slavik,” she said. “Did you take care of your problem?”
“Yes.”
He grabbed my arm, and without another word, he pulled me out of the room.
“Ouch!” I tried to tug away from him, but he wouldn’t let me. In the end, he pulled me over his shoulder and I was being marched out of the house.
My curiosity hadn’t been sated though. I wanted to know more about what I’d just seen. Cara had all the answers to my questions.
It was like I’d been awakened, and now I couldn’t just accept living a half-life.
“I want to go and talk to Cara.”
“Not happening,” he said, growling.
I slammed my fist against his ass. I only got the one shot in as he dumped me into the back of his car.