Page 33 of Maksim

I move forward toward the bed, leaving Maksim’s hand behind to prove my acceptance of this. To prove that I can in fact be what he wants. That I’m a treasure to keep safe and secure instead of a burden to get rid of at the first opportunity.

Unable to help myself, I pull the material that slipped from its corner back to tuck it into place, and I smooth the sheets before straightening the comforter. It’s a silly impulse, I know because there’s nothing I could do to make this nice, but I do it anyway.

When I’m finished with the bed, I turn and sit, staring at my lap to avoid Maksim’s eyes.

“All right, then,” he says, his tone either curious or annoyed.

My face burns.

“I’ve got to get going. Thanks to your … episode … I’ll have to work late, so I won’t be back for a while.”

I lift my head to look at him, feeling my lips pursed with confusion. Did I read this wrong?

The desire I expect to be in his eyes is nonexistent. He looks serious.

“You can stay at my place for a while if that’s what you want, but you should know, I don’t live alone. My roommate is…” He tilts his head like he’s weighing how to word this. “Unkind. He and I share everything, including whores, but I know you’ve had a rough go of things, so I won’t mention you if you agree to behave. He doesn’t randomly come into my room, so if you’re silent, he’ll have no idea you’re here.”

My jaw drops as my veins freeze over.

Roommate?

Share?

I feel like someone just kicked me in the stomach, and I lean forward, pressing my forearms on my knees and breathing through the sensation. I just got away from his friends. His supposedly kind friends. This one is unkind?

Is it Roman? Is that who lives here?

I feel the blood drain from my face but don’t say anything. This is only more reason to get Maksim on my side, get him to start thinking of me as a person or ally or something other than a troublesome, stupid girl.

Maksim walks over to me, but I don’t look up until he opens the cabinet door to his bedside table, which is actually a tiny refrigerator. In it are plastic water bottles, beer bottles, and bars of some kind in case the kitchen is too far a walk for a midnight snack, I guess.

I look at the floor.

“The fridge is stocked, so everything you need is in this room. Bathroom is there.” I see him point in my periphery to an open doorway. I would be curious about him having a bathroom all to himself if I could breathe. “And if you’re feeling scared, there’s the closet.” Now I look up to follow his finger to a closed door. “There’s a trunk inside you could hide in if you wanted to be extra careful. My roommate usually gets home around four, so I’d say listen for the front door, then just play it safe in the closet. Piss in a bottle or something if you have to. Whatever you’ve got to do.” He glances down at his wrist before working the clasp to remove it.

“Couldn’t you just tell him I’m off limits?” I ask, my voice high.

“I could.” He tosses the watch on the bed. “But I won’t. That would involve creating a minor strain on his and my relationship, and you haven’t proven yourself worthy of that. Allowing you to hide yourself is as far as my kindness is going to reach for now, and if you act up, I’ll take even that privilege away.”

“No.” I shake my head. “Maksim, I… Please, I won’t act up. I…”

I want to be worthy.

The words sound so pathetic. So desperate. They match the tremble in my lip perfectly, so while they kill my pride, I say them aloud.

“I want to be worthy.”

Finally, his face begins to soften. He gives a single nod. “That’s what I want too, Elira. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.”

His long legs devour the distance between us in only two steps, and when his hand reaches out toward my face, my eyes close, but I don’t flinch away. My ear tickles as Maksim tucks my hair behind it. It’s a comfort I don’t want but one I think I need. I’d give anything for him to tell me he’ll protect me. There are so many men to protect me from.

“One day, all of this will have felt like nothing more than a bad dream. I promise.”

I promise.

You lie, Maksim. Your words mean nothing. I can hear the lie in every syllable, feel it in your touch, smell it in the air. It reeks.

He pulls back and turns before I even open my eyes. “I have an alarm system that will go off if you try to leave, so save us both the headache and don’t. Just stay in the bedroom, kiddo, all right?”