Page 44 of Maksim
I didn’t hear the man’s voice, but he must be the roommate. Surely Maksim wouldn’t bring a woman here, not unless she’s cool with him having, um, me.
When they stop at one of the other rooms in the same hall, it confirms my suspicion that it’s the roommate. It’s the only room in the house that I haven’t explored, which I assumed is his bedroom. I wouldn’t have dared to go in there even if it wasn’t locked.
I go to hide in the closet, but sound draws me back to the door to listen. They’re yanking on the roommate’s bedroom door.
“What the fuck?” the young woman growls.
The roommate chuckles. “It’s locked?”
“He locked my fucking door?!”
Her door?
My face pinches with confusion. Huh?
The woman kicks at the bedroom door multiple times. “Stupid fucking piece of shit asshole!” She groans loud and dramatically, so much so that I start to question whether she’s a woman at all. She sounds younger.
A child?
When angry feet stomp this way, I scramble away from the door and rush to the closet, barely tucking myself inside before the bedroom door bursts open. My fear draining, I watch through the crack in the closet door as the girl viciously tears open Maksim’s nightstand drawer in search of something.
Meanwhile, the guy I’m no longer sure is the roommate and old enough looking that I wouldn’t call him a boy, flops down on the bed and stretches out, lacing his hands behind his head and crossing one dirty sneaker over the other.
“I don’t know, babe. This is better anyway.”
She pauses what she’s doing only long enough to glance at him and let out a feeble laugh. “Right.”
I shift to get a better view as she walks around the bed to the other nightstand. Instead of rifling through this drawer, she rips it out entirely and chucks it on the floor in a rage. When the contents scatter, she drops to her knees and searches.
“Mmm, jackpot,” the guy says, hopping off the bed to retrieve a package of condoms off the ground. He pulls one out and waves it at her, his eyebrows wagging.
“Gross.” She lets out another feeble laugh. “Just give me a minute. I know the key’s around here?—”
“How is it gross?” He arches backward and gives her a chastising look that makes my head tilt and my curiosity pique. The fear I had has vanished.
Her shoulders hunch slightly, and she laughs. “Those are Maksim’s.”
“Yeah, I figured.”
“Right, so I mean…” She waves her hand like it’s obvious.
“Oh my God, you’re such a kid.” The guy, the asshole, laughs at her, shaking his head as he tosses the condom on the bed.
“Oh really?” she asks, her face reddening. “Well, then what does that make you?”
Smiling, he takes her face in his hands and laughs when she pulls away. “Babe, come on, don’t be mad.”
“I just don’t know what you mean by that.” Now she sounds whiny. Young. Way too young to be with him.
He looks sleazy. Tattoos are not inherently bad, in fact, they can be kind of hot, but not on him. On him, they look like a means for hiding needle holes. They poke out of the top of a ratty T-shirt with an unfamiliar band on it and go all the way down both arms. His hat is the cleanest article he’s wearing, and it can’t be for shading him from the sun because he’s wearing it backward. It looks like its purpose is to tame greasy, reddish hair.
“I just mean you can be a little immature.” He runs his hands down her sides, resting them on her hips, and when she lets him, I frown. “Don’t get me wrong, you’re way more mature than most girls your age, but… Babe, come on. A condom is just a condom. It all comes from the same store, and that shit costs money. Not all of us have a big brother to foot the bill.”
A big … brother?
Maksim?
My heart speeds up, but this time it has nothing to do with panic. Heat spreads to my ears, but I don’t move. I barely breathe.