Page 59 of Maksim
What was I thinking coming here?
I slow to a stop. “Maybe coming here was a mistake.”
Maksim’s hand presses to my lower back, and while a day ago I might have wanted to jerk away from his touch, it feels comforting now.
“Ten minutes.” He urges me forward with him. “If you want to leave then, we’ll go.”
My feet shuffle while my heart pounds. “How do I know you’re telling the truth?”
“I swear it on my father’s grave.”
I huff. “For all I know, you could’ve killed your father yourself.”
He laughs, but I’m serious. I don’t trust him. Even if he told me he swore on Anya’s life, I wouldn’t trust him.
As if he can read my mind… “Just trust me, lislchka.”
That is a command I cannot obey, but my feet move as he guides me to the gate. He opens it to reveal probably fifty people, too many people, men and women. Some wade in the pool, some are on chairs surrounding it, a few people are on the roof like I saw that first night. Few seem civilized, most are loud, all have some sort of alcohol gripped in their hands.
I cross my arms over my chest and bite my lip.
“Brat!”
My eyes snap to the man I know to be Hugh with his huge palms spread wide as he bounds this way, a smile stretched across his face. When he reaches us, I step to the side.
“Dobro pozhalovat’ drug.” He and Maksim exchange a back slapping greeting, and Maksim grins before speaking Russian so quickly, I can’t even discern what syllables he uses.
It didn’t occur to me until now that I rarely hear Maksim speak Russian. Now, though, it slips off his tongue effortlessly as he exchanges what I assume are pleasantries with the giant. Finally, when he remembers I’m here, he side steps to me and puts his arm around my shoulders. I would shrug him off if my body wasn’t frozen in fear.
Why did I come here?
“You remember Elira,” Maksim says as if I was a guest of honor here at one point.
I can’t find it in me to smile politely. I watch Hugh’s reluctant expression for only a moment before ducking my eyes and wishing I had a watch so I could time ten minutes exactly.
“I didn’t realize that was her name,” Hugh says, sounding uncertain. Maksim hasn’t told him a thing about me. Nothing.
I don’t know why that hurts.
Maksim squeezes my shoulder. “Yes, I guess I never properly introduced the two of you. Her English was um…”
He leans in to my ear, kissing me with his breath. It feels intimate in front of all these people. Wrong when I know what they must think happens in his bedroom.
Neither my ‘elevated status’ at Maksim’s house nor our agreement matter. To these people, I’m his whore.
“Do you speak English yet?” he asks, his voice gentle, caring, soft.
Does he not know the vile things his friends think, or does he simply not care? Does he realize how uncomfortable I am?
“Lislchka?” he whispers, concerned.
No, he has no idea. This is the clueless Maksim we’re talking about.
Taking a sharp inhale, I lock eyes with Hugh who studies not me but Maksim with curious eyes. I don’t see what benefit it gives me to hide my comprehension anymore, so instead of answering Maksim, I try to be brave and hold out my hand.
Hugh looks down, way down, at it.
“Pleasure to meet you,” I lie, my words crystal clear.