Page 7 of A Monster Is Coming
She sunk beneath the water and on instinct, I grabbed the strap of her bathing suit, hauling her up to her feet, and keeping her head above the water. I paddled my feet and kept hold of the rail.
“You can’t swim,” I said.
“I can, and it’s not like it’s so hard.” She frowned.
The last thing I wanted to do was argue with her, so I let go of her suit and she sunk beneath the water. She screamed, so I grabbed her suit again and lifted her up.
“What the hell?” she asked, pushing her hair out of her face, but I noticed she didn’t shove at me to let her go.
“Do you want to keep arguing with me?” I asked.
“No, I don’t want to argue with you. This was a big mistake, and right now I need to go home.”
“Or, you can swallow your pride and ask me to help you.”
“What?”
I didn’t know if it was wrong to find her entertaining, but I did.
“You can say, ‘Peter, I don’t know how to swim, can you help me?’” I tempted to mock her and do it in a female voice, but instead, I decided I was already embarrassing her, and the last thing I wanted to do was make her uncomfortable.
She frowned and I saw her gaze past my shoulder. She wasn’t so stupid after all. Niamh was already planning her escape because she didn’t have a clue who I was, and she was starting to think like a survivor.
“Who is Peter?” she asked.
“Me, my name is Peter.”
“Is that your real name?”
This made me smile. “Yes, it does happen to be my real name.”
She nodded after a few seconds.
I waited.
She looked at the water, then at me, before her gaze went behind me. There she went with her deep breathing, and I waited patiently.
Holding onto the strap of her suit, I couldn’t help but notice how … full her tits were. This was a surprise to me, because I didn’t plan to notice Niamh. I’d do exactly as Ivan said. Put a baby in her womb, make her mine. I didn’t need to be attracted to her to achieve that. I could get my dick hard and ready for her when the time came. For now, there would be no fucking until I worked on winning her over.
“Peter, will you teach me how to swim?” she asked.
This surprised me. I expected her to be a dick over this, and stubborn.
Offering her a smile, I let go of the handle rail. I’d never taught anyone how to swim, but it wasn’t exactly hard.
My father liked the hard and rough way of training. He had no qualms about throwing his kid into the deep end and forcing him to learn to swim. He did this to me many times. There was no room in the Orlov family for a weak man. He wanted strong men, and if any of his sons, or daughters for that matter, were to drown, then so be it.
I lost a sister and a brother to that method. He didn’t shed a tear. Now that I think about it, neither did my mother. I nearly died that day, and during every task he gave me.
He was a cruel man.
Leaving Niamh to fight was not an option. I now gripped onto both straps of her swimsuit. As much as I’d have loved to stay in the deep end of the pool, Niamh had to learn to swim.
“What are you doing?” she asked, almost in a state of panic.
“I’m going to teach you how to swim, but you’re going to be doing it my way. Kick your feet out and stop fighting me. I’m not going to hurt you.” Not unless Ivan demanded it.
Right now, Niamh was on the “safe and protected” list. If that were to change, I’d have no qualms about doing what needed to be done. If Ivan wanted her dead, she’d be dead.