By the time we reach the lobby, I finally feel the cold. My blood was up too much to notice before, but the lobby’s warmth punctuates how cold forty degrees is when someone’s wet and shirtless.
The young woman at the desk looks startled by the sight of me. I say nothing and neither does Natalia. I catch sight of myself in the elevator mirror and grimace. The butterfly bandage is gone, and the wound on my cheek has reopened. Blood drips down my face and onto my chest. The bruises look swollen again and freshly scuffed from Callahan’s knuckles. The skin of my torso is mottled with thick bruises from the fight with Vlad. I look like a monster who’s just finished ransacking a city.
Great.The beast is exposed.
Upstairs, the room is warm at least. I take her straight into the bathroom. “Sit there,” I say, nodding to the commode.
She doesn’t answer but lowers the lid and sits.
I strip and take a hot shower. When I come out, she’s doing her best to get the spots of blood out of her dress.
“This is best I can do now. Later, I will take to someone who knows what to use on blood,” she says. “Make sure your face does not still bleed before you put on your other white shirt, Alexei.”
“What?”
I use a towel to dry my hair and face. I only have two suits and dress shirts with me. I’m not putting on the suit I’m wearing to tomorrow’s meetings. That’s assuming I’m still invited. I dry off my body and follow her out of the bathroom.
She opens the closet.
“Don’t touch that other suit. Leave it there.”
“What? Why? Your shirt and pants from before are wet and bloody. You must put on clean clothes.”
“For what?”
“For the party.”
“We’re not going back.”
She stares at me with an incredulous expression. “We must. The celebration is not over, and we did not say goodbye to anyone. This is not all right.”
“No one expects us to come back down.”
“Your brother is Russian. He will certainly not expect you to leave his wedding party so early. And without even toasting to him and his wife? No. This is not done. Get dressed. We are going back.”
“And what do you plan to do down there?”
“I will behave as you like. I will stay with you.”
“What if someone wants you to sleep somewhere else tonight?”
“What crazy thing are you saying?” she asks, looking over her shoulder as she takes my suit from the closet. “Do you think I want to see you fight more? I don’t. Almost your whole body is purple, Alexei.”
“Put the clothes back and come here,kiska.”
She huffs out a small sigh. “I am your kitten now?”
I nod and hold out a hand to her. “A bad kitten. One who needs to be punished.”
Her head turns. “Oh?” Her tone’s more curious than alarmed, but she leans back slightly. “That is not right.”
When she doesn’t come to me, I rise from the bed and stride over to her. I take my suit and hang it in the closet. Standing over her, I give her a hard look. “A lot’s happened between us. Not just last night, but the kiss before we went downstairs. You know we’re not just friends. Why did you lie about it?”
Her exhalation of breath is heavy. “It was no lie. We have arrangement. I play pet for you for this one month. It helps me to get free. It’s true that we like each other in a certain way that men and women do, but you never said that after our days together are up you want to be with me more, when I will be only Natalia, not a prize you fought to win.” She examines my face. “When my time as your pet is over, I must leave New York. I have no true friends in this country, so I must find some. People need friends.”
“Aiden Callahan doesn’t want to be your friend. He wants you in his bed.”
“Hmm. Well, so do you, and I don’t refuse to be your friend because of it.”
