“You’ll be fine. You’ve had much worse,” Dimitri reminds him.
“That’s true,” Andrei scoffs with an eyeroll as he turns the ignition key. The van’s engine roars to life, and then he puts it in drive and pulls out onto the highway.
Dimitri nestles into the backseat with me, holding me in his arms. On the way to our destination, I notice how he’s constantly touching me, as if he’s reassuring himself that I’m still here, that I’m alive. And every now and then, he’ll place a soft kiss on the top of my head before sighing into my hair.
All of this seems unreal in this moment, considering I waspicturing my demise just hours ago, and a sense of panic washes over me. What if I’m dreaming and I’m actually still trapped in that awful warehouse? Suddenly, I turn in Dimitri’s arms and stare into his blue eyes, which are laced with concern.
“What’s wrong, Savina?” he asks.
“Tell me this is real and that I’m not dreaming,” I whisper to him, my voice trembling.
“This is real, Savina.” And then he holds his arm out and says, “Go ahead. Pinch me.”
I pinch him, and then I pinch myself just for good measure.Yep, definitely real.I breathe a sigh of relief before I relax back into his arms.
Dimitri pulls me close. “Try to get some sleep. It’s going to be a long ride,” he tells me.
The adrenaline that was coursing through my veins before is slowly dissipating, and my eyes begin to grow heavy as the soft sway of the van eventually lulls me to sleep.
I wake up some time later in the backseat of the van. I’m alone, Andrei and Dimitri nowhere to be found. Yawning and stretching, I look out the windshield and see that the van is parked somewhere on a dirt road surrounded by tall trees and bushes.
“You’re awake,” Dimitri remarks as he appears in the open side door. “We were just carrying everything into the cabin.”
“The cabin?” I question.
“Yeah, it’s where we’ll be staying for a while.”
“All three of us?” I ask with a wrinkled nose.
Andrei sidles up to Dimitri and puts his arm over his shoulder. “No, Princess. Even though the offer is tempting, I must get going.” And then he adds, “Try not to miss me too much.”
I roll my eyes at him, which earns me a deep chuckle. Dimitri then helps me out of the van, which is a struggle in and of itself. Iswear I feel like I’ve aged sixty years over the past week. My limbs are so sore, and my entire body aches with every little movement.
Dimitri closes the door and turns to his friend. “Thank you, Andrei,” he says sincerely.
“You owe me,” Andrei tells him before walking around the van and climbing into the driver’s seat. “Again,” he calls out through the open window before revving the engine and driving down the dirt path.
Once he’s gone, I turn and face the cabin. It sits tucked between towering pines; its wooden siding weathered and darkened by years of rain and sun. Dimitri leads the way up onto the porch, and the uneven boards creak beneath our feet as we walk. The front door sticks, and he has to put some effort into opening it before he ushers me inside.
The cabin is bigger, more spacious than it appears from the outside. A stone fireplace dominates the open space, embers glowing low and filling the air with a soft crackle and the smell of burning wood. In front of it sits a worn leather sofa and a recliner.
“What is this place?” I ask as I glance around, taking in every detail of the sparsely decorated but extremely warm and cozy cabin.
“I bought it years ago. I sometimes come here when I need to think,” he says with a small shrug as he goes off to the kitchen and busies himself with putting away groceries that he purchased earlier. A single window above the sink lets in pale light filtered through pine tree branches. It casts a glow around Dimitri as he moves around, and once again, it feels like I’m dreaming.
Shaking off the feeling, my eyes scan the rest of the place. That’s when I notice a big, comfy bed tucked in the corner of the room with some mismatched bookshelves on the wall behind it. The books catch my attention, and I find myself drawn to them.
“Is this where you disappear off to?” I wonder out loud as my fingertip caresses the spines of numerous books lined up on a shelf.He reads Brontë and Dickens?My brain is on overdrive as I take in every detail, absorbing every miniscule thing I can. This is Dimitri’s safe space. This is where he can be himself. This place reflects his verysoul. It’s like cracking open an ordinary-looking, gray rock and finding out it’s actually a geode lined with beautiful, sparkling amethyst crystals. He’s insightful. He’s deep. He’s so muchmorethan I thought he was.
“Who else knows about this place?” I question as he sets out some freshly made sandwiches on the small metal table.
“Pavel.”
“Do you think he’ll…?”
“No,” he says with a shake of his head. But then he adds, “Unless he absolutely has to.”
“How long are we going to stay here?” I ask.
