With no one keeping me engaged, my mind began to wander. Elena and I were usually in these situations together, and I could always count on her to keep me fun. But this was not a‘fun’situation, and neither Elena nor a glass of gin were there to keep me company.
There hadn’t been a word from her, and I could hardly blame her. I would be angry too if I was ignored for a man. She did not miss our phone calls regardless of how many were caught in her gravity. I needed to try harder, calling her house was no longer enough.
And this guilt entertained me as hours crawled by, fighting the glue that was my boredom.
Misha was the only other person I knew there, but he wasn’t skipping any shots, and even Ana chattering in his ear went widely ignored. I had no chance.
But it wasn’t his attention I wanted. Vitali was always so focused on me, no matter where we were, that having him be beside me and completely inaccessible was disappointing. The night wasn’t supposed to be fun for me, and I had to accept that, but that didn’t check the spoiled attitude I’d developed over the passing months.
I took a big, unladylike bite of something greasy (and delicious) since no one was paying attention to me anyway. A droplet of fat spilled down my chin, and like the prize I was, I dabbed it with a napkin, which I proceeded to drop.
The revelation struck as I reached down to grab it off the floor, in the form of taut, black fabric stretched enticingly across Vitali’s thigh. I immediately knew how to test Mr. Composure.Mr.‘How you treat something dangerous at your fingertips.’
He would be so mad… so mad atKotik.
I bit my lip and straightened my posture, my arms relaxing at my sides. My left hand casually settled on his leg.
His muscles stiffened, but he seemingly paid it no mind, deep in conversation. So, I slid it higher, to where it bunched up tightly just under the belt.
This time, he glanced back with question, but I didn’t meet his eyes, instead leaning my chin on my other palm, fascinated with whatever the round man to my right was saying.
I pressed my fingers along the line of the belt, not touching anything that could be deemed obscene, but making my presence known—because he still couldn’t do surprises.
“What are you doing?” Vitali asked, looking at me.
The raised brow gave away his feigned sternness. I kept my hand in place.
“Provoking you.”
“I can see that. And why are you provoking me?”
“So you can‘iron out my attitude…’”Brave, Katya. Dying for attention, Katya. Not raised in a civilized household, Katya.
He grinned as if to say ‘is that so?’
“I’d love nothing more, but I have to behave.” He took my hand, placing it in my lap. Then someone asked him a question, and just like that, I was all alone once more, but the thrill of what I’d done left me tingling.
Another half hour passed, and people began shifting and getting up. They weren’t leaving, those who took off their coats (not everyone did, and this time I understood why) didn’t put them back on. Instead, small groups of them moved about, clapping each other on the back and promising to take trips to their respectivedachas.
“Cigars by the bar,” Vitali whispered as he pushed his chair in. “It won’t be long. They’re talking about moving on to the next place after, we’ll leave then.”
I gave him a smile, and watched them go off—not too far, but far enough that I couldn’t hear the conversation.
The other girls chatted amongst themselves. I thought of joining in, but their expressions made the divide between us clear. I wasn’t one of the‘Sergei’s girls’and I wouldn’t be sleeping beside a hairy mountain of nighttime wheezes. I was Vitali’s girl, and as far as they knew, I’d spend my night on silk sheets scented with sandalwood and sex where no one had to play‘find the dick on the donkey.’
Only I knew that I’d be going to sleep alone in an apartment I shared with my mama and little brother. God, but I didn’t want to.
Vitali’s long, absent gaze met mine from across the room, but he didn’t seem to notice. It wasn’t purposeful; maybe he wasn’t even aware of it, but his heavy-lidded eyes held all the hunger his restraint didn’t allow. They settled on the curve of my thigh.
Hunger, like mine.
I had not seen him in weeks, which gave me all that time to reflect on the door he opened to my fantasies. I did not lose my virginity to him, but I did lose my innocence.
He had to behave. I didn’t.
I elongated my leg, tucking the other underneath the chair, making sure he had a clear view of the way my dress shifted across my lap. He tilted his head and answered a man next to him without looking away from me.
Was that a snag in my nylons? I’d best check.
