***Sorry that it's been forever since I updated. The summer just flew by and it's hard to believe that it's already September. Happy Labor Day to those living in the USA and a huge thanks to Do'B, VAvixin69, DemonsRelms, ilovesos9467, TheProlificWriterGirl, and Alena for reviewing the last chapter. Enjoy!***
"A date?" I wanted to laugh.
Ivan shrugged. "You want Dimitri, and I can help you get him. A jealous Dimitri is an easy one."
I couldn't help but laugh then. "I don't want to date him," I said, rolling my eyes. "I don't need to use you to make him jealous either."
Ivan arched his eyebrow. "Oh really? What's your plan then?"
"Goodbye, Ivan," I said, not dignifying his question with a response.
Silence followed me again as I started to walk down the sidewalk, but this time, Ivan didn't stop me or have anything to say. I heard the door of his truck open and close, and the engine roared to life behind me, but I kept walking, refusing to turn around. I could tell by the sound of this truck that he was following me, driving slowly on the road.
I felt like screaming. It was only Wednesday, only the third day of classes, and I had already met my stress quota for the year. Between being stalked, Ivan's pestering, and Mr. Belikov, it wasn't surprising that I felt like finding a bar to get drunk in and finding someone to go home with. In that order.
My phone buzzed, and I pulled it out from my back pocket. Haley's name was flashing across the screen.
"Hi, Haley," I answered.
"Hey, are you okay?" she asked. "I wanted to grab you after class, but you practically ran out of there."
I sighed. "I'll be fine," I said, taking comfort in the fact that it wasn't an outright lie. I would be fine. Eventually. Hopefully.
"You don't sound fine," she said. "Do you want to get dinner? Practice some self-care?"
I started to turn Haley down before reconsidering. "Actually, why don't we meet at the mall? I need to get a few things, and we can get something from the food court."
"Sure," she said. "Do you need a ride?"
I spotted the bus stop across the street (and on the mall route). "I'm good, but thank you. I'll see you soon."
I hung up and glanced behind me. Ivan was still following me. In the distance, I could see the city bus approaching from behind him. I checked the other direction for other cars before darting across the road to the bus stop.
The bus driver honked the horn as Ivan slowed down at the bus stop, and I avoided looking at his truck as he drove past the bus stop. I showed my student ID to the bus driver, which got me out of paying the fare, and I made my way to the middle of the bus. I leaned against the side of the bus and stretched my legs out on the seat next to me to prevent anyone else from sitting there as the bus started to move again.
The ride took longer than I expected, traffic partially causing the issue, but it was less than thirty minutes later when the bus stopped at the mall. I stood as the bus came to a stop with a lurch, and I exited out of the back side door while new customers got on through the front.
I tried to scan the parking lot for Ivan's familiar truck, but it was too hard to figure out if any of the black trucks I saw were his. My phone buzzed and glancing down, I saw that I had a new text message from Haley.
Haley (16:02): Meet me in Victoria's Secret?
I started to type back as I walked towards the mall entrance and nearly dropped my phone as I heard the roar of a familiar engine shutting off. The doors to the car squeaked open, and I didn't need to look back to see who was climbing out. I dug my fingernails into my palm and picked up my pace, ignoring my pending message to Haley for now.
Gallagher chuckled lowly behind me. "You can't run from us, Hathaway."
I ignored him and followed a group of girls in the mall, burying myself in the tail end of their group. As I followed the group, I glanced behind me, checking to see if the agents were following me. I took a roundabout way of getting to Victoria's Secret and glanced behind me before ducking into the store to make sure that I wasn't being followed.
I found Haley in front of one of the underwear tables, glancing down at her phone every few seconds. As if sensing that I was there, she turned around and smiled, but I could see the worry and sympathy in her eyes.
"Hey, did you get here okay?"
I nodded. "Yeah, I took the bus."
"How are you really doing?"
I started to spit out the same response that I had given Adrian and Dim – Mr. Belikov – earlier, but I halted mid-sentence, and simply shook my head.
"Not okay," I whispered.
She hugged me. "The police will get the person who is responsible.
I laughed bitterly. "No, they won't. They didn't catch them last time, and she was right there."
"Last time?"
"Aren't you a student aide?" When she nodded, I continued. "And you haven't read my file?"
She shook her head again. "Not all aides are nosy little bitches."
"I was kidnapped and missing for two months," I told her, not elaborating on any details. Not that I could if I wanted to, I thought bitterly.
"She?"
I shrugged. "I have vague memories of a blonde woman, and then there was a guy, but that's all I remember."
It wasn't the whole truth, but it was the most that I was willing to share right now.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered.
I blinked rapidly and gave her a weak smile. "Let's shop. I really need to get rid of these clothes."
Haley nodded.
"Oh, and those asshole FBI agents from earlier are here. They followed me here somehow."
Haley's smile disappeared. "What are they doing here?"
I gestured for her to wait a moment while I paid for the underwear and bras that I had grabbed and linked arms with her as we walked towards the exit.
"I don't know what they're doing," I said. "They previously dealt, incorrectly I might add, with the incident earlier this year, but they got me out of where I was being held, so I'm sure that they think they're the shit."
"God, they sound like assholes."
"They most definitely are. Though I must admit, they're hot."
Haley laughed. As we walked from store to store, she kept my mind off of everything that had happened by telling me stories about her family and a crazy cat. We stopped in Buckle, and I changed into a pair of black straight-leg jeans and a red spaghetti strap blouse. Haley helped me rip the tags off the jeans and top, and I brought them to the counter with the rest of my purchases. I tossed the old clothes into the first trash can I saw, wishing desperately that I could have burned them. I kept the boots since they were the only thing that I had on that was actually mine. Haley handed me a hair tie when I asked, and I wrapped my hair up into a bun.
"Better?"
"Much," I said, sighing as we walked away from the trash can.
We stopped at the food court for dinner and then spent another hour walking around the mall. I bought a few things from Aerie, mostly sleepwear, and a few more tops and bottoms from Aéropostale. We had nearly looped back around to Victoria's Secret when Haley's phone rang, and she paused to answer the text message.
She sighed when she looked back up. "I have to get home. Do you have somewhere to go tonight?"
"I—"
"Because you can stay with me," Haley continued, cutting me off.
I smiled. "As much as I appreciate the offer, I don't want to impose."
"Rose—"
"I promise that I'll be fine. I'll stay holed up and be good. I promise."
It looked as if she was going to protest, but her mouth snapped shut before any words came out, and her eyes darted upwards, above my head. I turned around, half-expecting to see the asshole agents from earlier. Instead, I found Mr. Belikov standing behind me, his arms crossed across his chest, with Ivan standing next to him.
"Rose will be fine," Ivan said, giving me a look. I glared at him, steadfastly refusing to look at Mr. Belikov. "We'll make sure of it."
"Like hell—"
"Rose," Mr. Belikov warned with a shake of his head.
I turned my glare on him but stayed silent.
"Mr. Belikov," Haley stammered, blushing. "What are you doing here?"
"I've come to take Rose back to the hotel since she refused to let Ivan take her," he answered, giving her a half-smile. He turned back to me, his dark eyes traveling the length of my body. "You've changed."
I tugged at my blouse, insecure for a brief moment before hiding behind sarcasm. "Thank you, Captain Obvious."
His lips flattened into a line. "Rose, say your goodbyes."
I rolled my eyes. "Bye?"
"Rose," he warned again.
I sighed and turned to hug Haley. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"I count on it," she whispered. "Don't do anything you'll regret."
I smiled. "I very rarely regret the things I do, and trust me, I won't regret doing him."
She laughed. "Don't forget that he's our teacher. Can you spell awkward?"
I grinned at her. "It's only going to be awkward because he's going to be begging for more."
She shook her head and laughed. "Behave."
"Always."
She gave me one more hug before turning to walk towards the JCPenney, which was where her car was parked.
"Rose, what are you doing here?"
"I had to get new clothes since that psycho cut up all of mine, Comrade," I told him. "I thought we already went over my need for new clothes earlier. Oh, and thanks for covering me for Haley, but I don't need you or Ivan to babysit me."
Mr. Belikov sighed. "Let's go, Rose. I'm not going to let you leave here alone."
It was clear that he wasn't going to cave in any time soon. With a sigh, I let Mr. Belikov lead me out to his grey SUV, Ivan following behind us. The black Impala that startled me earlier was still parked at the curb, and I clenched my bags tighter.
Mr. Belikov opened the passenger door for me, and I climbed in, putting my bags in the footwell. Through the windshield, I could see Mr. Belikov and Ivan talking. I couldn't put the window down since the car wasn't on, and I knew that opening the door would cause too much of a distraction.
He joined me in the car a few moments later, and neither of us said anything as he started to drive. As he drove, every once in a while, the streetlights would light up his face, and I would catch him staring at me.
The highway was calm, and my mind started to drift. As it did, part of me wished desperately that I could remember everything that had happened, and part of me wished that I would never remember anything else. I kept seeing the woman's long blonde hair swinging so elegantly over her shoulder and kept remembering the way she spoke, which had seemed so familiar but now seemed to escape me.
"Roza!"
I jolted and saw Dimitri staring at me, the car parked and off at the hotel. I could tell from his tone that that hadn't been the first time that he had tried to get my attention.
"Are you okay?"
I nodded. Roza. "What did you call me?"
Despite the faint light, I thought that I saw him blush. "Your name in Russian," he answered softly. "It's gotten your attention before," he continued. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"I'm fine," I told him, turning away. I opened the door, and he grabbed my arm.
"Please talk to me," he whispered.
"Dim-Mr. Belikov," I corrected.
"You can call me Dimitri," he told me. "If you want."
"Dimitri, I'm fine," I told him, liking the way his name rolled off my tongue.
"Roza, do not lie to me."
I couldn't help the shiver that ran through me.
He didn't seem to notice. "You are not fine."
"But I am."
"No. I don't believe you," Dimitri said stubbornly, still holding my arm and preventing me from getting out of the car.
Tears prickled at my eyes, and I tried to blink them away before he could see, but as his face softened, I knew that I wasn't successful.
"Talk to me, please. I want to help you."
I started to tell him again that I was fine, and that I didn't need or want his help, but once my mouth opened, I could no longer control my words. "I'm so scared. I don't want this to happen again; I can't go through it again. I'm not over being scared of the shadows, and now I'm scared that I'm never going to be able to get over it. I'm scared that whoever is doing this will hurt Lissa or Adrian or one of my other friends to get to me, and I can't let anyone else get hurt, not again. I'm scared to walk outside, and for weeks after getting back, I didn't want to get out of bed, and now I wish that I never did, that I had just ended my misery months ago, because if I would have, then none of this would be happening now, and—"
He pulled me to him, over and across the console of the car, until I was crushed against his chest. I couldn't hold back my tears any longer and my heaving sobs were muffled by his jacket. His hand rubbed my back soothingly, trying to calm me down. Dimitri murmured something to me in Russian, and I made a vague mental note to ask him what he said. Eventually, my sobs turned into gasping breaths and then into regular breathing as I calmed down. I took one last deep breath, inhaling Dimitri's scent again before pulling back.
"Roza—"
"This never happened," I told him, hopping out of the SUV through the driver's side door and walking away.