I loved him to death, but I looked forward to seeing Victor like a hole in the head. To see him so pissed off at me last night and letting that anger stew overnight couldn't mean good things for Violet. He's going to tear me apart limb from limb. I knew it. I could feel it in the pit of my stomach. Or maybe that was my need for breakfast. I still had a box of those one protein bars that taste like an Almond Joy, right? I grabbed one on my way out the door.
Victor told me ten o'clock and gave Gene the morning off. I hope he called Madame, too. It's bad enough I'm on Victor's shit list and probably Celestino's, too. I don't need to be on hers, too. Madame loved me and I don't ever want that love to go away. Since before I was skating, Madame was more of a mother to me than my own mother and I don't know what I'd do without her in my life.
As I stood outside Chris and Victor's, I started pouring sweat. Relax, Violet. It's Victor. The most passive aggressive creature to ever exist. I'm sure last night is as bad as it's going to get. The rest of Victor's anger is just going to come out in extreme sass and snarky comments like it always did. Everything is going to be fine. At least I hope so.
"Victor?" I walked in, treading lightly.
"Good morning, Violet." Not the voice I was expecting, but the one I was glad to hear.
"Hey, Chris," I sat at the kitchen table with him
"My, my," Chris gave me a dark, little grin, "Violet Isabella, that's not a collar around your neck, is it?"
"Oops," I blushed, totally forgetting about the little token of ownership that Mike gave me yesterday. I'm surprised Victor didn't pick that out last night. Then again, I think he was a bit preoccupied with bitching at me to notice, "It might be."
"Alright." Because there was no way in hell Chris could possibly let me live this down, "Miss no detail. I want to know everything. Do you have a master, Violet?"
"Yeah," I rolled my eyes, "For lack of a better word, I have a master."
"What's his name?" he asked, listening intently, "How'd you meet?"
"You were there when we met," I pointed out, "His name is Mike."
"Wait," Chris stopped me, "Is this Mike from Cosmos?"
"Do you know him?" I wondered.
"Oh yeah," he smirked, "I know Mike. I know Mike very well. Not to mention, you were talking to him while you were talking to me in your voicemail."
"You, too?" I squeaked, "Jesus, how big of a slut is this guy? Apparently, Willam's been with him. You've been with him. Should I ask him about how many other pets he's had before me?"
"I've never been his pet before," Chris settled me, "I can't speak for Willam, though."
"My god," I groaned, laying on the table top, "I'll have to ask sometime."
"Be careful, Violet," he warned, "I love you and don't want to see you get hurt. Mike and I only had a one-night thing, but I've heard some stories about him before. He gets very territorial over his pets. It's almost to the point where he may pee on you to claim you as his own. But you're already wearing his collar, so you should be ok. Do you have to wear that all the time?"
"Not this one," I undid the buckle and took it off, "I have a choker for everyday. This collar is for special occasions."
"And by special occasions..."
"Where's your husband?" I quickly changed the subject, not wanting to get into talking about my sex life with Chris. I'm sure he could one-up me all over the place.
"He should be coming out of the shower by now," he figured.
"And my boys?" The condo was suspiciously quiet.
"They're practicing with Celestino," Chris got up to top off his coffee, "Victor left Yuri in Celestino's capable hands, so he could take care of you."
"Chris..." Speak of the devil. Who figured today was a good day to come out of the bedroom in a towel and a smile. Yeah. I'm not complaining, "Who are you talking to out here?"
"It's just Violet," Chris admired the view just as much as I did.
"Hi," I snapped out of my schoolgirl haze real quick. Or should I say I was being crushed to a pulp by the gravity of the situation?
"Good," Victor sighed out, "You sit on the couch. We need to talk. I need to get dressed first. I'll be right back."
"I don't know, Vitya," Chris continued to drool over his husband, "I kind of like you like this."
"And that's why I'm getting dressed," Victor gave him a quick kiss before heading back to the bedroom.
"Playing hard to get is not nice," Chris whined, "Who would've guessed Victor Nikiforov was a huge tease?"
"I would!" he yelled from the bedroom.
"I love that man," Chris chuckled to himself, "Things seem like they're about to get serious here."
"They probably will," I moved to the couch.
"It is," Victor came back out, taking his spot on the coffee table in front of me.
"Well, if you need anything," Chris pulled up a spot at the bar in the kitchen, "You know where I'll be."
"Thanks, Chris," I grumbled, "The moral support is appreciated."
"Now," Victor turned my attention back toward him, "I'm going to need a play-by-play of everything you did last night, Violet. Do not miss anything. All I'm asking is your honesty."
"Fine," I let out a heavy sigh, feeling the collar in my pocket grow tighter. Victor got whiny when I told him I had a date with Yurio. God only knows what this is going to do to him, "I kind of started seeing someone."
"Really?" he gasped, not quite sure what to make of it, "Do tell. What's his name?"
"His name is Mike," I began, "He's a good guy. We met at a club."
"Is it serious with you two?" Victor wondered, while Christophe, God bless him, giggled in the kitchen. I loved him, but right now, punching him sounded like a good idea.
"Serious-ish," I danced around it.
"So," he thought, breaking his eye contact with me, "Is he the only one?"
"Jesus, Victor," I shook off my nerves, "You make me sound like I'm out whoring myself around. Yes. As of right now, I haven't been seeing anyone else but this one guy. I don't double book. You know that."
"See?" Victor joined me on the couch, wrapping his arms around me, "Was that so difficult? This is all I wanted, Violet. For you to talk to me about the things going on in your life. I miss you! I miss my best friend in the whole wide world! You don't have to go out and get stupid when I'm right under you."
"I know..."
"Then, why are you going out and getting stupid?" he yelled at me.
"Think about it, Victor," I settled him, "It's the first time I've been single in ages after staying home with the kids for so long. Can you blame me for wanting to run for a while? I just wanted a little bit of fun."
"Well," Victor hugged me tight, "As long as you're having fun responsibly, that's all I ask."
"I am having fun responsibly," I assured.
"The going out and getting shitfaced isn't responsible."
"The staying in and getting shitfaced is fine, though?" I hoped, "I like vodka. Don't make me give that up."
"Limit yourself," Victor begged, "Please. Maybe one or two a week. And never when you have practice the next day."
"Learned that lesson the hard way," I cringed, "Celestino asked me if I was hungover and I didn't have the heart to tell him I was."
"Well, this isn't getting anything done," he pushed himself up and offered me his hand, "Come on."
"Where are we going?" I gladly accepted his assistance.
"Retail therapy," Victor grabbed his phone and his wallet off the kitchen counter, giving his husband one last kiss, "We'll be back later."
"Alright," Chris let him go, "Go play."
"We will," I kissed his cheek and his husband took me away to wherever he had planned for the day. At this point, I just let Victor take the lead. Besides, it's not like I had much choice in the matter. Victor told me last night that he owned me. According to the collar burning a hole in my pocket, I'm sure that someone else would have something to say about that.
Although, I will admit. I missed shopping trips with Victor. They were always a blast. Sometimes, we'd shop for each other. Sometimes, Victor would shove me in a dressing room and not let me have any say in anything. Sometimes, we'd shop for ourselves. It was merely a throw of the dice whenever we walked into a store. And New York did not have a shortage of specialty boutiques or big, beautiful department stores. But for now, we picked a cute, little boutique on the Upper East Side full of summer dresses that I'd desperately need in the next couple months.
"You know the drill, Vi," Victor decided, "Pick a dressing room and make yourself comfortable."
"Really?" I whined, "I can't, at least, help you look?"
"What did I say?" he shot me a glare, "Your ass is mine today. I do with it what I wish."
Hard to argue with that logic. Considering how screwed up my own has been. I wasn't in the mood to get into an argument with Victor today. Son of a bitch could get crafty with his words. So, I did exactly as he told me. I picked the dressing room closest to the door and waited for whatever saccharine crap Victor wanted to dress me in. However, he had a hell of a grasp on what I was and wasn't comfortable with and how far he could push me.
Ten minutes later, seemingly out of nowhere, an armful of different pastel colored skater dresses flopped over the door of my dressing room, giving me a mini heart attack, "Jesus, Victor. Did you leave anything on the rack?"
"Nope!" Victor sang, "You're leaving here with three of them."
"Ok," I thumbed through them, deciding which one to try first. The whole damn rainbow was here. Only in lighter tones. Some of these would make me look adorable on the ice, but none of them were practical enough to skate in. I settled on the pink, the purple, and the blue ones and left the green and the peach behind. Never really my colors. Victor did have taste. I'll give him that.
Two stores, eight hundred dollars, and a split pretzel later, Victor and I thumbed through a rack in yet another boutique (he had a weakness), looking for something for me to wear tonight. I still had to go to Gene's tonight for dinner. I owed him for not telling Victor about him putting my wickedly drunk ass on the couch. I didn't want anything overly elaborate and Victor knew that. That was never my thing. Unless it was the Lady Marmalade routine, but that was because Ernie was gross.
"So, Violet," Victor asked, "This new guy you've been seeing."
Son of a bitch. Here we go, "What about him?"
"Could I ever meet him?"
"I don't know," I bit my lip, "It's still pretty early in the relationship right now. Not to mention, think about it. If you and I got divorced under regular circumstances and you met someone new that wasn't someone we already knew, how awkward would it be to introduce your ex-wife to your new boyfriend? Same principle."
"I understand," Victor let it go, "But if things do get serious with you two…"
"Then, we'll talk about it," I allowed, not completely sure how far in the future I've thought with Mike. That's not an existential rabbit hole I wanted to go down today.
"Violet…?" Oh…shit…That's what I was needing today. A pair of arms wrapped themselves around my waist, "Hi there."
"Hey," the heat in my face burned, "What are you doing here?"
"I saw something cute in the window," he hummed.
"And what's that?" As if I didn't know.
"You, of course," he kissed the top of my head.
"Violet?" Victor wondered, "Who's this?"
"You know her?" Uh-oh…This is what Chris warned me about, isn't it?
"I'd say so," Victor looked him over.
"Mike," I bit my tongue, "This is Victor. Victor, this is Mike."
I'm uncomfortable. Am I the only one? I'm very uncomfortable.
"That Mike?" Victor asked.
"That Victor?" Mike's eyes grew wider.
"Yep." This is hella uncomfortable.
After a few minutes of dead silence that made my skin crawl, Mike tapped on my shoulder, "Violet, can I see you for a minute?"
"Sure," I followed him a few feet away from Victor, "What is it?"
"Is that your ex-husband?" Mike grumbled.
"Yeah," I nodded, "Why?"
"You still hang around your ex-husband?" he only got angrier.
"Yeah," I tried to get him to settle down, "Our marriage was a long story. I'll tell you later."
"What are you doing later?" Mike let out a heavy, exasperated sigh.
"I have a dinner thing," I told him, "Why?"
"After your dinner thing," he demanded, "I want you to come over to my penthouse and I think we need to have our first sleepover."
"Ok," I wasn't going to fight him. Mike was pissed at me and I didn't need that, "I should be around your place at maybe nine, ten o'clock?"
"Good," Mike gave me a gentle kiss, "I'm greatly looking forward to it."
"Yes, sir," I started walking back to Victor.
"Well," Mike followed, "It was nice meeting you, Victor."
"You, too," Victor put on a sweet, polite smile that only Victor was capable of.
"I'll see you later, Violet," Mike gave me a wink that sent chills down my spine and left the two of us alone.
"He's cute, Vi," Victor went back to the rack absentmindedly, "Good for you."
I felt a delightful pit in my stomach, ready for anything Mike had to throw at me tonight. Don't get me wrong. It was really sweet for Gene to invite me over tonight, but there's no way I'm going to be able to sit still at that dinner table.
A/N: Goooooood gravy, this chapter is up really late. I'm sorry. But Victor's still got a sunny outlook. Good for him. And he thinks Mike is cute. What the hell is with people and Mike? Is he really that much of a drug in a human being? That's even making my head hurt and I'm the one that wrote him! Well, regardless, I'm a tired little girl and I'm going to go to bed. So, good night. And I'll see you next chapter! xx