Chapter 7
The night air swept in through the open window and
flirted with the soft curtains floating in its breeze. The soiled
comforter had been placed by the door for Dmitry to
discard in the morning, and their sweaty sheets lay in a pile
by the bed on the floor. Exhausted, Royal lay beside
Dmitry quietly watching the fan circle above her while
Dmitry ran his large hands through her hair. Neither one of
them had said anything for nearly an hour. There was a
peace between them now that their bodies had done battle.
Royal was in awe of Dmitry‟s skill in lovemaking, and
Dmitry was awe that he finally had her. It had not been an
easy task for him. No woman had ever made him wait
more than a week before being intimate. Royal had finally
broken three months into their pseudo-courtship, but it had
taken much coercion. The deliberate wining and dining and
thousands and thousands of dollars in gifts had been the
easy part, developing trust had been the key. Royal required
trust. It was a staple in their friendship. He laughed a little
as he thought about her and then glanced over at her long
body still glistening with sweat. Who was he kidding? The
wait had been well worth it.
Every once in a while, Royal would take her eyes off the
fan and look over at Dmitry. To see him naked was quite
amazing. While he looked absolutely devastating in clothes,
he was even more lethal in nothing at all. As normal, his
body was relaxed, maybe even lazy. His long limbs completely
covered his side of the bed. The intricate muscles
and tattoos danced over his tanned skin in harmony. And
while Royal had never seen him workout, she was certain
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that he had to do so often. His body was a testament to a
dedicated weight-lifting regiment.
"What are you thinking about?" Dmitry asked, propping
himself up on one arm to face her. His bicep bulged.
Royal smiled. "I‟m thinking that I couldn‟t have picked
a better man," she said, nearly hoarse. "I was sort of scared
about that at first…I mean, to wait so long and pick the
wrong person. That would suck."
Dmitry lifted his brow.
"But I didn‟t," she assured him.
He ran his finger down the side of her nude frame and
sighed. He was horny again – aching to be inside of her one
more time.
"I‟m sure that you could‟ve picked someone…anyone
better, but I would not have been happy about it," he said,
pulling her closer to his large chest.
She nuzzled into him comfortably.
"Change of subject." Royal said, abruptly. She looked
up into his eyes. "What do the tattoos mean, man?" She
had been waiting since he disrobed to get an answer.
"Well, each of them means something different. Pick
one, and I‟ll tell you."
"What do the stars mean?"
Dmitry rubbed his hand across his chest. "It means
that I‟m apart of very elite organization. In my country, it
takes a lot to get these stars across your chest. The ones on
my knees mean I kneel before no man."
"What about a woman?" she snickered suggestively.
"You kneeled before me."
"What I do in the bedroom does not count. And if I
recall, you kneeled before me as well." His eyes glimmered.
He was rock hard again.
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Royal nodded. "Point well taken. What does the Madonna
mean?"
"That I‟ve been a thief since I was child, and the crucifix
means that I‟ve mastered the art of thievery."
Royal smirked. "Dmitry, you don‟t steal."
"Oh, I used to. Now, I just take what I want."
"And the beautiful butterfly?" She traced her finger
around the wings.
"That I can maneuver very easily in many complicated
situations."
"Maneuver? "
"It‟s how I got out of prison as young man."
"I don‟t even want to know," she said, laughing.
"Enough about me." Dmitry pulled her up on the pillow
and snuggled his head in her breasts. He closed his
eyes and sighed. "What about you?"
"What about me?"
"Tell me something that no one else knows?"
"Only if you do."
"You first."
"Umm. I keep empty picture frames in my dresser
drawers, hoping to put family pictures in them one day."
"Tell me something important," he said, scoffing at her
light response. "There has to be a secret that you keep from
everyone, something dark that you don‟t want anyone in the
world to know." Dmitry spoke as if he had many.
"Okay, okay," she sighed and looked up at the soft linen
above her in the canopy swaying under the force of the
ceiling fan. Her carefree smile turned into a frown. "Some
secrets are meant to be kept though."
"What could you have done? You‟re just a girl. I‟m
sure it couldn‟t have been too bad."
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"Don‟t be so sure," she replied solemnly, forgetting to
sneer at the girl statement.
"Well, I would hope that if you gave me something as
precious as your virginity, you could trust me with a secret –
no matter how big it is."
"It‟s really awful, actually," she said, wiping her face
quickly. "Horrible, in fact."
"If you tell me that you were born a man or that you
were once a whore, then it‟ll be horrible, because I‟ll be
forced to kill you."
"Of course, I was born a girl." She laughed a little in
between the sudden sorrow. "And the proof my virginity is
by the door." She motioned over at the comforter.
Dmitry looked over at the comforter. "Speaking of
which, are you hurting still?" He rubbed face. "I could give
you hot bath. It would make the aching go away."
"No," Royal yawned. "I‟m just tired."
"Well then, back to your secret then."
Royal hesitated. "I‟ve never told anyone."
"Then, I should be the one to know. Go on," he said,
urging her.
"Fine. I…shot a man once." She held her breath as the
words fell clumsily out of her mouth. It was strange for her
to hear, even after years of living with it. She waited for
him to say something, anything.
Dmitry‟s eyes opened. Shifting his long body a little, he
looked up at her. "You‟d better explain that one to me," he
said in a deep raspy voice. His crystal blue eyes beamed
through her, waiting. A small smile crept across his full lips.
Could it be that he was amused?
"When I was fourteen, one of my foster parents‟ friends
used to come over a lot. He was a truck driver, and when
he was in town, he would always stay at their house. He
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was a real...funky looking guy, wiry beard and looked like he
never washed. My foster parents would let him sleep in the
den on the couch. He‟d watch porno while everyone was
sleep. He was a real dirt bag.
"One night when it was really late, while I was gone
with some of my friends, he snuck in my sister‟s room and
raped her. She was real quiet, you know. Plus, she was
super skinny. It wouldn‟t have been hard for him to
overpower her. She didn‟t tell anyone – probably thought
no one would believe her. Then the signs started to show.
You know…more weight, sick all the time, sleeping all the
time. I got nosy and suspicious.
"When she finally confessed to me what was going on, I
was…on fire. You see, he would have never gone after me.
I was the loud mouth, the bad kid. I would have fought. I
always did," she smiled. "So I waited for him and the next
time that he was in town, I followed him up to the truck
stop and when nightfall came, I snuck into his cabin,
seduced him and shot him to death with his own gun. I
wanted to stab him; I even brought my own kitchen knife,
but the gun was there. In a rage, I just grabbed it, when he
had his pants down." She let the tears fall. "I donno. I
wish that I could take it back sometimes."
"Damn," Dmitry sighed. "I didn‟t know that you had
any family." It seemed that the murder was not very
exciting to Dmitry. He brushed it off. "What happened to
her? Your sister?"
"She killed herself a day after I killed him. She was
pregnant at 12. We were only teenagers – barely that. She
didn‟t know any better. The cops couldn‟t link me to it, but
they did suspect my dead sister. Either way, I felt that I had
avenged her."
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"And you did. Sometimes, what we do in this world is
right but not legal and other times legal but not right. Plus,
you will do anything for family, even when it makes no
sense," he reasoned, justifying her actions and secretely his.
"It doesn‟t change that sometimes, I feel hollow inside.
What I did won‟t bring her back."
"But your vengeance probably protected some other
poor girl."
"I miss her. My sister‟s name was Chloe." She said the
name and for the first time felt the reminiscent feeling of
family.
"I am truly sorry for you, Royal. If I could change it, I
would. Unfortunately, death is sometimes a part of life –
whether it comes fairly or unfairly is often not left for us to
decide."
"You sound like a fortune cookie," she said wryly, trying
to cut her emotions off. Royal didn‟t want to talk anymore
about her sister, not tonight during something so important
in her life. She tried to move on. "What about you?
What‟s your secret?"
Dmitry smiled a mischievous smile, one of deceit and
enjoyable trickery. "Anatoly is my biological son."
There was a long silence before Royal replied. She continued
rubbing through his hair and looking at the top of
the canopy. "I get that. It‟s his eyes, you know. They‟re
like ice, like yours."
"You get that, huh?" Dmitry expected her to be more
shocked.
"Yep…sure do," Royal said without looking at him.
"Well, besides the blonde hair, he looks just like his
mother. So damned short," he continued.
"He‟s not short at all. You‟re just too tall. How old is
he, anyway. He looks thirty?"
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"From hard life, I suppose. He‟s only twenty. He‟ll be
twenty-one this year."
"You had him early."
"Yeah. I was on my way out of the country and
stopped to see an old girl that I used to mess around with.
He showed up in America three years ago. He was looking
for work and new start. His mother had told him about me,
and he used his last dime to get here."
"No one knows?"
"Not a soul. And no one can ever know."
"Don‟t worry. Your secret is safe with me."
"Everything that I tell you is secret, Royal. You can
never repeat one word," he said, closing his eyes again.
Royal bit her lip, thinking about what he was demanding
of her. Who would she tell? She didn‟t know anyone.
"Just promise to always be as honest with me. I can
handle a lot of things, especially considering the things that
I‟ve done and where I come from, but I can‟t stomach a
liar," she said sternly. "That‟s my stipulation to you before I
take you."
They both smiled.
"Lying is for people with no authority. I don‟t lie. I
can‟t say that I‟ll ever tell you everything, but what I do tell
you will be the truth," Dmitry said.
"So, it doesn‟t bother you that I killed a man?"
"No," Dmitry yawned. "You were just protective of
what little family that you had, I suppose. I can understand
that. Look at where I came from. I‟m a gutter rat in nice
clothing."
"No, you‟re far from that," she said conversely.
"You‟re the best man that I‟ve ever known."
He laughed. "You don‟t get out much, my love."
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"One more question, and then I‟m going to bed?" Royal
continued.
"What?"
"What did you mean by making a covenant?"
"When I was boy, my mother was whore. The only
good thing good I had in my entire life was church down
the street from our shitty little apartment. The priest was
like my father. I learned to play violin there, and he taught
me about sacred bonds between man and woman, a marriage
of sorts through a woman‟s virginity. It is covenant
between her, the man and God. The hymen is sacred –
only to be broken by husband. It‟s ironclad. What we did
is ironclad. No man or woman can take it away."
"So, I have you forever then?" She asked smiling.
"Yes…forever."
"Like we‟re married without the papers."
"For now, it is all that I can give you."
"Wait. Are you saying that you can‟t marry?" The
thought disturbed her. "But I want to get married one day.
I don‟t want to stay single or shacked up my whole life. It‟s
so incomplete."
Dmitry could hear the sudden worry in her voice. He
didn‟t want to ruin their night together by explaining all the
complications in his life. It was clear that she would not
understand.
"There is no other woman involved, if that‟s what you
mean. It‟s just not as easy for me as it is for most. We‟ll
save that conversation for another time, when you‟re sure
that you want to marry me in the first place."
Royal sat back in the bed quietly. She did know.
"But it doesn‟t mean that I don‟t love you. I do…love
you." Dmitry pulled her hair from her face and kissed her.
"Let me show you how much I love you, now."
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Nine o‟clock had passed, and Royal lay in Dmitry‟s
dress shirt slumbering in the comfort of her bed. She had
been permitted to rest only a few hours, because Dmitry, in
his cunning manner, had smuggled one more love session
out of her, before he rocked her to sleep. She had gone to
bed a little frantic of the hour, scared that she would
oversleep. But Dmitry had assured her that he would take
care of everything.
The staff arrived just a few minutes before nine and was
greeted by Dmitry. When they came in the back of the
store, he was sitting behind the credenza reading The New
York Times. While Royal suffered from wine and sex, he
was a veteran of such affairs and had risen early in the
morning to shower and have Anatoly run over to his home
and bring back a fresh suit and his daily newspapers.
In the month that both had worked for Dmitry and
Royal, neither Renée nor Cory had ever seen Dmitry at the
office early in the morning. He sipped on coffee now and
talked to Anatoly, who stood listening attentively across the
room and sending text messages.
The two unsuspecting employees walked in chatting and
laughing, but they stopped as soon as they saw Dmitry. He
looked up from his coffee and set his newspaper down. A
large smile came across his face, showing his pearly white
teeth and long dimples. His cold, ice eyes were bright this
morning.
"Hello," he said, watching the two slip past him.
"Hi. Is Royal alright?" Renée asked, setting down her
lunch bag in the adjoining kitchenette.
"She‟s fine, just resting upstairs. She‟ll be down soon
enough," he said, crossing his hands together. "She said
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that you two would be here at nine, and here you are. This
is good. I‟m sure that she‟s given you a list of things to do."
"Yeah, she gave us a few things," Renee said, looking at
Cory.
"Well, I‟ll start to set up everything." Cory excused himself
from the small room.
"I‟ll help." Renée followed anxiously.
They both scurried up to the front of the shop and left
Dmitry and Anatoly alone, where they resumed their
conversation in Russian.
Renée ran her long nails across the remote and turned
the television on, while snickering to Cory. "I told you that
they were sleeping together," she said in a half-whisper.
"We still don‟t know for sure," Cory said, giving Royal
the benefit of the doubt. "She could be sick."
"Whatever. You saw the same thing that I did last
night. You and I both know that a man doesn‟t look at a
woman like he looks at her, unless it‟s something there."
"I don‟t look at women like that at all, Renée. I‟m gay,
remember?"
"You know what I mean," Renée said laughing. "Bless
her soul, that big man probably wore her out with his fine
ass."
They both snickered again.
Royal finally rolled over and realized that not only was
Dmitry gone, but the sun was up and the clock said eleven!
She jumped up, terribly sore and ran to the bathroom. She
was late, really late. She knew that Dmitry had told her that
he would take care of everything, but it was her shop, her
deal. She never meant to sleep so long. Jumping in the
shower, she let the hot water cascade over her body, drench
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her hair and soothe those aching parts that had been
excessively used in the last day.
By 11:30, Royal was locking her front door and headed
downstairs. In a comfortable pair of blue linen slacks, a
canary yellow Chanel tank top, and blue wedge-healed
Bottega Veneta patent leather shoes, she inched downstairs
with her hair pulled up in a careful pony tail.
Forced to take short, choppy steps, it was painfully apparent
to Royal that it wasn‟t easy to walk as she was still
aching from the pain of being a new lover. It was a sensation
unlike any that she had ever known. On one hand she
felt like she was glowing and could sing like a bird, but on
the other hand, her body felt like it had recently suffered the
business end of a Billy club.
As her feet hit the bottom step, she quickly turned and
ran out into the store. She could feel Dmitry behind her,
watching her, but if she stopped and dared look at him, she
might end up back upstairs in his embrace – naked and
panting like a dog in heat.
Dmitry smirked as he watched her shimmy out of the
back office away from him. He also noted her soreness,
and the fact that he should have soaked her in a hot bath,
even against her will.
Anatoly uttered something to him in Russian and gave a
smug smile.
"Enough of that," Dmitry replied abruptly.
Hoping not to be terribly missed or noticed, Royal
quietly announced herself and quickly made her way around
glass and marble countertop, where Renée was checking
someone out. A few early morning patrons looked through
the new dresses and talked to each other, ignoring her all
together. Royal was thankful for that.
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"Hey, boss," Renée said, turning to look at her visibly
exhausted friend.
"Hey," Royal said, moving her bangs out of her face.
"Sorry that I‟m late. I didn‟t get much sleep." She yawned.
Cory laughed, most unexpectedly. He tried to repress it,
but it shot up from his diaphragm. He grabbed his mouth,
trying to muffle the sounds, but they crept across the
boutique. Renée smirked and turned away.
"What is so funny?" Royal asked, flinging her head to
look at Cory, her long pony tail trailing around her shoulder
like a black python.
"Nothing," Renée said, touching Royal‟s neck. "You‟ve
got a little bruise action going on there."
Royal touched her neck and looked in the mirror.
Damn it! How could she have missed that? It was a huge
passion mark that was deep red and completely visible –
undeniable in fact.
There was a whistling tune that rang from the back of
the store as Dmitry made his way through the boutique.
With his newspaper tucked under his arm, he walked
casually over to Royal, who stood looking in the mirror at
her neck and ignoring him all together. As usual, the
patrons stopped shopping and gawked at both his size and
his haunting beauty. And as usual, Dmitry kept his eyes on
Royal. She was always his target.
"What are you staring at in that mirror," he asked, looking
down her shirt.
"Evidence," she said, showing him the passion mark.
"Dear, I‟m afraid those are all over your body. Besides
that, how are you?"
"Fine," she said, forced to smile at the sight of him.
Her eyes brightened. "I‟m perfect."
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"You should have rested longer. You are only as competent
as your weakest employee. And I think you have
strong employees, eh?"
"I should have been up two hours ago." She felt a flutter
in her stomach, remembering his masculine smell all
over her. She‟d hated to wash it off.
"Well, you look great. Actually, I wish that I had more
time. I‟d let you know exactly how beautiful you look."
With his long arm, Dmitry reached across the fine jewelry
to the back of her neck and pulled her in to his embrace.
Slowly, he kissed her right in front of Cory, Renée, the
customers and God Almighty. Tasting the sweetness of her
lip gloss, he released her and licked his lips. He was fighting
a hungry erection again.
"Umm…you still taste delicious," he noted.
Royal opened her eyes and knew instantly that all eyes
were on her. She stood back up straight and smiled.
"Thank you…for that. Have a good day," she said
blushing.
"You, too," he said, rubbing her arm. He looked at Renee,
who was standing dumbfounded with her mouth gaped
wide open. Quietly, he turned and walked out just as he
had come in -with all eyes on him.
Royal could feel the chaotic energy in the room, but for
once she didn‟t care. They were in love, and if he didn‟t
mind that the world knew, neither did she.
"Don‟t say a word," Royal said to Renée as she grabbed
a yellow button down to slip on to hide her bruises. "You
either, Cory."
"Oh, we are way past words," Cory said, turning to help
a customer.
"I need to grab the fire extinguisher. It‟s hot as hell in
here," Renee joked.