Poison Ivy
CH 12
Ivan
Ivan had known Dimitri all his life, their mothers being best friends. They grew up neighbors and practically brothers, but Ivan's home was drastically different from Dmtiri's. Ivan had the typical white picket fence home with two parents, two kids, and a dog. Whereas Dimitri grew up in a broken home where his father was drunk all the time and abused his mother. At the age of thirteen Ivan watched as Dimitri finally had enough of his fathers abuse towards his mom and took matters into his own hands. Ivan was scared that Dimitri was going to go to jail for what he did. So he did the only thing he knew, he contacted a man known in the community as The snake or Zmey. He knew Zmey was the only one who could take care of the problem Dimitri was in.
Zmey made Dimitris' father leave town that day, never to be seen again. But that came at a price, Ivan was indebted to him. He didn't care at the time what he had to do, he just knew his best friend was in trouble.Ivan paid his debt back a long time ago, but Zmey kept track of the two young boys that he helped that day. Watching them mature into men, he had a lot of admiration for the way Dimitri took care of his family. So when he headed to America for college he offered him a job upon graduation.
Ivan and Dimitri had always taken care of one another. That's how it had been their entire lives, always putting the others' needs ahead of their own. Even now Ivan was still doing that, by keeping things from Dimitri. Ivan's brother, Alexei, still lived in their hometown of Bai. His brother had seen Dimitris' dad, Randall, back in town. Ivan didn't tell Dimitri because Zmey handled the situation, and Randall would not be back.
Ivan had also been secretly dating Tasha "Raven" for quite some time now. That night he took Dimitri to the club, was the first time he had been in the club in awhile, but not seeing Tasha. They had agreed early on to keep their relationship on the downlow. Not that Ivan was embarrassed by her, but because Tasha didn't want it affecting her job. She made good money doing what she did and wanted to keep it that way.
Last night when he got the phone call from Croft, he was with Tasha. They weren't doing what Croft had elicited to, they had been talking about their future together.
For some time now Tasha had been wanting to get out of the business, yes she loved the money, but she was getting older and couldn't do this forever. She had done her part and taken care of her brother Christian. His restaurant was successful and he was getting married this summer. It was time to focus on herself.
Ivan was pissed at Dimitri when he left last night. He knew he was harsh on him, but that's how he had to be. Ivan was the only one who could call him out on his shit. Dimitri's upbringing had left him hard on the outside and closed off to most people. It didn't help that he had a breakup with his long time girlfriend less than a year ago.
After the meeting with Croft, Ivan went back to Tasha's apartment. He had planned on some happy fun time, but they ended up talking because he was upset over what Dimitri and Croft had said. He knew he had a reputation of being a man whore, and had no one to blame but himself. When in reality he wasn't a player. He had just gotten that reputation in high school and it stuck with him.
That night he and Tasha decided to make their relationship official and go public. They also decided that they wanted to try and live together, so Ivan was going to move into her apartment. He and Dimitri were roommates, not because they had to, but because they wanted to. He was going to offer to pay the remaining part of the lease till it was up. Dimitri could manage on his own, but Ivan knew he was helping his family back home.
Ivan was late to work that morning because, well let's just say he had the "best" alarm clock. He had stopped at Dimitri's favorite little coffee shop and got him a cup of coffee as a peace offering. After their meeting he was going to tell Dimitri he was moving in with Tasha. He wasn't sure how he was going to take it. He was hoping after their conversation last night he would be happy for him.
Dimitri
Tuesday morning rolled around and I was not ready for the day, I was absolutely exhausted. I didn't get any sleep last night because I had too much on my mind. I felt bad for what I had said to Ivan and had been waiting for him to come home so I could
apologize. Well he never did and still hadn't shown up for work today. I had texted him a few times this morning to make sure he was coming. He said he was but was running late. I really needed to apologize to him. I was also hoping to talk to him about Rose, I was feeling so guilty about lying to her. I was hoping that Croft would tell her sooner rather than later. Once she knew about Jesse from him then I could tell her her why I really had to leave last night.
Ten o'clock rolled around and still no Ivan, we had a meeting with a client at ten-thirty and I was starting to worry. I also noticed that Mazur and Adrian weren't here either. Pavel had showed up about the same time I did, but hadn't said anything to me. He went straight to his office and shut the door. I had a feeling I may be flying solo so I quickly got their files together and headed to the conference room.
I was in the conference room getting the lap top all set up when Ivan came rushing through the door.
"Sorry, sorry I'm late. I brought you this as a peace offering." He said as he sat down a cup of coffee from my favorite shop.
"Thank you. I really needed this, but you didn't have to. I'm the one that should be buying you coffee."
"No, I didn't need to come down so hard on you last night. You were right in what you said about my reputation. I have no one to blame, but myself and I'd like for that to change. After the meeting I would like to talk to you about some things. " Ivan took off his coat and hung it on the back of the door. He sat down next to me and looked around.
"Speaking of meetings are we going solo on this? I didnt see Mazer or Adrain."
"Looks like it. Pavel is here, but he went straight to his office and shut the door."
Ivan raised his eyebrow at me. I knew that he was thinking that it was weird that they weren't here.
"Is Sydney here?" Sydney was Adrian's fiancé and their personal secretary. Now that he mentioned it, I hadn't seen her. She was always the first person in the office in the morning.
"No, I haven't seen her."
"So can we constitute this as weird behavior?"
"We can, but unfortunately it will have to wait."
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The meeting went smoothly with just the two of us, which I knew it would. We still hadn't seen or heard from Mazer, Adrain, or even Sydney. Me and Ivan thought that was weird because Sydney never missed work. We decided to put that issue on pause and go get some lunch. But before we left I made a call to Croft to let him know what was going on. I figured he was busy dealing with Jesse, so I left him a voicemail. Ivan drove us to the cafe and on the way I texted Rose to see how she was doing. She immediately texted back and said she had just woken up from the best night of sleep in a long time. I was happy to hear it. She also told me that Lissa was coming over today and was going to take her to her first therapy session. I was glad she was getting help, I know the shame my mother went through with my dad and never sought out help.
We got to the cafe, sat down and placed our orders. Not having to look at the menus because this was a frequent lunch spot of ours. We sat there in silence while I watched Ivan fidgeting. I didn't know if he was nervous about what happened last night or what he had to talk to me about.
"D, what I needed to talk to you about."
"Before you say anything I want to apologize again for how I acted last night. You're right I was being judgmental and shouldn't have been. It seems to me that you really like Raven and I should have been more supportive of you. You have always had my back no matter what and I should have had yours. Sorry."
"I accept your apology, but that's not what I wanted to talk to you about, well maybe part of it."
I raised my eyebrow because I figured he was going to get at me again about last night.
" Last night Me and Raven, well Tasha had a lengthy conversation about our relationship. We decided that we want to finally make it public and I'm going to be moving in with her."
I sat there with a stunned look on my face, not able to say anything.This a big step for him, heck just being in a relationship with one person was a big step for him.
"Before you freak out, since I am springing this on you, I still plan on paying my part of the lease till it's up. I don't want your family to suffer because of it."
Honestly I wasn't even worried about the money, Mazer paid me very well. Since moving to America me and Ivan had always been roommates. I didn't know what it was like living on my own, heck I may have to get a dog.
"Ivan, I'm not worried about the money, I'm just honestly in shock."
He gave me a side eye.
"I'm shocked, but not in a bad way. I'm happy for you I really am, we just have always lived together since we moved here. It's going to be an adjustment for the both of us. Plus it's a big step for you."
"I know it is and honestly I feel like I'm ready to take this on. I can see a real future with this girl."
"I'm happy for you, I really am. One thing though could I meet her? Like, the real her, not Raven, but Tasha."
"I think that can be arranged. Maybe do a little double date with Rose?"
"While that sounds nice, I actually need a real date with her first."
"So you do want to date her? Or at least have a first date?"
Did I want to date her, yes,I did, but was very hesitant. My relationship with Whitney ended very badly. I had actually bought her an engagement ring and was ready to propose. But found out that she had been cheating on me for a while and had gotten pregnant with the man she was cheating on me with. To say I was devastated was an understatement. I was just now starting to get out of the depression I was in because of her.
"I think I do, I really like her. It scares me to think about how fast this is going, but it just feels right. Like I've known her my whole life, she can read me pretty well, which is a feat upon itself."
"Don't I know it."
He let out a big laugh.
"Really, Ivan?"
He just shrugged his shoulders and laughed some more. Not too long after that our food showed up. We ate in silence just enjoying the quiet for a minute, before the conversation I knew we were going to have about Mazer.
"I know we have a lot more to talk about , but I want to hear your thoughts on Mazer?" Ivan asked after taking a bite of his sandwich.
"I honestly have no clue. I mean what happened to Jesse is kind of his thing, I could see him doing it. But the big question is why? What stake does he have in this?"
"I thought that too, but have no idea why he would do it. Plus Adrian is involved somehow and I know since being with Sydney he hasn't been doing any of his dads dirty work. Maybe when we go back to the office we should go ask Pavel what's going on.
"We could, but would he really tell us the real answer?"
"Probably not, but it wouldn't hurt to ask."
Like having some kind of sixth sense we were talking about him my phone rang and Adrian's name popped up.
"Speak of the devil."
" Mazer?"
"No Adrain."
"Belikov."
"Ivoshkov, what can I do for you?'
"I just got to the office and was wondering where you and Zecklos were."
"We're at Cafe Spirit having lunch. Why do you need us for something right away?"
"No, I need to talk to you, but it can wait till you come back."
"Ok, once we're done we will head back and meet you in your office?"
"Sounds good, Oh and can you bring me and Sydney back a number 1 and 4? We haven't eaten yet today."
"Not a problem."
He hung up before I could say anything else. So I flagged down our waitress.
"What was that all about?" Ivan asked just as the waitress was getting to our table. I held up my finger and mouthed "give me a minute" to Ivan. I quickly placed their order to go.
"Adrian wants to talk to us when we get back. He's having me bring him and Sydney back food."
"Wonder what he wants to talk about?"
'Could be a lot of things, but at least we know he and Sydney are at the office."
"True."
We ate the rest of our lunch in silence both not knowing what to say to each other. I knew there was a lot on his mind and mine as well. So much was going on at once and we just needed to take one issue at a time. I got and paid for their orders and we left. On the way back me and Ivan were both anxious about what Adrain had to talk to us about. We got back to the office in record time during their lunch hour traffic. We didn't stop by our office and just went straight to Adrain's. He was sitting at his desk and Sydney was standing behind him with her hands on his shoulders. They both looked like they hadn't slept at all. In fact Adrian looked like shit, he was always dressed to impress, even his casual clothes were a button up top and dress pants. But today he was wearing jeans and a hoodie. I almost dropped their bag of food when we walked in. I was so shocked by his appearance. I was immediately concerned something happened to Mazer.
"Adrian is everything ok?" I asked cautiously as I handed Sydney their bag of food.
"Yes, No, I don't know?" He said, shaking his head and running his hands through his hair.
"Adrian you're starting to worry us, what's going on?"
"I need to know everything you know about Rose Hathaway."
Authors note:
Thank you to everyone who has been sticking with this story. I know it's a poor excuse, but life has just gotten to me these past few months. My health has taken a toll. Right now I'm battling covid and pink eyes in both eyes. My other health issue is finally being taken care of with surgery in August and I'm hoping it will fix 90% of my problems. That said, I'm trying to make it my goal to post something every week or every other. I have to keep myself accountable. I have already started writing the next chapter. This story is my baby and I want to keep telling it.
Thanks