Chapter 18

Dimitri

Rose tried to distract me by kissing me but that sure as hell didn't work! I pulled away and glared at her.

“Seriously?”, I asked.

“I'm sorry, okay?”, she replied frustrated and threw her hands up in the air. “It wasn't even really my fault. I showed it to Lissa and yes that was necessary, she is my friend and she kind of showed it to Christian and he sent it to all my contacts!”

“Chris”, I growled.

“Hey”, Rose soothed.

She put her hands on my cheeks and made me look at her again. She pouted slightly and looked like pure innocence itself.

“Are you angry with me?”, she asked.

She pouted even more, she freaking pouted with her luscious pink plumb bottom lip and thought I could stay angry at her looking at me like this! Not being able to resist I rolled my eyes and kissed her.

“No”, I sighed. “I'm not.”

Rose sighed in relief and smiled.

“Thank you. And anyway: It's not like I have that many contacts in my phone, it's new, remember?”

Right, I thought. She owned this phone for what? Barely two weeks? She couldn't have that many numbers in her phone, at least I hoped so. And right now, with Rose on the kitchen counter in front of me I didn't really care. So instead of answering, I kissed her again.

It was weird, only this morning we avoided every physical contact with each other and now it was like we kissed every chance we got, stayed close to each other, somehow always touching each other, searching the warmth of the other body, the closeness of the other person.

After … some time, I don't know how long, could have been seconds, or minutes, I have no idea, but we finally pulled apart breathing heavily. I didn't stop kissing Rose, I just stopped kissing her lips. But there were still her jawline, her neck, her collarbone and so on.

“Dimitri?”, Rose asked a little breathless.

I only grunted in response, to occupied at the moment. I felt the rising of Rose's chest, hearing her taking a deep breath and then asking in a rush.

“Did we have sex last night?”

My lips stopped instantly and my whole body froze. Did she remember something from last night? Did she know and wanted to see if I did too? Did she wanted to test me or was she as clueless as I was? I pulled away and looked into Rose's eyes. She bit her bottom lip and looked nervous about my answer.

“I don't know, Roza”, I answered truthfully.

Rose, she … I don't know how she looked in that moment. She didn't look relieved, nor angry, nor sad, nor emotionless or happy, she looked … like someone I didn't recognized.

“Rose?”, I asked and cupped her cheek.

“Hmm?”, she asked looking a little lost.

“What are you thinking?”

I tried to search for an answer in her eyes, but I couldn't find a real answer, I saw emotions flicker through her beautiful brown orbs, but they were so fast and so different, I couldn't even pin point one.

“Nothing”, she said and shook her head, clearing her thoughts. “It's nothing.”

-o-o-o- Thrown Into His World -o-o-o-

“Dude”, Ivan laughed. “You showed her your ass, like th- th- that?”

Ivan laughed uncontrollably and rolled on the floor, clutching his stomach.

“Yes, yes”, I said, rolling my eyes. “Will you shut up now?”

“N- N- No”, Ivan laughed. “Th- This is t- too awe- awesome!”

Best friend my ass, I thought. I mean sure I would laugh my ass off if the rules were reversed, but being in my rule I was right now, I was just annoyed.

“Ivan seriously”, I said and pinched the back of my nose. “Get up, we're going to be late.”

“O- O- Okay”, Ivan laughed. “J- just a a minute, p- p – please.”

Chuckling Ivan started to get up, I didn't help him up, guess why?

When he was finally up and got control over his laughing he just smirked at me.

“You got it bad man”, he said.

“Shut up!”, I replied rolling my eyes.

“So whipped”, Ivan mumbled and started walking towards my car.

I let out a frustrated breath and followed him. Why did it have to be Ivan who came with me to these fights? Well, for one, he was the only one who didn't fry my ass because of it. Second, he was an awesome fighter. Third, he knew CPR, just in case.

“You know where to?”, I asked.

“Yeah”, Ivan nodded. “You need to say goodbye to your wife?”

Rose, I thought. She would notice I was gone, of course she would. I needed to tell her I was leaving or otherwise she would freak out.

“Give me a minute”, I told him.

I threw the keys into his outreached hand and my way back to the party. Rose was sitting at a round table with two of my three sister, my mother, her parents and Lissa. She was laughing about something Karolina had just said.

“Excuse me”, I interrupted.

“Dimka!”, my sister Viktoria greeted me with a big smile. “Come sit with us.”

“I'm sorry, Vika”, I apologized smiling apologetically. “But I'm leaving now.”

“Leaving?”, Rose asked surprised.

“Yes, but you stay here”, I answered. “Either I will pick you up later or I'll call a limo for you.”

Rose excused herself from the table of noisy women (also known as my family), took my hand in hers and pulled me away from all the noise.

“Why are you leaving and why are you leaving alone?”, Rose asked a little upset.

“Without me” me was hanging in the air between us.

“Roza”, I said and pulled her into a hug. “I'm not leaving without you. Ivan needs me to help him with something, it's nothing big, we will be gone for two hours, three hours tops.”

I pulled away and looked into the brown eyes of my wife.

“I will be here sooner than you think, you won't even notice my absence”, I promised.

“Why can't I come with you?”, she asked a little hurt.

I kissed her softly and caressed her soft cheek tenderly.

“Ivan wants me to handle this for him, it's a man's thing. Don't worry, I'll be back in a second.”

“Promise”, Rose demanded stubbornly.

I chuckled and kissed her forehead.

“I promise”, I replied and kissed her again.

I no longer laughed about Christian and Lissa who seemed to kiss every second of the day, now I understood them because I myself couldn't stop myself from kissing Rose. Why did I need to attend this fight anyway?, I asked myself.

“You need to leave”, Rose said between kissed.

“Do I?”, I asked smiling against her lips.

Rose giggled lightly, a sound I grew addicted to way too fast, but I loved it nonetheless and thought about recording it.

And then it hit me! That's why I need to go to this fight. I was growing attached to Rose, to a girl who was with me for money. Rose liked me, I knew that, she was attracted to me, I wasn't dumb, but the change in me … I didn't know if I liked the new me, I needed something from the old me. Not the new soft, caring Dimitri, something from the old, tough, manly Dimitri.

So I pulled away.

“See you in a bit”, I rushed out, kissed her forehead and was gone.

-o-o-o- Thrown Into His World -o-o-o-

The fight as going to be held in an old abandoned farmhouse. It was old and looked like the ceiling could drop on our heads every second, but it was big enough and away from the city and any traffic.

Inside the farm house were all the fighters and the big fat business men who bet on our fights.

I never fought for the money, I never needed it anyway, so what was the point? But Ivan did whenever he could after stopping to fight himself, because he knew I always won and he didn't mind the extra cash.

“So who am I fighting today?

“Johnathan O'Ryan, 28, born in Ireland, raised there and moved here with 19. Has a daughter and a fiance.”

“Why is he fighting?”

“Was in the army, but stays home now for wife and daughter: He misses it, so here he is.”

“He doesn't do it for the money?”, I made sure.

“No”, Ivan chuckled. “You don't need to let him win to get his little girl a birthday present.”

Ivan patted my shoulder and we began our usual warm up routine. This was me, this was it what I liked, this was my home. I liked fighting, I was good at fighting, it gave me peace of mind. When I fought I did it to train me, I needed to be always prepared and this way I was.

I watched fight after fight, saw men struggling to stay on their feet, saw men leaving limping or being carried out.

“Preparing for the next fight: Dimitri Belikov and Johnathan O'Ryan!”

“Ready, man?”, Ivan asked a little unsure. “It's been a while.”

“That's like driving a bike, you don't forget how do that.”

“If you say so.”

He grinned again and said his usual words of comfort.

“Don't die.”

I smirked.

“Don't want to loose your money?”, I countered like always.

He laughed and I did too. We both knew this was serious, people died in these fights. It didn't happen often but it happened before and sometimes people leave with only one ear or more than one broken bone.

I went over the line of the “ring”. It didn't really matter that there was a ring, it didn't mean anything if you crossed the lines, so there really was no use. No idea why someone always took the time to draw these lines on the ground.

Johnathan O'Ryan had red hair and green eyes and a lot of freckles on his face, well, talk about cliche. He was muscular, but less than me, he looked angry, like a wild animal, with no self control. When someone shouted for us to begin he stormed towards me and tried to punch me in the face. Why always the face?, I thought rolling my eyes. Was I that handsome that these guys needed to ruin my good looks?

I dodged and kicked the guys thigh. He grunted barely audible and his eyes flared in anger. He went in for another punch, this time for my stomach, but I saw it coming and blocked. Johnathan waited for me to attack, but I didn't. I waited for him to strike again and loose all his energy within the first minutes.

He didn't disappoint. He was out of breath after another six minutes and that was my time to strike and send him flying to the ground. I punched his jaw, breaking it, punched his throat, so he couldn't scream, kicked his knee, making him loose his footing and last kicking his back and sending him flying to the ground. He stayed there.

“Winner: Dimitri Belikov!”, someone announced.

A lot of people in the audience clapped and applauded me, others groaned disappointed and shouted at Johnathan to “get the hell up”. I didn't help the guy up, he had other guys for him to do that. I left the “ring” and went to Ivan. He didn't congratulate me, he never did, and I didn't expected him to. He just gave me a bottle of water that I accepted gratefully and emptied in seconds.

Ivan and I went to the small booth were a blond guy was sitting and Ivan got his money. Like most times people stepped in our way, wanted me to fight for them, wanted me to quit fighting all together, wanted me to loose for them or wanted half the money from the Ivan, because their fighter “lost because they were told to”, so we could share. As if!

We always got in trouble, but we somehow always managed to escape. Right now Ivan and I sprinted to my car and sprang into it.

“Go, go, go, go!”, Ivan shouted.

“Yes!”, I barked and started the car.

“Faster, God go!”, Ivan shouted.

And I drove as fast as my car could go and we were on the highway and far away form the guys we “owed” money.

“Man”, Ivan laughed shaking his head. “Why the hell are we still doing this?”

“Fun”, I shrugged.

“Yeah”, Ivan replied shaking his head. “Right.”

-o-o-o- Thrown Into His World -o-o-o-

Rose

I wanted to stay awake and wait for Dimitri. It was 3.28AM when I was home and Dimitri wasn't there. So I made myself a coffee to stay awake a little longer and sat on our couch. The room was clean and everything was in its place, so I guess someone was hired to get everything in order again. I sat on the couch for half an hour. The thing with coffee and caffeine is that it helps you to stay awake but only for a short amount of time and then you get more tired. So that's why – after 40 minutes – I fell asleep on the couch.

I was awakened when I was lifted into the air and carried upstairs. My eyes wouldn't open, but my fingers felt a soft material.

“Hmm”, I murmured.

“Shh”, I heard someone whisper. “Get back to sleep.”

It was the strong masculine voice of my husband, of Dimitri. I snuggled into his chest and took a deep breath, smelling his aftershave. I smelled something else, sweat, dirt and … animals, like cows?

“Dimitri?”, I asked.

“Get back to sleep, Roza”, Dimitri said kissing my forehead.

I didn't and lifted my head a little to look at Dimitri.

“Dimitri!”, I shrieked.

Dimitri was so caught of guard he sprang a feet in the air and actually dropped me in the process and I fell flat on my ass!

“Ouch”, I groaned.

“Oh my God, Rose! I'm so sorry!”, Dimitri said frantically and crouched down beside me. “Why the hell did you scream in my ear? You scared the crap out of me!”

“Sorry”, I mumbled and rubbed my behind.

Damn that fall hurt like hell. Why did Dimitri have to be so tall?

“What the hell happened to you?”, I asked.

“Nothing, you just scared me”, Dimitri replied.

“No”, I said shaking my head and looked into his eyes again. “I mean what happened with your face?”

And then Dimitri's face changed completely and he blocked all emotions, so I couldn't see what he was thinking. It was like he just put a mask on to shield all his emotions form me.

“Don't”, I said and lay a hand in his cheek, rubbing a thumb over a bruise.

“Don't what?”, Dimitri answered monotone.

“Don't hide your emotions from me”, I replied. “Don't wear that stupid mask that makes you look so cold.”

Dimitri's face changed again and he sighed defeated, looking normal again, still on guard, but normal. He had a black eye, bruises on his cheeks and along the right side of his jaw. And looking a little closer I saw some bruises along his sides and on his arms too.

“What happened?”, I asked again.

He didn't answer me. Instead he lifted me off the ground and carried me into our bedroom. He laid me down on the mattress and then went into bed beside me. We both lay on our sides, looking at each other. I lifted my hand again to his cheek and began caressing it lightly. His cheek was a little swollen and blue, it looked like it hurt real bad.

“Tell me”, I asked. “Please.”

“Doesn't matter, Roza”, Dimitri replied in a tired whisper, snuggling into my hand. “All I care about it is that I'm here with you.”

“Someone hurt you”, I said.

He didn't deny it, just heaved a heavy sigh.

“Tomorrow, okay?”, Dimitri asked and kissed me before I could answer him.

“Kiss me again and we have a deal”, I replied laughing.

I rather felt Dimitri's chuckle, than herd it in the dark and then I felt Dimitri's lips on mine again. We both smiled into the kiss and I got lost in the feeling of Dimitri's lips on mine.