Naomi & Bradley, It All Comes Down… (Vodka & Vice, the Series Book 1) (10 page)

NAOMI

Saturday, February 13th

Viktor is massaging my back, using rough hands while whispering heated words, thick with both meaning and accent, when my iPhone vibrates.  I reach over, and swipe it to see Darren’s angry face.

“Naomi, what’s going on?  I thought I got rid of that Russian?”

“What?”

“I said what’s that Russian boyfriend of yours doing back?”

“No…Darren, you said ‘I thought I got rid of that Russian.’  You know Darren; your brother Chase has been feeding me all sorts of stories about Molly and my last man.  Did you have anything to do with that?”

I can’t breathe.

It hits me.

Was I being played by both of the Broderick men?

“Naomi, don’t be ridiculous!”  Darren growls at me, more defensive than accusatory.

“Who is that bastard?  Is that your asshat?”  Viktor shouts over my shoulder, trying to snatch my phone.

“Tell your boyfriend to get lost.  I need to see you Naomi.”

“Tell your asshat to get lost, I have to fuck you!”

“Will you two shut up!”

I scream it, like a banshee in the wild, like Tarzan on a vine.  I can’t think.

“Naomi,” Darren hisses in a warning voice.

“KuKu, hang up on the bastard, let me take you to bed,” Viktor grumbles, trying to pick me up.

So, this is my comeuppance.  I enjoyed only a week of harmless flirting with two men, and I end up in a cauldron of hot water and testosterone stew.  The bohemian Russian look has consequences.  What did actual free-spirited women do in these cases?

I struggle to slip out of Viktor’s hold as I half listen to Darren’s angry words.

“I thought we had something.  Isn’t that why you came to see me?  Work for me?  Baby, dump the caveman and meet me for lunch.”

Darren is using a softer tone now, trying to slip under my defenses.  I frown.  I have to think about a lot of things.

“Drop that phone and tell that asshat you’re done with him!”  Viktor orders and I notice just how angry he really is.  I try to placate him.

“Viktor, this isn’t the asshat, it’s my boss!”

“Him!  You spend ten hours a day with that man?  You’re quitting.  Tell him you’re quitting!”

I curse masculine pride, and hot Russian tempers. 

“Shhh, I can’t lose my job.  I need the income, stop it!”  I shout at Viktor as he drops me on the bed and pushes the phone off to rest on a pillow.

“I can still hear and see you,” Darren mutters.

Damn smartphones!

“Darren, we need to talk.”

“You bet your sweet ass we do.”

“Don’t talk of her ass.  KuKu’s ass is mine.”

“Viktor please, just give me some privacy.”

He looks like he’d rather spit nails at me, but he slides off the bed, shakes his head, and shrugs.

“I need a drink.  Get rid of him,” Viktor says, stomping out of my bedroom in a superior Russian flounce.

“Darren, you are my boss.  My personal life isn’t your concern.”

“Really, so all that office kissing is just par for the course?  Just following your example of standard business procedure with Carl Swartz?  Did you sit on his lap too, tongue kiss him?”

“That’s disgusting.  No, Darren, I think we should both cool off.  I’ll see you in the office on Monday.”

I hang up.

I hear glasses slamming down hard against the countertop.  A deep voice grumbling.  Then Viktor turns on that damn Russian cartoon,
Nu Pogodi
, about a wolf and a rabbit.  His voice shouts out something in Russian, and then he bursts into ridiculously loud laughter.  Really, the man’s almost forty.  My new roomie has many moods; he can sway from dark to joyful in a millisecond.

Do both of these men think they own me after only a week?

I sink onto the bed and put my hands over my face.

I’m not sure I like this new Naomi.

I’m not good at juggling men.

I’m lost.

I miss Bradley.

I want Bradley back.

BRADLEY

Saturday, February 13

Luba doesn't answer and I'm left standing in the freezing rain, trying to decide whether or not to leave a message.  I hang up and switch directions.  Within ten bone-chilling minutes, I'm standing in front of her building.  I try her cell again, nothing.  She's probably still pissed at me.  Maybe if she sees me in person, I can reason with her.  I just need someone soft and warm to take away this chill that's settled over me since Naomi's been gone. 

I ring the bell; say I'm Luba’s friend when another voice answers.  Soon I'm standing in the nondescript rental’s kitchen, making awkward small talk with her roommate, another model here for a different round of shoots.  She looks familiar but I can't seem to place her and I don't want to insult her by asking.  Of course she's stunning.  She has straight black hair cut in a jagged face frame, green eyes, and olive skin.  She says Luba's out but should be home soon and would I like a vodka—she says wodka—while I wait?  I should say no.  That sweat session has left me kind of dehydrated and the workout has me too chill already.  It will not be good for me to drink straight Russian ‘wodka.’  But she blinks once or twice and I watch her pupils narrow and widen like a cat hunting prey by night and suddenly I don't want to leave and I don't care if Luba shows up at all.

I hear myself saying, “Sure, that sounds great, but I never drink alone.”

“Neither do I.” 

There are few more awkward meetings than when one casual one-night stand meets the other.  Luba has let herself in and is standing over me, entangled with a girl whose name I still don't know, sprawled out naked on the red leather sectional.  She holds in her hand the empty vodka bottle.

“You mother fu---“ she starts at me with the weapon.

I raise my hands like Jesus trying to calm the Sea of Galilee.  “Easy!  I know what this looks like.”  I roll away from the roommate, she didn't ask for any of this.  Luba continues to menace me with the bottle as I try to stand, get out of her range.  She's fuming.

“This?  You blew me off for THIS?”  She waves a hand toward the girl.  “I waited, WAITED at the Café.  You know, Luba doesn't wait for anyone.  Anyone!”  She hurls the bottle toward me and it shatters on the floor before me.  My latest conquest has made a run for it and is now safe behind her bedroom door. 

“Luba, listen, I'm sorry.  I just, I don't know, panicked?  I shouldn't have stood you up.  A gentleman should know better.”  I begin navigating the minefield of glass between us, cutting myself a few times.  The sight of a naked man picking his way across the floor, wincing and muttering obscenities is too much for her and her sick sense of humor wins out.  By the time I reach her, she's laughing her tiny ass off and lighting a cigarette.  From behind the closed door, a faint voice comes.

“We're not supposed to smoke in here, Luba.”

“Shut up, whore.”  Luba shoots back, smiles at me.

“Don't take it out on her.  These days I don't know whether I'm coming or going.”

“She knows I only tease her.  I call her that all the time but only because she is virgin.  Well, was virgin.”  Luba laughs again. 

I don't know what to think—or say.  Is there a Hallmark for this occasion?  “On the day of your deflowering…”  I don't have to say anything because Luba has already moved on. 

“You can make it up to Luba tomorrow night.  Big party at Anastasia for Valentine's Day.  You pick me up at nine dahling, we dance, we drink, we forget all our worries.

“Worries?”  I take her hands, thinking we will have fun at that big old Russian nightclub by the ocean, let loose, let go.  “I don't have a care in the world.”

Luba kisses me, pulls me in for a hug, and whispers in my ear, “No?  Okay this is up to you to care or not that you just took the virginity of Viktor’s baby sister.”

“Shit.”

NAOMI

Monday, February 14th

What a hell of a day.

Darren wanting to talk about our
relationship
.  Pressing a dozen red roses in my hand as soon as the door hit me in the ass at 8 a.m., as if he’d been lying in wait like a tiger stalking dinner.

“Naomi, happy Valentine’s Day!”

Hell, I hate these stupid Hallmark holidays.  Of course I’ve bought Darren nothing.

“Darren, that’s sweet, you didn’t have to get me anything.”

“Of course I did.  And that’s not all.  I’m taking you out tonight to celebrate our future.”

Hell and giant brimstones.

“I can’t, not tonight I promised a friend I’d go out with him tonight.”

“Cancel it.”

“I can’t, I promised.”  I really have no plans, but I would make some.  I have a blast going out with Viktor. Being with my Russian roomie is far superior to being with my boss.

It seems Darren can read minds.

“Not that Russian ape?”

“He’s my roomie and a friend.”

“He sounded like more than a friend on the phone.  What are you doing Naomi?”

Hell if I knew.

Trying to mend a broken heart.

Soldiering onward and upward from the quicksand of memories of Bradley.

“I’m just having fun right now.  I was in a relationship for almost two years Darren.  I’m not ready to jump into another one right away.”

He flexes his fists and frowns like a spoiled boy of six.

Darren tells me about his plans.  Me moving into his penthouse, us traveling the world together, he even hints that he is ready for marriage and children.  It seems that while I’ve been grieving my loss of Bradley, and trying new weaves for my black hair, Darren’s mind has wandered to bigger things then the decision to wear pearls with gold heels.  He is serious.

“I like you Darren.  Please, give me a few weeks at least.  C’mon, let’s get some work done.”

All day, the stare.  The look.  The frown.  I feel like I’m babysitting a petulant brat by five in the afternoon and I can’t wait to get home.

The snow and black slush, the dark cloudy sky, the mood on the streets, everything seeming angry and mean.  A sort of doom hangs in the misty air and I breathe in deeply before going upstairs and facing Viktor.

I walk slowly into my loft.  No Viktor, no Black Russian.  Not even a street bouquet of flowers or a small box of candy.  I’d left Darren’s roses at the office.  I wasn’t ready for that fight.  A bad sensation hits me.  Viktor didn’t get so angry over my working for Darren that he moved out, did he?

I rush into my bedroom and Viktor is asleep on my bed.  I smile.  It’s like finding a black grizzly bear in your bed.  He’s almost nude as usual.  Long, tanned legs, strong and firm.  Black underwear, a surprisingly trendy brand, a bare hairy chest, wide with muscle and nice abs, and those strong arms that hold me tightly when I need comfort.  His face, familiar, so like Bradley when he’s asleep, that dark wavy hair and blue eyes.

Blue eyes.

Viktor’s awake and he’s just caught me checking him out.  He grins widely and shouts, “Darling KuKu, you’re home.”

A thrill races up my spine.  A feeling Darren doesn’t give me.

I leap on the bed and smother him with soft kisses.

“Hello darling Viktor.”

He kisses me in his deep, ruthless manner, as if he’s trying to suck the very life out of me.  His fingers are busy behind me, unzipping my dress.  I touch his face, feel the afternoon stubble.  He’s sexy hot, this foreign actor, this near stranger.  I can almost feel myself falling for him while a part of me whispers, “No Naomi, no, that road leads to heartache again.”

I don’t care, I refuse to listen, I close my eyes to the red lights flashing, the bells ringing, and I slip my hand down and against him.

“KuKu, please let me have you baby.”

“Tonight, I’ll be with you tonight.  Let me eat something first, and have a shower.”

He sighs, but his eyes dance with excitement.

“You promise KuKu?”

“I promise.”

Later, as I towel dry my hair, Viktor surprises me by appearing dressed formally in a dark, expensive suit, with a crisp white shirt and red tie.

“Make yourself the most beautiful KuKu.”

Viktor whips a large box from behind his back and hands it to me with a wide grin.  Happy Valentine Day, American heart day, whatever.  This is for you to wear tonight.  I will help you put it all together.  I’m taking you out for a big party at Anastasia for this Lover’s Day.  We eat, we dance, we drink, we forget our pasts, and then we make love all night long.”

“That big Russian nightclub by the ocean?”

“Yes darlin’ girl, that one.  I have a few friends who are meeting us there, a few men from work, ladies I know, and my baby sister will be there too.  I want you to meet her.”

“I didn’t know you had a sister.”

“Yes, much younger than me.  I talked to her on the phone earlier and she has some very exciting news.  She’s met her soul mate she calls him.  The light of her life, or whatever.  He’s a good friend of mine.  It was a surprise to me, but if he’s in love with her, good enough for me.  Anyway, you will adore my sister.  And some day we will all be one big happy family.”

I stand back and stare at him in surprise.

Family?

It’s looking like both Darren and Viktor are busy planning my future before I claw my way out of my past.

Was I ready to move on?

Bradley never called again.

I was forgotten like yesterday’s breakfast.

I will move on, I must.