Perfectly Normal (7 page)

He let her hands go and removed his hand from her neck. He hadn’t been
able to strangle her from that angle, and she missed the steadying pressure of him holding her down. She thought being choked and fucked up the ass at the same time might be the closest thing to death in life that she could achieve.

“You own all of me,” she sighed and felt the energy drain from every cell. Dimitri withdrew from her body, a slow retreat from her as they basked together in their mutual afterglow. Once out, he nudged her to wiggle to the top of the chaise so he could join her. He moved to the top with her and brought her close to him, against his chest, her favourite place in the world. This was the one place that everything was stripped away, where she was safe and she just was.

“Are you all right?” he asked and kissed the top of her head, “I know I lose control at times, but you are just so…fucking delicious.”

She laughed and replied, “I’
m more than all right, I feel amazing. A little sore,” she added and shifted, “but amazing. I never thought I would be into that.”

“I can’t imagine finding something that you aren’t interested in,” he said and smiled. She closed her eyes and marveled at how fast his heart was beating. She felt herself slipping slowly into sleep, but didn’t want to wind up here all night, not when they had the massive bed to share.

“Do you want to go to bed?” he asked her and she jerked her head up. “We haven’t had dinner, not after being interrupted.”

“I’m tired, but I could eat…especially after…that,” she said and blushed. She
hated that she sometimes felt so awkward talking about sex with him. When she was fully aroused, she had a filthy mouth, but just randomly bringing it up made her uncomfortable. She knew she’d have to get over it at some point.

“Say it,” he told her. She looked up and noticed his eyes gleaming in laughter. She knew he was joking with her but decided a practice was in order.

“I meant after you shoved your hard cock deep into my ass and flooded it with your cum. I can feel it even now, leaking from me,” she said and immediately went red. Maybe it was her colour after all.

“I know you’re joking,” he said, “but that’s fucking hot. I think we need to work on your dirty ta
lk, little dove.” He kissed her passionately and was ready to fuck again. Her heart skipped and fluttered at the power she had over him and his cock. It was intoxicating to command a man like him, even as he commanded her.

“I will do my best,” she replied and moved to sit up. Her growling stomach indicating that their conversation was going to be cut short.

“And I will do my best to feed you,” he said and smiled, stood up and offered her his hand.

*****

In the dining room she was surprised to find McDonalds take out on the table. She laughed and spun to hug him. “This is crazy, how did you get it here?” she asked Dimitri.

His face was
pleased; she could see he loved making her happy. “I sent the concierge to pick some up,” he admitted. “He wasn’t thrilled, and I wasn’t exactly sure what you wanted, but there are lots of french fries.”

“It’s absolutely perfect,” she said and sat at the elegant table to dine on fast food take out with the
most expensive dishes and utensils she could imagine. It seemed absurd really, how quickly everything had changed in the last few months. Utterly ridiculous. She imagined how she would have reacted a year ago if somebody had dropped in to tell her how things would be. She would have laughed in their face and told them to get the fuck out.

“These aren’t that bad,” Dimitri said and shoved a couple fries in his mouth.
He chewed and appeared to be making an attempt to keep the look of disgust off his face.

“You don’t like them,” Columbia replied in mock horror, “I can tell.”

“Well,” he said, chewing carefully, “maybe they’d be better if they were hot.”

“No, they’re delicious any way you can get them,” she told him a
nd laughed. “Hey, it’s ok. Your sophisticated palate can’t handle the greasy potato treat making the world fat.”

The smile left his face and he scowled, “It’s not that. I haven’t always been wealthy you know, there were times in my life when I would have killed another person for a spoonful of broth.”

She always forgot about Dimitri’s past. It seemed to haunt him as much as Sergei’s attack. She wondered if either one of them would ever escape the things that had been done to them. She reached out and touched his hand, not as much to comfort him, but to anchor her. She touched him as much for herself as for him these days. “I’m sorry, I forgot about that,” she said.

“It’s nothing,” he said, his
voice still serious, “I don’t want you to just see me as this, as I am now. I would like for you to know how I was and how I got here. I fought hard for everything I have.”

“I think of you as my Dimitr
i. It doesn’t matter where you came from,” she said and smiled at him. “I know I love you no matter who you are or who you were.”

“I have done terrible things,” he said and ran his hand
over his head. It was a simple gesture, but one that thrilled her now. It made him seem human somehow, and vulnerable.

“I don’t care what you’ve done,” she replied and reached for his other hand, holding them both in hers. “I’m here and I see you for what you are, and I love you for it.”

“I’m toothless now,” he said and chuckled, “I used to be lethal but now I’ve grown soft. I’ve let my fear make me soft.”

“Then let’s fix that,” she replied, “forget about tonight, let’s start going out again. We need to get out of the apartment more often.”

“But you’ll be seen,” he said, “like that fucker in McDonalds. I could have smashed his fucking head in like a melon, but I didn’t want to end up online doing it. I don’t want anyone to know where I am…yet.”

“I’m tired of living like this,” she replied, “I don’t know how you’ve done it for so long without losing your mind.”

“I think I did lose it,” he said and smiled, “before you came along I was quite mad.”

“So was I,” she admitted, “but I didn’t know it. I feel like I’ve found my mind again, since finding you. Even if it means being on the run and always eating cold French fries.”

“You won’t always be on the run,” he told her, “I had the concierge go back and find that man. He was apparently a vacationing police officer, not a casual traveler.”

“Did he hurt him?” she asked, alarmed and intrigued.

“No, just shook him up a little,” he replied with a small grin. When Columbia shot him a skeptical look, he said, “What? You have to trust me, the man is alive and kicking…he’s just on his way out of Hong Kong.”

“Where did you send him?” she asked
, not quite certain if she wanted to know.

“We gave him a little one way trip to Northern China, Shandong Province. It’s difficult to get out of and almost nobody speaks English. He’s unharmed but won’t be able to alert anyone anytime soon.”

Dimitri seemed pleased with himself. “Why didn’t you just kill him?” she asked and casually took a bite of her cold burger. There was a part of her that wanted him to kill the guy in McDonalds. The bloodthirsty part that wanted Dimitri to stab the man repeatedly until he was mangled beyond recognition. A bloody slab of ruined flesh and bone. She wanted her Dimi to come home, covered in blood and wildness in his eyes so he could throw her onto the bed and ravage her. She appreciated this calmer, more civilized version of him but longed for something more. It must have been the stress of being cooped up day after day that was getting to her.

“Sometimes the only thing you can do is kill somebody,” he replied and sipped his soft
drink. He grimaced and set it aside to reach for his decanter of scotch. “In this case I found it prudent to keep him alive, so he can eventually make it out and report that he saw you.”

“Why would you want him to report me?” she asked, perplexed at his reasoning.

“By the time he does, we will be long gone,” he replied and sipped his drink. “That’s better,” he said and savoured the flavour.

“Gone? Why? Where are we going?” she asked him, distressed at the thought of leaving this place so soon. She felt like they had just gotten here, so why leave now?

“We will decide over the next few days, but we have to leave to protect you. I know you want more freedom, and I know I need more. I know for both of us we need to get out more and not be so confined. We must find some place to accommodate us both,” he answered. “Don’t worry, we will go somewhere you will love, I promise you this.”

“
What if somebody finds me in the new place? Then we’ll have to move again?” she asked, her anxiety level rising as the practicalities of a life on the run sunk in.

“Eventually they’ll stop looking,” he reassured her, “your case will fall off the side of somebody’s desk and it will become old news. You will change and no longer resemble the girl in the photograph and all will be well for you…unless Sergei finds out about you.”

“We need to kill him,” she said in a snarl. She was alarmed at the visceral reaction that name had in her now. She hated Sergei for hurting her Dimitri. She hated him almost as much as she had hated her stepfather.

“I need to kill him,” he said, “I
told you a thousand times before, I would never risk your life to kill that animal. If you were caught, the things he would do to you…” His voice trailed off and she noticed his fists were clenched. Dimitri was still irrational when it came to Sergei, and that frightened Columbia. She knew emotions got you killed, according to the concierge. She wished Dimitri could have the concierge do it, or let her help so she could keep him calm and levelheaded.

“Well, we’ll get there eventually,” she said and stood up. “For now I think we’ve had enough to eat, now I want you to show me my new favourite colour.”

The tension left Dimitri’s body and a smile formed on his mouth. “I think I can show you,” he said, stood up and scooped her into his arms. She wiggled and screamed in mock horror the entire way back to their bedroom.

*****

Columbia woke in a panic, she could breathe but only because the collar she wore to bed every night was keeping Dimitri’s hands from connecting to her throat.

“Dimitri!” she cried out
and tried to pull them off her. His grip was too tight; she struggled to pry his fingers away, relieved that the collar protected her against his crushing hands.

“Stay the fuck away from her, I’ll fucking kill you,” he yelled in her face, then trailed off in Russian. She thought she caught Sergei’s name, but couldn’t be sure. She was caught under him as he shifted his weight, pressing her into the soft mattress.

“Dimitri!” she screamed and kicked at him. She was stronger now that she had been training for so many weeks, but was still no match for her man. He outweighed her by at least a hundred and fifty pounds of solid muscle.

She gave a final twist and managed to scramble away. He caught her foot as she rolled off the edge of the bed, his iron grip holding her tight, hanging close to the floor. She kicked as hard as she could and heard him grunt as she connected with his face. She landed on the floor with a thump.

“Dimitri?” she asked, slowly stood up and flicked on the light. He was lying on the bed, stretched out with a red mark on his cheek. He was still fast asleep. She couldn’t fathom how he could be so active at night without waking up, given that he woke her up constantly. But that was the price she was willing to pay for laying next to him. “Dimitri?” she asked again and moved towards his sleeping frame. His breath was starting to deepen and come in rhythmic repetition. “Thanks, fucker,” she said with a small laugh, “wake me up and fall back to sleep like nothing happened.”

She dared to crawl back into the bed next
to him and tensed when he moved towards her. He was like a blind man finding her for the first time though, his fingertips traced the curves of her body as if seeking solace in the patterns on her skin. She sometimes envied his disappearing damaged skin, but never resented his face becoming more and more beautiful. It was more of a longing, wishing she could be perfect for him, erase the years she spent torturing herself. He said he loved her though, exactly as she was. He seemed to find a sort of beauty in the raised ridges of flesh; he seemed endlessly fascinated with her.

“Love?” he asked her in his deep, sexy voice thick with sleep. She loved hearing him like this, so vulnerable and so close to her.

“Yes?” she replied and felt his hands pulling at her, dragging her body closer to him to spoon.

“What time is it? Why are you awake?” he said and nuzzled the back of her neck, just below the collar. The hair on her arms stood on end, she was so instantly aroused by that small intimate act.

“It’s past three in the morning, you woke me up,” she said with no judgement. His attacks just were. They weren’t anything for her to blame him for, and she was hopeful that the more she slept next to him, the less he would have his nightmares.

“Fuck,” he said, waking up a little, “I am so sorry.
Is this the reason my face hurts?”

“I’m sorry, I had to kick you
,” she replied and rolled over in his arms so she could see him. His face was serene in this light, noble and proud. She felt a rush of love and lust for him, her man. His beauty was almost breathtaking at times, and she still couldn’t believe that a man such as he found her worthy of love. “But I don’t blame you,” she continued, “I blame that fucking bastard, Sergei. He’s the one who sends these dreams to you, I’m sure of it. If we could just kill him you would rest well.” She caressed the mark on his cheek. It didn’t appear to be that bad.