by Lacey Legend
Though she was a good cook, she wasn’t anything exceptional. She did good enough for this wealthy family, so Ruslan would probably enjoy her cuisine just as well. As she was stirring the sauce again, it suddenly hit her. Would Joseph still be able to pay her? She had just looked at his bank statements and he had way less than she would have imagined.
She reassured herself that they had signed a contract, but still, it worried her what might happen if it came time to get paid and he couldn’t. She had a feeling there was an explanation for it all, however, and soon Ruslan would discover that it was all just a misunderstanding. That’s what she was hoping for, at least.
She looked over at the table and saw the plates still in a stack, Vera sitting on the couch scrolling through her phone. She set out some napkins and silverware.
“Vera there’s some silverware for you to set out too,” Olivia told her.
“Isn’t that your job?” Vera said with an attitude. Surprise, surprise, she was back to normal. Olivia wasn’t shocked at her bad attitude but was a little disappointed that Vera was right. It was her job, but she certainly didn’t want it to be. She put out the plates, napkins and silverware, all the while thinking about how Ruslan had kissed her cheek and not Vera’s. She could still feel his soft lips pressed against her cheek and longed for them to be there again.
Chapter7
As she called the rest of the family, Olivia slipped into the bathroom to read the note that Ruslan had given her. In very boxy handwriting, the crumpled-up piece of paper said to meet him at the red tree down the road at midnight. This would give her plenty of time to make sure the family was gone before sneaking out. She was thrilled that he wanted to see her again. She wasn’t exactly sure what the red tree meant or where that was, but she figured she could easily find it once she left. She had only hoped Margot wouldn’t need her while she was gone, but the thought of sneaking out excited her.
When she was a teenager, her father didn’t care one way or the other if she was there or not. They barely had any interaction at all, and the only time he noticed whether she was there or not was when he was trying to make a deal in the middle of the living room. He would yell at her to leave, and she would, sometimes for days at a time. She made a lot of friends in high school, though none that she was very close with. People would let her stay at their house because they felt sorry for her and knew who her father was.
Having this family that she might have to sneak away from thrilled her and made her feel like a teenager again. She thought about how Ruslan had come to her window like a young boy might do at a girl’s house who didn’t want to get caught. It was charming and exciting all at the same time. She remembered, however, that this time, if she got caught, it might be much worse than just getting grounded.
By accepting Ruslan’s note and knowing that he hacked into Joseph’s account, she was no longer a silent partner in all of this. She had immersed herself in the scandal, only making it more dangerous by starting the affair. She couldn’t help herself. Something about Ruslan pulled her in and made her feel numb, the good kind at least. Ever since she first looked into his deep brown eyes, she felt something that she never had before. They hadn’t talked much, but that wasn’t everything that had attracted Olivia to Ruslan in the first place anyways. She wanted to know more about him, wanted to know everything about him.
She realized dinner was still on the stove and the family was probably waiting to be served. When she walked into the kitchen, she saw Joseph and Margot sitting at the table, Vera sitting on her phone in the living room.
“Vera, do you want to come sit down, sweetie?” Margot asked her daughter.
“I’m not hungry.” Without even breaking vision with her phone, she got up from the couch, walked into her room, and slammed the door.
“Well I hope you’ll join us at least,” Joseph said.
“Actually, you two should enjoy your meal alone. I’ve been snacking all day,” Olivia responded. She had been. She needed an excuse to keep going in the kitchen and stealing bites of food and there was a good one. She served Margot and Joseph each a heaping plate of spaghetti and filled their glasses with wine. She went back into the kitchen and turned on some music to make it feel a little more romantic. She was feeling blissful and wanted Joseph and Margot to share the love she was feeling. Though you could see everything from the kitchen that was happening in the dining room, since they were right next to each other and only separated by a counter, Olivia still did her best to pretend she wasn’t there.
Margot tried to give herself a bite full of spaghetti but set her full fork down frustratingly.
“What’s wrong my queen, aren’t you hungry?” he asked Margot.
“I am, my arms are just feeling so weak,” she said softly.
“Here, I’ll help you,” Joseph said. He twirled a heaping mouthful of spaghetti onto his fork and fed it to Margot. Olivia watched them without them realizing they had an audience. She hadn’t seen someone care for Margot like Joseph was doing. He treated her so kindly that she couldn’t imagine someone like Joseph was capable of murdering his best friend.
Margot and Joseph were high school sweethearts. His family didn’t approve as they wanted him to marry someone Italian. Joseph couldn’t resist Margot’s sweet nature and soft disposition. They quickly fell deeply in love and stayed that way up until this moment. Though he wanted a big family, Margot only wanted one child, and she got her way. Olivia wondered if Joseph was disappointed he didn’t have more children to fill his heart once Margot passed, or if he was glad they didn’t have more children that had to endure the pain of losing a mother.
Olivia’s heart broke thinking of how Joseph was going to lose his wife. When she saw older couples, they mostly fought and bickered. It was easy to get comfortable enough with someone and to start treating them a little worse than they might have in the beginning. Still, with Joseph and Margot, the two always acted like high school sweethearts.
Joseph was a handsome man, but even if he wasn’t, he could have any girl he wanted. He was one of the wealthiest men in the world, at least at one point, so he wasn’t too restricted when it came to finding someone to sleep with him.
When they were back home at their Chicago mansion, he usually had a staff to help clean the house and cook dinner. Olivia was the only one they would pay to travel along with the family, and she was really all they needed. Still, she missed the help, but didn’t miss the gossip that went along with it. Girls would tell stories about how they wanted to try to seduce Mr. Touhy and imagined what an affair like that would be like.
Still, Joseph never acted on any of these advances and stayed loyal to his wife. He had plenty of years ahead of him, so Olivia wondered if he’d easily find someone after Margot passed or if his heart would belong to hers forever.
Watching the two acting so sweetly together made Olivia wonder if Ruslan was just being paranoid about everything. Of course, he was a powerful man, so the idea of someone wanting him gone made sense. He had a lot to lose. Still, was Joseph the one trying to take it all away? Olivia finished cleaning up after dinner and knocked on Vera’s door to see if she wanted any dessert.
“Is there wine?” Vera responded with an attitude when she opened the door. Vera was normally rather bubbly and charismatic, though she certainly had her bratty moments. Still, she seemed especially agitated that night and Olivia wondered why.
“Yeah, I’ll pour you a glass,” Olivia responded.
“I’d rather have it in my room, thanks,” Vera said and tried to shut the door in Olivia’s face.
“Your mother is dying. Would it kill you to have one glass of wine with her before bed?” Olivia asked. Normally, she would have done exactly what Vera said, keeping her thoughts to herself. It hurt her too much to let Vera take advantage of her mother anymore.
Vera didn’t have much left to say and walked out of her room, glaring at Olivia. The girls walked into the kitchen, and Vera grabbed a bottle of wine. She went to the
dining room table and sat next to her mom.
“How are you feeling Mommy?” she asked sweetly.
“Better now that I have both my loves with me,” Margot responded.
Olivia brought out three plates of the cherry pie that she had spent part of the day making. She poured them all a glass of wine as well, realizing Vera had already chugged one glass down.
“Daddy, can I borrow your credit card? I need to replace the jewelry that was stolen,” Vera asked sweetly.
“What’s wrong with your card?” he asked.
“It was stolen too! Don’t you remember?” she replied.
“Oh, I’m sorry dear. I didn’t realize.” He pulled out his wallet and slid the card across the table. At least he had enough money on that, Olivia thought to herself.
She enjoyed a slice of pie from the kitchen, not feeling up to having dessert with the family. It felt too intimate as Margot’s health was depleting. This didn’t stop her from listening in on their conversation, however.
“I want some pretty new jewels to wear to Ruslan’s dinner. If I order them tonight they might ship here in time,” Vera teased, scrolling through her phone. “Do you think Ruslan is more of a gold or silver girl?”
Olivia choked on a bite of her pie. The family didn’t notice.
“I think Ruslan might be a little too old for you, honey,” Joseph replied.
“Daddy, I’ve been with men older than Ruslan,” she responded, looking over at Olivia. They made eye contact, but Olivia looked away quickly.
“Vera! Don’t talk about that at the dinner table!” Margot replied.
“Don’t you think that’s a little inappropriate, Vera?” Joseph asked. “Give me my card back. You don’t need to be buying any jewelry for older men!” he yelled.
Vera stood up, threw the card at Joseph, and stomped into her room. Olivia thought about how Vera was way too old to be throwing temper tantrums like that. It wasn’t the first one she had seen, however. Vera thought she could get whatever she pleased whenever she wanted, and for the most part, that was the truth.
She liked being a bubbly personality, but when it was just her parents around, the claws would come out. She would say inappropriate things to get a rise out of her parents and act up to get extra attention, just like a child might. It was embarrassing for her, but Olivia couldn’t help but feel sorry that this is the way Vera thought she needed to act to get some love and attention from her family.
****
Olivia sat in the living room, her stomach in knots. Joseph and Margot had gone to bed over an hour ago, and Vera never came out of her room after storming in there earlier. Olivia only had 15 minutes until it was time to meet Ruslan, and she thought she might pass out from nerves. It had been a while since she felt that level of anxiety before meeting someone before.
She turned all of the lights off, locked up the cabinet and headed towards her room. She closed the door behind her and slipped her boots and coat on. Luckily, her door came with a lock as well, so no one would be able to get in and see that she had left. If someone called out for her, she could just state that she was sleeping and didn’t hear.
She thought about all of the horrible possibilities that could happen while she was gone. What if Margot fell and needed assistance? What if something happened to Vera or Joseph and they needed a nurse? Every other night they were fine, but tonight, she felt a little guilty leaving the family to go meet Ruslan.
Although she was feeling anxious about it, she still knew that meeting him was the absolute only thing she wanted to do. She opened the window and slipped out, doing her best to close it behind her. It was definitely a drop into the snow from the window, something that wasn’t a problem at all for Ruslan.
She fell a bit but was able to brush the snow off easily. She headed out towards the road and did her best to stay close to the woods, so no one would see her wandering around. She hadn’t had to walk in that deep of snow since being back in Chicago. Though it wasn’t easy, she enjoyed the challenge. It reminded her that she was alive and fighting for something.
She wasn’t exactly sure where she was going but knew once she saw it that was where she was supposed to be. Right at the end of the road sat a tall tree that still had red leaves on it. She didn’t know how she hadn’t noticed before that there was one tree in the entire forest they were staying in that still had leaves. Beneath the tree was a bright blue car with someone sitting inside. She figured it must be Ruslan. She darted towards the car, excited to see him.
He opened the driver’s door and got out, spreading his arms for Olivia. She ran towards him and jumped into his arms. He held her tight and gave her a long and hard kiss while her legs were wrapped around his torso.
“I missed you,” he told her.
“You did?” she asked, still in his arms. It had only been a few hours since they last saw each other.
“I just wanted to kiss you all day. There’s no one that looks better while doing dishes than you,” he teased. Olivia was smitten. “Get in the car! It’s freezing out here.”
They got in the car and immediately kissed again. “Olivia, the reason I asked you out tonight was because I wanted to thank you for helping me out. And I just wanted to get a chance to see you again, of course.”
“I figured you just wanted a checkup,” she teased. She grabbed his arm and pulled his sleeve up to reveal the stitches. They still looked decent, and Olivia felt a little more comfortable knowing that she might not totally kill Ruslan. “Looks good to me. I guess I’ll go now,” she teased as she pretended to get out of the car. Ruslan grabbed her arm and pulled her in for another kiss.
As he pulled back, he looked worried. “I haven’t been this scared in a while,” he told her.
“You don’t have to be scared. Nothing’s going to happen to you,” she replied. “I really don’t think it’s Joseph. Just the way he treats his family, and the person he is. He might be broke, but he would never hurt someone he loved.”
“I know. I don’t think he did either. I don’t know who else would try to hurt him. There are many people that become enemies when they find out you have something they don’t. Still, it’s hard to say why anyone else would want to hurt Peter,” Ruslan described.
“You seem like you can protect yourself, though. You’ll figure it out. I’ll be here as much as I can, too.” She grabbed his hand. He gave her a half smile and leaned in for another kiss.
She put her hands on the back of his head, pulling him close putting her fingers through his hair, feeling the soft strands. She opened her mouth wide, kissing him as hard as she could, feeling his tongue move against hers. He did the same with his hand, feeling her short strands the way she just did with his. They kept this position for a minute until their desire for more grew deeper.
“We should go somewhere quieter,” he said.
“Okay, but not too far, I don’t want anyone to realize I’m gone,” she replied.
He drove forward about a quarter of a mile. A car passed them going the opposite way, and since it was such a snowy dirt road, they had to slow down and let them ride by. Olivia ducked so that whoever was in the other car wouldn’t see them together. She felt one could never be too careful.
Ruslan turned down an even smaller road and pulled off on a flat surface. “No one will probably come down here,” he told her. She felt thrilled, like a teen who sneaked out after prom to meet her boyfriend. This innocence made her feel vulnerable all over again, like she was taking him for the first time.
He leaned over and kissed her, moving his hand to her breast. This time, she was actually wearing clothes that would be a bit harder to take off than the pajamas he caught her in last night. She was wearing a jean button-up and he started to open the shirt slowly, revealing the lace bra she had hidden underneath.
He slipped his hand inside her shirt and grabbed her breast hard. She wasn’t the bustiest of girls, but feeling his hand pressed against her breast made her really feel like a woman. He worke
d his hand there for a bit, slowly moving down, kissing her deeply the entire time. His hand slipped down and into her pants. Olivia would never tell Ruslan this, but she wore elastic, so it would be easier for him to get inside. He felt the inside of her for a moment until she started moaning, signaling she wanted more.
He pressed deeper inside of her, getting excited himself. She reached her hand across the seat and felt his inner thigh. His leg felt like a rock covered in jean material. Knowing what muscles he was hiding underneath it all only made her wetter. She pulled his hand out of inside of her before she exploded. She moved his hand up to her breast and he started squeezing back.
She wanted to make sure he was as excited as she was, so she reached her hand up to his penis. She could feel it was hard underneath his jeans and imagined it must hurt to keep it concealed under such tight pants. She unzipped his jeans, this time not having to take any belt off. She wondered if he didn’t wear a belt to make things easier just as she had worn leggings. She teased him a bit by rubbing on top of his underwear, feeling his pelvis thrust forward as he grew larger and larger. She wondered how she had fit it all in last night and knew she was up for the challenge again.
She finally slipped her hand inside his pants and realized her hand wasn’t enough. She slowly started kissing his cheek then his neck, skipping over his torso and going straight for the prize. She slowly kissed the head of his penis, teasing it on the rim of her lips. He started moaning, proving he was ready for more. She put his entire erection into her mouth, surprised she was able to take the giant all in at once. He moaned louder and louder and Olivia realized she had to stop if she wanted to get a chance to feel him inside of her once again.
While looking at him, in one swift motion, she took her pants and underwear off. Again, he still had his pants on, but Olivia didn’t have time to take those off too. She needed him inside of her right away.