by Aneta Quinn
Carter: Shouldn't you be sleeping?
Me: Can't sleep, got someone I'm thinking about too much
After a minute or so he starts calling me.
"Hey" I say lamely.
"What time is it?" he asks, his voice sounding a little rough and sleepy, even though it's probably around seven or eight in the evening over there.
"Just after Midnight" I answer with a soft yawn, "I'm always up this late anyway, you should know that by now" I joke.
"Tell me about your day Kayla" he says and I can hear some rustling and movement, no doubt he's getting more comfortable wherever he is to listen to my boring day.
"Nothing too exciting, I almost punched an old lady at the shops though" I laugh a little but feel stupid for being so paranoid.
He chuckles, "Did she take the last jar of peanut butter on the shelf?"
"Embarrassingly no. All she did was ask me for the time, but I've been kinda jumpy and paranoid today" I admit and shrug, not that he can see me.
"Is everything okay? It's not a bad thing to keep an eye out, you know."
"Yeah, I know. I just don't get why before you I never cared, never felt nervous at the thought of him finding me. I almost used to wish he would just so it was easier to get to him in the end, but now...now I'm worried."
"Maybe because for once you have something a little more to live for – Kay, if something happened to you I'd seriously lose my shit. Actually, why don't you just jump on the next flight and meet me here, spend Christmas with me?" he asks hopeful.
"I can't, promised my uncle that Alek and I would spend it with him. Plus, didn't you say Mikhalov might have people tailing you?"
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure he does, they don't exactly blend in" he says gruffly.
"Are you serious, already?"
He sighs, "Yeah…already, Kay."
"So what's it look like over there, is it snowing?" I ask to change the subject.
“It’s fucking freezing and wet, it’s about five degrees right now” he laughs lightly.
“Hold on a sec” I say, as I climb out of bed and go to my window. I take a quick snap of the snow outside, dimly lit by the street lamps, and text it through to his phone. God how I love the snow.
He laughs when he opens up the picture, “I thought for a second you might have sent me a nude.”
I laugh in response and decide even though I look half asleep, I still want to see his face, “You wanna video chat?” I ask because I’m missing his cheeky grin, “But don’t laugh at me.”
“Why would I laugh?”
“Because I look like a fifteen year old gaming nerd” I scoff as I pull my laptop onto my bed and slide on my black wide frame glasses. I don’t essentially need them all the time but if I’m on the computer or reading I get headaches, which I’ve already got one from today’s paranoia overload.
I switch it on and open up the chat program, tapping my blood red painted fingers across the keyboard while I wait. Yes, I painted my nails today as well out of boredom.
After we swap account details, I finally see the little message box appear saying Carter is calling me. I click accept and his beautiful face fills my entire screen, my own sitting on the bottom right corner in a separate box. We hang up the phones and just gaze at each other on the screens silently.
“I think it’s more sexy librarian, if you ask me” he jokes, and I can’t help but grin wide in response.
“Ah…there’s that beautiful smile.”
“So tell me about your day then.”
“Well…I’ve eaten about three family’s worth of Christmas food so far, and my heads starting to hurt from all the British humour. Plus everyone keeps assuming I’m Liz’s new boyfriend, which is kind of getting on my fuckin nerves.”
“I wish I was doing Christmas with you and not, you know, Liz” I say, a little embarrassed that I’m coming off as the jealous girlfriend. Oh God…did I just refer to myself as a girlfriend?
“I like jealous Kayla…means you want me all for yourself” he grins. He yawns a little and then stretches back on his bed, his laptop resting on his legs as he leans against his headboard, in what I realise is a teenage girls room.
“Nice boy band posters” I tease, trying to avoid admitting everything he just said. He looks around the room briefly before his eyes return to his laptop screen, brow quirking up momentarily.
“You really don’t want to admit it do you?”
“Admit what?” I ask even though I know exactly what he’s referring to.
“Fine.”
“Fine?”
“Look Kay…I want you, just you. I haven’t been with anyone else since I’ve met you…even before you stole my wallet I saw you around the office” he grins.
“I never stole your wallet” I say rather too quickly.
He keeps grinning, “Sure you didn’t, babe.”
“Alright fine, I did. And …”
“And?” he urges with a boyish smirk.
“And…I want just you too. You make me actually want all that mushy, sweet stuff, Carter” I shrug, “And if you really want to know…I think I’m falling for you, kinda hard actually” I admit, and keep my eyes to his face on the screen. He’s silent and completely still for a brief moment, before his lips finally pull up into a huge, mega-watt, panting dropping kind of grin.
“I wish I was with you face-to-face when you finally admitted that.”
“Why, so you can run away from me in person?”
He chuckles again and I’m finding myself grinning at the sound. I can’t tell you enough how much I really, really like that sound.
“I’m not running, darlin. I didn’t run when you stole my wallet, I didn’t run when I saw you with a gun, or when we broke into a building. I didn’t run when you told me about your past, or took me home to meet Alek. I sure as shit didn’t wanna run when we fucked or even just made plain old vanilla love, Kay. And I sure as hell am not running when you finally admit to me you’re falling in love with me, because I’m right there with you, babe.”
We both grin at our laptop screens.
“You sure know how to sweet talk to a lady, Romeo” I joke.
“I aint your Romeo, he dies in the end remember?” he laughs, “I’m hoping I get to live through all this shit long enough to get to taste you, and lick you again all over, until you’re begging for me to slide myself between your legs.”
I smirk, “And there’s my Carter.”
“Your Carter?”
“Yup…Mine."
“I like when you get all territorial…it’s kinda cute. Especially in those sexy as fuck glasses, Kay.”
After talking for a couple hours, we finally and disappointingly said goodbye and got to bed at about three in the morning, which is before midnight where he is anyway. So when Alek comes bursting through my bedroom door at around nine only a few hours later I’m highly irritable, grouchy, and half asleep when I drag myself into the living room after him.
“This better be important Alek” I barely get out through my yawn, stretching my arms out wide. He smirks and points to our kitchen bench, where a small fish bowl sits with a big red bow.
“I thought we weren’t doing presents until we get to Uncle Johnny’s at lunch today?”
“That ain’t from me Bunny” he shrugs, “Delivery guy just dropped it off about five minutes ago.”
I hesitantly step closer to the fish bowl and see a beautiful blue fighting fish swimming around. There are little, pearl white rocks on the bottom, and a bright yellow plant in the centre that’s surely a fake. Next to the big red bow is a little white card tucked away, so I slide the bow off the bowl and grin at the little fish. I open the card to read the note.
Sorry I couldn’t be there to give you little Romeo here in person.
Have fun at your uncles.
YOUR Romeo x
I end up grinning all day long when I think of the little fish, knowing Carter remembered me telling him I cried like a baby when mine died. I gr
in when Alek and I eat breakfast, I keep on grinning when I’m getting ready, and I continue grinning like a lunatic while we eat lunch at my Uncles and open presents. The Polish make a bigger deal about Christmas Eve, and even though we’ve all been away for so long we still celebrate it the traditional way.
“What’s with Krysia?” Uncle Johnny asks while we’re sitting around the table eating Pierogi. Oh how I’ve missed his cherry filled Pierogi. He got the recipe from my grandma, and I’ll always remember my parents making them for me as a kid.
Alek shrugs in response and just answers with, “She finally met a guy.”
After finally saying bye and heading home, we’re surprised to find another present on our doorstep. This time it’s a big red box with another giant red bow on top. I grin at Alek and run up the steps before he’s even parked the car, practically kicking the door down in my hurry to get inside.
When Alek finally makes his way inside, he finds me on the lounge room floor with red wrapping paper all around me, laughing my ass off. He steps closer to see what’s inside and ends up laughing just as hard as me, because Carter sent me a giant box full of peanut butter jars – another note attached to the bow.
Something you enjoy almost as much as I enjoy you …
Carter x
I pull one of the jars out and dig in to the crunchy goodness with a spoon. I take a quick picture of myself (luckily looking nice this time since we just got home from my Uncles), and send the picture to him by text. Carter replies almost instantly.
Carter: What I wouldn’t do to be that peanut butter right now.
My cheeks are literally hurting from smiling all day, but like a lot of people say, all good things must come to an end.
I start to pack up the box and throw away the shredded wrapping paper from the floor, when there’s a hard knock on the front door. I look up at Alek, who looks at me confused, before he makes his way to the door. Before I can even comprehend what’s happening, the door is kicked in as Alek opens it, sending him flying backwards. He hits the wall and slides down with a groan, as two burly men dressed in black charge in. They give Alek a swift kick to the gut while he’s down already, and continue their way further into the house.
I’d already somehow jumped off my stool and bolted to Alek’s room where he keeps a steel bat. God knows why he has it, but I’m highly thankful for it this present moment. We have guns, but I realise having them locked in a safe isn’t very helpful when you’re in a hurry.
Holy. Shit. I am not dying here tonight, and neither is Alek.
I hear different doors being kicked and slammed back shut as they search for me, and then finally one of them waltzes in to Alek’s room. I move swiftly from my position behind the door, as I spin the bat with a flick of the wrist like a pro, then come out wide and bring it back to come in contact with his side.
I grin with sick pride when I hear the crack of a rib, and he drops to the floor on his knees gasping. I wrap my arms around his neck as he wheezes and struggles to breathe, slowly but eventually rendering him unconscious. I let go, watching as he drops to the ground with a soft thud against the hard wood floors.
I pick the bat back up and give it a quick spin for good measure, before I’m ducking back out into the hallway. I’m caught off guard when the other guy wraps his arms around me from behind, squeezing tightly until I’m hurting and almost gasping for air. The more I struggle, the harder he squeezes like a goddamn Anaconda.
I kick my leg backwards and up, trying to get him in the groin, but he manages to avoid every kick. I clench my jaw, and put as much force as I can into it when I whip my head back, cracking him right in the nose with a satisfying crunch. He immediately drops me and I fall onto my hands and knees, gasping for air, reaching for the bat blindly.
“You stupid bitch, idi syuda” I hear the guy say in a mixture of thick Russian and English behind me as he covers his face, blood seeping through his fingers from his nose.
I kick out instinctively coming in contact with his knee, then scramble to stand up as he drops to the ground swearing and yelling.
There’s so much adrenaline pumping through my body. I could be one of those people that end up on the news for lifting a car to save a baby or something. I never believed those stories until now. I give him a quick kick to the gut (payback for kicking Alek), and then sprint back into the living room to get us the heck out of here.
I squat down next to Alek, pulling my phone out of my pocket and dialling Carter – I don’t know why considering he’s miles away on another continent. As the phone rings I check his pulse, and breathe with relief when his eyes flutter open. He groans and grabs his side just as Carter finally answers.
“Hello?” says Liz to my surprise.
“Put Carter on the phone” I say quickly, not really in the right frame of mind to be annoyed that she’s even answering his phone in the first place. I tuck my arm under Alek and slide it around his waist to help pull him up. He starts sliding across the floor as I practically drag him by his arm.
“He’s a little busy right now, he’s in the shower” she giggles, trying to make it sound like they were there together. I grind my teeth trying to compose myself, not believing any of her bullshit.
“Fuck Liz, just put him on the phone…I don’t give a shit if you have to break down that fucking bathroom door just to get to him” I quickly say. I hear her groan and get up from what I assume to have been the bed and shuffle her way to Carter.
As I’m in a crouching position trying to drag Alek across the floor, whilst also trying to hold the phone against my ear, I hear footsteps outside by our front door – too many of them to only be one person. Fuck, there goes the plan of getting out of here.
I practically start dragging Alek across the floor as he wheezes with what’s no doubt a cracked rib.
“I’m so sorry, Alek” I breathe out as I keep trying to move us backwards and towards the back entrance of the apartment. I realise it’s a lost cause as there’s at least another two guys about to walk through our front door. I make a hasty decision, and practically shove Alek under the dining table away from the war zone.
I almost forget I have the phone against my ear, when I finally hear Carter. “Why are you answering my phone Liz?” He says annoyed. I don’t hear her response, and then there’s a muffled exchange when he grabs the phone off her.
“Hey, sorry I was in the shower. I swear to you it’s not what you’re thinking” Carter rushes to get out. I breathe deeply and rapidly with anger as three more men step through my busted down front door.
“Doesn’t matter right now Carter, I don’t give a shit. I trust you” I rush to get out as I tap the end of the bat on my foot, eyeing the three of them as they grin at me and my pathetic bravado.
“You are going to wish you went quietly” one of them says and laughs deeply, while the other two scan the room and down the hallway. One spots the guy lying on the ground and goes over to help, and must spot the unconscious one in the bedroom because he laughs and yells, “This one’s a bit of a fighter.”
“Who’s that?” I hear Carter faintly through the phone.
“I need you, Carter. We’ve got trouble” I answer, just as the one left watching me cracks his knuckles and grins wide, “I like when they fight back” he says, making me shiver in disgust.
“Fuck!” No…no, no, no…this wasn’t supposed to happen” he’s saying into the phone but I’m barely listening. They want to take me with them? Well I’m not going down without a fight, I don’t care how many bones I break, and they sure as hell deserve every one of them.
I watch as the guy takes a couple slow steps towards me, so I take a few steps back – almost like a weird dance of back and forth, as he tries to get closer while I try to get further. I put the phone down on the kitchen counter, not really worried whether I’ve hung up or not. I slide myself behind the counter and spin the bat with a quick movement of my wrist again.
I’m so focused on the guy in front of me
, licking his lips as he eyes me that I’ve totally forgotten to keep an eye out behind me.
“Behind you” Alek groans from the floor as he tries to stand up, and I instinctively swing the bat as I spin around and crack the guy in the head. He drops to the ground with a groan, and he’s out cold.
As I was doing that though, the other guy came charging towards me. He slides one arm around me, trapping my arm at my side, and with the other he grabs the hand with the bat. He squeezes so hard, and twists it at an awkward angle. I cry out in pain and release the bat, listening to the solid metal ring out as it hits the tiles - the soft ping of metal echoing through the kitchen as he presses himself against me. I can feel his disgusting warm breath against my neck as I try to thrash in his grip.