by Iverson, Ivy
“I'm so sorry,” she said. “I didn't want to drag anyone into this and now you're missing work and I know how much you want the tips--”
“Cindy, this is not your fault. You have absolutely nothing to apologize for.” They both got into the back of Nikolay's car. Cindy was shaking as she covered her face with her hands, sobbing. Courtney put her arms around her. “It's going to be okay now,” she murmured, taking off Nikolay’s coat and wrapping it around her. “You're safe now.”
“But it's not okay,” Cindy said. “He was right. He gave me everything. Now I have nothing. Damn it, I should have never made him mad--”
“Cindy,” Courtney said firmly. “He's nothing. He beat the crap out of you and you didn't feel safe. You couldn't stay there. We'll figure it out, okay? You're in good hands.”
Nikolay slid into the driver's side and turned to face the women. “Are you okay, Cindy?” he asked, his face etched with concern as he took in her disheveled appearance. His face quickly shifted from worry to anger when he saw the bruises on her face and neck. “Do you want me to take you to the hospital?”
“No,” she said quickly. “No, please. I'm fine.”
“Okay,” he said, and he started the car and pulled out on the road.
Courtney leaned against the cool car window, not letting go of Cindy for a second. Her sobs gradually stopped and it wasn't long before she was sleeping. Nikolay looked back at them through the mirror.
“Thank you,” he said quietly to Courtney. “He was a handful. I don't think I would have been able to get her out without you.”
“I hate to say I told you so, but...” she shrugged. “You're welcome. It was… nice of you to get her out like that. I have to admit, I didn't think you would even care.”
“Believe it or not, I do care about my employees,” he replied sharply. “I don't want any of them to be in danger and I will help them if they ask for it.”
“What do you know,” Courtney said. “The strip club owner has a soul after all.” Just then, they passed Suds and Courtney sat up straighter. “Where are we going?” she asked. “I thought we were going back to the club.”
“No,” he said. “Cindy needs to rest. I'm taking her to my place.”
“Your place?” Courtney asked incredulously.
“She doesn't have any other place to go,” Nikolay said. “Where did you think I would take her?”
Courtney shrugged. “That makes sense,” she said. “You're right.”
They pulled up in front of a building displaying wedding dresses. Nikolay got out first and opened the door. He gently picked up Cindy, who was still sleeping, and carried her to the door. “This is where you live?” Courtney asked.
“Yeah,” he said. “In the apartment upstairs.”
Courtney opened the door for him and they went upstairs to a large clean apartment that was comfortably furnished in Italian leather couches and dark blue rugs. Nikolay set Cindy down on the couch and then went into the kitchen. “Would you like anything to drink?” he asked.
“Shouldn't we be getting back to the club?”
“I would rather not leave her alone,” Nik replied. “She's going to be confused enough as it is when she wakes up. Scarlett can handle the club for one night and the other servers can cover your shift.”
“Oh,” Courtney said. “That makes sense. If you have tea, and it's not too much trouble, then I'll have some.”
“Of course it's not,” he said. He filled a black tea kettle with water and put it on the stove. “I was going to have some myself.”
“Really?” she blurted out before she could think better of it. “I didn't think you were a tea kind of guy.”
He grinned slightly at her. “Did you think I drank vodka?” he asked.
“Well, to tell you the truth, I kind of did,” Courtney replied. “I'm afraid I always fall back on stereotypes when I don't know a person well.”
“I've seen the effects of alcohol too much to enjoy it,” Nikolay answered. “It's a good thing you didn't ask me for any because there hasn't been alcohol in here since Valov moved in with Rae.”
“Believe me, I've seen the negative effects of alcohol too, which is why I don't drink either. Not anymore.”
He raised an eyebrow in question but he didn't ask, which was all well and good because Courtney didn't want to share.
“Nice place,” she said, looking around. On the walls were a few pictures of the Tonov triplets and a couple of landscape paintings done by a Russian artist she had never heard of. One was a landscape of the view from Beach Mountain, her favorite place to go hiking on Mount Desert Island. The other was of land that she had never seen before. She went over to examine it. “Do you know what this is a picture of?” she asked.
“It's from a postcard of Russia, up along the Siberian border. I gave it to a local artist and asked him to turn it into a painting for me.”
“Do you ever miss it?” she asked.
“I miss the land,” he said. “And spring was wonderful as well. Some of the people I also miss. But I am happier in America for the most part.”
“For the most part?” She turned to look at him.
He smiled wryly, “The golden arches signs are ugly and they seem to be around every corner here,” he said. “They give me a headache.”
She laughed. “Wow,” she said. “I can't imagine going to a new country. To live, I mean. And not just to visit.”
“It is strange,” he said. “And it can be hard at times. But it is worth it.”
Just then, the tea kettle started to whistle and Nikolay went back into the kitchen to get the water. Courtney eased down into an armchair. A second later, Nikolay came out with two cups of tea and handed one to her. When she took it, his eyes flew up from the ground to look at her. He flushed and looked away. “I'll get you a shirt,” he said, “To keep you from being too cold.”
Courtney flushed, feeling more than a little vulnerable in her skimpy uniform. “Thank you,” she said. “I am feeling a bit chilly.”
“I can imagine,” he said hoarsely. He cleared his throat sharply and set his tea mug down on the coffee table with a slight clatter before all but running down the hall to the bedroom. Courtney stared after him and then hugged her knees to her chest. He saw her like this every night. Why was he so shy now? Why did she feel so embarrassed at her state of dress? Maybe it's because we're alone together. The last time they were alone, they had kissed.
He came back a second later with one of his large cotton t-shirts. “Here,” he said thrusting it at her.
“Thank you,” she replied, as she slipped it on, feeling much more protected now. She sipped her tea, keeping her eyes on the floor. She knew her cheeks were still pink from embarrassment.
“Why did you do it?” he asked.
“Do what?”
“Why did you leave work to go get Cindy? I know how much you want the money. Everybody does, and you work like a dog to get it but you're losing an entire shift tonight.”
“Bad things happen when a young woman is left alone with a bad man,” she said. “I didn't want something to happen to Cindy. That's all.” She smiled slightly. “I might be driven by money, but I'm not heartless. Same as you.”
“I know you're not heartless,” he said. “Otherwise you would never want to be a doctor.”
“That's one way of putting it,” she said. “But many people think that the best doctors are heartless, so they don't get too attached to their patients.”
“Some compassion is good and necessary,” he said. “Not all of it is bad.”
She smiled. “I know.”
He sat down in the chair across from her. “You could also go into acting,” he said. “I've seen you on the floor at the club. It looks like you are actually enjoying yourself out there even though I know differently.”
She laughed. “I could say the same about you. You might have had me fooled the first couple of nights, but now I know that you don't like most of your customers.”
“How is the club doing anyway?” Courtney asked. “Scarlett mentioned something about it being in debt...”
He shrugged and took a sip of his tea. “It is,” he said bluntly. “I still have to pay off the mortgage for the building as well as the business loan I had to take out to buy the place. But our revenue is greater than our everyday expenses so for right now it's okay.”
“Is it true that you're going to stop docking the tips when the debt it paid off?”
“Yes,” he said. “I wouldn't dock the tips at all, but I want the debt paid off as soon as possible. Otherwise...” he shrugged and then sighed. “Well, otherwise Dimitri will take it over and I don't want that.”
“Because he's a dick? Understandable.”
Smiling to himself, “No,” he said. “Well, only partially because he's a dick. Mostly it's because he would destroy any legitimacy the place has. He would start pimping out the girls, and he charges extra for physical abuse.”
“I don't understand,” Courtney said. “Why is Dimitri so much different than you and Valov?”
“He didn't used to be,” Nikolay replied as he sighed. “But he was closer to our father than Valov and me. He liked him much more, too. We left Russia as soon as we could to get away from our pasts, but he stayed until our father died. After that... he was changed. I don't know why, exactly, but something happened in Russia.” He shrugged. “Now he has a different set of ethics than we do.”
“I'm so sorry,” she said. “That must have been difficult, knowing he changed so much.”
“It was, but I can't say that I was surprised.” He smiled slightly. “Courtney,” he said. “Not only have you gotten me to tell you about myself, but you have been working for me for more than a week and I still know next to nothing about you.”
“I think you know a lot about me,” she said. “You know I want to be a doctor but I have a heart, you know I'm a good actor, I like tea, and that I don't drink.”
“I don't know anything about your family. If you have brothers or sisters. What town you grew up in, and where you went to college.”
“Well,” she said, finishing the rest of her tea. “I'm afraid all of that is very boring. I'm an only child, and I grew up right here in Bangor. I went to the local community college for two years, and then moved on to the state university to get my Bachelor's in Science.”
“If you put it like that, then yes, it is a very boring story,” he said. “Tell me about your parents.”
Courtney smiled, but sadness filled her as it always did at the thought of her parents. “They died,” she said simply. “When I was eighteen, they were killed in a house fire. I was staying at a friend’s…Janet’s…when it happened. I didn’t know until I got home the next day.”
“I'm so sorry,” he said, his eyes softening. “I had no idea.”
“I know,” she said. “I don’t talk about it.”
“What did you do after that?
She shrugged and fidgeted slightly, looking down at the ground. She hated talking about her past. Nothing good ever came out of it, and the last person she had ever told was, well, Gary. And you saw how that turned out.
“The insurance on the house was only enough to cover the bills. I lost everything that day. My parents. All our possessions. I had whatever was in my car at the time and that was it. So, I worked full time and lived with a friend,” she said. “I went to community college and stayed in the dorms during the school year and then in the summer I either lived in a shelter or in my car. I got by.” She shrugged. “I saved money whenever I could. I didn't go out except occasionally on the weekend, and I went to every event that had free food, whether I liked it or not.”
“You're not still living in a shelter, are you?” he asked, his brow furrowing.
“No,” she said. “I have my own apartment now, thank God. It took me forever to build up enough savings to put down the security deposit and have the first couple months’ worth of rent in my bank account, but I did it eventually.” She shrugged. “Anyway, there's not much more to tell.”
“Now, that is an interesting story,” he said. “And with a happy ending too.”
She smiled slightly. “Not yet.”
Chapter Twelve
Courtney woke up the next morning to find Nikolay and Cindy talking over breakfast. The scent of fresh coffee was like heaven to her and she got up and walked into the kitchen to make herself a cup.
Cindy smiled at Courtney. “Nik said I could stay here until I could find a place of my own,” she said. “How exciting is that?”
“Very,” she said, looking at Nik who shrugged modestly and looked down at his food. “That's very generous.”
“It's nothing,” he said, with a wave of his hand.
His hands were so masculine and thick, Courtney could imagine them touching her. No. Stop it.
And it was definitely not nothing. Courtney knew well of the difficulties of living in a shelter or finding a place to live, and she was glad Cindy didn't have to go through that. She poured herself a cup of coffee and then found a bag of bagels from the local bakery. She took one out, sliced it in two and put it in the toaster.
As it was toasting, she sat down at the table next to Nik, inhaling the scent of his body wash. It smelled like pine and it was incredibly sexy. She could imagine him completely lathering up with it in the morning...
She flushed when she realized where her thoughts were drifting. He's my boss! I can hardly be having sex fantasies about him! But it was so hard not to. He was incredibly attractive, and after last night, he was more irresistible than ever. But that didn't matter. He wasn't attracted to her and they couldn't date anyway. Drinking her coffee, she tried to think about anything other than Nikolay naked in the shower. Hard.
Luckily, neither Cindy nor Nik noticed her discomfort because they were chatting cordially about mundane things. She watched Nikolay's manner as he talked to her. There was a sincerity to his tone and expression that wasn't there when he was chatting with his customers. She had been telling the truth when she watched him before. When he was at work, he put up an almost perfect facade of congeniality but he always seemed tense around them. It was subtle, but it was there. Now, however, he was completely relaxed and she knew that if he had to choose a stripper's company or the company of one of his customers, he would choose the stripper.
After breakfast, Nikolay offered Courtney a ride to her car at Suds. “The club doesn't open for a few more hours, but I'll let you in to get your things, ” he told her. “I doubt you want to go home in only my t-shirt.”
She nodded. It was embarrassing enough that everyone was going to think she was doing the walk of shame when she left here, but it would be a thousand times more embarrassing if the people in her apartment building saw her. “Yes,” she said. “That would be appreciated. Thank you.”
“No problem at all.”
As they drove to the club, Nik said, “I'm glad things are all right between us, Courtney. Less... formal.”
“Yes, I believe it's okay to be on a first-name basis with someone you executed a rescue mission with,” she replied, grinning.
“Just not someone you kiss?”
“Just not my boss who I kissed.”
“Of course,” he said. “I'm glad you're not still upset about it. I never should have done it.”
Don't say that. She was glad they did it. Even though nothing could ever come out of it, she was still happy they kissed. It was a damn good kiss, and she wasn’t upset about it. At least, not at him. She was only mad at herself for risking her job like that.
They pulled up into the strip club parking lot and Courtney got out. “Thanks for the ride.”
“It was the least I could do.” They walked to the door and Nikolay unlocked it allowing Courtney to walk in first. “I will see you tonig
ht?”
She smiled. “Yes,” she said as she went in. “I'll be there.” But hopefully it will be without this attraction I'm feeling for you at the moment.
Chapter Thirteen
Nikolay tried to work that day, but after the night he had with Courtney, it was hard. He couldn't help but admire the way she had gone in to get Cindy out, even though she lost a shift because of it. It didn't help that she did it while still in her uniform. It was enough to make him hard for the rest of the night.
Not even having her wear his shirt helped. He could imagine her wearing it after spending the night with him, in his bed, with her hair tousled and her face relaxed in a satisfied smile after...
He shook his head and tried to focus on the inventory reports so he could figure out what he needed more of and how he should adjust his prices. He couldn't let Courtney cloud his mind and keep him from working. Even if everything she told him made him like her and want her even more.
She had even made him open up about Dimtri. He hadn't shared that or discussed his brother with anyone but Valov before. But he had felt so comfortable around her last night, and he had trusted her so much...
She was dangerous. That was for sure. He couldn't believe he had opened up to her like that. He needed to watch himself around her or she would have too much power over him.
“You look like shit,” Scarlett said from the doorway to his office. She put a steaming mug of tea down in front of him, right on the inventory report. “Does it have something to do with blondie coming in wearing nothing but your t-shirt, or with Cindy?”
He groaned and rubbed his face with his hands. “Both,” he said. “We were able to get Cindy out all right, though. She is now staying at my place and is safe.”
“That's good,” she said. “You must have had a late night.”
He did but it wasn't because of Cindy. It was because he couldn't stop thinking about Courtney, no matter how hard he tried. “I think I am forgetting myself,” he said. “I tend to do stupid things around Courtney and I know sooner or later it's going to get me in trouble.”