Alyssa
I slept in far later than I would’ve liked, but I figured after the day that I’d just had, I needed it. Russell was in the shower as I woke, the gentle hissing of the water the only sound in the apartment. I felt strange waking up in his place, and I must’ve sat on the couch for twenty minutes just trying to figure out what to do with myself.
Eventually, I got up and went into the kitchen. I made myself a pot of coffee, and as it prepared I looked through the fridge. There wasn’t much in there, but there was enough to put some kind of breakfast together. I started preparing some eggs with a little side of toast, making enough for both me and Russell.
Once the coffee was done, I poured myself a cup and took a few sips before beginning to make the food. The apartment was just as spare and plain in the cold light of day. Mug in hand, I walked over to the living room window and pulled the curtains back, revealing the worn red brick of the building next to us.
Not the nicest place in the world, I thought, thinking back to the swanky apartment that I’d shared with Logan. But at least it’s safe.
I headed back to the kitchen and began preparing the food. I wasn’t much of a cook, but scrambled eggs and toast were definitely something I could manage. The shower turned off as I prepared the food, and by the time I’d put everything onto a pair of the plain, off-white plates that I’d taken out of the cupboard, Russell emerged from the bathroom, and I nearly spit out my coffee as he stepped out. He was wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around his trim waist, the muscles of his upper body glistening with water. His hair was slicked back, and his eyes seemed to shimmer even brighter in the light of day.
“You made food?” he asked, his eyes on the meals.
“Nothing fancy, just some eggs and toast,” I said.
“Works for me.”
He walked into the kitchen and it took just about every ounce of restraint I had to not stare at his bare body like some kind of horny teenager. He grabbed one of the plates and forks and took a quick bite. He chewed the food thoughtfully, his square jaw moving up and down. To my surprise, I found myself watching him expectantly, eager for praise.
“Not bad,” he said.
With that, he took his plate, strode into his room, and shut the door behind him.
I’ll take a ‘not bad’, I thought to myself as I ate my food.
Thankfully, the sleep on the couch had been fairly restful, despite Cory’s intrusion during the night. And as I ate, I thought back to what Russell had said last night about having a busy day ahead of us tomorrow.
What did he have in mind? I thought to myself as I ate.
But before I could wonder for too long, Russell emerged from the bedroom. He was wearing a tight, dark blue V-neck shirt that clung to his gorgeous chest. The look was completed with a pair of light blue jeans and some black, military-style boots.
“So …” I said. “Busy day today?”
“Yup,” he said, walking past me and pouring himself a cup of coffee.
“What did you have in mind?”
He leaned against the counter and took a slow sip of his coffee.
“First day on the job for you,” he said.
Still, I had no idea what he meant.
“I assume you’re not going to have me sell guns?”
“You’re a smart one,” he said. “Nope, we’ve got our first soiree tonight.”
I nearly spit out my coffee. I knew that Russell had said that he was going to be taking me to events, but I just ’hadn’t expected them to be happening so soon.
“Tonight?” I asked. “But … I don’t know what to do. And …”
I gestured to the oversized T-shirt that I’d been sleeping in.
“Clothes are easy to take care of,” he said. “I’ve got some business in town to get sorted out today. I’m thinking I can drop you off at Fifth Avenue and you can pick out some things for tonight.”
I gulped. I had lived well with Logan, but he had always been something of a tight-ass. Shopping trips hadn’t really been his thing.
“That’s … nice of you.”
“‘Nice’ has nothing to do with it. You’re going to be rubbing elbows with some of the elite of the New York criminal underworld, and you’re going to need to knock these guys on their asses. And seeing as how I’ve seen you up close and personal, I know that you’ve got the body to do it.”
I blushed. It wasn’t the most gentlemanly compliment in the world, but I couldn’t help how I reacted.
“So,” he said. “You’re gonna need to look your best. I’ll give you my card; you get some clothes to wear, buy some makeup, get your hair done up—the works.”
“That … won’t be a problem.”
I hated to admit it, but after the direction my life had been going for the last week or so, a little pampering did sound pretty nice. Of course, it was all in the service of impressing some crime dons, but beggars couldn’t be choosers.
“You ever been to any high society shit before?” asked Russell, pouring himself another cup of coffee.
“Um, my boyfriend, erm, ex-boyfriend, took me to some fancy-ish parties before, but nothing too ritzy.”
Russell thought my answer over.
“Then I’m gonna have to teach you how to act at these things. The kind of guys you’ll be talking to are the types who like their ladies to be fucking fawning over them. So, you’re going to indulge them. But at the same time, you’ll be there with me, so you can’t look like you’re playing me for a chump. You got it?”
“Sort of,” I said.
“You’ll figure it out; you seem like a smart girl.”
I didn’t know if he was being sincere or sarcastic; he had the kind of dry tone where it was hard to tell either way.
“Anyway,” he continued. “Get dressed and ready; I’m taking you into town in about an hour.”
I nodded and started off. I took another long shower, letting the tension of the previous evening wash out of me. When I was ready I got out and found a pair of women’s jeans and a small-sized gray T-shirt laying out for me on the futon. Next to them were a pair of black Nikes and a matching white bra and panty set.
“I had these lying around from some other girl I had staying around here,” said Russell, stepping out of his bedroom. “Not sure if they’re your size. Just need to fit well enough to go shopping. And don’t worry—they’re washed. “
“They … look okay,” I said, regretting that I’d thrown away every damn piece of clothing I owned, even my underwear.
But if he really was taking me shopping …
I shook the idea of a luxurious shopping spree out of my mind. Despite having a roof over my head, I was in some serious shit. After all, I was getting involved with a criminal who wanted me as arm candy to impress the criminal kingpins of the city. Who knew what kind of danger this might put me in? Not to mention Cory, though Russell seemed to keep him on a pretty tight leash.
I scooped the clothes off the bed. They looked like they were in my size, though the idea of wearing some strange girl’s underthings didn’t really sit too well with me, despite how clean they may or may not have been.
“I’ll give the lady some privacy,” said Russell, giving me a half-serious little bow and heading back into his bedroom.
“Let me know when you’re ready,” he said over his shoulder.
“Will do,” I said.
I stepped into the underwear and put the bra on, thinking about how funny it was that Russell was giving me my privacy despite us having done what we did last night. I imagined Cory, if he were in Russell’s place, taking the opportunity to ogle me like a horny middle schooler. But then I considered how for that to be a possibility, I would’ve had to have sex with Cory, and that was a thought that was enough to send shivers up my spine.
Once I was dressed, I gave Russell’s door a quick rap, and he appeared soon after.
“You ready?” he asked.
“About as ready as I ever am to go into the city.”
“Not a fan of the Manhattan scene?” he asked as we headed out the front door.
“Too many tall buildings, too many people,” I said.
“If you don’t like tall buildings and crowds, then I think you might’ve picked the wrong city to live in,” he said as we made our way out of the building.
“Don’t need to tell me twice.”
“What, don’t like it here?” asked Russell, opening the front door for me.
“Let’s just say I’m a Midwest girl at heart,” I said. “I like open spaces and buildings under six stories.”
I stopped myself before I complained too much; I didn’t want to seem like a downer.
“Um, you like it here?” I asked.
“Born and raised,” he said. “Though further out in Queens.”
I prepared myself to ask a follow-up question, but before I could even form the words in my mind I was stunned by the presence of a beautiful black Mercedes parked out in front of the building.
“Nice car for this part of town,” I said, admiring the vehicle.
“Don’t usually like to drive it, but I figure I might as well get in the ritzy sort of mindset for tonight.”
My eyes went wide.
“Wait, this is yours?” I asked. “What about the truck?”
“A man can own more than one car, you know,” he said with a smirk. “And yes, this is mine. Surprised?”
“Um, a little,” I said, my eyes still locked on the car. “Just doesn’t seem like it’d be your style.”
“Now what do you know about my style, exactly?”
I smiled. “I guess not much.”
He pressed the fob in his hand and the car doors clicked unlocked with a beep.
“Hop in,” he said before ducking into the driver’s seat.
I opened the passenger door and slid it. The interior was beautiful and sleek, almost like a spaceship.
“Fan-cy,” I said.
Russell started the car with another click of the fob.
“Honestly, you’re right—I’m not really much for conspicuous consumption. But you can’t exactly roll up to one of these parties in a beat-up pickup truck.”
“I suppose you’ve got a point there,” I said as I ran my hands over the smooth, cool leather of the seats.
Russell gunned the engine and pulled out of his spot. I wasn’t a car girl, but even I could sense that there was a lot of power in this car of his.
“First time in a car like this?” Russell asked as he pulled the car onto one of the main boulevards.
“No,” I said, thinking back to the cars that Logan had rented every now and then. “Just not in them very often.”
“I suppose I don’t really know that much about you, now that I think about it,” said Russell.
“Not really much to say,” I responded.
Russell flashed me that sexy little smile of his.
“I doubt that—unless you’d spent your entire life in that car of yours. Even then, that’d actually be pretty interesting.”
I supposed that it was only fair that I tell Russell a little about myself. But how to summarize everything without getting into the gory details of my life since my relationship with Logan? Spending the entire drive into the city recounting in careful detail the ins and outs of the abusive relationship with my ex didn’t seem like the most relaxing way to spend the drive. Not to mention the fact that I barely knew Russell. He seemed like the trustworthy type, but you never knew. Especially with criminals.
“I … um, was in a serious relationship for a few years,” I said, my eyes looking out the window at the passing buildings. “It was kind of on the rocks for a while, and I had to end it.”
“Hmm,” said Russell, his tone serious.
I realized that as coy as I was being about details, it didn’t take a genius to put two-and-two together. I mean, in a relationship one minute, living in a car the next—there weren’t many reasons why a woman would flee like that so suddenly.
“No family?” he asked, appearing to get all the information that I was gliding over.
“No,” I said. “Only child, and my parents died when I was in college. It’s just me.”
“Sorry to hear that,” said Russell, his tone a little softer than usual.
“It’s okay,” I said. “Just an opportunity to learn to rely on myself.”
“I have to ask, though,” he said. “What kind of long-term plan did you have in that car? Where do you think you’d have ended up if Cory and I ’hadn’t come barreling into your life like that?”
“Um, to be honest, I really have no idea. I was just kind of winging it out there.”
“Hmm,” said Russell once again. “You seem like a nice girl; I bet you could’ve found a pack of wolves to take you in.”
He flashed me another one of his killer smiles.
“Oh yeah,” I said, returning the smile. “All of those wolf packs roaming up and down Long Island.”
A dry chuckle escaped his mouth.
“Touché,” he said. “In this city, all of the wild animals have moved right there.”
He pointed to the towers of Manhattan rising in the distance, their forms silver and proud in the morning sun, the sky a clear blue behind them.
“I suppose I’ll be finding out about all that soon enough,” I said.
“That you will,” said Russell. “But just stick with me; you’ll be fine. Believe it or not, knowing how to treat women is important even to criminal kingpins.”
“Ha. I’ll believe that when I see it.”
“I’m serious,” he said. “The guys you’re going meet, they’re the types who in another life would’ve made killer businessmen if they’d chosen more ‘traditional’ lines of work.”
“Instead, they’re just killers,” I said.
Russell raised his eyebrows and cocked his head to the side, conceding the point.
“True, though most of these guys leave the dirty business to people lower on the totem pole than them.”
I felt a shudder run across my body. Russell did make me feel safe, but that didn’t change the fact that I was going to be getting involved with some extremely dangerous men.
“But anyway, lots of sophisticated, international men. Interesting guys to talk to, if you can forget about the blood on their hands.”
“And you don’t have any?” I asked.
“I never said that,” Russell was quick to retort. “But the kind of blood you get pooling around your feet in the process of building empires like these guys run … let’s just say there are wars being fought that people like you would never know about.”
I wanted to change the subject, and I could see that Russell sensed this.
“Sorry about my shithead brother last night,” he said.
“Don’t worry about it,” I replied. “I just can’t get over how … different he is than you.”
Russell let out another dry laugh.
“I’ve been hearing that since I was about five,” he said. “Cory’s always been getting into shit; just part of his nature, I suppose.”
“Just seems like he’s got a different, um, business style.”
“That’s one way to put it,” said Russell. “But he’s still family. I know that if I ever cut him loose he’d be in jail or worse within a week. I try to keep him from getting too out of hand, but his fucking drug problem … I don’t know what I’m gonna do about that.”
“And his girl-groping problem,” I added.
I watched as Russell’s jaw worked; seemed to me like he wasn’t happy in the slightest about what Cory had pulled last night.
“Like I said, he’s my brother, but if he pulls any shit like that again …”
A silence filled the air as he drifted off. No more needed to be said.
Soon, we arrived on Fifth Avenue. The streets were bustling with pedestrians, the city as alive as it always was.
“Here’s the deal,” said Russell, pulling along the curb. “I’m going to be meeting with some clients that are gonna be at the party tonight, so I’m giving you free rein for the shopping.”
Free rein? I thought to myself.
This was a strange little situation that I found myself in, all told, but I couldn’t help but allow a little smile to form on my face.
Russell reached into his pocket and pulled out a beautiful brown leather wallet. Opening it up, he slipped out a black credit card.
“Here,” he said, handing me the card. “No fifteen-thousand-dollar princess gowns, but otherwise don’t worry about the price.”
The card was one of those limit-free cards made out of heavy metal. It was cool and smooth in my hands.
“Wow,” I said, placing the card in my pocket. “Um, thanks.”
“Don’t worry about,” he said. “You can thank me by looking good for tonight.”
“I think I can manage that,” I said.
Next, he popped open the glove compartment. Inside was an iPhone, which appeared to be the latest model.
“I’m not big on fancy cell phones, but these society types are constantly on the lookout for status symbols. If I’m going to have to play the game, then so are you.”
I took the phone and turned it on. The brilliant display glowed to life.
“My number’s in there; shoot me a text when you’re all done. Party’s at eight, so make sure to not lose track of time.”
“Thanks again,” I said.
He waved his hand through the air dismissively.
“Don’t worry about it; and you don’t need to thank me for every little thing I do—this is all about what I need to get the job done. Now, go do your thing.”
He opened the passenger-side door and I stepped out, fighting the instinct to thank him again. Once I was on the sidewalk, the door shut behind me and Russell drove off.
Needless to say, I was ready to get started.