Page 24

YURI

Last night turned out much better than I hoped. It felt so good to get everything off my chest and finally see Charlie face to face. Instead of following her around, I was seated next to her and she was in my arms.

We ended up falling asleep on the couch watching some cutesy romance movie. I couldn’t focus on the movie though. I couldn’t take my eyes off Charlie. Now she is lying next to me, her deep red curls covering half her face . I want to hold this moment. She’s safe in my arms but I’m terrified that that’s about to change.

I gently lift my arm and glide my hand to her face reaching for the curls to reveal her porcelain skin and adorable freckles that splay across the bridge of her nose and cheeks. She lets out a gentle snore and I hold back a chuckle admiring her.

She must feel my hand near her face because she snatches it into hers and pulls my arm to lay across her. I fucking love being the big spoon, and her curvy frame fits perfectly against mine! She sighs contentedly and I lean down to give her a kiss on the shoulder that’s peeking out from the fluffy blanket I found on the back of the couch after she fell asleep last night.

Her skin is soft and smooth as satin. I struggled to sleep from fear that I overwhelmed her too much last night by divulging a tornado of information, but eventually I nodded off and slept better than I have in years.

She sighs again and rolls in my arms to face my chest. She looks up at me with those emerald eyes and I wonder for half a heartbeat if I’m dreaming.

“Good Morning,” I say as her eyes flutter open.

“Hey there,” she yawns. Hands resting on my chest.

“How’d you sleep?” I ask, a little concerned. Did she struggle to sleep like I did? If she did, I couldn’t tell. She appeared to sleep so soundly in my arms. Smiling and looking at her adorable freckles, I wonder if she knows she makes these cute little snorting sounds as she sleeps.

“Like a baby. How about you?” Her sleepy, just-woke-up face is adorable.

“Better than if you weren’t here.” I say smiling gently. “Are you hungry? I can see what you have in your fridge. I make a pretty mean omelet.”

Her eyes light up at the mention of food, “Oh! An omelet sounds great. I’m starving! Though I should warn you, I am shit when it comes to grocery shopping. I have no idea what is in there, or if it's even still edible.”

She gets up first which allows me a moment to admire her; it’s always bothered me that society thinks women have to be toothpick thin. It’s amazing how a person can stay the same and yet change completely in ten years. Charlie’s never been skinny by society’s definition and I’m glad. She was ridiculed at school for being fat. I never understood why the other girls felt the need to harass each other.

Charlie has always exuded self-confidence. I know the bullies at school got to her, but she never let them know it and anyway those bitches were wrong. She’s gorgeous!

“You coming? Those omelets won’t make themselves and I don’t think you want me to attempt cooking. I may accidentally burn the apartment down!” When I meet her gaze I can see she’s smiling. I’ve been caught ogling.

“Yea. I was just admiring the view.”

“You are such a dork, and cheesy!” her smile grows and she throws her hands over her face to hide the blush touching her cheeks.

“Cheddar or colby-jack?” I joke. “I can always add some to your omelet.”

“That’s not what I was referring to and you know it!” she chuckles and hits me on the arm. Her blush deepening.

“I can’t help but be cheesy with you.” I reach for her hands to remove them from her face. I like seeing how what I say affects her. It’s cute, even in the little things like the blush that seems to be making its way down her neck to her chest. I feel a bit like a love sick puppy right now. I honestly can’t believe half of the things coming out of my mouth. I’ve never been this way with a woman before, but none of my previous relationships, if you can even call them that, meant anything, but Charlie, she’s everything.

“Let’s see what we have to work with.” I say, making my way to inspect her refrigerator. Luckily she has a good amount of fresh food, though most of it looks like it is about to go bad.

“I just went shopping not that long ago. I think? There should be some cheese and at least peppers or something in there. I’m trying to get away from eating like a college student now that I have to be an adult. ”

“Well, I guess I’ll just have to teach you how to cook. But I’m just letting you know, I’m pretty good, so don’t feel too bad if you can’t make a masterpiece like me after the first lesson,” I joke.

“Ha. Ha. Very funny. I think I’ll leave the cooking to the professional for now. I’m going to go get ready. You get cooking. We still have a lot to discuss.” As she heads for her room, I smile and get out the ingredients for the omelets..

I’ve missed this back and forth between us. I’m glad she seems to be adjusting to the initial shock of seeing me again. We do have a lot to discuss, but I don’t know how to explain just how much danger she’s in. She isn’t going to like my suggestions, but I have to keep her safe. I won’t let anyone hurt her, especially that asshole, Dominic.

How can I warn her about the guy who’s been her friend for four years without telling her who he is? I don’t want to inadvertently put her in harm's way any more than I already am. Dominic isn’t the smartest fish in the barrel, so I doubt he knows my connection to Charlie, but I don’t want to be the one to nudge him in that direction.

The omelets are ready and I feel my phone buzz as I’m placing them in the oven to stay warm.

“What’s up?” I say after seeing Andrey’s face light up the background of my phone.

“Are you coming to the gym this morning?” He asks abruptly.

“No. Why? Is something wrong?” I ask, wondering if the cops have made any leads on what happened to Dante and Lorenzo.

“No. Nothing’s wrong. You’ve just been MIA. I think I’ve come up with a plan to take a shipment of cocaine from the Italians. I want to talk through it with you and Maxim today before running it by the boss”

“Stop right there Andrey. Why would we want to take a shipment of drugs? We don’t run COC. We need to be laying low right now.” I say cutting him off.

“Now isn’t the time to lay low, Yuri. You’re too distracted by Charlie to see that we should be striking while the iron is hot!” he spews.

Andrey is going to be the death of me. I swear I’m going to kill him. I can’t believe what he’s saying. Before I load into him over the phone, I check to see if Charlie has come out of her room. She hasn’t, but I don’t want her to hear me yelling and think something bad is happening, so I take the conversation to the hall outside her apartment.

I check the hallway to see if any of the other tenants are nearby and decide to walk toward the emergency exit for some privacy. I don’t want to be overheard by some nosey neighbor.

“Listen Andrey,” I whisper shout, “I’m getting really sick of your shit. You’re not in a position to be making plans like this and the fact that you think NOW is the time to strike shows how stupid you are. We just took down two of Nico’s men. You really think we should be worrying about some drugs right now?” I’m nearly screaming as I try to get my point to stick to his thick skull.

“Yuri, come on. I can’t believe you’re that blind. Charlie has you whipped already! Can’t you see? Next you’re going to tell me you’re moving back to the suburbs with her! You’re our leader, start acting like it! We’re your family, not her.”

“Andrey, shut your fucking mouth. If you want to keep breathing, I suggest you never talk about Charlie like that again. Better yet, don’t even say her name at all.” I seethe.

I’m shocked right now and need to remind Andrey who he’s talking to. I take a deep breath and try not to scream into the phone. “You’re lucky to even be a part of the decisions we make, and you’re right, I am the boss’ son. So what I say goes. Now shut the fuck up and get your ass down to the gym. Maybe Maxim can talk some sense into you. I’ll be there when I’m done dropping Charlie off at work.” I hang up because I honestly can’t hear another syllable slither from his stupid mouth.

Pacing the hall, I try to calm down before I head back into Charlie’s apartment. Andrey is such an idiot if he thinks Charlie isn’t part of this family. She always has been. Even if I didn’t feel the way I do about her, I’d never let anything happen to her. I never thought he was that stupid but obviously I was wrong.

I’m going to have to talk with Pap about Andrey later. We’re going to have to do something to remind Andrey what’s important. We may be criminals, but we’re not psychopaths. It’d be suicide to try and mess with the Italians’ gun-running operation.

When I can finally take a normal breath, I start walking toward Charlie’s apartment. I really didn’t need this curveball today, but I have to forget Andrey’s stupidity and focus on Charlie. We need to talk about how to keep her safe. I’m almost to the apartment door when I hear my name being screamed from inside.

It’s Charlie. Fuck! What happened? I never should have left. If anything has happened to her I’ll never forgive myself. I throw the door open and see Charlie wrapped in a towel, her curls still wet. Drip. Drip. Drip. I hear water hitting the floor. Her face is red and she has tears in her eyes.

“Charlie? What happened?” I say rushing over to her.

“I thought you left!” she says breathlessly.