Page 25 of The Pakhan

But she did a damn good job of it.

At least instead of four men trailing behind us there were only three. I rolled my eyes from the thought. Three too many.

“I’m trying,” I told her as we pushed our way through the doors. I had always admired the woman’s lust for life, her big personality an attraction for men in every walk of life. I was more like a wallflower, my pink hair the only thing giving away my bodacious personality.

Right. I was giving myself too much credit. I was the shy, introverted type.

“This is supposed to be fun, not like getting a root canal,” she muttered, even throwing her arms out and spinning in a full circle. “We’ll have lunch, purchase delicious items, and laugh our asses off.”

I gritted my teeth in response. “Fine. I’ll deal with it.”

She punched me in the arm and led me through the first corridor, which fortunately consisted of tech shops, not women’s clothing stores. However, I knew she was headed for her favorite store. At least it was a little bit funky, something I could handle.

While Vadim had made it clear I was to dress more like an adult, I was determined to keep some of my style at the same time. And formal dresses? Why? What did he have in mind? Was I going to be at the man’s beck and call?

My pussy immediately throbbed just thinking about the possibilities. I could see myself servicing him every single day.

Oh, my God. I was practically panting.

“Let’s divide and conquer,” she said, leading me straight into her favorite store. I’ll be damned if she didn’t flash her dad’s credit card to one of the women, who magically started following us.

“Miss Chernoff. So good to see you again,” the woman said. She barely glanced at me since I was in another pair of ripped jeans while Sofiya was in a lovely dress she’d purchased in Italy.

“Yes, good to be back. We are here to provide a hip, sophisticated, and utterly off the chain expensive new wardrobe for my best friend. She is tackling a brand new and very important job.”

The woman lifted her eyeglasses, scrutinizing me. “O-kay. A tall order but I think we have some delicious items that will work. Let me grab a few things for your friend to try on.”

She walked away quickly just as I was telling her my name. As if the woman cared.

Sighing, I moved toward one of the racks lined with what I could tell were gorgeous dresses. Sure, my mother had taken me to upscale dress shops as a little girl, purchasing outrageously priced items that I’d been completely uncomfortable in, but seeing the price tags made me groan. “Four hundred dollars for a tiny dress?”

“Cheap, baby girl. My goodness. You need to learn to live a little.”

I glanced at her and sighed. “What did your father tell you about what I’ll be doing?”

As Sofiya started flipping through the rack, she barely darted a glance in my direction and shrugged. “That’s the thing. He didn’t say shit.”

“Including about what happened?”

She pulled out a dress, giving her thumbs up as a stamp of approval and hanging it on an empty rack meant for collecting clothes. “Nope. He just said you got yourself into some trouble. Which I find highly unlikely.” She yanked another one off the main rack before turning to me, holding the dress up to my shoulders. “This would be a great color on you. So spill it. What happened?”

“I’m not supposed to say.”

Her eyes opened wide. “Seriously. I’m your best friend. Why wouldn’t you confide in me?”

I was the one to shrug as I ran my hand down the dress. “I just… I have skills in computers. Okay? I used them and got myself into a little trouble. Your father is the only one who can help.”

Now she was the one scrutinizing me. She leaned in, shaking her head. “I wasn’t born yesterday and I’ve always known about and appreciated your geeky skills handling a computer. You’re a hacker. Don’t tell me you aren’t.”

Was my face flushing? Why yes, yes, it was. “Fine. Don’t say anything.”

“Who the hell am I going to tell about your dirty little secret? Those guys?” She pointed to the three men, who were standing guard just outside the storefront window, acting like statues.

We both laughed at least, and I tried to relax. “Not my finest hour.”

“Who did you piss off?”

I waited as she returned to yanking out another outfit, even moving to where the blouses and skirts were located. Meanwhile, the store clerk was also piling up items. I would be trying on shit for two full hours. “Some bad people.”

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