Page 69 of Kept in the Dark
I felt him when he lay down behind me. I was mostly asleep, but it’s hard not to notice your body being jostled by almost 300 pounds of man meat, no matter how gentle he’s trying to be. It honestly didn’t occur to me to be upset by his utter lack of boundaries because he was so solid and warm, and it just felt… nice.
My eyes pop open, and I find myself alone, just surrounded by covers and pillows that have absorbed enough of his essence to fool me. I sit up, wincing at the muscle pain and deep bruises littered across my skin. My body feels battered. Almost… used. Like we fought hard, and I lost. I guess that technically is what happened… I just wish all the sensations were swapped—there’s, like,onepart of me that isn’t sore, and I sorely wish it were the only part of me that was.
God, this is so messed up. I can’t believe I could still want him like this after everything he did to me. And how could he want me after everything I did to him? Our list of sins against each other reads like the criminal charges of one of thoseBratvaguys—assault, battery, aggravated assault, assault with a deadly weapon…
I sigh and scrub my face. My sleep schedule is all out of whack. It’s mid-morning, so at this point, I’ve been here for a little more than 24 hours, and I’ve been asleep for most of it. I also showered and ate a really delicious sandwich Dimitri must have left for me, but that’s about it. Between the trauma and the headache and not being able to see and the terror at imagining who orwhatmight be waiting for me in that big house…
Yeah, I hid. Not ashamed to admit it.
Just as I’m about to swing my legs around and get out of bed, I catch sight of something on the bedside table next to me. I reach for the little packages that seem very familiar…
“Contacts!” I cry, squinting and seeing the prescription is mine. My heart flips around in my chest. It’s a stupidly small thing, but I can’t help how it makes my heart soar. He got me contacts.
Excited, I grab both boxes and race into the bathroom, barely stopping to tuck the towel back around myself that I donned after my shower. After washing my hands, I put the contacts in and sigh in relief as the world comes back into focus. The slight headache that steadily grew from the pointless efforts of straining to focus abates immediately.
There’s a noise at the door, and Dimitri appears in the opening, looking down at his phone. He hasn’t seen me, so I use his distracted state to stare openly. I… forgot what he looked like. I forgot how good he looked when I could see all of him, all at once, from more than five feet away and not hunched in a rocking boat, or blurry and out of focus.
My mouth goes a little dry at the sight of sweat beading on his face and upper arms. He’s always buff, but he clearly just worked out and looksparticularly swollen and veiny. When he kicks the door closed behind him, chills erupt over my body. He’s wearing gray sweatpants. I can see the thick outline of his…
I gulp like a cartoon character. Damn, is that thing always on display like that?
He lifts the bottom of his shirt to wipe sweat from his face. I want to lick the rolls of his abs and feel out the divots with my tongue.
I hear myself make a helpless little noise. He drops the fabric and looks right up at me, like he knew exactly where I’ve been standing the whole time. Like his sweaty little pause was just for me, so I could look all I wanted.
His eyes drop, widening with interest and lingering, and I realize with a start that I’m still basically nude. I adjust the towel under my pits, face hot.
“Hello, Nicole.”
Nee-cole.
I swallow, pressing my legs tighter together against a sudden, dull throbbing. “Hello, Dimitri. Thank you for the contacts,” I say, gesturing to my face, like he wouldn’t know where they go.Yes, thank you for supplying me with what I need to ogle you.
He just nods his acceptance of my thanks, so I breeze past it so it’s not awkward. “Did you go back to my place?”
“No, it would not be safe to return to your apartment.” He cocks his head, looking back and forth between my eyes like he can tell that he’s in focus now. “Contacts are more easily obtained. You will receive a new pair of glasses later today.”
I straighten in surprise. “What? You got me… You didn’t have to do that.”
He makes a face. “I am responsible for their loss, so I am also responsible for their replacement.”
All I can do is duck my head and marvel at the reach required for someone to find my prescription without my authorization. Someone knows how to work around a system, or has unfathomable connections.
“Well, thanks. That was nice of you. You look like you came here to shower,” I say, offering a casual-conversation olive branch.
“I did.”
“You also look like you’ve been hit by a truck,” I continue.
Black eyes are an unfortunate cosmetic side effect of a broken nose, and the purple of his bruises looks particularly dark against his pale skin.
“Da,” he allows, a slight teasing edge to his tone. “A small, angry one with surprisingly good aim, even without glasses.”
Well, he’s clearly not still mad about the broken nose. That’s good to know…
Wait.
“Small?” I repeat, snorting as I chew on my lower lip so he won’t see my ridiculous smile. “I was almost six feet tall when I started high school. I’ve been getting things off the top shelf for people in the grocery store since I was in middle school. I’ve never been small. I’m not small.”
