Page 92 of Just Friends
WHACK!
—a blistering crack rang out against Reavo’s back.
“Ow!” Reavo jumped to his feet and spun around to glare at Niko. The Russian kept the weapon hidden behind his back. “What the fuck was that?! What’d you just hit me with?”
Niko revealed the broom-like cluster of leafy tree branches. “Avenik.”
“Is that an oakbranch?” Reavo asked, puzzled. “Where’d you even get that?”
The Russian gleefully pointed out the gigantic window. “From out there. Duh.”
“The hell did you cut them with?” Reavo asked. “A saw?”
“Ya. Branch saw.”
“Unreal,” Reavo scoffed. “Bring you to a luxury spa, and what do you do? You wander out onto their private property, chopping down oak trees like Paul fuckin’ Bunyan, to make aswitchfor the sauna? You’re definitely gonna get us kicked out of here.” He sat again, keeping a watchful eye on Niko. “Don’t even think about hitting me with that thing again.”
Maybe the heat was making me loopy, but I couldn’t help but laugh. Actually, every Russian teammate I’ve ever had made me laugh. Like Niko, they were completely nuts but insanely lovable, too.
“What’s avenikfor, Niko?” I asked.
“Glad you ask,” he said. “Help muscle. No more aches and pains. Good for blood, too. Get things moving, you know?” He looked at his stick and gave a shrug. “You tryvenik, Big Rig?”
“Yeah, I’ll give it a try.”
“Good. Lay down.”
I laid face-down on the bench.Swat, swat, swat.Niko smacked thevenikup and down my back with differing speeds and intensities—mostly light, but some just hard enough to sting.
“How is it?” he asked.
My skin began to tingle. Maybe I was having a heat induced hallucination, but I reallydidstart to feel like things were starting to move beneath my skin.
“It’s kinda nice, actually,” I said, surprised.
“See, Derek? Is nice,” Niko said.
“Maybe it’s nice if you’reexpectingto get hit,” Reavo grumbled. “You lured me down to the front row just so you could whack me with a tree branch out of nowhere. Scared the shit out of me, kid.”
Niko snickered deviously. Yeah, he liked to stir the pot with Reavo sometimes. Then again, Reavo played pranks on Niko all the time, too. They really were becoming more and more like blood brothers.
Swat, swat, swatwent thevenik.Niko thrashed those sticks against my back until my nerves were on pins and needles. Soon my entire backside felt like it floated above me, buzzing and swirling like a vortex.
The treatment ended when a mechanical timer buzzed.
“Okay. Twenty minutes is over,” Niko said.
“Thank Jesus,” Reavo panted, rushing over to put on his swimming trunks.
“That’s it?” I asked. I felt like I was just starting to acclimate to the heat.
“That’s round one,” Niko said. “Now we take cold shower, cool off, before round two.”
“Nope. No round two for me,” Reavo said. “You guys can knock yourself out, but I’m done.” He swiped his shorts up his legs and sprinted out the door, as red as a lobster. “See ya!”
Niko turned to me with a sneaky smile. “Derek don’t likebanya.Too bad.”
“You gotta admit,” I said, giving his shoulder a small push, “you enjoy torturing him, don’t you?”
