means, I forced myself to hold his gaze, my jaw clenched tightly. I felt sure this was a special achievement and thought I might even add it to my resume.
“Princess... you’re definitely the most frustrating individual I've ever met.”
“Look who’s talking!”
“In fact, you don’t even need a bodyguard. After only five minutes with you, even Khalil would run away screaming.”
Chapter 4 - Playing with Fire
Eyes fixed on the TV in front of me, I was stretched out on the couch in the lounge, trying to concentrate on a History Channel documentary about medieval cathedrals which I watched every Saturday. Unfortunately, it was pretty hard to focus thanks to the huge distraction in an armchair across the room.
With one foot resting on the coffee table, Alex looked completely at ease as he faked being engrossed by the book in his hands. It was a cute idea that one of Nikolai’s men might be in the habit of picking up a book from time to time, and I might have fallen for the scam if it had been some cheap detective story, but Dostoevsky? No one whose thoughts revolved around weapons and killing could possibly be interested in him. The title said a lot, though – ‘The Idiot’.
For a couple of days I’d been doing my best to spend as little time as possible in Alex’s company, but somehow, he always found a way to settle his butt near me though, making a point of keeping me under surveillance. He probably had it in mind that I’d take the first available chance to escape.
Clever son of a bitch...
The man was natural born spy and his dedication drove me to the edge of sanity. I was sure that he could find a needle in a haystack, even in the dark. Several times, between classes, I'd tried to pass under his radar by darting down different hallways or hiding round corners, but it never worked. At the very moment when I thought I’d made my escape and drew my first free breath, he’d show up out of the blue. It was hard to fathom just how he managed it.
The large clock on the wall showed ten, which meant it would soon be time to get ready for a night out with Paolo and Beth, so I turned off the TV and headed for the kitchen to grab something to eat. Walking past Alex on the way, I tried to ignore his stare. Unfortunately, the looks he gave me weren’t so easy to ignore.
I’d opened the fridge and was weighing up its contents when I felt someone touch the lower part of my back, sending sparks shooting out across the rest of my body.
“Is that what I think it is?”
Standing behind me, Alex was holding up the hem of my t-shirt and tracing the line of my scar with his fingertips. It was close to my hip and just visible above the waistband of my jeans. I took a step back, pulled my top down firmly and shoved a plate of macaroni into the microwave, avoiding his eyes.
“Leave me alone! ” I snapped back at him and watched as the plate moved round and round, steaming up the glass.
Whenever anyone asked me how I’d ended up with the scar, I made up some stupid story about how I’d had this hip surgery or something as a kid. I never thought about spilling the beans - how some idiots had tried to kidnap me, and that a bullet grazed my side in the process. Almost fifteen years had passed since that happened, and what was once a thin, pale line was now fatter and uglier thanks to growing and stretching. Nikolai wanted me to have some expensive plastic surgery to remove it, but whenever he brought it up I refused. I guess I took some grim kind of satisfaction from it, and wore it as a badge to remind me that every day should be lived to the full, since it could always be my last.
“Sasha, I asked you a question.”
“And I told you to leave me alone!”
I took out the half-warmed dinner, set the plate down heavily on the table and sat down. Alex stayed two meters away looking a little edgy and it seemed like he had no intention of leaving me alone until I’d answered him. I sighed, feeling
“Princess... you’re definitely the most frustrating individual I've ever met.”
“Look who’s talking!”
“In fact, you don’t even need a bodyguard. After only five minutes with you, even Khalil would run away screaming.”
Chapter 4 - Playing with Fire
Eyes fixed on the TV in front of me, I was stretched out on the couch in the lounge, trying to concentrate on a History Channel documentary about medieval cathedrals which I watched every Saturday. Unfortunately, it was pretty hard to focus thanks to the huge distraction in an armchair across the room.
With one foot resting on the coffee table, Alex looked completely at ease as he faked being engrossed by the book in his hands. It was a cute idea that one of Nikolai’s men might be in the habit of picking up a book from time to time, and I might have fallen for the scam if it had been some cheap detective story, but Dostoevsky? No one whose thoughts revolved around weapons and killing could possibly be interested in him. The title said a lot, though – ‘The Idiot’.
For a couple of days I’d been doing my best to spend as little time as possible in Alex’s company, but somehow, he always found a way to settle his butt near me though, making a point of keeping me under surveillance. He probably had it in mind that I’d take the first available chance to escape.
Clever son of a bitch...
The man was natural born spy and his dedication drove me to the edge of sanity. I was sure that he could find a needle in a haystack, even in the dark. Several times, between classes, I'd tried to pass under his radar by darting down different hallways or hiding round corners, but it never worked. At the very moment when I thought I’d made my escape and drew my first free breath, he’d show up out of the blue. It was hard to fathom just how he managed it.
The large clock on the wall showed ten, which meant it would soon be time to get ready for a night out with Paolo and Beth, so I turned off the TV and headed for the kitchen to grab something to eat. Walking past Alex on the way, I tried to ignore his stare. Unfortunately, the looks he gave me weren’t so easy to ignore.
I’d opened the fridge and was weighing up its contents when I felt someone touch the lower part of my back, sending sparks shooting out across the rest of my body.
“Is that what I think it is?”
Standing behind me, Alex was holding up the hem of my t-shirt and tracing the line of my scar with his fingertips. It was close to my hip and just visible above the waistband of my jeans. I took a step back, pulled my top down firmly and shoved a plate of macaroni into the microwave, avoiding his eyes.
“Leave me alone! ” I snapped back at him and watched as the plate moved round and round, steaming up the glass.
Whenever anyone asked me how I’d ended up with the scar, I made up some stupid story about how I’d had this hip surgery or something as a kid. I never thought about spilling the beans - how some idiots had tried to kidnap me, and that a bullet grazed my side in the process. Almost fifteen years had passed since that happened, and what was once a thin, pale line was now fatter and uglier thanks to growing and stretching. Nikolai wanted me to have some expensive plastic surgery to remove it, but whenever he brought it up I refused. I guess I took some grim kind of satisfaction from it, and wore it as a badge to remind me that every day should be lived to the full, since it could always be my last.
“Sasha, I asked you a question.”
“And I told you to leave me alone!”
I took out the half-warmed dinner, set the plate down heavily on the table and sat down. Alex stayed two meters away looking a little edgy and it seemed like he had no intention of leaving me alone until I’d answered him. I sighed, feeling
Similar Books
