26. Natalia

26

NATALIA

"It does have to do with the Kuznetsovs."

There's no point in dragging out the suspense. I've given Katya enough to worry about these past few months without adding to it now.

"Oh, God." Her bottom lip trembles. "I was worried about that. Was it Viktor or the other one? Did… did one of them catch up to you that night when we made a run for it?"

"The other one," I admit. "Andrey."

"Nat…" Katya looks like she's on the verge of tears. "D-did he hurt you?"

I'm so shocked that I let out a snort of laughter.

Katya pulls back. "So—that's not what happened?"

"Not quite. I actually slept with him."

Her jaw drops.

"But it was totally consensual."

Her eyebrows fly up. "You are kidding me! Why, you little—" She stops short of saying what I know she was going to. Apparently, she's worried that our freshly renewed friendship is still too fragile to withstand a joke.

I launch into the story with as much detail as possible. It feels great, to my complete and total surprise. With every passing minute, my chest gets lighter and lighter.

"… so that was that. He threw a couple of hundred-dollar bills on my coffee table and walked out with the last laugh."

Kat looks furious on my behalf. "How dare?—"

I shake my head with a triumphant smile. "He walked out with the last laugh… or so he thought."

"Oh?"

"Well, after I moved into his pool house—" I don't pause even for Kat's shocked reaction; her mouth has already dropped so low it's nearly hitting the table. "—and he visited me for a quickie in the middle of the night, I'm the one who had the last laugh."

Kat gawks at me. "You don't mean… You paid him after sex?"

I understand her surprise. It's not the kind of thing I would normally do. Truth be told, it's a page right out of her book.

I give her a smug smile. "And then I slammed the door in his face."

"I couldn't be prouder of you." Grinning from ear-to-ear, she starts to applaud.

A big burst of laughter explodes out of me. Heads swivel in our direction—including my curious, blond bodyguard manning the window.

I ignore him and focus on Kat's admiring expression. "Such a legend. Such a fucking legend. Didn't know you had it in you…"

"Being on my own helped some," I admit. "I had to rely on myself."

Kat's face falls. "I let you down."

"It's okay, Kat." I reach for her hand. "You've apologized enough."

She looks doubtful for a moment before she shakes off the guilt and pushes on. "Wait—back up. Why are you living in Andrey Kuznetsov's pool house?!"

And just like that, we've left the fun bit of the story and sailed straight into murky waters. "Erm…"

"Are you with him? Like, with him with him? I know you're sleeping with him, but…"

"That's just for convenience." I wince at how that sounds. "What I mean is, it's a no-strings-attached kind of setup."

"But you're not a no-strings-attached kind of girl."

"Yeah, well—things change."

"Like what?"

"Like the fact that he got me pregnant the night that we slept together the first time," I say in a rush.

If I thought she looked shocked when I revealed that I'd slept with Andrey, it's nothing compared to how she looks now. Her mouth flutters open and closed. For the first time in her life, she's speechless.

Finally, she wiggles a finger in each of her ears. "Did I hear that correctly?"

"I'm pregnant, Kat." I lean back and lay a hand on my tiny baby-bump. "Just over three months now."

"And you knew? When I came to the house that day, you already knew?"

"I had six positive pregnancy tests waiting in the sink for me after I closed the door on you."

She runs her hands over her face. "I can't believe it. Does Annie know?"

"She knows I'm pregnant and she knows I'm living with the baby's father. Apart from that—" I bite my lip. "—I don't want her knowing anything else. I don't want her worrying about me."

Kat's hand tightens around my wrist. "Should I be worried?"

For a second, the question stumps me. I'm not sure myself.

"What I mean is, maybe we can think of an escape plan?" she suggests. "We can pool our savings, quit our jobs, make a run for it. Thelma & Louise style. I can help you raise the baby far away from all this mob bullshit… and then…"

Katya keeps talking, plotting out the next eighteen years of our lives. It means so much to me that she would blow up her entire life just to try and save mine. It reminds me why we're friends in the first place.

She gasps when I launch myself at her from over the table, tears welling in my eyes. "Nat…?"

"It's good to have you back, Katya."

"Does this mean we're changing our names and making a run for it?" she ventures when I finally release her.

I glance at Leonty, who's busy watching me over the rim of his strawberry smoothie. "It's not that simple."

Kat follows my gaze and narrows her eyes at Leonty. "Do you know him?"

"He's my bodyguard."

"He's your what now?"

"One of four, actually," I confess. "They accompany me everywhere, including work."

Kat looks more than a little lost. "So, you're in danger… but not from Andrey himself?"

"Andrey—apart from being a raging asshole most of the time—is actually just concerned with my safety. And the safety of the baby, of course."

Kat exhales. "But then?—"

"He has enemies, Kat," I reveal, lowering my voice. "And those enemies are probably going to come for me if they know I'm carrying his baby."

"This is some serious Sopranos bullshit."

I nod. "My best chance of keeping this baby safe is with Andrey."

Keeping myself safe from Andrey is another matter entirely.

"But—one more time, just to clarify, because I'm a little slow sometimes—you're not together?" Kat asks with a look of intense concentration like she's trying to put together a thousand-piece puzzle. "Even though you're sleeping together?"

"Pretty much."

She falls into a thoughtful silence. "Okay… okay…"

I leave Katya to her ruminations and order us some drinks and tapas. The waitress looks decidedly less disgruntled now that we've finally ordered.

Leonty, on the other hand, is looking more and more restless. He's already finished his drink and he's back to scanning the menu.

"You're not worried?" Kat asks, looking around as though she's paranoid someone might be listening in on us.

"Of course, I am. All the time." For more reasons than the obvious ones. "But what can I do? I have a shitty job, a shitty apartment, and no way to raise a child on my own. At least this way, I don't have to burden Aunt Annie with a screaming infant. Not to mention a twenty-seven-year-old with no prospects for a happy future."

"You're selling yourself short."

"No, I'm being realistic."

Leonty leaves his chair by the window and signals to me that he's going to take a call outside. I give him the thumbs-up while Kat watches with interest.

"I mean, as far as bodyguards go, you could do a lot worse," she mumbles appreciatively.

Her ogling of Leonty is interrupted by a sudden crash.

Someone collided right into the waitress who was bringing us our drinks. Now, they're in a puddle on the floor. The man responsible is apologizing profusely.

"… my fault, I'm so sorry. I should have been looking where I was going."

The waitress looks pissed until she sees that the man who nearly ran her down is tall and handsome. Then she smiles, assures him it's fine, and promises to come right out with fresh drinks for us.

The man turns his hazel eyes on us, and, if I didn't have a pair of steely silver eyes to compare them to, I might be feeling a little weak at the knees.

"I'm so sorry, ladies. That was all my fault." He grins, and I'm sure that smile has gotten him out of more than a few tight spots.

Kat's responding flirty laugh is even more confirmation. "Don't worry about it. It could happen to anyone."

"But it didn't happen to anyone. It happened to me, and right in front of two beautiful women. I have to make it right." He presses a hand to his heart. "I insist on paying for your drinks."

"Totally unnecessary, but highly appreciated," Kat trills before I can say a word.

His eyes flicker to me for a moment. The smile is polite, but curious. "As I said, I insist. My motivations are selfish, anyway. I just want you to leave a better first impression than ‘the klutz who ruined your afternoon.'"

Both his smile and his words are smooth as silk. Apparently, it's working wonders on Katya.

"Who doesn't love getting bathed in pineapple juice?" she teases.

He chuckles. "You and I must have different hobbies."

He smiles and backs away from our table as though he's sad to leave. Katya turns to me with those bright man-eater eyes of hers. "Yummy."

"I'm surprised you didn't ask him to join us."

"We've just been reunited. I can't let some rando interrupt, even if he is incredibly sexy." She watches the man leave with a wistful sigh.

The waitress approaches our table bearing a fresh tray of drinks, as well as the food we ordered. "The whole meal has been taken care of, courtesy of your ‘clumsy friend,'" she says with a slightly put-out sniff.

I can't really blame her. She's the one who nearly got bowled over and we get a free meal. Doesn't seem fair. I resolve to leave her a fat tip, even as an oblivious Kat helps herself to a steaming empanada.

"Great start to our rekindled friendship, huh? Like, good omens." She chews happily. "If only he'd stuck around for a bit."

I scoop up an eggroll and smile. Pretty as the man was, I'm glad it's just us.

I've got enough boy trouble without adding another to the mix.