Dimitri crept up the stairs, his gut clenching at the openly flirting tone in the man’s voice. Could Rya have someone waiting at home for her? He tried to tell himself that it didn’t matter, that she was his for right now and that he had no concern about who she fucked after he left for Russia, but his gut churned with anger.
She laughed, the sound unguarded and full of genuine joy. His glut clenched at the thought of anyone making her laugh like that. He wanted to be the one to make her laugh, to make her smile. The greed for her affection burned through his blood like an addictive drug, driving him crazy.
Rya sighed with obvious exasperation. “When I get home I’m going to smack you upside your head.”
The man coughed. “What if I said it’s my last request?”
“No.”
“Where are you, by the way, Rya?”
She was silent for a moment, then said in a soft voice. “I’m in Sedona, Arizona. You should see it, Mark, it’s beautiful.”
“Drove my truck through there once. Prettiest sky you’ve ever seen at night. Do you have someone to watch those stars with, beautiful?”
Dimitri froze, part of him wanting Rya to tell that man that yes, she had someone to watch the stars with, the other part of him fearing that she would potentially endanger them both by using his name.
After a few long seconds she sighed. “No, no I don’t.”
Almost at the top of the stairs, Dimitri moved as slowly as possible, but was surprised when the man said, “That’s a shame. I keep hoping someone will come sweep you off your feet. If I’d met you five years ago I wouldn’t have let you go.”
When Dimitri lifted his head to see Rya, he found her with her back to him and her laptop open as she sat on the bed. He shifted enough to see who she was talking to and at first he couldn’t make sense of the person on the screen of her laptop. It was a middle aged man, and while he’d once probably been very handsome, an obvious illness had ravaged him. He sat up in a hospital bed, a tube coming out of his nose and dark circles beneath his sunken eyes. The flesh hung off his bones and to Dimitri he almost looked like a still moving cadaver, but there was a gleam in the man’s eyes as he smiled at Rya that was still full of life.
While Dimitri tried to figure out what the hell was going on, Rya hugged her knees to her chest. “That’s just assuming you could catch me in the first place. You know you have no game. None of the nurses have given you a pity blow job yet.”
Mark laughed. “I can’t believe you won’t honor a dying man’s last wish.” For a long moment Rya was silent and the man on the screen sighed. “Hey now, no sad face. I get enough of those around here already.”
Sitting up straight, Rya nodded. “Sorry. I’m just in a mood right now.”
“I’d bet you’d feel better if you gave me a blow job.”
Laughing, Rya shook her head. “Pervert.”
A woman’s voice came from the computer. “Mark, I told you to stop talking dirty to the nurses. The last thing I want to see when I come visit you is my baby brother doing that. Yuck.”
The woman that appeared on the screen next to the man smiled at the camera. She bore a striking resemblance to the sick man and Dimitri had a disconcerting image of what the man must have looked like while he was healthy. The woman winked at Rya. “How’s your vacation?”
Rya waved at the screen. “Hi, Charlotte. Great, I’m having a wonderful time.”
The woman on the screen gently stroked the man’s shoulder. “Good. Now, you’ve seen that Mark is still around to annoy us, so get the hell off your computer and go vacation.”
With a sigh Rya stretched out her arms. “Fine, fine. I don’t have my cell phone on me, but I’ll check it. Call me if you need me or email me.”
They said their goodbyes and Rya slowly closed the screen to her laptop, then began to cry in soft sobs. His heart broke for her and he sat down quietly on the stairs. He wanted to comfort her, to ask her who those people were, but he couldn’t because then she’d know he was spying on her. It went without saying that she would consider that a betrayal of trust, but it made his chest ache to hear the sound of her pain.
Sneaking back downstairs as quickly as possible, he moved across the living room and opened the door, then shut it loudly. Rya’s sobs immediately cut off, and a moment later, she ran down the stairs. He took one look at her red eyes and damp cheeks before opening his arms to her. With a sound that was a mixture of sorrow and relief, she threw herself at him. He swept her up and held her close before moving to the couches before the fireplace. Needing to soothe her, to somehow take away her sadness, he deposited her on the sofa before turning on the gas fire. By the time he sat down and pulled her onto his lap again her cries had gentled to hitching breaths followed by long, shuddering sighs.