“Provocative imagery.” I stand, unfolding my long form from the bench, my boner now under control. “Not the first time my life has been threatened when it comes to Nadia.” I meet his gaze without aggression but also without fear.
These guys want to protect Nadia, and I respect that. Something bad has happened to her; that’s quite clear. But they have no idea what’s going on between the two of us, and it really isn’t any of their business. Also, Nadia gets to choose for herself.
“Yeah, every guy in the building will take turns eating your liver with a fork.”
“Too much,” Sasha chides, wrapping her arms around Maxim’s waist and trying to pull him back.
“Enough,” Nadia says with authority.
It must be a new tone for her because both Sasha and Maxim snap their gazes to her with surprise.
“No disrespect, but the only person I’m going to listen to about Nadia is Nadia.” I say it firmly with a hint of challenge in my gaze.
I’m not stupid. I know I would lose a fight against this guy, but that doesn’t mean I’d go down without swinging.
Maxim contemplates me for a moment. “You do you, Flynn,” he says. “I’m just telling you what the consequences will be if she gets hurt.”
“Noted.”
“Okay, moving on!” Sasha tugs Maxim away, giving Nadia an enthusiastic wave and thumbs up as the two leave.
“I’m sorry,” Nadia moans, turning back to me. A blush covers her peaches and cream complexion.
I shrug. “It’s all good.” I’m not going to get my feathers ruffled over people looking out for Nadia. I’m glad she has so many saviors.
Her phone rings, and she startles, like no one ever calls her. I make a mental note to change that. I’m already planning the late night calls from bed. The kind where you tell each other everything–all your deepest thoughts and feelings.
She scrambles to pull it out of her jacket pocket and answer. “Hi, Adrian.”
I can’t hear her brother’s exact words, but his tone is loud and tense, like last night, when he couldn’t find her outside of Rue’s lounge.
“I’m at the lake with Flynn,” she says.
There’s a pause, and then I detect surprise in Adrian’s answer. He speaks a little more, and then Nadia says, “okay” and hangs up.
When she looks at me she wears a mischievous smile. “They are leaving the apartment.”
It takes me just a second to catch her implication. She wants to go back there. We can be unsupervised.
I take her hand. “Let’s go.”
Nadia walks beside me with a light step, darting glances my way. She’s excited–she wants to have sex. I haven’t had planned sex like this since I was in middle school. Yes, I started young.
I’ve had a lot of sex with a lot of different girls. They aren’t conquests to me. I’m not trying to “hit that” or notch the bedpost. It’s just something that happens naturally. I vibe with someone, I want to share pleasure. I don’t get attached. I’m careful to ensure they don’t, either.
My mom says it’s in my DNA. She and my dad broke up and got back together nine times during our childhood before they finally called it quits for good, and it was always over dad cheating. With him, sex seems more like an addiction. Like he craves or requires the sex to prove something to himself. My gut tells me it’s related to the band. They never made it big, but playing in the Nighthawks did bring him women, so he uses sex to make up for dashed dreams.
That might be why I never try too hard at anything. I sensed my dad’s frustration and wanted no part of it. I play music because I love it, not because I’m trying to get to a destination. The fact that we’ve started gaining popularity since we did the Youtube collab with Skate 32 almost makes me uncomfortable. I don’t want to get used to this success in case it evaporates and leaves me disappointed.
I’m not entirely sure what I’m walking into with Nadia. I try not to overthink it. I’m the kind of guy who goes with the flow–I play off others and improvise as necessary. I don’t have an agenda here. I didn’t come to get laid, but I’m also happy to be of service.
When we get back to the building, the front doors are open. The big guard dog is sitting at the front desk. The guy who hates me.
“Hi Maykl.” Nadia gives him a wave and shy smile as we come in, and his eyes nearly bug out of his head.
“Nadia,” he says in surprise. “You were out.”
I don’t like the way her face colors, and she seems disconcerted. I wonder if her anxiety might be more pervasive than I’d realized. It sounds like she doesn’t go out at all. Except that doesn’t make sense because she’s come to my shows a number of times. She definitely leaves the building.
“Yeah.” She sounds breathless. “I went to the lake with Flynn. You know Flynn? From the Storytellers?”
The giant, heavily-tattooed Russian nods without giving me a smile.
“Hey.” I lift my hand.
He doesn’t return the gesture.
Whatever.
I follow Nadia to the elevator, and she pulls out her keycard to get us on.
“Heavy security in this building,” I observe.
A shadow crosses her face. “It’s good,” she says. “We are safe here.”
I hate that she hasn’t felt safe. That security is something she clings to and needs. I want to remedy it for her, but I don’t know how, other than to keep distracting her in the moments when she’s afraid. Just like I distract my mom from her pain.
I kiss her again because it always seems to work, and she lightens up. When the elevator door opens, her laugh is breathy, and she breezes off.
“Come on.” She looks over her shoulder with a smile as she jogs toward her apartment.