By the time Marci came back to offer us dessert, I was craving the ride home. I was just about to decline and suggest that it was getting late when Marco looked up at me with a hopeful expression. We ordered dessert to share. I was sure that was another presumptuous dig at me to not spoil my figure, but I decided to ignore my own insecurities.
I was glad we’d decided to share. The sight of the monstrous sized chocolate fudge cake was enough to have me shaking in my boots. We took turns forking off bites of cake, silence finally started to seep in. Dessert dragged to an end, and we sipped coffee from bright white coffee cups, Marco cracked me a slimy-looking half-smile.
“So. Do you wanna come back to my place, or should we go somewhere for drinks first?”
Wait, what?
I resisted laughing in his face. Wow, I had been so off the mark. Did he not know that this date was going so badly? Like so extremely bad that it may have just been admitted to the Guinness Book of World Records.
Neither, bucko…
As if he thought he was going to get anywhere with me.
“I’m sorry, but I’m actually not feeling too well. I think I’m just gonna take off.” I gave him my best apologetic smile-wince and put a hand over my stomach, trying but probably failing to look at least half-way convincing.
Inside I was still laughing my ass off, almost as if he’d told a joke. That was it though, he must have been joking. Otherwise, he was even more of a fucking idiot than he first let on.
“Oh.” I could tell immediately that I’d surprised him. He hadn’t expected that, which confused me. Had he really thought that the date was going well? Maybe I should have talked more — that might have put him off…
“I’m gonna go outside for some fresh air, and call a cab,” I said, standing from the table with no small amount of relief. “It was, well, thanks, Marco. Goodnight.”
Marci smiled at me as I walked through the dining room to go and stand in the foyer, leaving Marco to sort out the bill on his own.
Afraid of waiting on the sidewalk outside the restaurant in case Marco passed me by, I began walking down the street. It wasn’t too late and there were still plenty of people out and about. I rationalized that it was safe enough for me to wander for a bit.
My god, what a shitty night.
The date had only been to humor my parents. Thank fuck I wasn’t actually going out with that prick. It was a shame really, had he been Nikolai, that might have been a perfect date. With drinks after? Who knows, it might really have been one for the books.
A tight grip latched onto my arm and yanked me away from the streetlight and into a side alley. I opened my mouth and screamed bloody murder. This was it. My life flashed before my eyes as I fought with everything in me to gain distance.
My futile attempts only managed to increase my heartrate, fear chilling the blood that pumped through my veins. By now, I’d known this adrenaline high well. It was my fight or flight response kicking in.
After everything I’d been through, I was not going to go down like this. Those words felt familiar. Maybe it had nothing to do with what I’d been through in the past. Maybe it was just how I was wired, my stubborn side showing as I refused to back down.
A familiar scent invaded my senses as the man's arms wrapped tightly around me, effectively stopping any more physical resistance. The smell. I knew it well, but couldn’t put my finger on it.
We moved further down the alley, my feet barely being able to touch the ground. I was shoved. My back hit the hard brick building; a hand covered my mouth as my eyes finally locked on his. The alley may have been dark but there wasn’t anything to entirely block out the light coming from the street. Where we were, a soft glow touched us, bouncing off Nikolai’s wet dark hair and giving me a glimpse of his eyes.
Furious within an instant of realizing whose arms were wrapped around me, I pushed at his chest. For a second, I wondered if I would have preferred to be dragged off by a stranger, at least that would have meant that Nikolai hadn’t lied to me.
He lied to me. Right to my fucking face.
“What the fuck are you doing here, Nikolai?” I hissed at him after ripping his hand away from my mouth.
“The more pressing question is, what the fuck are you doing wandering the streets?” He hissed right back at me, seeming just as furious. “Alone, and at this time of night. You should know better, Ana.”
“Nikolai!” I snapped.
“We have an agreement. You asked me to trust you. That meant trusting you to keep yourself safe while you were here. You didn’t know that I was still in town, what if something had actually happened to you and I hadn't been here. Did you even think Ana?”
I sucked in a deep breath; he was angry because he was worried about me. And he was worried about me because he loved me. I took a second to try and put myself in his shoes, and suddenly I sympathized with him.
I knew it was a hard ask for him to leave me even before I asked it.
“How long have you been following me?”
Please. Please lord, tell me he only just got back to town.
“Since you told me to leave.” He struggled to get the words out through gritted teeth.
I hung my head in defeat. He saw the date. Not to mention everything else - the dress shopping, the flouncing around
