The Prelude (A Musical Interlude Novel) - By Kasonndra Leigh Page 0,69

will I lose my shop, but now I will lose my legs as well.”

I stand up and embrace him. He seriously needs a hug. His body tenses before he rears back and looks at me, frowning. “What? Can’t I make my boss feel better by giving him a hug?”

A smile spreads across his lips. “This brother of my Juliette’s, he’s good for you, I think. In the past, you would never have been so bold.” He makes a good point, and he’s right.

“All the more reason for you to believe me when I tell you Alek is harmless,” I assure him. It’s his mother that I suspect is the viper in the bunch.

* * *

At dinner, I fill Alek in on what Luca told me. I don’t say a thing about my suspicions regarding Katerina. I could be wrong, and I won’t risk everything Alek and I have worked toward by bad mouthing his mother.

“I’ll look into this,” he announces.

“No, you won’t. I don’t need you fighting my battles. I don’t want to become the girl who’s always acting weak because it’s convenient.” Okay. I don’t really think my words came out the right way.

He turns his lips up in the upside down, quarter moon position that both frightens and turns me on at the same time. “What happened to you, Erin? You keep me close, but you’re still so far away.”

“Life happened, Alek. A lot of bad, hard ass, shit. Excuse my language,” I add.

“Tell me about it. What happened to your father? Your sister? Why do you never talk about your mother? Hell, I’ve never even heard you talk about visiting her.” His eyes plead with me; but he’s asking for things I’ve never given anyone before, emotional things. “Let me in. Please.”

I want to let you in, but I’m scared. Can’t you tell?

Instead of opening up and being honest with him, I do what I’ve always done when someone gets too close. I turn the situation around on the other person. “You don’t tell me everything.”

He scoffs a light laugh. “What would you like to know?”

“For starters, I’d like to know the real reason Adriana chose to come crash at my place. And then, you can tell me why you’re always checking out our surroundings when we go out this way. I can’t believe, you think I haven’t noticed? And I‘d love to know why Katerina, an American woman who uses a Russian name, lives in a completely different country from her estranged husband. Should I go on?”

“I think you’ve made your point.” He inhales deeply. My assault affects him more than I thought it would.

He takes a large gulp of his White Russian. “My father isn’t a very kind man, Erin. He did something long ago that changed our relationship, for the worst. My mother and father have been separated for years. She pisses a tough-as-nails businesswoman act. But deep down inside she’s just as fragile and frightened as you are. The two of you are more alike than you think.”

I’m the one who scoffs this time. “There’s no one alive who is like your mother.”

“Now, it’s my turn,” he says. “Tell me the complete story behind this.” He fingers the butterfly necklace I’ve worn ever since we returned from our mountain getaway. I avert my eyes right away. I’m not ready to expose the part of me that belongs to the memory of my sister.

“Don’t keep shutting me out, Erin. I just opened up and told you things about my parents. Being open and honest this way is hard for me too.”

His eyes ask for so much. If I were to really let go, then I’m sure they’d pull everything from inside me. “If this is all about sex, then why do we need to have this conversation?”

Alek lets out a frustrated sigh. “I don’t know. Kill me for saying this, but I was thinking we were moving beyond the dog chasing the pussy cat game.” Several heads in the café turn in our direction, but Alek doesn’t flinch a bit.

I lean toward him. “That’s what me, the female, is supposed to say.” I’m trying to lighten the moment. I don’t think it’s working.

“Her name. Can you at least tell me your sister’s name?” he asks.

What harm is there in telling him her name?

“Jada. She was my best friend.” I lower my eyes.

Damn the stupid tears that just won’t go away. Alek reaches across the table, taking my small hands in between his large ones.