I wouldn't. He had every right to be angry with me.
"Are you just going to stand there and say nothing?" Kova asked, crestfallen.
I shrugged helplessly. "What do you want me to say? That you're right and I'm wrong? Fine, Kova. You're right. You're always right. My ego stood in the way today. I didn't want to show weakness because I got exactly what I asked for and then some. I was afraid if I did then you would think I couldn't handle it. I wasn't expecting not to be able to walk. Push came to shove, and I acted on impulse and bit off more than I could chew."
Without hesitation, Kova reached down and scooped me up into his arms.
"What… What are you doing?" I slapped his shoulder as he bent down to grab my bag before heading toward the front door. "Put me down."
"You were right—I worked you too hard. I was cross earlier and took it out on you. Believe me, I know you can handle what I dish out, but no one would be able to do what you did today and walk out skipping. I was being a dick."
I threw my hands up dramatically. "There is a god! I'm so glad you recognized your dickness for the first time in your life. I feel like we should have a moment of silence."
"Dickness?" he repeated like it was a bad taste. "Sometimes I do not understand you Americans and your choice of words. You make sayings up as you go."
I laughed. "Yes, your default personality is a dick. It means you can be an angry Russian asshole sometimes."
He side-eyed me. He knew I was right based on that look alone. "I swear, your goal since coming here is to aggravate me as much as you can. Why are all women the same? Every one of you females are born with a brazen tongue us men want to cut out. "
"Oh, so you expect us to just allow you to speak any which way you want and we take it? Typical man." I patted his chest. "Put me down."
He ignored me and kept walking.
"You know, this is why I sometimes call you Captain Dickhead in my head."
He feigned a grimace, and I smiled from ear to ear. He wouldn't stay mad at me for long. "Put me down. I'm capable of walking to my car."
"We are not going to your car, we are going to mine. I will pick up your slack today," he mumbled under his breath.
"Pick up my slack today? This is your fault, Kova. You just admitted it. Jesus Christ. Just put me down."
Kova pushed the door open with his back and carried me to his car. He opened the passenger door and carefully deposited me onto the seat. Within minutes, we were on the road.
"No more talking. Your voice is giving me a headache."
I glared at him. "It's Sunday. Surely you have plans with your girlfriend."
He didn’t answer me.
"Why are you doing this?"
Kova's cell phone rang. It was hooked up to his Bluetooth so the ringing echoed loudly in the small space. The caller ID popped up on his dash. Katja. He declined it immediately.
"How am I going to get to practice tomorrow since my truck is at World Cup?"
Again, he ignored me and that fired me up.
"What is your damn problem?" I yelled, but he continued to ignore me and pulled into a gas station. He picked up two bags of ice and placed them in his trunk, then drove in the direction of my condo.
"See, this is the exact scenario where I call you Captain Dickhead in my head."
He stayed quiet. His cell rang again, and again he declined it.
I huffed under my breath with a shake of my head. "You know, I should've just lied and yes'd you to death. Then we wouldn't be in this situation together." I glanced over at him. "From now on, I'll just respond with yes to every question."
"I would prefer that, but we both know you will never hold true to it."
"Ah, so he speaks again. And here I thought you forgot your English. You're not coming in."
"Too bad. I am doing my job. I got you into this…condition." He waved his hand toward me. "I will help you get out of it."
Lowering my voice, I said, "I don't want you coming up to my condo." Didn't he know by now that nothing good could come from us being alone?