Knocked Up By the Russian Boss by Bella King
Chapter 26
IVORY
“Now, don’t be calling no fucking ambulance either. I don’t need that shit at my bar. Too many questions last time,” Ryan continues barking at the man, now in tears as white foam begins to pour from his girlfriend’s mouth.
I’m appalled. I’ve seen people take too much molly before, their jaws grinding to no end while they dance sloppily on strangers. I’ve never seen anybody actually overdose.
The woman’s eyes, glazed over and unreactive, are fixed directly on me as if she couldn’t find anybody more terrified to stare into.
“Is she going to be okay?” I ask Maxim, who seems completely unfazed.
Ryan has poured Maxim a tumbler of straight vodka, and he sips it casually, almost like he’s bored and waiting for something else to happen, like a guaranteed death instead of just the possibility of one.
I shouldn’t have let Maxim bring me here. I let my feelings cloud my judgment in a major way.
Can sex really do that to a person? One moment I’m a clueless virgin in my pristine world of marble floors and caviar, and then I allow a man to stick his cock in me, and now I feel like I’m in an alternate universe where the sun is gone, and everybody is diseased.
Is this just how life is for other people?
“Maxim, can we please leave?” I ask. There’s a distinct whine in my voice that makes me cringe, reminiscent of the way I used to beg my parents to take me home from church when I was younger.
He glances at me, confused and a little annoyed. “What? That’s just Ronnie and Cam. This happens all the time. She’s just an addict, don’t worry about it,” he replies nonchalantly as he throws back the last of his vodka.
But of course, I’m worried. I know nothing about emergency medicine or CPR, and now I feel helpless to assist in saving this woman’s life if her boyfriend can’t get her into the car. All I can do is watch as the only other people in the bar look on in bored disgust.
“Maxim, please! Can we leave?” I assert, grasping onto his wrist and almost digging my nails in.
He sighs heavily, rolling his eyes as he slides his glass across the bar.
Ryan and Maxim exchange glances as we leave, and I’m careful not to step on the convulsing woman as we exit the bar.
“What was that?! You were acting like you see that every day!” I shout, my self-awareness dwindling as my anxiety and panic take over.
“Don’t you go to parties all the time? It was a heroin overdose. It happens all the time. Get some naloxone in her ass, and she’ll be back at it in a few hours,” he replies, opening the passenger door for me.
“Yes, I’ve been to parties, but my friends don’t do those kinds of drugs,” I reply.
This isn’t entirely true. Some of my friends have done heroin in the past, but I’ve never seen any of them like that before. I’ll be seeing that lady in my nightmares for weeks.
What have I gotten myself into? I still have no idea who Maxim really is, and he’s led me to a part of town where people casually overdose in bars and get stepped over. The streets around here are crawling with derelict businesses with bars on the windows, and groups of men hanging out near the entrance of the bar are staring at me like I’m their last meal on death row.
Maxim ignores me as we drive away, and even though I feel disrespected, I’m just grateful that we’re leaving.
When we arrive back at the apartment building, I’m almost too annoyed to even speak to Maxim, but then he glances over at me with his deep brown eyes, and my guard falls immediately.
“Do you want to come into my place for a bit? Let me make it up to you,” he says, his voice softer than before, possibly a hint of guilt for being so dismissive of me earlier.
I contemplate just telling him I’m tired and going to my own apartment, but then I’d feel like I had to behave a certain way for the whole rest of the day, given the possibility of him seeing me. He does live here, too, after all. For how long, I’m not sure.
“I guess so,” I reply hesitantly. Spending more time with him might at least lend me a bit more insight into who this person is, and then I can make the decision to stay away from him if I need to.
He leads me to the apartment directly below mine, and I’m immediately suspicious. How could he have been in the next apartment without me even knowing? He couldn’t have lived there for very long. I may not know that many people in this building, but I’ve seen enough of them around that I’d know if a new person was here or if someone had already existed here before like they said they had.
“I think I’m just going to go home. I need to lie down,” I say, hoping to conceal my suspicion with a lie.
“Really?”
“Yes, really,” I reply, giving him a fake smile. “It was a nice time. I’m just tired.”
“Alright, just don’t get your head too twisted up about the drug stuff. It happens,” he says in a softer voice.
It happens.
I walk into my apartment, and immediately my mind is racing. Why does Maxim have such close contact with me suddenly? I met him hardly two weeks ago, and suddenly he attends my school and lives in my apartment building, always conveniently wherever I am?
As I take off my dress and slip into my favorite t-shirt, I feel like I’m being watched. I know it’s illogical and stupid to be afraid of an intruder without any evidence of there being one, but for some reason, I feel like there’s been someone else in my apartment.
Maybe not today, maybe not yesterday, but the feeling lingers. I think I’m just a little shaken by Maxim’s apartment being so close to mine.
It’s probably nothing, but I still feel weird. Maybe I’m just overwhelmed by the events of today. It’s been rough but incredible at the same time. My mind can’t focus on one thing for more than a few seconds.
