Perfect Opposite (2 page)

Did he think I hadn’t noticed the ‘new’ guard who’d appeared at the entrance on the day I moved in? Or that the residents from the floor below me had vacated almost immediately and that no others had replaced them after almost a year? Not to mention the fact that the bakery opposite my building had a new owner.

“I just want to know you're safe.”

“Oh never mind… forget it,” I raised my arms out of frustration, “I don’t think you brought me here to ask about what you already know. Cut to the chase, please, ‘cause I don’t have time to jump through hoops every time you’ve a mind to make me.”

“There have been some... complications.”

I turned towards him and regarded him carefully, trying to glean something from his face. For most people, “complications” would amount to problems repaying a loan or having a busted engine on the station wagon, but for my father it meant an almighty shitstorm with truly catastrophic consequences.

“What kind of complications?” I asked, feeling a lump forming in my throat.

“You have to come back home with me.”

“Not
gonna happen,” I said and turned my head away, “I told you I do not plan on living in the same city as you, let alone in the same house!”

“Sasha! I only let you live on your own because you ran away the last time I locked you in the house. I thought it would be safer like this, less risky than
having you roaming the streets and hanging around those places where your so-called friends live. “

“And why are we going over the same ground now? You won’t make me change my mind, you know that
. “

“Things have changed,” he sighed and ran his fingers through his thick fair hair, “I went into a business with some... dangerous people.”

“Dangerous? Nikolai, but you're one of those ‘dangerous people’. Maybe one of the worst,” a hysterical burst of laughter threatened to overtake me, but then I saw the expression on his face and I choked it back.

“What happened?” I asked quietly.

“There’s been a misunderstanding, a bloody one, that's what happened. Some idiot planted a bomb in Khalil’s car last night and he’s decided it was us.”

“Khalil
Sherazi? Your partner? ”

“Yeah.
He called this morning to inform me that he holds me personally responsible and that he’s canceled our payload agreement.”

I felt my stomach contract, because I knew from experience what this might lead to. In spite of everything, and above all else, I loved my father and I didn’t want anything bad to happen to him.

“I don’t get it... If Khalil called you, that means he’s ok. Why would he threaten to take revenge then? Are you planning to escape or what? Is that why you came... to tell me we’ll never see each other again?”

“They’re guided by the laws of the vendetta
, Princess. It’s an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth...” and then he gave me a look I’d never seen before, “Khalil wasn’t in the car that exploded. His daughter was.”

There was nothing to hear in the long moments that followed, save for the engines of cars passing by the other side of the park. My eyes were fixed on the tips of his fingers as I turned this information around in my mind, before I finally responded.

“I get it. All of it. But I'm not going anywhere, no matter what. I can’t leave everything I have here because of some crazy Iranian who probably doesn’t even know I exist… and even if he does, how’s he gonna find me? I have new documents, your guard dogs are everywhere...”

When I left home two
years ago, the first thing I did was go to the town hall and change my name. All my papers said Sasha Meyers, so I had it in my mind that no one ought to connect me to Sasha Navarova any more.

“
I don’t want to take the risk. I don’t want to think about what I’d do if you got hurt.”

“And I can’t live like that! All day long, cooped up staring at four walls just because you’re into some crazy shit with some of your mafia partners again! I'm sorry, but
that's not gonna happen. You can’t make me.”

“I'll cut you off and cancel your cards.”

“You know very well that won’t stop me. It wouldn’t be the first time you tried it.”

“I know...” he nervously scraped his hair. “Good... If you don’t want to go back, then someone has to be with you all the time.”

“No! I’m done with bodyguards...”

”Enough! Listen to me very carefully now. You’re either coming back home where I know you’re safe, or someone comes to guard you. No two ways about it.”

“But Dad...” I started, but fell silent when I saw the look in his eyes.

I could see that if I said no, he’d put me in his car and drive me out to one of his estates where he’d keep me under close watch, far away from my new life. I shuddered at the prospect.

“Okay. But if you're thinking of bringing some dumb grunt to follow me around in a suit like a human tank - forget it. I don’t plan on turning my life into a circus. Send me Vova.”

“
Vova?” he blurted and looked me full in the face, “You want me to send you Vova!?”

“Well... he's normal. And we got along well,” I shrugged.

The term ‘normal’ didn’t really apply to the people who worked for my father. The fact I considered this one-eyed mountain of a man normal, though he wore a dagger even when he visited the can, spoke volumes about the rest of Nikolai’s team. Nevertheless, Vova was one of the few who didn’t scare me half to death when I saw him. I just couldn’t be afraid of someone who taught me how to tie my shoes when I was four, or hid the remnants of vases I broke playing in the house.

“The man who set his mind on killing you was just about to buy ten trucks loaded with automatic weapons. Who knows how many
of his men are running around with your picture right now, and you want me to send the ageing butler to watch your back?!”

I bowed my head and eyed Nikolai angrily as he pulled
a cell from his pocket and hit a speed dial number. He spoke in Russian, the language I never used but understood most of it, and I listened as he started to give orders.

“I need someone to come here and stay with Sasha”, he
said, his brows furrowed in the manner he adopted when turning over a serious issue.

“
No, not him”, he looked at me for a second and seemed to weigh the situation before answering. ”I want you to come.”

The person at th
e end of the line exploded then and an outburst followed that was peppered with a host of such creative curses that for a moment I sat there dumbstruck. Never in my life had I heard anyone stand up to Nikolai, much less dare to hurl abuse at him that way.

“Shut your dirty mouth, Aleksey! I don’t care if supplies are late. You’d better get here in the morning, is that clear?” my father yelled into the phone and then hung up, not waiting for an answer.

“Who was that?” I asked, my eyebrows firmly raised.

“
Your new bodyguard.”

“Well I figured,” I said sarcastically and turned my eyes up to the sky, “Do I know him?”

“No. He’s only been with us a couple of years.”

“Interesting... It’s really not like you to trust anyone you don’t know well.”

“Yes, but Aleksey is an exception. Don’t worry, you'll be safe with him.”

He looked at his watch and slowly got up from the bench
. Immediately, two men in dark suits appeared behind him, as conjured into existence.

“One of my men will see you home. Aleksey and I will come to your place in the morning. Make sure Bethany’s not there when we arrive.”

I nodded and turned to leave, but he reached for my arm and drew me closer, hugging me tightly.

“I love you, Princess.”

“I know,” I sighed, as I freed myself from his embrace and started for home. I tried not to pay attention to the hulking bald goon trailing behind me.

Chapter
2 - Just a Minor Adjustment

I woke up around nine, after tossing and turning all night long. Feeling mad and still tired, I snatched up a pillow and hurled it towards the corner of the room, hoping it would make me feel better. It didn’t.

Cursing under my breath, I dragged myself out of bed and into the kitchen, where a note stuck to the
fridge caught my eye. I plucked it off and, frowning, tried to decipher what Bethany had scrawled in her own unique hand. It took a few moments to get beyond the butterflies and flowers drawn between or even over the words, but then it sank in that Beth had gone to classes, and wouldn’t be back till the evening. I felt relieved.

I had no idea how I was going to explain the huge bald monster in a suit and tie that was suddenly following me around. An image kept returning to my mind, of him waddling from side to side like a penguin, one hand resting permanently on the gun under his arm as he glared at anyone around.

“Great. Just great,” I muttered and started fixing some breakfast.

I spent the whole morning slouching around, trying to find something to occupy my thoughts and take my mind off what was to come. Doing chores didn’t help and neither did TV, so I gave up on trying to do anything useful and chose instead to pamper myself with a long, hot bubble bath. I filled the tub, put on some soulful music and immersed myself in the water, to which I’d added fully half a jar of scented bath salts. After lathering up my hair, I rested my head against the rim of the tub and let my thoughts drift gently away.

A shrill, persistent ringing on the bell brought me out of the slumber I’d somehow sunk into. Climbing out of the tub, I wrapped the nearest towel around me and ran to get the door, water dripping all the way and leaving small puddles wherever I stepped.

“I’m coming,” I shouted, but the ringing didn’t stop.

Still quite disoriented from the rude awakening, I threw the door open without looking through the spy hole.

“Beth, for God’s sake, if you forgot the key again, I swear...” my voice trailed off in
mid sentence.

Instead of Bethany’s blush-red cheeks, which I expected to see, I found myself face to face
with a horrible white skull.

My jaw dropped
and I found myself staring open-mouthed for a few split seconds until I realized it was actually someone’s T-shirt I was looking at. I blinked a few times to bring myself round a little, then let myself look again.

This time I saw two strong hands with the thumbs hooked casually through the belt loops on some faded jeans. Dark shapes and interwoven patterns extended along their length and seemed to merge
slowly, taking what seemed like an age to form one solid figure. Still shaking my head from the feeling this wasn’t really happening, my eyes moved upwards so that I was fully able to regard my visitor.

Frowning, and with one shoulder resting against the frame, a guy I’d never seen before stood at my door, watching me with interest. His hair was trimmed close to his scalp at the sides, but on top it was longer and stood up straight, forming a spiky
mohawk. His left eyebrow was broken by a scar and a single silver hoop shone next to the spot. Dumbfounded, I studied his eyes, which seemed to be some color between green and blue. Gray, I decided.

Even though his nose was slightly crooked, as if it had been broken few times and his features were too harsh for him to be anyone’s idea of cute, this was definitely the most attractive man I’d ever seen. And, he was huge.

“Oh God,” I gasped

“Close.
But, not quite right,” towering over me, he replied in a husky voice “Guess again”.

“What?”

“Well, you said Oh God… Try again.”

A chill ran up my spine.
Everything about him screamed ‘run like hell’ but there I was, rooted to the spot, not allowing my gaze to drift from his icy gray eyes. From nowhere I remembered that some predators can hypnotize their victims with a stare. And that’s just how I felt – like a cornered animal stunned into submission.

“Close your mouth, you’ll catch flies,” he instructed, and just like that I snapped of the trance I’d fallen into.

“Who are you? What do you want?” I took a quick step back, glad the gift of speech had finally come back to me.

He cocked his head to one side and threw me a condescending
look, the kind a mother would give a small kid who was trying to be smart.

“You have something on your head,” he
said after a pause, flatly ignoring my question.

Completely distracted, I raised my hand and touched the shampoo bubbles in my hair, which instantly brought me crashing down to earth. The realization came that I was naked save for a small towel, standing and staring at a tattooed stranger twice my height and four times my weight.

“Shit!” I squeaked, quickly slammed the door and locked it twice. “The Parole office is in the building across the street,” I called through the now secure doors.

Cursing my dumb self, I pinched my forehead and shook my head. Of all the doors he could have knocked on, this ex-con chose mine. Instead of getting himself tattooed all day long in prison, he should have taken the time to learn how to read, so he could at least hit the right address. Of course, something like this could only happen to me. Where was my mind, opening the door without checking who was behind it?

Remembering that Nikolai would arrive at any second, I rushed back to the bathroom, quickly rinsed the suds from my hair and put on some shorts and a pink top. I left the bathroom still hurriedly brushing my hair, entered the living room and… froze.

The brush fell from my hand and rolled under the table, but I didn’t bend to pick it up. For the second time that day I had to blink to make sure I wasn’t imagining things. The huge tattooed guy from the door was sitting on my
couch with his arms behind his head, watching some game on TV.

“What the...? How did you...?” I stammered, unable to finish the sentence.

He turned to me, a look of indifference on his face, and waited one or two seconds before addressing someone to my right.

“Your daughter has a speech impediment?”

“She doesn’t. It's probably your presence. You know the effect you have on people.”

Mouth open
, I watched as my father passed in front of me and sat down comfortably in a chair near the TV.

“Princess, allow me to introduce you two. This is Aleksey, but everyone calls him Alex. He’s in charge of your safety from now on.”

Shocked as hell by this bolt from the blue, I turned to the guy sitting on the couch, totally relaxed.

“You can’t be serious...”

By turns I shifted my gaze from my father, who seemed like he might even be enjoying this, to my new bodyguard, who evidently found the whole situation extremely boring.

“I expect you to behave responsibly,” Nikolai continued, paying no regard to my stricken state, “Don’t even think of sneaking out. Wherever you go, Alex goes with you. If I hear you're causing problems and not sticking to the deal, you know the alternative. We’ve decided it’s best that he moves into one of the spare rooms.”

“What? How do you mean ‘moves in’?
You ‘re not saying that... he’s gonna live here!?”

“That's exactly what I’m saying.”

“No way!” I shouted. “There are four apartments downstairs begging to be used. He could easily move in there. I don’t want him here.”

“I don’t remember asking for your opinion.”

“But...”

“No buts. Aleksey
stays here. I want him with you at all times, and won’t tolerate any unnecessary risks arising from what you might want. The debate’s over.”

Anger coursed through me, but was soon replaced by a feeling of utter helplessness. I had recently managed to bring some order into my life and started to live normally, but now the whole thing was collapsing around me like a house of cards.
Unfortunately, there was nothing I could do if I wanted to avoid ‘the alternative’.

“OK. But there’s no way I’m quitting classes. You might have decided to make a mess of my life, but I'm not
gonna let you destroy it completely.”

“Y
ou won’t have to give up on classes. I know this situation’s pretty tough for you, and I want you to go on living the kind of life you’ve been enjoying lately. Just... with some minor adjustments.”

Minor adjustments?

I glanced at the ‘minor adjustment’ sitting in front of me. Totally chilled, as though he’d made himself at home already, he wasn’t paying any attention to us. He was young, maybe just a few years my senior, but at first glance he looked older. I took in his broad shoulders, but when butterflies unexpectedly took flight in my stomach, it seemed urgent to look away.

“How... just how do you think I’ll explain this to Bethany?
Or my friends? I can’t tell them I have a bodyguard, but I’ll have to give some reason for his being here.”

“Tell them he's your new roommate. You can even add that he’s a relative, whatever you think is best.”

“Are you even listening to yourself? A relative? Of mine?” I waved my hand in disbelief, “Just... Look at him! He’s the very image of a jailbird!”

“Sasha, lower your voice and behave.”

“Well, that's not a bad idea. He probably eats little kids for breakfast, so we wouldn’t want to make him angry!”

“I’d appreciate it if you stopped acting like I'm not here,” Alex's deep
, only slightly accented voice came from across the room, making me turn as a reflex towards him.

Although he hadn’t raised his voice at all, I definitely felt the hairs begin to bristle on my arms. He still looked totally at ease as he flicked through the channels on the TV, maybe even more relaxed than he had been before. When I opened my mouth to continue my tirade though, he turned and flashed me a menacing star
e. This had the desired effect and I bit my lip instead.

Rising very slowly, he
approached, studying me like a scientist might a previously undiscovered strain of bacteria. As I was barefoot, the top of my head didn’t so much as reach his shoulders and I was forced to angle my head so as to throw him an angry look, a fact that frustrated me even more.

“Who would have thought such a slip of a girl could be so cranky,” he looked me up and down. “As for eating little children, you’re safe right now. I had breakfast already.”

I narrowed my eyes to look at him, then clenched my jaw before raising one hand to flick him the bird. In return he just arched his pierced eyebrow slightly and turned to Nikolai.

“Don’t worry boss. I'll manage her. This won’t be a problem,” he lifted a large sports bag from the floor next to the couch and headed to the room at the end of the hall.

“What did I do to deserve this?” I hissed when Alex was out of sight and slumped into a nearest chair.

“Oh come on, Sasha! I don’t know why you're making such a fuss. I thought you’d like having someone closer to your age guarding you. It’s better than one of those middle-aged gorilla types. I know how much you hate them.”

“Hah! So instead you brought me a tattooed ogre with a mohawk! If your intention was to frighten off anyone who might wish me harm then trust me, you did a great job. As soon as they set eyes on him they’ll run a mile. I just hope I don’t wet my pants out of fear when I bump into him on my way to the bathroom at nights.”

“That’s enough!” Nikolai brought his hand down firmly on the arm of the chair and gripped it, “Stop acting like a spoiled brat. Alex is here to make sure you live to see your twentieth birthday, not for decorative purposes!”

“You know what ... Go to hell!”

“Don’t talk to me that way! What would your mother say if she could see you now?”

“But she can’t, right?” I shouted and pointed a finger at him, “Thanks to you!”

Jumping up from the chair, I ran to my room, slamming the door as loudly as I could. Collapsing onto the bed, I pulled the quilt up and over my head and tried to hold back the wave of anger that threatened to engulf me. I knew
my father loved me in his own unique way, but I couldn’t come to terms with the fact that it wasn’t enough to make him change his ways. That was probably why every short encounter ended this way, in screaming and yelling.

Ten minutes later
, I thought I heard someone knocking on my door, so I bent the quilt back across my face and listened. When the knocking came again, I got up, went over to the door and opened it just a little. With his hands in his pockets, Alex was standing at the door giving me a black look. I was pretty sure this guy had never laughed in his life.

“What?” I snapped.

“You OK?”

“Hmm ... let me see. Would you be OK with some assassin roaming around your apartment?”

“I'm not an assassin, Princess.”.

Shooting daggers at me with his eyes, he really seemed serious, and I almost believed him.

“Yeah, right. Just like I’m a prima ballerina,” I shouted before closing the door in his face and going back to bed.