The Fling (16 page)

Annie took the hint from her silence and moved on. “These uncles, they are your mom’s brothers?”

“Yeah. Yuri and Victor. They’re pretty cool. What about your family?” It was Oksana’s job to get inside her client’s lives, but Annie never talked about her family. They’d spent most of their sessions laughing about silly wedding traditions and creating inside jokes about the noises Annie made the first time she did a squat.

“No brothers and sisters. My dad is in finance, but he might be trafficking drugs too, come to think of it.” At that, Oksana laughed. Annie smiled back. “And my mom owns a boutique with her friend.”

“What kind of boutique?” Oksana asked, glad to be off her weird family for a moment. She drove into West Hollywood and slid her fingers up Annie’s wrist, under the fabric of her pink hoodie.

“Designer accessories for dogs,” Annie said. “I wish I was kidding, but I’m not. She’s kinda…I don’t know. I basically raised myself. She’s pretty involved with her social life and the accessories of course. Worked out perfectly though. She couldn’t have cared less when I said I wanted to work in movies or that I ended up in reality TV.”

“Do you like dogs?” Oksana was so worried about dating an almost married woman she forgot about Baba’s stupid mastiff whose size alone scared the shit out of the whole block.

“Yeah. Do you have a dog?”

Oksana didn’t answer right away. In a few hundred yards, as soon as they pulled up to Baba’s house, Annie would see for herself.

*

Baba Inna was standing in the driveway with a lit cigarette dangling from her lips and her hand clutching Vasily’s leash. He lumbered around in circles looking for something to lick off the sidewalk.

Fuck.

Annie chuckled softly beside her. “This is grandma.”

“Yes. At least she’s smoking outside today.”

“And the dog, is he cool?” Oksana watched Annie’s wide eyes as she inspected the dog through the passenger window.

“Yeah. He’s a big puppy.”

Oksana pulled past her grandmother and put the Tahoe in park. There was no way to prepare Annie for Baba’s quirks so Oksana just opened her door and met Annie around the other side. They walked, holding hands, to the end of the drive where Vasily met them, panting and slobbering in hello. Oksana actually relaxed when Annie casually stroked his enormous sandy brown head with her free hand.

Right on cue, Baba Inna started on Oksana in her slow, gravelly Russian.

“Good afternoon, darling,”
she muttered, patting Oksana on the hip. Oksana fought rolling her eyes. Of course Baba would bring attention to the time.

Yes, Baba. It’s almost noon. And yes, I’m wearing the same clothes I left in. I spent the night out. Fucking.

“Annie, this is my grandmother, Inna. Inna, this is Annie Collins.” She reached over and scratched their dog under the chin, just enough for him to drool all over her wrist. “This is Vasily,” she cooed.

“Hello.” Annie smiled at Baba and the dog. Oksana could read the anxious look on her face. Annie probably wondered how the old woman talked with a lit cigarette still in her mouth, and like most people who met her, she probably wondered if Baba spoke any English beyond growling out totals from behind her cash register.

Baba stared at Annie for a moment, her left eye squeezing into her trademark squint. She took her cigarette and dropped it on the pavement, leaving it to nature to extinguish the butt. “Come inside,” she drawled to Annie. As soon as she turned her back, Oksana ground the cigarette out with the heel of her Adidas.

Trailing Baba Inna and Vasily up the front steps, Annie turned to Oksana, eyes wide with a closed lipped chuckle. So far so good, but Oksana knew they weren’t out of the woods.

They followed Baba into the kitchen that probably looked like a Betty Crocker shrine to Russian folk art to Annie. Russian cookbooks and Siberian kitsch lined every sill and counter. A Soviet soldier popped from the front of the cuckoo clock and startled the fuck out of Annie. The little figurine marched in measured steps as the time chimed off.

Oksana was psyched that the place smelled more like spices and onions than cigarettes. She kept an eye on Annie as she watched Baba shovel some leftover eggs into Vasily’s bowl. Once he was fed, Baba turned on them. She looked at Annie more closely as she came around the kitchen table. She took Annie’s hand and turned it palm side up. With thick fingers, she got a decent hold. Annie yelped as Baba pinched the skin on her wrist. Baba ignored her protest and looked up at Oksana instead.

“
You did this to her,”
she said.

Oksana rolled her eyes this time. She replied in kind. “
Yes, Baba. Her dress was two sizes too small.”

“
Well, now she won’t be wearing the dress.”

“I don’t know that for sure,”
Oksana said.

“I do.”

Oksana knew they were being rude, and she felt awful as Annie glanced between them nervously, but this was Baba’s kitchen. Her rules. Baba released Annie’s wrist then patted Annie on the cheek, gentler than she’d done Oksana’s hip in the driveway, then crossed back to the fridge. Oksana lifted Annie’s wrist to get a closer look at the damage.

“I’ll live,” Annie said with a doe-eyed pout. Oksana wanted to kiss her right on those gorgeous lips.

“I need more lamb,” Baba announced in English. Oksana’s attention snapped back to her. This was a good sign. Shocking, but good. Casual conversation the guest could understand was always a good thing. Baba pulled the list she started off the fridge and added a few more items. “Don’t get that other pepper. It’s cheap.”

“Okay. Where’s Kat?”

“She’s upstairs with her little friend,” Baba replied, handing her the grocery list. Oksana hoped Annie knew she was in for a full day of family obligations, which included stocking the pantry for Baba.

“Okay.” She folded the list then froze when Annie took it from her and slid the piece of paper in the back pocket of her jeans. They looked at each other for a moment. Annie’s lips quirked up in a slight smile, her eyes admitting that yes, she was in for the whole day. She gently tugged Oksana’s finger.

Without looking at Baba, Oksana said, “We’ll be back in twenty minutes. I’m going to go change.”

“You stay for dinner.”

The sudden invitation snatched their attention.

“Uh…um…” Annie stuttered. “Okay.”

“Good. Bye-bye.”

That was their official dismissal. Baba Inna all but ignored them as they headed out the back door. When they were a safe distance across the lawn, Annie whispered. “What was she saying?”

“She thinks you’re too skinny,” she replied honestly.

“She’s right. I’m seeing bones I didn’t know I had. I might burn that dress.”

“Don’t do that.” Oksana scowled. What the dress stood for made her want to heave all over the stone path to the little house, but it was a beautiful gown. If Annie couldn’t return it, she could definitely resell it or at least donate it.

“I’m joking, but it’s not like I’ll be wearing it. I’m about to get soooo fat.”

“That’s fine with me. Just don’t tell anyone else you were using me as your trainer,” Oksana joked with a wide grin. She opened the door to her cottage realizing a moment too late that the door was already unlocked. “Sorry it’s a mess. I—”

“Whoa!” Annie gasped. Oksana spun around to find her little sister half naked on the couch, a heavyset girl half naked on top of her.

“Kat!” The two teenagers scrambled for their bras and T-shirts. Oksana blinked in horror. “What the heck are you doing?”

“Nothing.” Kat jumped up and gave Annie a nice little frontal before she pulled her shirt over her head. “I wanted to show Erica your sneakers. And borrow your peach shadow.” As an afterthought, she shoved her bra in her back pocket.

Oksana sighed and tried not to rub the skin off her forehead. “Annie, I’m sorry. This is my sister, Kat, and this is her girlfriend, Erica.”

“Hi.” Erica smiled back bashfully. She stood, adjusting her shirt, and hid herself half behind Kat’s shoulder. At least she had some sense of modesty.

“
We’re going to talk about this later,”
Oksana said. Instead of arguing, Kat made a little grumbling noise and looked at the floor as she toed her Chucks into the carpet. When she wet her lips, Oksana winced at the sight of her sister’s tongue stud.

God, what the hell had happened to my cute, sweet little sister?
She eyed the ounces and ounces of thick black eye makeup and the hoop pierced through the right side of her lip. Ronnie was to blame for the face piercing; the rest was all Oksana. She hated to even think about it, but Kat idolized her. The moment Oksana got her first tattoo, Kat made it known that she had the coolest sister in the world. She wanted to be “badass” just like her, right down to dating girls. It was flattering in a way, but this shit, fooling around on Oksana’s couch, had to stop before it even started.

Oksana knew there was absolutely no way to curb her teenage hormones, but she was still the parent in this situation. The time for being the cool older sister had ended the moment their mother walked out of the maternity ward without her younger child.

“Take Erica up to the house. To the
den,
and we’ll be up there in a few minutes.”

“Okay. Can I still show her your sneakers?” The collection was pretty impressive, but Oksana wanted them out of her place, like now.

“Later. Erica, do you want to stay for dinner?”

“Yeah. My mom said it was okay.” Of course she’d already asked.

“Okay. Go.”

She waited until the door closed before she sank against the TV stand with a heavy sigh.

“I am so sorry about that.”

“It’s okay.” Annie laughed. “How old is she?”

“Fifteen going on whore.” Oksana chuckled. “She figured out she was into girls when she was ten and I—seriously, she’s brought out half her school. Erica is girlfriend number five this year.”

“So she’s been busy,” Annie said with a stern nod.

“Yeah, you could say that. Make yourself at home. I’ll be out in a few minutes.” Oksana looked at the defiled couch cushions then pointed at the lounger across the room.

Embarrassed beyond belief, Oksana quickly walked into her room and started shedding her clothes. Her shower was hot and just long enough for a full body lady-scaping. Clean and refreshed, she dove into her closet. She tossed a moss green, short-sleeved blouse with tiny white polka dots and a high ruffled collar on the bed. A pair of trouser jeans landed right beside the top. She bypassed the racks that housed her custom sneaker collection and dug out a pair of moss green ballet flats.

Oksana wasn’t sure how many tattoos she was going to get, and she promised Baba she wouldn’t pierce her face, but she was pretty sure she’d be shaving her head for a while. She had her own style, but as a concession to some sense of responsibility, she liked to at least dress like an adult when she was out with Kat. The ink and the lack of hair threw people, but her genuine politeness, coupled with her own seasonal Coach bag, put most gawking strangers right back in check. It would be interesting to see the reaction she would get now that she would be on the arm of a preppy, bubbly blonde.

“Sana,” the blonde in question called from the living room. Her voice grew louder. “I’m going to grab some water. Do you want me to use the plastic cups—Helloooo.”

Oksana watched Annie flop down on the bed. She held up Oksana’s dildo, the Commander, the one she’d cleaned but forgotten to put away. She knew Annie wasn’t shocked by the length of the toy, but the girth. The black dildo was pretty wide around.

“This yours?” Annie smiled that smile that instantly made Oksana wet. She shifted on the heels of her feet and adjusted her towel. The terrycloth rubbing against her nipples didn’t help curb her sudden arousal.

“Yeah.” Oksana swallowed.

“It’s pretty big. When was the last time you used it?” Okay, Annie licking her lips wasn’t helping either.

“Yesterday.”
Right after we fucked in my car.

“Oh really? When?”

“I came back here to change for my afternoon session. After I left the park, I was still pretty worked up.”

“And this is the toy of choice?”

And like that, Vivian was in Oksana’s ears, bitching and whining. Certain things set those memories off. Just the way Annie said “toy” sent a weird strain up the back of her neck. Annie must have sensed her panic because she was across the room, still clutching the dildo, in a heartbeat.

“What’s wrong?” she asked gently.

Oksana swallowed her nerves and shook her head. “Nothing.

Annie cradled her cheek and kissed her softly on the lips. “Tell me. Would you be interested in me using this on you?”

“Yeah,” Oksana replied and shifted again. There were two teenagers waiting for them. Now was not the time to bend over the bed and beg.

“I’ll have to fuck you with it then, and who knows?” Annie pressed their bodies together, gazing up with those baby blues. “Maybe some time you can put this in my ass.”