Danica POV Dmitry reached for my arm once more, but I wiggled out of his grasp and burst through the door. I didn’t stop there. I kept going, making my way through the same crowd that gawked at my outburst. My feet didn’t stop there. I kept moving. A few seconds after pushing through groups of people, I heard Dmitry shouting my name and a few onlookers pronouncing their shock at his outburst. Still I didn’t turn back to look at him. I knew if I did, he would only end up embarrassed and I would end up hurt. Or should I say, more hurt. I kept going until I reached the front of the ballroom, just before the green artsy hallway. Standing near ballroom entrance was Lacy and her sister. I caught the tail end of her sentence. She noticed me just as the words came flying out of her mouth. “….nothing more than a common girl. No way is he interested in her.” My cheeks flushed as I brushed past them. This felt like school all over again. Mrs. Hardin gave Lacy the ammunition she needed to ke
Dmitry POVI disliked this night with a small portion of hate. Every year, we have to throw a big party, just to get our counterparts to give to charity.Small dinner plates. Entertaining music. Boring Speeches.I had half a mind to just write a check for the full amount myself. But my mother is always reminding me. This is how we make friends. This is how we leave our mark in life.Every year I plaster on my fakest smile. But this year was different. Its the first year my smile was real.I was happy though I couldn’t completely show it.From the moment I saw her in that dress, I couldn’t stop smiling on the inside. From head toe, hands down she was the prettiest girl tonight.Between her smooth copper tone, the rose gold shimmering of the dress, the dramatic gold makeup, and her hazel , Danica was perfect.There were so many times tonight I wanted to go to her. Sit with her. Chat with her. I wanted to know if she was enjoying herself. And every time I glanced at our table, I found m
Danica POV I pulled off onto a dirt road behind my fathers’ property. I would cut across it every other day to go to Dmitry’s house when I was trying to hide the fact that I’d been working off my debt. I didn’t want my father to know I was sneaking in and out the house late at night. Even if I was working, he would find some perverted way to punish me for it. I parked the car and closed my eyes. I needed strength for what I was about to do. It was late and I had nowhere to go. There were a few hundred dollars in my account from being paid. Enough to get a hotel room at the cheapest motel in town. But I didn’t have a bank card yet. Dmitry took me to set up a bank account after I got my second check. I’d never forget the look on his face when he realized didn’t have one. I was eighteen with little knowledge of the world around me. It was almost ridiculous how much I had to learn to catchup with everything my classmates parents taught them outside of our normal school work. I cut t
Danica POVI slowly crept my way up the dark stairs, and down the restored hallway to Ricks room. Sweat covered my hands as I thought of all the things that could go wrong if opened this door and he was laying there waiting to meet his intruder.My mind became riddled with memories. I looped the hallway twice, struggling between leaving the house and opening that door. Finally, I came face to face with the bedroom door that used to belong to my grandfather. And now belongs to my father.I twisted the doorknob and pushed the door open at the slowest pace my hand could muster. My eyes squinted at the small rust screech. I peeked through the small open space to see a very vacant, perfectly made bed. My head swiveled around the room as I pushed the door wider.It was empty. The room was neat and clear of sign that someone lived here. I expected to see Ricks clothes thrown across the furniture. And unmade bed with beer cans scattered throughout the sheets. But I found nothing.It is as
Danica POVDmitry and I lay comfortably across the couch with me nestled on top of him. We’d been laying here for nearly an hour without saying a word. Simply enjoying being in each other’s space. The kiss we shared was passionate and enticing, but nothing else was needed tonight.Another half hour passed before something started nagging at me.“What did you mean, you were here when Rick left? How did you know he wasn’t going to be here tonight?”He sighed. “There is something I need to tell you.”Dmitry shifted beneath me until we were both in a sitting position.“When you first came to work for me, I started looking into your family.”“You what?!” I jumped off the couch. “Did you run a background check on me?”He laughed. “No.” He leaned forward. “Well, not really.”I folded my arms across my chest. And sighed waiting for him to explain.“I didn’t have to wonder why you wanted to hurt yourself that day on the bike. I knew when the nurses were working on you that something wasn’t rig
EpilogueOne Year LaterDanica POV“I still cannot believe you’ve been living here in this house. With those two gorgeous men all year long. Every time I come to town, I’m still amazed.” Grace said while lounging on the float next to me.She was home for summer break, and we were enjoying a nice swim while Dmitry and Cory fixed a few poolside snacks.“First of all, I’m not living here with two guys. It’s just me and Dmitry here. Cory’s just visiting. Always visiting.” I laughed. "Just Like you are visiting me now."Grace flew in from Cali a few days ago. She was on summer break from UCLA. I was on summer break too from University of Pennsylvania. I started attending last semester since I didn’t apply on time last year. Now that I had money for college, the dream of getting a degree in English didn’t seem so far away. Thanks to my grandfather’s generous insurance money.I kept my grandfather’s house, though I didn’t live there. Instead, I visited a few times a week to study and write.
The sound of crushing beer cans hinted at the mood of my…. my house. I wanted to call it my home. But it wasn’t that. My dad’s house wasn’t a home at all. Just four walls with windows. Moss trailed the old rickety planks on the outside. Inside held old, hand me down furniture. It was a three-bedroom house on the outskirts of Riverwood, PA. Nestled on the far corner of our two-acre property.The property where my father’s house sat once belonged to my grandfather. The house too. And when he passed away, he left it to me. But that didn’t sit well with my father.He couldn’t understand why he’d been passed over. He thought that he should be the one to get the land and the house. But my grandfather had other plans.After he realized he’d been left nothing, it didn’t take long for my father to jump into a downward spiral, dragging me for the ride. In spite of my grandfather’s wishes, Rick, my father, stopped upkeeping the house and the land. He no longer mowed the once beautiful lawn or tr
He placed the tray to the side, as he stood from his chair. Rick wasn’t a tall man, nor was he a big man. But he was bigger and taller than me. He used his stature to back me into a corner.I knew this wasn’t about the chicken. I made him fried chicken plenty of times before and he only complained once.No. Tonight was about something different. I never knew what would set him off. But it seemed like more and more he would try and find something new to become angry about.“I’m not Darcy, Rick.” I pleaded in hopes to stop him from coming near me.His eyes grew a little as realization hit him. Rick wrapped his hand around my arm and shook me. “Yeah, you may not be her, but you look like her. And you still act like her. Always doing something stupid.”He shook me a little harder. Both his hands now digging into my arms.“Rick. You are hurting me!” I shouted trying to break through to him.Rick stepped back for a moment. “Get out of my face.” He said under his breath.I ran up the stairs