Perfectly Normal (4 page)

She determined that he
must belong to one of the more powerful gangs to be found here, but Columbia could see no tattoos. Dimitri had been schooling her in the monarchy of the underground, the various gangs and organizations found worldwide. He felt it necessary to know who she was going to kill when the time came.

“Just give me the bags and I’ll let you go,” she told him, hoping he’d not noticed the tremble in her voice.

“You’ll let me go?” he said in perfect English. He had a slight British accent. “I think I’ll be the one making that decision today.”

“Just give me my things and I won’t call the police
,” she said again, hoping to convince herself this time. She edged towards the larger street as it was more populated. She wanted to keep him distracted before she turned and ran, to give herself a slight lead.

He noticed and leapt for her. She twisted and turned away, but he had hold of her arm. He dragged her back and she screamed, “Help me!
Cheng gao oh
!” She hoped her butchered Cantonese would bring more attention, but it didn’t.

He laid a blow to the back of her head that stunned her. She felt the ground shift under her feet and the walls spun. She fought passing out, terrified to be taken to a second location. She thought about Dimitri and found a surge of strength. She feinted falling forward and felt him lean to hold her from hitting the ground. She took advantage of this and turned in his arms, bringing her knee up to his cock as she did.

He fell away with a loud, “Oomph,” and she took her chance to get free. She turned back and darted, leaving all her things behind. She looked back to see her attacker doubled over but recovering quickly. He lunged for her and grabbed her arm again. She struggled to get away, pulling desperately, her head down and her feet digging into the concrete.

A
ll at once she hit a wall of muscle and felt solid arms around her as the thief let her go. She panicked and started to kick and bite to gain her freedom once again.

“Settle down Columbia, I’ve got you,” she heard. It took her a moment before she recognized the concierge. She started weeping as she clung to him, hating her weakness but overcome with relief that she wasn’t going to die. That she would see Dimitri again.

“How did you find me?” she gasped and held onto his arm for support. “I was almost…I don’t know, I don’t know if he was going to rob me, rape me or kidnap me.”

“And you’d never know if this was real,” she heard from behind her. She whirled and saw her attacker standing, holding her dropped shopping bags.

“That’s him!” she cried to the concierge and moved behind him. “That’s the fucker who attacked me!”

“I know,” the concierge replied with disgust in his voice, “I arranged this entire thing.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, stunned by the revelation.

“I’m sorry,
siu zche
, I did not mean to scare you so badly,” her attacker said and held her bags out to her in a gesture of goodwill.

“Why would you do this?” she asked the concierge, getting angrier and angrier as each second passed.

“We thought it would be appropriate to test your skill level,” he told her and took her shopping bags from the attacker.

“Who? You mean you and Dimitri? Why would you do this to me?” she asked.

The concierge didn’t reply, but turned to the attacker, handed him a wad of bills and said, “Thank you. Dimitri will call you when he needs your services again.”

The attacker took the money, bowed slightly to Columbia, turned and walked away.

“The car is parked over there,” the concierge said and gestured to the end of the street. “Shall I carry your things for you?”

“Fine,” Columbia said and stomped to the car to stew on their way home. She didn’t know if she was angrier at being bested by the attacker, or being proven right by the concierge and Dimitri. She did know she would be rage fucking her lover tonight in order to get over this maelstrom of emotions.

*****

“I can’t believe you’d fucking set me up like that,” Columbia screamed as Dimitri sat silent, letting her vent. Knowing that he was letting her vent added to her anger. She was so out of her element and it was finally getting to her.

“We did it to show you how important it is to learn everything that you are being taught,” he said quietly. He was sitting on the chaise in their bedroom and she paced
back and forth in front of him.

She stopped in her tracks
, turned to him and said, “You think I don’t know how fucking important this is? You think I want to die, or get raped, or kidnapped? Of course I don’t want that!”

“You should know that you cannot go off on your own from
now on though, you are too vulnerable and too valuable to have this kind of freedom,” he told her.

She knew he was right, but she wasn’t done. “I don’t want to end up here, trapped like a fucking animal, living like an animal. Like you!” She saw him wince on her last remark. She had hit a sore point and felt a surge of satisfaction at hurting him.
She kept going though, twisting the knife she’d slung at him to see the pain in his eyes, “You’re pathetic, letting your enemies control you like this. I’d do anything it took to prevent myself from becoming like you. You are lifeless, simply existing.”

He stood and she backed up, waiting for his fist or the back of his hand at least. Inste
ad she saw his eyes full of defeat as he said, “Yes, ending up like me is the worst possible fate to befall a person. I can see why you would consider that paramount to your death.” He walked past her to the door, crossing the room in a couple of long strides.

“Dimi!” she called as he left, “I didn’t mean it like that!”

He shut the door behind him and she was left alone. Suddenly being right or self righteous or indignant didn’t seem that important. Suddenly hurting the man she loved seemed childish and horrible, and she didn’t like it.

She sunk to the chaise where he had just been. She could still feel the heat from his body and
smell his scent on the fabric. She grabbed the pillow and held it to her stomach and started to cry. There was so much going on inside of her and she didn’t know how to handle any of it. On top of that, she was turning into a cruel beast to Dimitri.

She felt the urge to cut herself, to relieve this pent up emotion, but Dimitri’s warning words forced her to reconsider. He had ordered her before they came to Hong Kong that he would no longer tolerate her destroying her
skin, that she belonged to him and he wouldn’t have it.

She loved him for protecting her from herself, but needed an outlet somewhere. More than that though, she needed Dimitri. She had to go apologize, to let him know how miserable her attack had made her.

She found him in the gym with his boxing gloves already on. The concierge was nowhere in sight, so at least Dimitri hadn’t run to him with the news of Columbia’s terrible treatment. He was standing in front of a sand-filled punching bag, not moving.

“Dimi?” she said as she approached him. “I’m sorry.”

He turned towards her; his eyes were full of rage. She had seen this side of him when he first caught her in his space. He looked half mad and ready to smash her into a pulp.

“Dimi?”
she whispered, “please forgive me. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean what I said. I was angry and still scared. I thought I’d never see you again.” Her hands were trembling; from nerves or fear, it didn’t matter. She felt lightheaded and dreaded his reaction.

He took off the gloves and let them drop to the floor. His jaw clenched, as did his fists. He seemed unable to speak
so she waited. After what felt like eternity with her fate hanging in the balance, he finally said, “Don’t be sorry, you are right. That is why I am so angry. It seems we are not so different at all, little dove. Neither one of us likes being shown when we are wrong.”

She walked slo
wly towards him and he held out his arms. She laid her head on his chest and started to cry. “I’m sorry,” she sobbed against him, her relief tangible as she found her place in his embrace. “I wish I could be like you, at least I wouldn’t be like a newborn kitten every time I’m on my own. I felt so helpless.”

“You don’t want to be like me,” he said and soothed her. “I am h
elpless. I never leave our home. I am afraid of what people will think of me, my face.”

She reached up and stroked his scarre
d skin with her fingers. “You know I love you and you’re a very handsome man,” she told him, “but if you don’t want to call attention to yourself, let’s meet with the doctors. They already told you they are able to help.”

“I don’t want to get rid of that which binds me to you,” he said, furrowin
g his brow.

“Then just
do your face, leave the rest for me to see. You know my scars are too deep and thick to be helped, so I’ll carry them with me always. Leave your body as mine and mine alone. But let the world see your gorgeous face.”

He pulled her
against him with a fierce passion. She could hear his heart beating against her face, the steady rhythm promising an eternity of love and commitment, bound together in their mutual disfigurements. She knew then that she would have to work twice as hard to learn the survival skills being offered her. A fate worse than an angry Dimitri would be a world without him in it. If she were the weak link, she was putting him at risk with her inadequacy. She would learn to defend herself to protect them both.

“What’s that look?” he said and leaned back, staring at her face with concern. “Don’t cry and don’t look so worried.
I might get angry, I might even need some time to collect my thoughts before I can be around you…but I will never leave you and I will never hurt you again.”

She rubbed her neck, an involuntary movement she’d picked up since living with him. It had been weeks and still he wouldn’t sleep the entire night with her. His face fell when he saw her do this, he assumed she was thinking of the last time they tried, three weeks ago. She had woken to him above her, his face a mask of rage and unrecognizable. “
When I rub my neck, it’s not because you hurt me, you know,” she reassured him, “I rub my neck as a reminder that I do belong to you. I love your hands on my throat when you fuck me. Don’t mistake my movement as accusation, when in fact it is an indication of how much I love you.”

“You do know me well,” he said and smiled. It was gone quickly as he added, “I do hate how much I hurt
you though. I wish there was some way to control it, to harness my anger.”

“How about something to protect me?” she asked as an idea popped into her head.

“What do you mean?”

“I truly believe the only way we will ever overcome this issue is by sleeping together,” she said, “but how are we able to without you harming me?”

He shrugged and said, “I’m not sure where you are going with this.”

“What if we
use something to protect my neck? Like a metal collar? Something your hands can’t bend so you are unable to hurt my flesh. This way we will grow accustomed to sleeping beside one another and it will aid this overall transition. It will allow both of us to take our bond to the next level.”

His face lit up as the idea took root. “Why did I never think of this?” he said, “I’m such an idiot, the solution is so simple!”

“It is, right? Just keep my neck safe long enough for me to wake you up, and we’re good to go,” she replied.

“I do want to sleep next to you,” he said in a low voice
, “I want to wake next to you and slide my cock into you while we’re both half asleep.”

“I want that too,” she sighed an
d slid her hand down to his shaft. She gave it a squeeze and felt it respond immediately. This kind of power still fascinated her. She controlled the centre of his world with the touch of her hand.

He drew her back in and took a handful of hair in his fist. He thrust himself against her hip and replied, “Fuck, yes, I can see that you hunger for me as much as I hunger for you.”

Columbia moved her hands under his shirt and traveled upwards, feeling the bumps of his abs and landed on his pecs. She pinched his nipple hard and he drew his breath in. She looked up at him, grinned and said, “Is it that obvious?”

He didn’t reply;
he bent down to kiss her. She had been kissing him for a few weeks at this point, but this one took her breath away. She was swept away by the depth of his passion for her. His pure animal need dominated his actions, but his love for her gave them a fire she didn’t know was possible.

Instinctively she reached up and put her hands around his neck. He moved her slowly towards the back wall of the gym, behind the punching bag. She stumbled and he leaned down, cupped his hands under her ass as he kissed her harder and lifted her up.

She kissed him back, her tongue swirling endlessly against his, gaining momentum and ramping up her need for him, her want for him. She had to have him or she felt she might descend into madness. A frenzy of lust and love that needed to be released on her object of desire.

“Can we get this off?” she broke their kiss and asked as she tugged at his shirt.

“Yes,” he murmured against her neck and set her down. He pulled it over his head, her hands dragging it off as much as his. He threw it to the floor behind her and said, “Your turn.” He reached for her blouse and tore it apart down the front; the buttons popped off and clattered to the floor.