Saving Little Amy (An Age Play Romance) (12 page)

Washington D.C. was amazing.  The first night I was there, I decided I wanted it to be my new home.  My days were filled with what appeared to be meaningless diplomacy.  I mostly just settled stupid squabbles or helped those visiting from Russia when they had trouble.  The job was a lot easier than what I left behind in Russia.  When the work day was done, I was free to do whatever I wanted.  In Russia, my evenings were usually filled with paperwork I couldn’t possibly finish during work hours.  I let myself get consumed by the American culture, and I enjoyed it.  I met a few nice men that showed interest, and some that were a little scary.  One who seemed to be nice at first, but quickly turned out to be nothing more than a spitting image of my father was a man named Lloyd Adams.  He was a high ranking member of the American military with some age on him, but it wasn’t enough to take away from him rugged looks.  He ensnared my heart me for a little bit, but when I witnessed him getting loud and angry after a night of drinking, I decided I couldn’t see him anymore.  He wasn’t willing to give up on what we had, but he also wasn’t willing to give up his whiskey for my hand, so we circled each other at a safe distance.  He said he would let me have my space, and I gave him a chance to find his own path of redemption.

I really thought I could take care of myself.  Growing up in Russia, the streets of Washington D.C. seemed to be quite safe.  One night, I got a little turned around and I found myself walking through a strange part of the city.  The man was on me before I even had a chance to react.  He smelled like cheap cigarettes and some form of whiskey I didn’t recognize from the odor.  His hand clamped across my mouth and I was pulled into the darkness of an alleyway.  My body was slammed into a wall and his hand started going underneath my dress.  He wasn’t strong, but he caught me by surprise.  He started to whisper the terrible things he intended to do to me and exactly where he was going to put his filthy body parts.  I lost it.  My vision went red and I started fighting back with everything I could muster.  I dislocated his grip and then drove a knee into his groin.  He caught me hard with a punch and then I felt myself slam into the wall again—he didn’t hit anywhere near as hard as my father.  My fingers dug into my purse and I wrapped around the only thing I could touch, which was an iron nail file.  I drove it into his neck so fast that I didn’t even really think about it.  Blood splattered everywhere.  My dress was soaked, my hands were covered.  He dropped to the ground and I knew he was dead or dying.  I ran away as fast as I could.

My shoes came off, and my feet pounded the pavement so hard I thought they would bleed.  I ducked into the darkness at every turn, just trying to avoid the main streets.  Once I found a familiar part of town, I realized I was less than a mile from Lloyd’s place.  I hoofed it there as fast as I could under the cover of darkness and pounded on his door.  My mind was clouded and fogged; I couldn’t even begin to think straight.  I didn’t know if he was awake or asleep, but I needed him.  I needed him more than anything I had ever needed anything in my life.  He would know what to do.  Death wasn’t strange for him; he had fought in wars and he had killed people.  He didn’t come out and say it to me, but I knew it.  It was the things that went unsaid which often spoke the loudest.  That part of him didn’t bother me.  I had grown up around men who killed, fought in wars, and often gave orders for executions—I had just never been there to see it firsthand.  I was almost in tears by the time his porch light came on and his door opened.

“Lana?  Is that you?”  He started to wipe sleep from his eyes as he opened the screen.  He had either been asleep or passed out.

“Lloyd, can I come in.  Please let me come in.”  I begged as I looked around, hoping nobody saw me standing on his porch with blood on my dress.

“You’re covered in blood.  Oh my God!  Come inside right now!”  He flipped off the light and quickly scanned the neighborhood before taking me in his arms and bringing me inside. “What the hell happened?”

“There was this man…  He attacked me.  I fought back…”  I just started rambling off pieces of information.

“Are you hurt?  Is this your blood?”  He took my face in his hands and started to inspect the bruises that were forming around my eyes.

“No, it isn’t blood.”  I pulled my hand up to my face and started to weep.

“Is he alive?  Did you kill him?”  He walked over to his bar and poured two glasses.  He offered me one and I drank it without thinking.  The dark colored liquor burned the sensitive membrane at the back of my throat.

“I don’t think he made it.”  My tears turned into sobs.  “We have to call the police.”

“No!”  He said quickly.  His words were so harsh that they startled me out of my state of crying for a second.  “You’re not an American.  If you killed an American, they will only focus on the fact you’re a Russian who killed him on American soil.  You know how tense things are right now.”

“Okay.”  I squeaked out my words.  He was right.  The moment Russia rolled their tanks into Ukraine under the direction of Vladimir Putin, things changed.  Calling the police was probably not a good idea.

“Come with me.”  He said as I finished my drink.

I followed him into the bathroom where he removed my dress.  He had seen me naked before, so it wasn’t a big deal.  I still did love him, even though I was scared to try and build a life with him.  His touch actually eased my fear.  He ran a bath with warm water and helped me into it.  I sat there and let the heat remove the chill from my bones while he used a sponge to remove the blood from my body.  He disappeared with my clothes and came back a short while later with another drink, which I quickly finished.  I wasn’t even thinking straight enough to refuse pure liquor, which was something I never liked.  He was gentle and kind, which was exactly what I needed in that moment.  I felt lucky to have a man like him who would take care of me in my moment of despair.  Once I was clean, he wrapped me in a towel and took me to the living room.  He lit a fire in his fireplace and the poured another drink.  I wanted to ask him to slow down, but I didn’t feel like it was my place.  He sat down beside me with a cigar and held me tight while I stared into the flickering flames.  I wanted to forget everything, but it was still fresh on my mind.

“Did you leave anything behind?  I see you have your purse.”  He motioned to my handbag, which was casually discarded on the floor.  “Did you leave any fingerprints?”

“I…  Yes!”  I started to cry as I remembered my nail file in the man’s neck.

“Okay, tell me everything.  Where did this happen?”  He grabbed a piece of paper and started taking notes.

I gave him every detail I could remember and then he disappeared.  I heard his motorcycle roar to life in the garage and then he was gone.  After he drove away, I began to think a little clearer.  I was a Russian national, and as long as I stayed in the Embassy, the United States government couldn’t touch me.  I knew that I had to get back there as soon as possible, regardless of what Lloyd managed to do.  I looked through his closet and found an older ARMY STRONG t-shirt that would fit, and a pair of sweat pants I was able to tie around my waist tight enough that they wouldn’t fall off.  I lay back on the couch and tried to get a little rest so I could go home as soon as he returned.  I felt a sense of dread when his motorcycle hummed to silence in the driveway.  I sat up as he entered the house.  He looked at me and nodded with a smile.

“Well you definitely did a number on him.  He’s dead for sure.  Good job, baby.”  He held up his hand which contained the nail file I had used.  “I got this though, and I made sure all of the evidence is gone.”

“Please don’t say it like it is a good thing.”  I felt sick to my stomach as I looked at the blood on the nail file.

“I’m sorry.  You need to get some rest.  It’s late.”  He sat down next to me and put his arm around my shoulders.

“No, I need to get home.”  I shook my head and tried to stand.

“Please don’t go.  I don’t feel comfortable with you being alone.”  His lips came close to mine.

“What?  No!  I can’t.”  I pulled away from his embrace and his attempt at a kiss.

“Okay, I’m sorry.  That was not appropriate but please stay here tonight with me.  I’ll even sleep on the couch.”  He patted the couch and motioned for me to take his bedroom.

I was torn, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to be alone.  “Okay, I’ll stay.”

He got up and went into the kitchen.  A few seconds later, he returned with a glass of water and some pills.  “Take these, and they will help you sleep.”

“Are you sure?”  I looked at the pills.  I had never been a fan of pharmaceuticals.

“They’ll help.  Just trust me.”  He smiled and I nodded.

I took them and he helped me to the bedroom. He tucked me in, and before he walked away, I grabbed his hand and I asked him to stay.  If I was going to stay, I could at least feel his arms around me one last time.  I planned to be on a plane in less than twenty four hours, and even though I didn’t want sex, I did want a little bit of comfort.  The pills and the alcohol took me quickly into sleep.  It was a dark, dreamless sleep.  I woke up to absolute chaos.  The police were in the living room.  He was talking with two men in blue uniforms.  My mind was foggy and clouded again, and I didn’t know if it was the experience or what he had given me.  I finally got myself together when he beckoned for me to join him.  Questions came faster than I could think, but he stepped in and handled everything like a professional.  Apparently, one of the neighbors had seen me on his doorstep the night before, and although they didn’t call the police immediately, when the sun came up, they were still worried and felt like an investigation was necessary.  Lloyd told them that I had been in a car accident, but the driver was another Russian national, and it wasn’t reported.  He made up a name and gave them a lead to pursue.  His rank compelled them to listen to what he said, and I just agreed with everything.  I was afraid not to agree…

“Thank you…”  I said once they were gone.

“Don’t mention it.”  He lit a cigar and poured himself a drink.  “Lana, you know I love you right?”

“I know you do, but you have to understand that I can’t stay here.  After what happened, I need to go back to Russia.”  He offered me a drink and I declined.

“You can’t leave!”  His expression quickly turned dark.  “I love you!  I want you here with me!”

“There’s no way I can stay…”  I said quickly.  “I do love you, Lloyd, but this is far too complicated.”

“No.  I’m not going to let you go.”  He said and his hand clasped around my wrist.

Before I knew what was happening, he took me down a long hallway to his basement.  I had never been down there before.  He pushed open the door and pulled me inside.  The room made me lose my breath for a second.  It wasn’t a normal room at all.  It looked like a child’s room, painted pink with teddy bears and dolls.  I quickly looked around at the various things on the wall.  There were pictures of him with other women who were dressed up like little girls.  My stomach started to turn to a feeling of confusion and I thought I was going to be sick.  I thought I knew everything about Lloyd, but what I was looking at was something else entirely.  After looking around the room for a few seconds, I turned back to him with a look of absolute confusion on my face.

“Lloyd, what is this place?”  I asked.

“I was going to share this with you one day, but I felt like you needed to see it.  Lana, I’m a protector.  I know I haven’t been the man you’ve wanted, but I take care of my own.  I would never let anything happen to you.”  He took a long draw from his cigar and exhaled the smoke.

“These women…  They were your own?”  I looked at the various photographs again.

“For a time they were.  They filled a need while I searched for the right woman.  You are everything I’ve searched for.  You are the love of my life.”  He took me by the hand.  “I want to protect you and take care of you.”

Nobody had ever protected me or taken care of me—not really.  Lenny saved me from a tyrant, but he wasn’t a good man.  He stole my mother from my father, and although my father deserved to lose us because of his addiction, there was still a vow she walked away from in order to leave with Lenny.  The only reason Lenny helped us was so that he could have my mother.  My whole life had been a struggle as I sought independence.  Still, Lloyd was too much like my father for me to be comfortable with any sort of arrangement, and the sudden realization of his strange fascination with these women he dressed up as little girls confused me even more.  I turned to walk away, but he took me by the arm once more.  He pulled me close and held me against his chest as he whispered in my ear.

“I know this is strange, but please don’t leave.  Give it a chance.  You never had a chance to be a little girl.  Your childhood was robbed from you.  Let me take care of you.  Just give it a few days, and if you don’t like it, I’ll make sure you’re on the next plane to Russia.”  He begged.

“Lloyd, I understand what you’re asking, but I can’t risk someone finding out what happened.”  I shook my head, but he started to run his fingers through my hair.

“Do you really want to go back to Russia?  You like it here…”  That much was certainly true.

“I’ll give it three days, but only under one condition.”  I said finally.  “You can’t drink while I’m here.”

“Lana…”  He let a huge sigh escape his lips.

“That is my condition.  If you want me, you have to give me something in return.”  It was one condition I could not let go of.

“Okay.”  He shook his head.  “I won’t drink, but you have to do exactly what I say.  You belong to me.”

I was a little frightened by the last statement, but I also couldn’t deny that I wanted to stay in America.  He walked to a closet and opened the doors.  Inside were several dresses.  He motioned for me to choose one and I did.  I picked one that was pink and frilly.  It was everything I had dreamed of as a little girl, but never owned.  I changed into it and he sat me down in a chair.  He styled my hair and put it a ponytail.  I looked younger than I could ever remember staring back at myself.  I was forced to grow up so fast.  I missed out on so much.  My life had taken such a strange turn after Lenny helped me leave my father’s house, and from that point forward I was mostly forced to fend for myself.  The school I attended and the family I lived with didn’t want a child, they wanted an adult, and I was forced to take on that role at such a young age.  It actually felt nice to be little again.