Strife: Part Three (The Strife Series Book 3) (4 page)

DMITRI

Sleep doesn't want to come. Even though I have to work tomorrow, I don't really mind. I like watching Pepper, am enjoying these moments together. Her soft skin pressed against mine. The rhythmic beating of her heart under my palm.

She feels something for me. I can tell by the way she speaks. By the way that she breathes. By the way that her body reacts to how I touch her.

And I'm afraid that I feel something for her too.

It's too early for that though. Isn't it?

She's enchanting and vulnerable and real. Even though I hate upsetting her, I like it at the same time because that's when I know she's truly being honest. It makes her seem more human to me.

I lay there with my arm wrapped around her until I hear her start to snore. When I try to pull my hand away, her grip tightens, and I can't help but smile. It looks like I'm stuck cuddling her for the rest of the night, not that I particularly mind. I just know I won't be able to sleep like this.

The minutes and hours tick by, my thoughts the only things to keep me company. Tomorrow I start filming Master of Payback. Tomorrow I meet Marie Overton. Tomorrow, life gets a little bit more complicated.

I stare at the back of Pepper's head, wondering what will happen to her if I don't request her services. It's an unpleasant thought, but if I want to be with Marie, then I'm going to have to let her go. Will she be alright? Will she hate me for saying sweet things to her and then casting her aside? In truth, it wouldn't be the first time I did that to a woman. That was the old me, though. At least, it was supposed to be.

I meant what I said about wanting her—about her not just being a whore to me. I wish she wasn't an escort. If she wasn't, though, we probably never would have met. I do know that much. So is this such a bad thing after all?

The answer is yes. It's bad for both of us. Bad for her, because she's not cut out for this. Bad for me, because being around her is a threat to my career, yet in such a short amount of time, I seem to be addicted to her. If we're bad for each other, though, then wouldn't it be best if we cut ties now?

It's something I'll have to think about more tomorrow. Separating myself from her will help to clear my mind. I don't want to worry about that now though. Thinking about the future is muddying up the present, and I want to enjoy this for as long as I can because tomorrow it might be gone forever.

***

Sleep. I should have gotten more of it.

I groan to life as the bed shifts beside me. Pepper is standing over me with a bed tray. On it is eggs, bacon, a small bowl of fruit, and a glass of orange juice. She's fully dressed and wearing a beaming smile as she sets the tray over my lap while I sit up and scratch my balls.

For a second, her eyes divert to my crotch, and I can't help but smirk. “I guess you got the answer to your question after all.”

Her cheeks turn about twenty shades of pink, and she quickly looks away. “I brought you breakfast.”

“I see that. Thank you. Try not to break my dick with the tray.” I readjust myself since she has quit paying attention to what she's doing in her embarrassment.

“The mysteries of morning wood,” she teases before sitting beside me.

“There's nothing too mysterious about it. I slept pressed against you all night. Of course, I was going to wake up with an erection.” I wink at her, which only makes her blush more.

“You're a horrible man, Dmitri Strife.” She hides her face behind her hands.

“And you're a liar, Pepper Kimbrough. The night we met you told me I was a good man.” I pick up my fork.

“I can't believe you remember my last name.” She stares at me in disbelief.

“I'm in show business, which means I meet a lot of important people, which means I have to be able to remember names so that I don't look like an asshole.” I take a bite of my eggs, then I stab a piece of watermelon and offer it to her. She leans forward to delicately take it, and I smile at how adorable she looks.

“It's an impressive skill. One I don't have.” She picks up my napkin to wipe the corners of her mouth.

“Well, you better start working on it if you want to be a movie star. What's all of this anyway?” I gesture to the food. “Breakfast in bed.”

“It's my way of saying thank you for everything you've done for me so far.” She smiles sweetly.

“I haven't done anything. Where's yours?” I look around the room as if I might have missed it.

“I just got a bowl of fruit this time.” She wrinkles her nose.

I gasp in mock shock. “What? No carb buffet? How will you ever make it through the day without pancakes?”

She lightly slaps my arm with the back of her hand. “Shut it, you.”

“Oh wait, I got it wrong. Syrup with a side of pancakes. My apologies.”

She crosses her arms over her chest, pouting. “Now you're just being mean.”

“Well, you said you wanted me to be mean.” I shrug before taking a bite of a piece of bacon.

“I didn't mean it,” her voice is barely a whisper.

“Cheer up.” I tap her hip with my fingertip. “You made it through another night with me.”

“You make it easy.” She rolls her eyes.

“Says the one who locked herself inside the bathroom for an hour.”

Her shoulders sulk. “Can we not talk about that? I'm trying to do something nice for you. Carpe diem and all that jazz.”

“All that jazz.” I make jazz hands, and she sniggers at me.

“Well aren't you full of piss and vinegar this morning. You must have slept well.”

“Not exactly.” I take a moment to stretch. “I haven't had breakfast in bed in a while though.” I swallow hard, holding up a finger. “No. I take that back. I haven't had someone
bring
me breakfast in bed in a while.”

“Well, you deserve it.” She stands.

“Where are you going?” I look up at her.

“Back into the kitchen to finish my fruit. I'm going to let you eat in peace. I'll show myself out when I'm done. Just remember to call Mister Sumner and let him know what time I left so that he doesn't get cranky.”

Part of me doesn't want her to leave, but I am really hungry, and my eggs will get cold soon if we keep chatting away. Besides, if I make her stay, things will probably just get awkward, as they always do. She's happy right now, and I want her to leave happy.

“You're a doll, Pepper,” I tell her as she heads for the door.

“Thanks for another great night, Dmitri.” She waves at me before disappearing.

PEPPER

I wear an ear to ear grin all the way down to the Escalade. Dmitri is circumcised, just as I thought he would be. He's big too. Impressively big. It's a bit maddening how perfect he is, all the way around. God must have been having a really great day when he put together Dmitri Strife.

Despite the relatively rough night, I feel good about my time with Dmitri—good about the way we left things. Maybe I wasn't the best escort, but I think I'm improving a little. Baby steps.

Nathan is every bit as stoic as he was the night before, but I greet him with a chipper attitude, pleased with myself. It made me happy to take Dmitri breakfast in bed. He deserved it for being such a good host. And it was also my secret way of apologizing to him for freaking out.

The night is over, though, and now it's time to get back to reality. Today it doesn't feel so daunting, perhaps because I feel like everything will eventually turn out alright. Plus, I'm glad that I don't have to take the bus back from the Chateau Silverbridge. I'd be lucky if I didn't get mugged in this dress. Hell, I'd be lucky if I didn't get mugged
for
this dress. It's probably worth more than all of my worldly possessions put together right now.

After Nathan drops me off at my apartment, I change into street clothes, then head back out to check on community colleges in the area. James will pay me on Friday, and since Dmitri has been keeping me overnight, I'm expecting a pretty good haul. Last night alone should take care of my entire first semester and all of my books.

Now that I think about it, I'd make more money just being an escort than doing anything else. If I worked overnight five days a week, I'd be bringing in over a million dollars a year. Those are probably unrealistic figures though. James told me when he hired me on that most of his girls only work a few nights a week. Still, in just one night, I made as much money as I would in an entire year of waiting tables.

There's too much danger involved in being an escort though. Too much room for emotional disfigurement. I need to be smart and pursue an education too. The last thing I want is to be a high priced whore for the rest of my life. Not even the rest of my life. I'm pretty sure there's a cutoff age. None of the girls at James' party looked over thirty. It sucks to know that I have an expiration date, but that's even more motivation to get started on my education right away.

The day is long and far more emotionally draining than I could have predicted. College counselors are like used car salesmen. Everyone I spoke to tried to get me signed on with financial aid right away. No means no means no. Sallie Mae can bite my ass. I plan on paying in cash.

Still, I walked away with a ton of information. The stack of pamphlets I take back to my apartment is so thick that they almost won't all fit in one hand. I have a lot to sort through and consider, figuring out what college I want to go to so I can finally get my life on the right path.

DMITRI

By the time I finish breakfast and pull myself out of bed, Pepper is gone. My suite feels empty without her, but I know it's for the best.

I consider putting on some underwear before realizing that I still need to take a shower. Since Pepper locked herself in the bathroom, I didn't get to take one last night. I smile at the memory, even though it wasn't funny at the time. She's such a strange girl. I wonder how long it will take her to realize that she isn't cut out be an escort. Physically, yes. Psychologically, no. Hopefully, it will be soon. For as much as I want to keep ordering her services every night, it's expensive. I'm starting to think it would just be better to hand the money over to her, but she'll never learn that way. She needs to make the decision to leave the escort business on her own.

I take my breakfast tray to the kitchen and then go shower, washing the scent of perfume from my body. I could have had her last night. She would have let me when I was undressing her in the dark. I wanted to have her then too, but she seemed too fragile. The night was tainted with too many emotions. It wasn't a good time for sex.

Once I'm done with my shower, I get dressed and call for my limo. As I'm walking out, I see Pepper's empty fruit bowl on the dining room table and I grin. Yesterday, she ordered most of the menu. Today, she hardly ate at all. Maybe I'll never figure her out, but I kind of like that. She keeps me on my toes.

***

By the time I reach the movie set, my pulse is elevated from thoughts of finally meeting Marie, but I try to keep my cool. As soon as I walk into the room, I zero in on her. She's standing around with some of our co-stars, looking absolutely breathtaking. Her eyes meet mine, and she smiles softly, breaking away from the group to come greet me.

“Marie.” I nod to her politely. She extends her hand and I take it, giving it a firm shake.

“Dmitri. It's a pleasure to meet you.” She withdraws, each move so fluid that it's almost magical.

“The pleasure is all mine. I'm excited to be working with you.”

“And I you.” She beams at me, perfect teeth showing through.

I tilt my head to the floor, averting my eyes. “I must admit that I was a bit disappointed you weren't at the luncheon yesterday.”

“Oh, those things are just for show. I never pay any mind to them.” She places her hand on my shoulder, and I feel a tremor of desire shift through my body. “Well, we should go get in our costumes and makeup. It's going to be a long day.”

“Yeah,” I grunt, watching her walk away, her long pale legs carrying her with the grace of a cat.

It takes a minute for the wonder to wear off. It's not very often that I'm starstruck, but this is one of those times.

***

Marie wasn't kidding when she said it was going to be a long day. We filmed from sunup to sundown. I've worked on small acting projects before, but nothing like this.

Thankfully, everything goes relatively smoothly, with minimal retakes except for the action scenes. After having to jump out of a window onto an inflatable stunt mattress about thirty times, I'm starting to regret opting to do my own stunts. My body is going to be sore tomorrow.

The chemistry between Marie and I on-screen is much better than I could have ever expected. Our lines seem to flow from each other effortlessly. I just hope that we work as well together off-set.

The crew breaks for lunch, and I try to get Marie's attention. She pays little mind to me, though, hurrying off to her limo before I get a chance to ask if she wants to eat together. I frown as I watch her limo pull away, my opportunity to get her alone missed.

I decide to eat with some of my co-stars instead, which turns out to be a lot of fun. The great company keeps my mood from completely bombing, which is good because we have a whole lot of filming left to do.

After lunch, things pick up where they left off. I make it a point to take the first chance I can get to pull Marie off to the side.

“Is something wrong, Dmitri?” She looks at me with concern.

“No.” I shake my head, suddenly feeling shy. It's so weird to be like this with a girl. Usually, my confidence is sky high. Right now, I feel like a dorky high schooler asking a girl way out of his league to prom.

“What is it then?” her voice is like honey.

“Well.” I shove my hands in my pockets, trying to seem suave. “I had wanted to ask you out to lunch, but you left rather quickly.”

“Oh, I'm sorry about that.” She shakes her head apologetically. “When I'm not working, I like to try to get away. You know how that is.”

I really don't. I love what I do. Being around people has always appealed to me. Maybe sometimes I'm not in the mood for it, but generally speaking, it makes me happy.

“Anyway,” I inhale deeply, the fear of rejection gripping at my chest. “I was wondering if you'd like to go out to dinner with me tonight.”

She bats her eyelashes, looking a bit flustered. “Well, I don't know. I'll have to check my schedule.”

“That's fine.” I try not to be bothered by the semi-refusal. “You can just let me know whenever.” I shrug before walking away.

The day drags on, and by the time we finish filming, I feel close to brain-dead. I notice myself making more mistakes the later it gets. And the more mistakes I make, the more retakes we have to do, which is causing everyone to get a bit cranky. I feel like an idiot, so emotionally and physically drained that I barely know my head from my ass.

I'm never more grateful when the director announces, “That's it for today.”

“Good job!” Marie places her hand on my shoulder.

“Not hardly.” I roll my eyes, my exhaustion showing through.

“Oh, don't be so hard on yourself. I was the same way my first time filming.”

“This wasn't my first time filming. I've made cameos in a lot of shows,” I correct her.

“Yes. I remember.” She nods. “And you were brilliant.”

For a moment, I think about asking her if she's ever even seen anything I've been in. I'm going to take a shot in the dark that she hasn't. It would be too rude to say so though.

“I appreciate that.” I force a smile, completely over trying to woo her for the day. Better luck tomorrow.

I start heading out of the building, and to my surprise, she flanks my side, walking with me. “Those action scenes are brutal, aren't they?” She wraps her hands around my arm, leaning into me. A switch flips off inside my brain, but it only amplifies my confusion instead of offering me clarity.

“Yeah. They are, kind of.” I look down at her.

“The one you did today wasn't that bad. They get a lot worse. They probably will get a lot worse.

“I'm impressed that you're doing your own stunts. It's a good way to get injured.”

“I can handle it.” Suddenly, I'm enchanted by her all over again. This new attention she's giving me is strange but appreciated.

“I'm sure you can.” She stops beside me, blatantly checking me out for the first time since we've been together. “You are Dmitri Strife, after all.”

My self-confidence renews in the blink of an eye. Maybe this is going to work out after all. I turn to face her with obvious interest. “So, how about that dinner?”