Deceitful Vows (Marital Privileges #2)

48. Zoya

48

ZOYA

M y body is already relishing in the delight of multiple orgasms, but my heart experiences a similar sort of sensation when my eyes slowly flutter open. I’m still on the double sun lounger, but instead of a bikini caressing my skin, a velvet blanket is keeping me warm from the elements, and there is a large glass of orange juice on the side table.

This time, it comes with a note.

I didn’t have enough time to answer all the whims you hit me with during your almost comatose state, so I let you sleep. You won’t be so lucky tonight.

Wait up for me.

A xx

I grin like a loon while popping two of the pain medication tablets into my palm and swallowing them with the orange juice.

I’m in such a state of euphoria, my heart believes Andrik ordered pulp-less juice this time around because he knows how much I hate the ghastly chunks sliding down my throat. It makes the juice so much more refreshing, and I polish off the entire glass without coming up for air.

Today was magical.

It started with jealousy, and it ended with a heap of mutual understanding and respect.

Zakhar is Andrik’s son, but he was as blindsided by his existence as I was when I called Mikhail to demand he speak with his father.

I wish I could say I don’t understand how hard that confession hit Andrik. Having a child in the world and not knowing of their existence is a torment no person should endure, let alone someone who will remain childless.

I’m pulled from the dark thoughts of my past when shouted voices break through the cabana walls. I recognize them both, though I wish I only knew one. Mikhail is arguing with his father, and since it sounds like their voices are projecting from right outside the cabana’s entrance, I think I know why.

It is cowardly of me to dress in the clothes Andrik left with his note and orange juice and sneak out, but this weekend isn’t meant to be about me. I’m in the Trudny District for my baby sister and my best friend. It is time for me to stop being selfish.

I’m so riddled with guilt that I enter a warzone unprepared. Nikita took a walk on the wild side, and I missed her metamorphosis.

“Zoya!” Nikita staggers across a cabana that reminds me of the pool parties we attended in college before she wraps me up in a tight hug. “Where have you been? You missed the celebration.” I’m tempted to pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming when she stomps her foot. I haven’t seen her act this carefree since… forever. “You won! You got twenty big ones.” I step back when she looks seconds from barfing. Mikhail isn’t the only sympathy vomiter I know. “Well, more like ten after I borrow a tiny bit to fix that.” She gestures to something behind me. “They didn’t have long, but they almost drank the bar dry. They won’t tell me the final tally, but I can’t leave all that mess to Maksim’s family. Especially because I was acting like a jealous twit. He deserved it, though. He’s being weird.” She waves her hand across her face, collecting the spit she releases when she pffts . “Anyway, you won!”

“Wow.” I wish I could give a more enthusiastic response, but my emotions are too askew to offer up more. I feel like I’m in a dream and that if I move too fast, I’ll be jolted out of a fantasy better than any reality I’ve faced.

“Who are you, and what did you do with”—holy mother of God. I didn’t know you could be forced out of sobriety by a burp—“my best friend? You sound like Aleena when I reminded her that her wedding is only a few short weeks away.” Her sigh hits me with a second bout of alcoholism. “She’s not giving off blushing virginal bride vibes tonight.”

From the stories Bayli shared during our drive home years ago, pure white shouldn’t be Aleena’s wedding dress color of choice.

“Where is she?”

“Um…” Nikita drags her eyes over the crowd of mostly women before pointing to the corner. “There.” We cringe in sync when her bloodshot eyes announce the level of her intoxication. She is even more gone than Nikita. That is understandable. Aleena is a cheap drunk because this weekend is the first time she’s been allowed to drink.

“She’s pretty wasted.” Nikita huffs out a laugh. “We’re all pretty wasted.” As she wipes at the bead of sweat on her top lip, she says, “I don’t think the eggs in the brownies were fresh. I’ve been feeling a little off since I ate them.”

I take a moment to assess her as if she is a patient and I’m her doctor.

All appraisals point in the same direction.

“Are you high?”

“No. I don’t think.” Her eyes widen enough to give credit to my theory. “Do I look high?”

“Yeah, you do.”

The world tilted more on its axis than I realized during my brief intermission.

Well, I really shouldn’t say brief. Countless orgasms and hours of sex will never be considered brief.

“And you smell like a brewery.”

“That would be my fault.” A man with surfy blond locks leans against a solid wall of the cabana before greeting me with a wave.

Nikita beams with excitement before she drags the stranger inside the littered cabana. Once he’s in front of me, she introduces us. “Zoya, this is Riccardo. Riccardo, this is my deliciously gorgeous friend Zoya.”

She should never give up her day job. She is the worst matchmaker I’ve ever met. Not only does Riccardo give off creeper vibes, but also, not all of them are directed at me.

He’s eyeing Nikita with just as much interest.

With my brain too fogged by a lust haze, I give the oldest excuse in the book. “I’m not looking for anything permanent right now.”

“Good, because from what I can tell, neither is Riccardo.”

When Nikita slaps her hand over her mouth, the situation shifts to awkward at a record-setting pace.

“I’m sorry for asking you to come back after your shift,” Nikita murmurs to Riccardo two seconds later, finally clicking on that I’m not interested. “I could have sworn you were her type.” She hugs Riccardo like it’s a consolation prize for an almost win. His response assures me he believes the same. “Are you sure there’s nothing?” she asks me while fawning over Riccardo’s pecs. “Maybe you should feel his chest. It is all rigid and tanned, with only the slightest smattering of dark hairs.”

She’s more intoxicated than first believed.

Riccardo’s chest is whiter than snow.

“I think it’s time to call it a night.”

“No.” Nikita stomps from foot to foot like a child busting to use the bathroom. “It’s still early. The sun hasn’t even gone to bed yet, so I don’t want to either.”

“Kita—”

“Please, Z. I promise I’ll be good.”

I will never be strong enough to deny her every want. She was there for me when I thought I had nothing to live for, so I’ll never ignore her puppy dog eyes.

Furthermore, Andrik’s note made it seem as if he will be gone for a couple of hours, so why not have some fun with my girlfriends until then?

“How many bottles can you fit under your…” I don’t know how I missed the monstrosity she’s wearing. It is frumpy and hideous. “What even is this?”

“It is the ugly coverup Maksim told me I had to wear.” She plops onto a sofa and cradles her head in her hands. “He didn’t like that my ass was showing. Well, he didn’t actually say that. Aleena just thinks that is what he meant. He’s so confusing. I want to see you come. You won’t leave my fucking head. Then, the next minute, he pushes me away. I just wish he’d give me a straight answer like you did Riccardo. Not… fucking… interested.” Regret darts through her eyes as she shoots them up to Riccardo. “Sorry.”

“It’s all good,” he assures her. “I’d rather be honest than strung along.”

Pain fuels Nikita’s reply. It is barely heard through her confusion. “That’s what he’s doing. He’s stringing me along like my feelings don’t matter.” After a quick breath, she says, “And I think I know why.” Her eyes are back on me, wet and full of emotions. “I think he’s suing the hospital for malpractice. In all honesty, they deserve it. Their plan to diagnose his mother’s condition was preposterous. They were stabbing at theories that made no sense for her symptoms, and when that didn’t work, they conjured up an even more absurd way to justify their stupidity. Her diagnosis was so simple a third-year resident worked it out in minutes, so how could seasoned doctors not do the same?”

Whoa. She gave me a brief rundown of her exchanges with Maksim earlier today, but this is far more tense than she made out.

The tension hanging thickly in the air thins a smidge when a drunk voice at the side says, “Because their brains are wrinkly lards of flabby skin between their legs.”

Aleena’s saying could have only come from one source. “You gave her the men are stupid because their brains are in their dicks speech, didn’t you?” I ask Nikita.

She shrugs. “Maybe. It is my go-to material when someone is feeling down.”

“Aleena was feeling down?” Nikita’s attempt to make out it isn’t as bad as it seems twists my stomach. She would have made out it was nothing if it wasn’t bothering her. “What happened?”

“Nothing happened. She just seemed a little?—”

She is interrupted by a toast. It doesn’t give off the “in love” vibes I experienced most of the afternoon. “To men who think with their dicks.”

Aleena holds up her glass in silent encouragement for the room to join her in her salute. I decline Riccardo’s offer of a nip of bourbon, too worried from reading the room to join the festivities.

I feel like some of Aleena’s angst stems from her past more than her present, and I can’t help but wonder if Bayli’s reappearance is the catalyst of her slip.

Once most of the room is ready for her to finalize her toast, Aleena says, “And the women stupid enough to fall for their tricks.”

When her glass cracks upon collision with Shevi’s, Nikita sobers up enough to see sense through the fog. “It’s time to call it a night.”

My high chest sinks in relief as I race to Aleena’s side before she can swallow a shard of glass as if it is ice. “I’ll be taking that.”

Her lower lip drops into a pout when I remove her drink from her grasp and place it on the bar she’s balancing on before I glue her hip to mine.

“I can walk,” she lies.

If I weren’t holding up her weight, she’d be flat on her face right now.

Partway out of the cabana, she murmurs, “You can go back to whoever you were entertaining earlier. You don’t need to worry about me. I’m fine.” Even drunk, she’s a terrible liar. “I’m getting married to a man who is gorgeous and successful. My life is great!”

When a group of drunk men enjoying the outdoor paradise of the hotel warn her against exchanging vows, she breaks out of my hold and stumbles their way.

“What do you have to be worried about? It isn’t like you’re going to be faithful, anyway.” Hiccup . “It’s not like any of you fools know how to keep your dick in your pants.” She spins to face me, stumbling over her feet. “But at least your wives won’t need to compete with that .” She thrusts her hand at me during the “that” part of her statement. “My sister is so beautiful everyone wants her.” She looks on the verge of tears. “Even my fiancé.”

The world spins as the orange juice I guzzled down threatens to resurface.

What does that mean?

Is she saying what I think she is?

Is Andrik the mysterious fiancé she hardly mentions?

If so, I’m going to be sick.

“Did you know that he asked me to marry him?”

I shake my head, too sickened to consider a worded reply.

“He did. We were young, but we were so in love.” Tears burst into her eyes. “Then you drove him home and I never saw him again.”

For the first time in almost a minute, I suck in an entire breath. She’s not talking about Andrik. She thinks I was occupying my afternoon with Bayli.

“I drove him home, Aleena. I swear to you that was all I did.”

Her tear-filled eyes seek the truth from my eyes before she adds words to the mix. “You weren’t with Bayli today?”

“No. I wasn’t. Not today and not at your sixteenth.”

She looks relieved—for half a second.

As her eyes bulge, she folds in two and vomits into a bush siding the river pool. I cringe, almost certain I’ll join her if I assist her now.

Mercifully, even while under the influence, Nikita has no trouble handling vomit. She pats Aleena’s back until all the ghastly liquid in her stomach is expelled, and then she assists me in getting my sister back to our room.

Aleena continues to mumble under her breath throughout the slow journey, but her voice only loudens enough for me to understand her jabbering once we reach the safety of our suite. “They could have love and money. We-we could give them that.” Her throat bobs a handful of times before she locks eyes with Nikita. “You just need to tell Maksim the truth. That you’d never intentionally hurt his mother.”

“He knows. He was there.”

She moves closer to Nikita to ensure she can see the honesty in her bloodshot eyes when she says, “No, he doesn’t. They told him it was a ruse”—Nikita’s stomach doesn’t seem anywhere near as unbreachable when Aleena burps in her face—“and that you knew he was there. They’re putting all the blame on you.” She hits her with the same pleading look I plan to give her when she’s not drunk. “You have to tell him the truth. They need to be told when they’re wrong. They only treat us this way because we let them.” My heart beats at an unnatural rhythm when she quotes something I said to her when I was being removed from her party with Bayli. “If we don’t like how we’re treated, we should stand up for ourselves.” Her focus returns to the present. “Tell them to either ship up or ship out. And we should do it now.”

“Now?” Nikita and I say in sync.

“Uh-huh.” It hurts that she directs her attention more at Nikita than me, but I’ve endured so much rejection in my life that the knocks are getting easier. “Let’s get it out of the way. That way, if he’s not interested in what we’re offering, we can do whatever the hell we like all day tomorrow. Stuff the consequences.”

“Stuff the consequences.” I stare at Nikita like I don’t know who she is when she says, “I’m going to confront him and give him a piece of my mind. If it weren’t for me, his mother would most likely still be admitted.” She jumps up too quick for her drunk head but recovers quickly. “ Tomorrow . I’ll talk to him tomorrow.”

“No! Not tomorrow,” Aleena whines like all her chips are on Nikita. “We need to do this now before it’s too late.”

My eyes bounce between Nikita and Aleena’s rapidly disappearing frame when she charges for the door with Shevi hot on her tail.

“What do I do?” I blurt out, lost. It is usually Nikita chasing me around, demanding I put on my responsibility hat. I’ve never dealt with the shoe being on the other foot.

“Go with her,” Nikita answers just as Aleena disappears into the hallway before she shoves me toward the exit. “I’ll be right behind you. I just need to grab my bag. It is the equivalent of a first-aid kit. It may come in handy.” When I groan, confident I am treading in waters way over my head, Nikita laughs. “I’m joking. Go. Your baby sister needs you.”

The reminder of Aleena’s title is all I need to get my feet moving.

I race out the door, shouting to Nikita that I’ll meet her in Aleena’s room.

“I’m right behind you,” Nikita assures me just as our suite door closes with her being the solo occupant inside.

I make it into the elevator with only a second to spare. It jolts into action before I can spin to see which floor Aleena selected. It isn’t the forty-fourth floor as anticipated. It is the lobby.

“Kazimir isn’t staying here,” Aleena says when she spots my stunned expression. “He’s at home, with Mother.”

After dipping my chin in understanding, I use the remainder of our elevator ride to prepare for the battle we’re about to endure. This is no longer about men who think with their dicks. It is about the unachievable expectations our mother placed on us when we were children.

The exodus of fluids from Aleena’s stomach must have taken her down the quick route to sobriety. Her strides out of the elevator when it arrives at the lobby are remarkably stable. She glides across the marble floors without a single stumble, only fumbling when the same face that stopped me hours ago presents again.

She stares at Bayli as if she’s seeing a ghost.

His watch mimics hers to a T.

If anyone else but my baby sister were beside me, I’d be jealous Bayli can’t take his eyes off her for even a second to acknowledge the people unwillingly trapped in their trance. That’s how enthralling their stare down is.

Bayli only has eyes for Aleena, and the realization pinches the last of the air out of Aleena’s sails. Her shoulders sink the longer she continues her stalk.

Their incensed rise is fully deflated when their stare down is interrupted by Bayli answering his ringing phone.

“Boss?” His eyes flick up to Aleena for the briefest second before he says, “On my way now.”

Despite his cocky wink, you can tell he’s hesitant to leave. It takes several long seconds for him to jog to the elevator, and he maintains eye contact with Aleena until the brushed steel doors snap shut.

I give Aleena some time to absorb the barrage of emotions hammering her before striving to ease it. “Would you like to take a seat?”

She shakes her head while twisting to face me. I can’t read her as easily as I can Nikita, so her apology shocks me. “I’m so sorry. When he left with you and then disappeared, I assumed what she’d told me for years was the truth.” She grips my arm as tears flood her eyes. “I should have never listened to her. I’m so sorry, Zoya.”

“It’s okay. I understand.”

After guiding her to a booth in the corner of the foyer, I gesture for her to slip in first before I slot in behind her. She is shuddering too much to remain standing.

She stares into space for what feels like an eternity before murmuring, “What else has she lied about? How many lies has she told me?” Her drenched eyes lower to me. “How many lies has she told me about you?”

“I don’t know,” I reply, being honest. “But there’s a way we can find out.” I pull down the long sleeve on the jersey dress Andrik left for me, before running it across her cheeks, clearing her tears. “Ask me anything you want to know, anything at all, and I will tell you the truth. I promise.”

After another brief stint of silence, she commences her interrogation.

It doesn’t start where I expect. “Do you love the man you were with this afternoon?”

Since I pledged to be honest, I can only answer one way. “Yes.”