Reality Bites - Wattys 2018 Shortlist

Chapter 18 - I'm 100% Behind You

By the time we'd finished with Pavel, it was all but time to head down for dinner. Dimitri was very quiet, even for him. I knew he was feeling mortified that our privacy had been invaded, an intimate moment between us spoiled, and worse - we'd had to explain the situation to his new boss!

"I really wanted to kill him," Dimitri said quietly as we were descending the stairs hand in hand.

"I know. But you didn't."

"No, you don't understand, Roza. If Pavel hadn't ordered me to stop, then I'm not sure I would have. I haven't always had the control I do now," he said ominously.

Looking at my troubled Russian God, I was getting, if possible, even angrier with Nikita.

"You heard Pavel. Any man would do what you did in those circumstances."

"I guess so," Dimitri said, his voice proving he still had doubts.

Stopping at the second-floor foyer, I pulled him into my arms.

"Dimitri you were protecting me. It was silly of me to get dressed like that and let you do what you were doing without first locking the door."

Putting his arms around my waist, he nuzzled my hair.

"Don't you dare blame yourself," Dimitri said tenderly. "You're right; he's just a freaky pervert. Let's forget about it." Pulling back to look at me, his arms around my waist, a small smile was appearing. "So... thick, long, and hard huh?" he joked.

"Very thick, long and hard," I nodded solemnly. "It's been a few days since I've had a good look, though. Maybe after staff meeting tonight...?"

"You're insatiable, woman!" he mock grumbled, looking much happier.

Continuing down the stairs, we were soon in the meals area. An uneasy silence descended as we entered. Looking up from the kitchen, Suzanne shot me a concerned look.

"Rose, Dimitri, dinner is just about ready. Pavel said there was some mess from the training exercise upstairs?"

"Yes. Sorry about that Suzanne," Dimitri replied uncomfortably. "There's some blood on the carpet. If you get me some cleaning stuff, I'll take care of it after the staff meeting."

"Never mind dear," she said. "We've got a shampooing vacuum unit. I'll send someone up there now; it will be right in a minute. You'll be dining with Mr. Mazur and a few key staff this evening in the smaller dining room. I'll show you where it is."

Walking us back through the meals area, and past ten or fifteen Guardians, I could see them checking out Dimitri, and to a lesser degree me.

"Pavel told me Nikita insulted you and that Dimitri flattened him. Don't be too concerned. Guardian Makar is not very popular around here. Dimitri's actions have made a few people very happy today," Suzanne murmured once we were out of earshot of the group of Guardians.

The 'smaller' dining room still seated ten, and the table was set beautifully.

"As head of housekeeping, I'll be joining you this evening," Suzanne explained. "I'll just duck down to the kitchen and organize the servers and quickly change. I'll be back in a moment."

I was glad Suzanne would be joining us. She was genuinely lovely, and also the only other woman I'd met in the house so far.

"Rose! Dimitri," said Abe, joining us in the dining room with Pavel. "Pavel here was just telling me you've already conducted an initial training assessment, Dimitri? Was I was correct? Could some of our protocols and techniques use updating?"