by Jason Lenov
Then there she was. He came up with her under one arm. He started powering the other arm into the water, easily closing the distance between us. By the way he was swimming, I realized things couldn't be good. I turned and started swimming towards the shore. He almost passed me.
When it was shallow enough to stand I watched him stand up and in one swift motion he swung Valerya into his arms. He ran to the shore. She was limp in his powerful arms. I ran up beside them just as he set her down on the sand.
He leaned in, his cheek against her mouth. He put his hands on her abdomen. Big, meaty paws on her tiny frame. He pumped five times. Lowering his mouth to hers I watched in stunned horror as they locked lips and he breathed into her.
It took five of those. Time stood still. I couldn't believe what I was watching. I couldn't believe I was just standing there, helpless. There was nothing I could do though. He had taken command.
I've never heard a sweeter sound then the gurgle of water coming from Valerya's throat that day. I watched her double over. He rolled her to the side and she wretched a bellyful of water onto the sand.
It felt like the first breath I'd taken since looking out over the lake to see her gone. After a fit of coughing, he helped her sit up.
She looked up into his eyes. I don't know why that made me cringe inside. Had she been expecting to see me there in front of her? She glanced over, confused, then looked back at her saviour.
"Yak sprawy?"
She wiped her lips and shot him a confused smile. She looked up at me and I couldn't just stand there anymore. I dropped down on one knee beside her, moving Viktor out of the way.
"Baby, are you alright?"
She nodded. Didn't say anything. Just nodded.
"What happened?" I asked.
She coughed before answering. "I don't know. It just felt...so tight in my stomach all of a sudden and then I couldn't hold myself up. Then I was drinking water and..." She trailed off, her eyes shifting to the sand between us as she recalled what had gone wrong.
"When did you eat?" Viktor's question was stern and commanding.
Valerya looked up at him, as if she'd just realized he was there. "This morning. Breakfast."
"A lot? I mean, did you have a lot?"
"Two eggs. Some toast. Some coffee," I said, answering for her.
"It's too much." Viktor's response came, assertive and firm. "You have to wait at least an hour between eating and swimming. Otherwise? Cramp."
My stomach started to sink again as I realized he was right. I'd always heard that, that you should wait at least an hour after eating, I just didn't think it would make that much difference. Apparently it did.
I turned to look at Viktor. For the first time since everything began happening I began to realize what a debt of gratitude I owed him. "Hey Viktor?"
He glanced at me, one eyebrow raised.
"Thanks," I said.
He shook his head. "Is no problem. You would do it too. I'm happy everything turned okay."
You would do it too.
Somehow that sentence stuck in my mind. I think because at the back of my mind I knew that I wouldn't have done it too. Not because I didn't want to but because I couldn't. No matter how you looked at it, I wasn't as strong a swimmer as he was. I had some inkling of how to CPR but it had been years since I practised. And when I really thought back on what had happened, how things had gone down, I knew there was no way I would have kept diving and diving, over and over in search of Valerya. I just didn't have that kind of stamina.
A heavy stone weighed down my stomach as I realized that if Viktor hadn't been here, she might have died.
The weight of his heavy hand on my arm shook me from my dark thoughts and made me look up at him.
"Don't stress yourself, amigo," he said, staring at me. "Was just bad luck. Next time? Be more careful with your wife." He stared at me a little longer, raising one eyebrow and tilting his head to one side. Then he stood up and I felt the need to stand up with him and thank him for what he'd done.
"Viktor, you're very kind. But the truth is, you saved her life."
The wind and the birds seemed to go silent as the three of us processed what I'd just said. I knew they both knew I was right. I knew Viktor was just searching for something to say that would deflect the debt of gratitude I owed him.
"Is my fault," he said finally. "I should have some card or something. In the house. Remind people of safety."
"You know what?" I replied, respecting his humility. "Maybe you should. That'd be good for liability. But here, what happened here? I just want to say thanks. You...you saved Valerya's life."
I knew it. He knew it. She did, too. None of us said anything else for a few moments. He put a hand on my shoulder and gave it a shake. Suddenly, Valerya was standing up next to us, her eyes moving from his to mine.
"Come to dinner tonight?" she asked.
Chapter 6
I knew it was the right thing to say. I knew it was what needed to be done. I knew this was the absolute worst time to be feeling jealous or insecure or whatever it was I was feeling. I also knew that I couldn't help but feel it.
This man, Viktor, had just saved her life. Of course she should invite him for dinner. Of course she should show her gratitude and I should show mine.
But somewhere deep inside, the insecurity and jealousy and all the feelings I'd pushed back since I'd first heard that conversation with Nina, began to surface. I tried to push them away again but they put up a fight.
Viktor grinned but put up his hands and waved them a little. "No, no. I don't want to make an intrusion. My girlfriend is here. You didn't come to have company. No problem."
Valerya looked at me. Suddenly I saw a sadness in her eyes. I knew she wanted this. I knew she really wanted it. The guy had really just saved her life.
"Viktor," I said after a deep breath. "We have to insist. Please. We won't keep you long. Bring your girlfriend. We'll have a good time."
Maybe he figured it would be bad for business if he didn't come. Maybe it was some Slavic sense of duty or guilt. Or maybe he genuinely changed his mind?
"Okay. I come tonight. But I have to bring Shanice. She is only here for few days."
"Of course," I answered, trying to hide my shock that Viktor with a 'K' was dating a girl named Shanice. "Come over around six. We'll be ready."
He smiled and gave a firm nod. "Okay. Now I got to swim for myself." He waved at us and ran backwards a few steps towards the water before turning around.
I don't know what possessed me to turn and look at Valerya at that moment. Some sub-conscious, primal instinct, no doubt. She was staring at his cock the same way I'd stared at it. Her eyes were just a little wider than normal and full of awe.
Jealousy seared through me as I gazed at her imagining what was in another man's briefs. When he turned and ran towards the water she turned and saw me watching her. She immediately looked at the ground.
"Are you okay?" I asked, letting her off the hook considering everything she'd just been through.
"Yes. It was stupid. A stupid cramp." She looked back up with big eyes. "I could have died!"
"We were both lucky that Viktor was here."
She glanced up at me. "Yes. We were."
We spent the rest of the day lounging around on the beach. I read a good chunk of the book I'd brought and Valerya got back into the water but didn't stray too far from shore. We both tried to put what had happened behind us. I couldn't be sure but it seemed like Val had an easier time of that than I did.
Now not only did I have the idea of Valerya opening her legs for some other man bouncing around in my brain, I also had the image of Viktor pressing his lips to hers. Despite the circumstances, I couldn't help replaying it over and over, imagining him leaning down and touch her like that.
By the time we got back to the house it was almost four. Val put some potatoes on to boil for a salad and I went down to the freezer and fished out some steaks. I tried to push my strange, dark fa
ntasy away, to leave it in the basement where it wouldn't keep bothering me but to no avail. It was wedged into my mind.
"Val?" I asked once I'd come back upstairs.
She looked up from the onions she was chopping. "Hm?"
"Did you see it?"
"Hm?" she asked, furrowing her brow.
"Did you see how big his cock was?"
Her eyes popped open and she dropped the knife. She jumped back as it clattered to the floor.
"Robbie!" she shrieked. "Don't do that!"
"Sorry," I muttered, stooping down to pick up the knife and thinking I should have given her more warning before bringing something like that up.
"What are you talking about?!?" She had her fist on her hip now and was staring at me intently.
"About that. He was wearing those...those skimpy tights. You saw it, didn't you?"
She rolled her eyes and shook her head. Then she waved her hand in the air and said, "So what?"
So what? Yeah, exactly Robbie, so the fuck what? What the hell was I doing bringing this up? This was some crazy thing all in my head. Why was I sharing this with her?
"So, I was just wondering. If you saw it."
She stepped forward and pressed a hand to my forehead. "Are you feeling alright?"
"I'm fine," I replied, taking her hand and wrapping it around my back. "Should we have an...appetizer before they get here? Maybe upstairs?"
My stomach tightened as she let out a little sigh. This was not the Valerya I'd fucked last night.
"Robbie, it's not that I don't want to...I just, I'm still kind of shaky from today. Later for sure. Okay?"
I forced a smile then leaned in and kissed her cheek. Of course it was okay. I hadn't brought her here to have sex with me whenever I wanted. Or at least, that wasn't exclusively why I'd brought her here. Of course it was okay.
So I poured us both a glass of wine and I sat down and listened to her talk about her grandfather's cabin and how it was different than this one.
But my dark little secret wouldn't let me concentrate for long. There was Viktor again, kissing her on the lips in my mind. By the time our guests arrived I was at least one sheet to the wind, if not two. Thankfully Valerya had only had one glass of wine and seemed to notice I was slurring slightly already.
"Viktor!" I called out a little too loudly. "Great to see you!"
Valerya turned and shot me a scowl from where she was standing, greeting them by the door. It was a "shouldn't you have a glass of water?" sort of look.
"Hello," Viktor said, letting his date step inside. "This is Shanice. Shanice, Valerya and Rob."
The three of them said hello as I watched from where I was standing by the kitchen counter. Shanice was predictably stunning. Her skin was very dark. She had full, round breasts and a toned body that was tucked into a tight tank top and a mini skirt. She had the legs of a tennis player and her ass looked she spent half her day doing squats. I must have been staring at her a little longer than I thought because the next thing I knew Val was barking at me from across the room.
"Robbie! Can you pour the wine?" This time she was not smiling.
I busied myself pouring wine and handing it out and tried my best not to look at Shanice, or at least anything lower than her neck, any more than I could help. But it seemed like the damage had been done. Val wouldn't look me in the eye for the rest of the evening and I knew that as soon as they left I was going to be in trouble.
Dinner was casual. Viktor talked about his job and how he'd come by the property. He was about my age but had done very well already and was hoping to retire by forty-five. Val listened intently to everything he had to say, smiling in all the right places and laughing at his weird jokes which I knew she didn't find funny.
It got me a little twisted into a knot. Of course he'd saved her life that morning but I knew this was about much more than that. Val could be insanely jealous when she got it in her mind to be and I knew this was payback for me checking out Shanice.
So I spent a few silent hours listening mostly to Viktor's stories. Sometimes Shanice would pipe up with a comment about one of them but everything she said seemed so inane that I wondered what a guy like Viktor saw in a woman like her, beyond the obvious.
It was a relief when he finally said it was getting late and that they should go. It was a relief walking them to the door and a relief when it closed behind them. Of course I was grateful for what he'd done, but I was more grateful that we wouldn't have to be seeing him anymore for the next few weeks, aside from the occasional coincidence.
As Valerya turned and started to walk towards the bathroom, I put on my best smile got ready to do damage control.
"Well that was fun," I offered, wandering into the bathroom after her.
She was already brushing her teeth. She saw me in the mirror but didn't meet my stare. "Mmhmm."
It seemed worse than I'd thought. After she rinsed out her mouth she tried to squeeze past me but I blocked the door.
"What's wrong?"
"What's wrong?" she snapped, cocking her head to one side. "You got so drunk before dinner I had to call your name three times before you would stop staring at her! It was so embarrassing Robbie!"
It was a relief to hear her say my name. I always knew the situation was unsalvageable if she didn't say my name. I put the palms of my hands together and bowed slightly in front of her. I put on my most sincere expression.
"I'm sorry. I really am."
She sighed. That was also a good thing. A sigh meant there was wiggle room. I probably still wasn't having sex tonight but at least we wouldn't go to bed mad.
"You're right, I did get too drunk." She loved that kind of honesty, me owning up to something I did wrong. It threw her for a loop because most guys were not like that at all. "I was in no way trying to be creepy or make you feel bad. I just...you know, biological things. Instinct."
Her brow furrowed. I wished I could take back that last part.
"Instinct?" she asked.
"I mean...I don't mean that..."
"What do you mean, exactly?" She didn't sound mad, but she didn't exactly sound happy either.
My mind started racing to dig a way out. "I just mean, you know, we're animals, if I see a woman who is...attractive, not as attractive as you but, you know, still pretty good looking, it's hard not to look. We're wired that way."
One eyebrow went up. "Oh. We are?"
I sighed, my shoulders slumped and I tilted my head to one side. Now she was just playing with me. Now she was just enjoying the ride. "Val, come on. I was just trying to say sorry."
"No, no. I want to hear more. I want to hear more about this instinct thing. If we're just animals..."
"I'm not saying we're just animals,"
"So if I find someone I like to look at, I can do that, right? I'm just an animal, right? You don't mind."
I should have said something right then. I should have objected in some way. I should have become the macho alpha, protecting what was mine and telling her I would become insanely jealous if she ever did anything like that. But I hesitated too long. I opened my mouth to say something but nothing came out.
Her eyebrow arched a little higher. "You wouldn't mind?"
"Wouldn't mind what?" I asked, nervous about where the conversation was headed but intrigued by the direction at the same time. The same nervous jealousy I'd been feeling started coursing through me but now there was a strange new energy surrounding it. The possibility of talking about what I'd been feeling, of revealing to Valerya what I'd been thinking about was tantalizing for some reason and I didn't want her to stop asking questions.
"You wouldn't mind if I looked at a guy every now and again? A good-looking guy?"
I shrugged. "Sure I wouldn't mind. You're allowed to look. That's what I'm saying. It's no big deal."
A smile curled up one corner of her mouth. That smile, together with the raised eyebrow made her look devious. Almost a little sinister.
"Well then I have a c
onfession to make, Robbie," she said, acting sly.
All of the adrenaline that had travelled through my nerves up to that point was nothing compared to the razor of it that tore through me right then at what she'd said. A million possibilities of what she might be confessing shot like lightning through my mind. My palms began to sweat and I felt my face start turning red. I had to breathe to calm my heart that had punched against my chest.
"You do?" I barely managed to get it out, my mouth was so dry.
She opened her eyes a little wider and nodded her head slightly. "You remember what you asked me earlier? When I dropped the knife?"
Of course I remembered what I'd asked her earlier. I hadn't been able to stop thinking about it. I nodded back at her and swallowed to try and make my throat less dry.
"The reason I was so surprised?"
Adrenaline was shooting up and down my insides. I was pretty sure I knew what she was going to say. I still couldn't believe it or how crazy it felt, thinking about it and feeling this way. I nodded again. It was an agonizing few moments before she kept going.
"It was because that was exactly," she said the words quietly, precisely, "what I was thinking about. Viktor's fat cock."
Chapter 7
Viktor's fat cock.
The words settled into me and stayed there like a slow motion punch in the gut. It suddenly felt like I could feel every nerve ending in my body. Everything was buzzing. My vision seemed sharper, my hearing more acute. Despite all that, I felt rooted to the ground.
I stared at her face, trying to make sense of what she was doing, hoping that her expression would somehow soften the blow of what she'd just said.
It didn't. She just kept staring at me with her eyes wide open, waiting for me to react. She let the silence drag on forever when I didn't. She almost seemed to enjoy it, like this was the knife of revenge she'd twisted into me for my staring at Shanice and she needed to savour the jealousy I felt.
"That's okay though, right Robbie? It's just instinct? Animal instinct?"
