Execution (Off Balance 2)

I loved when he wore clothes like this. Kova could play both parts so well—athletic and professional—and get away with it.

He looked incredibly delicious, but I frowned.

"Why are you so dressed up? It's midnight. Where were you coming from?"

There were only a few times that I could recall when color had drained from Kova's face. It took a lot to unnerve this man into silence and cause his eyes to dilate in surprise. He was typically cool, calm, and collected, but in that moment, something was off with him. He glanced away, and a tick started in his jaw. His nostrils flared, and my eyes narrowed.

Looking anywhere but at me, he said, "I had a dinner party I had to attend. This was the earliest I could get to you."

Kova shook his head, more to himself than to me. He seemed distracted. Whatever he was thinking about bothered him. There was a distinct change in his attitude, so I tried not to jump down his throat.

"A dinner party? And you couldn't leave until midnight? I called you early in the afternoon and you ignored me."

He swallowed, still unable to make eye contact with me. My stomach tightened. "It was an all-day affair," he said.

"So let me get this straight, you couldn't find the time to verbally speak to me, not even during a bathroom break, but you could send text after text while you were at a dinner party? That makes no sense."

Something wasn't adding up. My stomach was a mess, my eyes hurt from crying so much earlier, and now Kova was hesitating after we had made so much progress. I couldn't tell if my mind was messing with me after everything that happened today, or if Kova was in fact holding something back from me.

Everyone was a liar to me now. Me being the biggest liar of all.

"Adrianna, stop changing the subject. I am not here to talk about my dinner party, I am here because we have a big situation on our hands and I need to know what happened so I can be prepared." He rubbed his temples. Finally looking at me, he lowered his voice and said to himself, "grebanyye yamy," in Russian, then said it again, shaking his head like things couldn't get any worse.

"Kova, I'm not worried about it," I tried to reassure him. "If my mom was going to do anything, she would have already." I didn't like the agony that was slowly taking shape on Kova's handsome face.

"No, it will not be okay. Everything is fucked up right now, beyond repairable, Ria."

I glanced away, not liking the brashness in his voice, but I gave him what he wanted because he deserved to know.

Painfully, I told him all that happened, down to the conversation before my dad and brother walked in, to the name calling and the smack that had happened a few days earlier. He sat and listened while I explained everything and answered any question he had, his stoic expression void of any emotion. My eyes filled with tears while I delivered all the gritty details. At one point, he pulled my feet into his lap and began massaging them. I relaxed further into the couch, fatigue taking over. I didn't care that I had so few clothes on, and neither did he.

Gripping my thighs, he pulled my body down so my butt pushed up against his thighs. He situated my legs, then his hands took on a steady movement and moved up my calves. My body was so sore, and the way his fingers kneaded my muscles was sublime. It felt so good, I was close to falling asleep.

He angled his head. "What else are you not telling me?"

I could ask him the same question.

"Nothing."

Kova was anything but obtuse.

"It is not nothing. I can see it in your eyes."

"Kova." I swallowed. "Please. Just let it go."

I didn't tell him about Avery and Xavier. Or about having another mother somewhere else in the world whose name I didn't even know. My jaw trembled but I fought it. There was no way I could open up about that, I wasn't ready.

All I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, was that Kova was the only one who brought a sense of normalcy to my life that I craved right now.

"So all those tears are from your mom?" he asked, not believing a word I said.

"What tears?"

"Ria," he said with a soft smile, "your eyes are puffy from crying. I know the difference from being tired and from being upset. Now, tell me what happened."

I swallowed. My chest felt empty. Exhaling a heavy breath, I said, "Nothing. I told you everything."

"Ria," he smirked. "You make me open up to you, now it is your turn."