Page 2 of Bedazzled
“I’ve never seen black sunflowers before,” I said.
“The sunflowers represent a cheerful, optimistic personality,” she fluffed the satin ribbon a bit. “The purple sunflowers are special- they’re bred to be a shade that’s so dark that they do look black. Those specialty sunflowers say that the person has hidden depths, passion, and courage.” She was blushing a bit, and I raised an eyebrow, leaning across the counter.
“Speaking of hidden depths…”
Mrs. Novikoff giggled, and it was charming on her sweet, weathered face. “Oh, if only I could get my husband to flirt as well as you do!”
I put five hundred dollars in the tip jar, knowing that while she may refuse to charge me, it is also important to support Russian-owned businesses.
She called after me, “It’s too much, Mr. Morozov!” as I waved without looking back.
Back in the car, Patrick dramatically moved over to make room for the flowers. “Daaamn, this is going to block the driver’s rearview mirror.”
“A short meeting with Tanaka,” I reminded him, “and then I cannot be reached for the rest of the evening.”
He made a suggestive gesture with two fingers with an inch of space between them. “How short?”
“Stop talking about your dick in such a sad, disrespectful manner,” I shook my head sadly. “It cannot help being so tiny.”
“Tá an mac so Éire ar crochadh, a thóin,”Patrick mumbled and I grinned.
“You, son of Ireland, have nothing to brag about, and you apparently forgot I speak Gaelic.”
It was shaping up to be a great day.
“I’m outside your door, darling,” I purred into my phone, watching Tania pull aside the curtain in her apartment window.
A luxury, highly-secured apartment that my brother and I insisted on buying for her, Maksim insisted on contributing because she was his wife’s best friend. I refused to hear any argument from her because being close to thePakhan’swife and dating hisSovietnikmade her too tempting as a target. Any number of organized crime outfits would kidnap her to get to us. And one kidnapping she endured was enough.
“That was a short meeting,” she said into the phone, waving down at me. “Of course, short is a word I wouldneveruse about anything having to do with you.”
I laughed and bent inside the car to get her flowers and then Patrick roared, “Gun! Across the street!” The gunfire was instant and savage, bullets flying just over where my head had been. “Get in the car, boss!” He was still covering me, but I could see the driver was dead, slumped over the steering wheel and a slash of blood across the windshield meant one of my guards was down, too.
“Tonight!” I roared mindlessly, “You had to do thistonight?”Two of their men went down in quick succession, but I lost my other guard. Patrick and I were crouching behind the car, I fired underneath, taking the gunmen down as they raced across the street, chips flying off the granite front of the apartment house and there were screams as windows shattered.
“See if you can make it to the lobby,” he shouted, “I’ll cover you!”
“That’s suicide for you,” I shouted back, “keep firing, they’re slowing down.”
Tania,I thought,please have been smart and stepped away from the window.
There was another hoarse grunt and Patrick flew past me, shot in the chest. His eyes were open and blank, staring unseeingly at the blue sky. I was thrown back against the car shot in the shoulder I don’t have time to fire in the direction of the new shooter before something slammed against the back of my head.
Tania…
Damn, that man of mine issucha snack. He was standing on the sidewalk, giving me That Look - which I can see even from the sixth floor, thank you - and he was pulling out a giant arrangement of flowers like the world’s hottest magician and I wassucha sure thing tonight!
And then, goddamn gunfire.
I slipped to my knees, rocking back and forth and its New Year’s Eve again, and the screams, the gunfire, the shattering glass…
Get the fuck up, get the fuck up, you idiot! Yuri’s out there!
Popping back up, I looked through the shards of glass left in the window frame and frantically scanned what was left of his town car. A van with tinted windows was tearing down the street and I just knew he was in there.Please let it be one of his, I thought, dialing Maksim’s number as I ran for the elevator.
“Yes.” Maksim’s crisp, cold tone was cut off because I have no time to waste.
“Yuri! My apartment!” I was gasping out short chunks of information as fast as they form in my stupid, shell-shocked brain. “Guns! Lots of guns and they took him-”
