Seth's Cravings: An Endless Series: Book 2 (17 page)

     “Please tell me a horse patty is not what I think it
is?” She asked in amusement looking not at all horrified like my sister’s had, and
still looked to this day when they remembered that incident.

     “It is exactly what you are thinking.”

     “Oh my god! That is too funny. So, they left you alone
after that?”

     “Unfortunately, no, they bothered me incessantly. That
is up until their teenage years when other boys suddenly took over their attention.”

     Nadia chuckled again. “I never did that with Luka. I
was a tomboy and hated dresses and dolls. I liked building blocks and my bike.
I used to ride everywhere with my friends and cousins.”

     She had cousins in Russia. I wondered why she hadn’t
stayed with them instead of her father’s relatives that hadn’t seemed to want
them. It sounded like they’d dumped Nadia when she was eighteen and instead of
leaving her sister and brother in their care Nadia had taken over guardianship.

     “If you had relatives in Russia why didn’t you stay
with them instead of coming all the way to America to stay with relatives that
didn’t want you?” I know it was supposed to be her asking questions but she was
just way too damn interesting.

     An inscrutable expression crossed her face. “Let’s just
say that the Cherkesov family has ties to Russian gangs and
Mafiya
(mafia). My
mat’
did not want us in any way associated with that.”

     The astounded expression on my face wasn’t only from
learning about Nadia’s mafia connections. I just realized that Nadia used her
mother’s last name. Why didn’t she have her father’s last name? That was one
question I was hesitant to ask.      

     “So, you have horses? Do you ride them?” Nadia asked
switching the questions back onto me.

     “Yeah, I grew up on horses.” I answered.

     “Cool, I’ve never been on a horse, or seen a real
horse.” She then started peppering me with questions about home, school, and
lacrosse and was able to keep the conversation off of her for the rest of the
ride.

     I tried not to be too frustrated with the setback on
discovering more about her life, there was still the rest of the weekend.

Chapter Eleven

NADIA

     Seth directed me down a driveway that held a vacation
home unlike any I’d ever seen.  It was a mansion by my standards, and most of America. Probably most of the world. The house was two stories and had to be at least
twenty to twenty-five thousand square feet with white siding and blue trim.
There was a separate five car garage next to the house that appeared to also
have living space above it.    

     I think Seth had been more than accurate when he said
there would be sufficient room for us, there was plenty of room for his entire
lacrosse team, and a few dozen fans.

     There was definitely enough room that I would be able
to stay out of Seth’s orbit, something that was even more imperative after the
ride today. The overpowering presence of his size seemed to take up the whole
front seat and his musky scent had permeated the whole car making it impossible
to breathe without taking in the dark intoxicating smell. It was conjuring up
some wild images in my mind that I had to forcibly expel.

     Regrettably, once a thought takes shape its impossible
to completely disregard it, so by the time we reached Virginia Beach I was hot
and bothered and in need of some alone time to get my body under control.

     What's more, Seth wasn’t just messing with my body; he was
also proficient at pulling words from my mouth without me thinking or him
really even trying. My lips had been looser than a gambler’s wallet at being
informed of a sure thing.   

     The only reason I could think why is that I really didn’t
have anyone my own age to talk to, a true friend to reveal things with. I had
my colleagues, but the youngest was Billy at twenty eight and he was married
with a kid, and one on the way. The only time I socialized with them was during
work or at church. They were all nice guys but they all had families of their
own…lives of their own.  

    Just like I did. People who depended on me to stay
focused. Therefore, I needed to manage all these wayward thoughts I was having…like
yesterday.   

    There were three other vehicles parked in the driveway.
I parked next to the truck that had dropped Seth off at my apartment earlier. Luka,
Issy, and I stepped out of the car and stared up at the house in awe. There
would be absolutely no hardship in staying in this place all weekend.

     “It’s so big.” Issy whispered in wonder.

     “They must have a large family, or maybe they’re big
people who need more room than the average person.” I said giving her a grin
which she returned along with a giggle.

     The three of us grabbed our bags out of the trunk and
followed Seth up the stairs into the house. We passed through a massive
stunning foyer with a large chandelier, double stairs that lead up to the
second floor, and what looked like marble flooring.

    
Udivitel’nyy
! (amazing).

     Seth instructed us to drop our bags by the steps and
then we moved through a living area that was double the size of our apartment
with large windows overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. The furniture looked brand
new and was…white! That was
not
a good color around children. I needed
to keep Issy and Luka away from this room…and possibly even myself. I would feel
terrible if I left even a smudge. I would never understand why people would
think white was a good color to have for furniture.

     We seemed to be following voices because our next stop
was the huge kitchen filled with a group of eight people, some sitting at the
table and some standing at the counter, all eating. I recognized all four of
Seth’s roommates, as well as Carrie, and another girl that I had seen around
the house in the last week. She must be the ‘Amanda’ Seth had been referring
to. There was another guy I’d never seen who must be the other lacrosse player.
He was nearly as large as Seth in height and muscle, and was really attractive
with shaggy dark brown hair and gray eyes.

     There was a third girl there that Seth had omitted from
the list of houseguests. A younger girl from the rest of the crowd that bore a
slight resemblance to the shaggy headed lacrosse player; possibly his sister.

     All the guys were a smorgasbord of attractiveness. Nic
was a tall blonde, though not as tall as Seth. Landon was a little shorter with
highlighted blonde hair and pretty boy looks, and Evan and Noah were Landon’s
height with different shades of light brown hair.

     For some reason, even with all this male attractiveness
around me, I thought Seth beat them all hands down with his rugged darkness and
stormy indigo eyes.

     Now the other two girlfriends, they were like night and
day. While Carrie was all dark and exotic looking with Spanish genetics, Amanda
looked like the all-American surfer girl with long blonde hair and tanned skin.
The younger girl had wavy long brown hair, the same color as her possible
brother, was petite, and also tanned.  

     None of these girls would be slathering on the sun
screen like I would have to for the next two days. Pasty white skin sucked.

     “Pit, you’re here, and just in time. We made lunch.”
Noah yelled when we walked in the room.

     “Don’t call me that.” Seth grunted.

     Issy had buried herself into my side as soon as she saw
all the people, but she raised her head at Seth’s rumble. “He doesn’t like it when
you call him that.” She exclaimed.

     Everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at Issy.
I stared down at her in shock as well. I can’t believe she’d spoken up like
that in front of everyone…and on behalf of Seth.

    Seth set his hand on Issy’s head giving it a rub.
“Thanks Issy, I’m glad someone is finally sticking up for me.”  

    The smile she gave him was huge and adoring. Uh-oh, we
had some hero worship going on here.

     “Everyone, this is Issy, Luka, and Nadia.” Seth said
and then proceeded to introduce everyone.

     “Nadia…I could have been calling you Nadia all this
time, instead of the mouthful, Nadezhda. That would have been nice to know
weeks ago.” Landon complained after introductions.

     Landon’s appearance this morning had surprised me a
little. All the other times we’d come across each other he was impeccably
dressed, almost business like, but today he was in shorts and a t-shirt that
revealed he had a tattoo that covered his left arm. It wasn’t an arm sleeve, but
it was close enough. Another tattoo peeked out from his right sleeve as well. It
looked like some kind of animal…a dragon maybe?

     “Yeah, it would have been easier on me too, because you
pronounce it incorrectly.” I retorted.

     Landon look affronted. “Are you telling me I’ve been
saying your name wrong this whole time?”

     “Not exactly wrong, just not precise.” I said my name
the way it should be pronounced.

     Landon frowned. “Isn’t that how I said it?”

     Issy and Luka shook their heads gravely at the same
time I said, “Nyet,” Which had everyone in the kitchen laughing and trying
their hand at getting it right. A few of them didn’t do too badly.  

     “Are you hungry? We made several large sub sandwiches,
and we have chips, veggies, and fruit.” Carrie offered. She was sitting on
Nic’s lap with a plate of food in front of them. They appeared to be sharing.  

     Moving toward the refrigerator Seth glanced back at me.
“What do you guy’s want to drink?”

     I told him we’d all have water as I lead Issy to the
table. I made up a plate for her while Luka prepared his. I could see that he
was studying everyone trying to get their measure while at the same time trying
not to gawk at the three very attractive females in the room.

     Seth brought the waters over and made a heaping plate
for himself while everyone discussed what to do for the day. It seemed that
Landon’s family had a boat, a couple Jet Ski’s, a volleyball court, tennis
court, a computerized driving range…
derr’mo
, what did this place not have.

     “Man, this sucks. I can’t belief I get invited to the
summer house to end all summer houses, and I have a lame arm.” Luka grumbled
dejectedly. His strongly accented words told me he was enormously upset about
it.

     Seth clapped him on the back. “Luka, don’t worry. You
can still do a lot of stuff. You might not be able to go crazy on the Jet Ski’s
but you can still ride on them…carefully. You can still ride in the boat and
even drive it some.”

     Landon spoke up from the other side of Luka. “Yeah, you
can be our chief look-out man while we water-ski. You can learn all our amazing
moves and then if you come back you can show us up. If you think you can that
is.” Landon said in good-natured mockery.

     The dejection on Luka’s face had started to slowly lift
at Seth’s words. At Landon’s his competitive spirit rushed to the surface. “
Chert
voz’mi,da
!” He exclaimed happily.

     “Luka…Issy.” I reprimanded quietly.

     “Oops, sorry…Heck yeah!” He reiterated happily causing
everyone to laugh again.

     “You can play volleyball one handed. Hell, I’m so good
I should play one handed that way everyone else won’t feel bad.” Noah voiced
arrogantly.

     “You mean it would give you an excuse on why you played
like crap.” Nic retorted with a snort as he rubbed Carrie’s back.

     I was slightly astonished at the effort they were
making to cheer Luka up. They didn’t know him, but it didn’t stop them from
trying to make him feel better about having an injured arm.

     My gaze caught Seth’s and I gave him a grateful smile.
He just stared back at me intently for a few seconds making me wonder what he
was thinking before he smiled and nodded.

     After we finished eating Landon stood up. “Let’s get
this party started then. I already showed everyone else to their rooms. Seth,
we already discussed where you, Nadia, and her family will be staying so you
can show them where they will be sleeping. Then we’ll all meet on the back
porch after we change for the beach.”

     Everyone began cleaning up the kitchen as Seth led the
three of us out of the room, back to the foyer, and up the stairs. Reaching the
top he went right down a long hallway housing four doors. Seth turned to me
before opening any of the doors.

     “Did you and Issy want to share or have separate
rooms?”

     Before I could answer Issy spoke up. “Share please.”

     Seth grinned at her. “I thought you might, but I had to
make sure. Didn’t want to step on anyone’s toes.” He flicked her nose as she
gazed up at him worshipfully. Turning to Luka he pointed to the first door on
the left facing the beach side. “Luka, that’s your room.” Luka immediately
headed there and I heard a couple exclamations of wonder in Russian as Seth led
Issy and I further down the hall to the room next to Luka’s. Opening the door
he waved us in.

    We walked into one of the most beautiful bedrooms I’d
ever seen. The room was huge and had two queen beds. It also had a sitting area
with a couch and two chairs with a television you could watch from the beds as
well. The walls were a light peach and the furnishings were done up in the same
color mixed in with some white and light greens.