The Russian's Assertive Lover (The Tonov Triplets Series Book 2) (9 page)

Nikolay got a called from Scarlett early the next morning. “What is it?” he asked, rubbing his head. “I was sleeping.”

“I think there's something you want to see,” she said quietly. “Nik, you need to get to the club right now.”

“What are you talking about?” he asked.

“Just get here.”

He sighed and hung up before putting on a pair of sweat pants and a sweatshirt. It was seven in the morning. Scarlett had better have a damn good reason for getting him out of bed this early.

He found Scarlett in his office when he arrived. She was on his laptop and she had security footage pulled up. “When I got here, I noticed some money was missing from the register,” she said. “So I went through the security footage.” She turned the laptop around to face him and pressed play. “Take a look.”

Nikolay's heart sank when he saw Courtney enter the screen. She walked over to the bar, paused, and then took some money before leaving. Knowing he couldn't even trust her to be a good employee-- and having concrete proof of it-- hit him in the gut as hard as it did when they had their fight. “Unbelievable,” he said.

“I know it looks bad, but it’s only thirty-five bucks,” said Scarlett. “Please don't take any rash actions. We don't know why she did this. Maybe she was going to bring it back. Maybe she's in some kind of trouble.”

“She stole the money to get her damn tattoo removed,” he said. “That's it. To fix some stupid teenage mistake. That's not even close to being a good reason to steal.”

“She's our best employee--”

“No,” he said, cutting her off. “A good employee doesn't steal from the company. I'm sorry, Scarlett. I know you like her, but I'm firing her as soon as she comes in today.”

“You used to like her too, you know,” Scarlett said quietly. Even though she tried to hide it, he still caught the caution in her tone. It was his fault he and Courtney didn't work out. Not Courtney's.

He slammed the laptop shut and glared at the floor. “Thank you for bringing this to my attention,” he said. “That will be all.”

Scarlett left him and closed the door quietly behind her jumping as she heard a loud crash coming from his office. Turning, she walked back out into the club deciding to give him his space. She’d help clean up the mess later.

*****

Courtney and Janet sat nervously outside Suds, the car engine idling. 

“He's going to fire me, Jan,” Courtney said for the tenth time in as many minutes. “I know he is.”

“It's going to be okay.” Janet said, reaching across the car to rub Courtney’s shoulder. “You told me that he cares about his employees. If you tell him what happened, then he might forgive you and let you work it off.”

Courtney shook her head, trying to swallow the lump in her throat. “Like he would even believe a word I say,” she said. “He thinks I'm a lying, manipulative bitch.”

“Then I'll tell him and he'll have to believe me. It's that simple.” She reached out and squeezed Courtney's hand. “If he doesn't believe either of us about the tattoo, then he wasn't worth it to begin with.”

“Maybe not, but it's not like I can get a job anywhere else,” Courtney said. “And Nik's hardly going to give me a reference.”

“That's not going to matter soon,” Janet said. “Soon you'll be in medical school and then you can start working at your dream job. If push comes to shove, you can move in with me. You'll get through it.”

Courtney smiled. “Thanks, Jan,” she said.

“Now go in there, and make sure the bastard knows what he would be giving up if he fired you,” she said.

“If I don't come out in twenty minutes, you can leave,” Courtney said. “But there's a good chance I'll be coming out with all my things.”

Janet nodded. “Good luck,” she called as Courtney got out of the car and went inside.

Nikolay was waiting for her as soon as she got in and she knew immediately by his stormy look that her stealing hadn't gone unnoticed. “My office,” he gritted out, “Now.”

She went as calmly as she could to his office and he came in a second later. As soon as the door closed, she started in. “I can explain--”

“No,” he snapped, “You can't. You betrayed me, you betrayed all of your so-called friends here and you did it for a fucking teenage mistake!”

“No!” Courtney said, “It wasn't a mistake. I needed that money. I'll pay it back.”

“Damn right you will and if you don't, then we will be pressing charges, you fucking thief. Do you think that because we fucked that it makes it okay? Do you?”

“I know it's not okay but I had no choice.”

“The hell you didn't,” he shouted. “Was it worth it? Is your tattoo worth your damn job?”

She looked down at her gloved hand. Even though she kept it covered up as much as possible, she could still see those ugly initials there as plain as day. “Yes,” she said, “Because this tattoo wasn't just a mistake.”

“I don't care if it was or wasn't. We all make mistakes after all. I just had the bad sense to fall in love with mine.”

Courtney's mouth fell open in shock when he said that.
He loved me?
Before she could respond, he waved dismissively at her. “You're fired. Get out of my sight.”

Courtney turned and fled, slamming the office door behind her. She knew that was coming. She just knew it. There wasn't anything more she could do about it now, not when he wasn't even willing to listen.

It didn't matter anyway. She knew stealing was wrong and inexcusable. Who cared why she did it? Courtney walked out the door and found Janet still waiting in the car. She jumped into the passenger side. “Drive,” she said. “Let's get out of here.”

Janet looked at her friend’s tear-stained face and shook her head. “No,” she said. “There's no way in hell we're leaving until he knows the truth.” She opened the car door.

“No, Janet, he won’t listen!” Courtney said, getting out of the car.

Janet sprinted away and into the strip club.

“Where is he?” Janet said to the woman behind the bar.

She simply pointed to Nik's office, a knowing look on her face. “That way,” she said. “Down the hall and to the left.”

“Thanks.” Janet took off just as Courtney barreled in after her.

She ran as fast as she could and she didn't stop until she found Nik in his office. She shut his office door in Courtney's face and locked it before turning to face Nik. “We need to talk,” she said.

He looked at her, surprised. “What are you doing here?” he demanded. “Did you come for gossip column filler yourself after your crony failed?”

“She's my friend, not my crony, and that's not why I'm here.”

He crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. “You're a reporter. That's all you want.”

“You don't want to talk?” Janet said. “Fine. But you sure as hell are gonna shut up and listen.” She sat down in the chair opposite Nik and looked at him, getting as settled as she possibly could. “You want to know the last man Courtney ever trusted?” she asked.

“I don't--”

“I know you do,” Janet said, completely steamrolling him. “His name was Gary Walker. He was a younger guy, a little skinny and he seemed completely harmless. He was a regular at the restaurant she worked at when she was eighteen.”

Reluctant interest sparked in Nikolay’s eyes. “Go on.”

“Well, everyone on the staff knew Gary had a crush on Courtney. Everyone but her, that is. She's incredibly clueless when it comes to those things. He would go there every night, sit in her section, order a meal and chat with her. Sometimes, when it wasn’t busy, he even persuaded her to sit down with him for a little while.” Janet fidgeted with her hands. “It seemed harmless enough, right? He seemed harmless enough. So they became friends.  One day, after Courtney's shift, he ordered two whiskeys, one for each of them. Courtney went to go punch out and when no one was looking, he slipped GHB into her drink.”

Nik's eyes widened. Janet nodded. “Yeah,” she said. “She didn’t pass out right away and he was able to get her out of the restaurant and across the street to his tattoo parlor where he branded his initials into her hand. We were supposed to meet up after work,” Janet paused, as she took a breath. “When she didn’t show up, I went looking for her. Someone had mentioned that he saw her leave with Gary, so I went across the street. When I found her, he had cut her clothes off her and was about to act on it when I….” Janet could feel her body tensing at the memory of it,
focus Janet
. “She wasn't the same since she woke up from that…incident. She has no memory of what happened past drinking the whiskey and every time she looks at her hand, her imagination runs over as her worst nightmares continually stare her in the face. So,” she said, “Do you still think it was just for her own stupid teenage mistake that she wants this tattoo gone so she can give herself a fresh start?”

“Why didn't she tell me?” he asked. “I would have given her the money in a heartbeat.”

“Maybe she would have if you didn't curse her out of your office for being an opportunistic bitch,” Janet said, harshly. “As for the lack of communication and trust, that's rich, coming from you.”

He sighed. “Where is she?” he asked. “I believe I have an apology to make.”

Janet stood up. “Damn right, you do,” she said. “She never would have stolen from you if she didn't think she had a choice but as far as she is concerned, her whole life is ruined as long as she has this tattoo and she can't risk it, not with her acceptance to med school and her scholarship. She panicked and made a mistake.”

Nik nodded. He should have known better than to to hurt her like that; she wasn’t Samantha. “Please let Courtney in,” he said, his voice strangled.

*****

Opening the door, Janet found Courtney sitting on the floor outside the office, her knees drawn up to her chest. She had heard everything. Rising, she looked at him fearfully and his gut twisted as she stood in the doorway, not daring to come in any further.

What did that jackass do to her?
He didn't even want to think about it. She deserved so much better than what Gary had given her. Hell, she deserved much better than what
he
had given her.

“Please, have a seat,” he said. “I think both of us have some talking to do.”

Courtney perched on the edge of the couch as far away from his desk as possible. “You're the only one besides Janet who knows about that night,” she said.

He swallowed, feeling like a complete asshole. Here he was protective of his childhood when Courtney had an attempted rape hanging over her. “I'm a jerk,” he said finally. “You didn't deserve that. You didn't deserve any of my anger.”

“No, you have a right to be angry over the money,” she said. “The other stuff not so much. Believe it or not, I did care about you, Nik. Selling you out never crossed my mind.”

He swallowed, hating how she said “did” instead of “do”. He deserved that, though. He didn't deserve her kindness that was for sure. “I guess now that I know your secret, I might as well tell you mine,” he said.

Courtney looked up at him, her eyes widening. “That’s not necessary,” she began, but at the look on his face, she softened, “Go ahead, I'm listening.”

“Three years ago, I was in England,” he said. “I had no intention of coming over to the US or going back to Russia. I wanted England to be my home. But one day, after a huge fight with my brothers, I went to a bar, blazing mad, and I got incredibly drunk.”

Nikolay ran his fingers through his hair and then continued. “It wasn't hard since I had never had alcohol before, nor had I ever had it again, but I wasn't seeing straight, let alone thinking straight, when this young woman, sounding as sincere as could be, came up to talk to me. She led me to a back booth and had me sit down and she listened very politely while I ranted on about my brothers, about our work, which was by no means legal at the time, even about my childhood. After that it's a little blurry, but I believe we went back to my place.”

“You can leave out the details,” Courtney said, smiling weakly.

He shrugged. “Next morning I wake up with a blazing hangover, and she's gone. A week goes by and I don't even think about it. Until one day, Dimitri calls, screaming at me. My face is all over the different news and gossip sites.” He clenched his jaw. “Even now it’s still painful to talk about.”

Courtney remained silent. He only knew from her wide eyes full of sorrow that she was even listening.

“She had taken every bit of what I had said and spilled it out in a series of articles about her 'interview' with me. I started getting death threats because of my work and my brothers kept getting hounded by the press. My house got raided by the cops and my car was smashed up by a baseball bat, with profanity spray-painted on it. I even got a brick thrown through my bedroom window and it barely scraped by me,” he said. “So I left England and came to America. My brothers and I swore only to trust each other. To let nobody in.”

“I'm so sorry,” Courtney said. “No wonder you freaked when I asked you about the scars. That must have been terrible for you.”

Sighing, “It wasn’t about the scars. I let my brother, Dmitri get under my skin. Ever since Samantha, he used it as a weapon to keep us from having relationships outside the family. He did the same thing to Val when he started seeing Rae and I knew that, but he’s damn good at getting to me. When you asked about the scars, I was feeling vulnerable in a way that I had never felt before but it doesn't justify what I did to you. Not by a long shot. I hate the fact that I wasn't there for you when you needed me and that you felt forced to take money from the cash register after I'd gone. Could you ever forgive me for being so stupid and will you come back to work?”

Courtney's eyes welled with tears and Nik's heart sank. He had screwed up again. He knew he had. But the next thing he knew, she stood up and ran to him, jumping into his lap, hugging him. “As long as you can forgive me,” she said. “I should have talked to you, I know that, but I had never shared this with anyone. You can’t imagine how hard it was to keep it bottled up inside me.”

Relief poured through him and his body immediately relaxed having Courtney in his arms again. “I love you, Courtney,” he whispered in her ear. “I never should have pushed you away like that. You mean the world to me.”

“So you don't think I was a mistake?” she asked, looking up at him with her bright blue eyes that could melt any heart of ice.

“If you are a mistake, then you are the best mistake I've ever made,” he said. “I wouldn't give you up for the world.”

She buried her face in his shoulder and he felt his shirt grow hot and damp with her tears. “Thank you,” she said. “Thank you so much.”

Just then, there was a knock on the door and Janet poked her head in. She smiled when she saw Courtney in Nikolay's arms. “So, I take it all is well?”

Courtney turned to face her friend. “Janet, you've been waiting outside all this time?”

Janet shrugged. “What are friends for? Am I interrupting something?”

“I got my job back,” Courtney replied with a grin.

“And it looks like you've got Nik back too.”

Nik smiled and nodded. Courtney had never lost him. Not really. He completely belonged to her and the thought only filled him with happiness. “Thank you, Janet, for telling me.”

She shrugged. “No problem but now that everything is all good, I’m off. Some of the guys here are freaking me out.”

Courtney curled up in Nik's lap as he stroked her hair. “I want to help you,” he said. “You know, get you the surgery. Will you please let me?”

She smiled. “Yes,” she said. “I will, but only this one time, okay? And I will definitely pay you back the thirty-five dollars.”

He smiled and kissed the top of her head. “You don't have to worry about that,” he said. “Having you here with me, in my arms, is worth all the money in the world.”