Free Perfectly Normal by Jaden Wilkes Page B

and it will become old news. You will change and no longer resemble the girl in the photograph and all will be well for you…unless Sergei finds out about you.”
    “We need to kill him,” she said in a snarl. She was alarmed at the visceral reaction that name had in her now. She hated Sergei for hurting her Dimitri. She hated him almost as much as she had hated her stepfather.
    “I need to kill him,” he said, “I told you a thousand times before, I would never risk your life to kill that animal. If you were caught, the things he would do to you…” His voice trailed off and she noticed his fists were clenched. Dimitri was still irrational when it came to Sergei, and that frightened Columbia. She knew emotions got you killed, according to the concierge. She wished Dimitri could have the concierge do it, or let her help so she could keep him calm and levelheaded.
    “Well, we’ll get there eventually,” she said and stood up. “For now I think we’ve had enough to eat, now I want you to show me my new favourite colour.”
    The tension left Dimitri’s body and a smile formed on his mouth. “I think I can show you,” he said, stood up and scooped her into his arms. She wiggled and screamed in mock horror the entire way back to their bedroom.

    *****

    Columbia woke in a panic, she could breathe but only because the collar she wore to bed every night was keeping Dimitri’s hands from connecting to her throat.
    “Dimitri!” she cried out and tried to pull them off her. His grip was too tight; she struggled to pry his fingers away, relieved that the collar protected her against his crushing hands.
    “Stay the fuck away from her, I’ll fucking kill you,” he yelled in her face, then trailed off in Russian. She thought she caught Sergei’s name, but couldn’t be sure. She was caught under him as he shifted his weight, pressing her into the soft mattress.
    “Dimitri!” she screamed and kicked at him. She was stronger now that she had been training for so many weeks, but was still no match for her man. He outweighed her by at least a hundred and fifty pounds of solid muscle.
    She gave a final twist and managed to scramble away. He caught her foot as she rolled off the edge of the bed, his iron grip holding her tight, hanging close to the floor. She kicked as hard as she could and heard him grunt as she connected with his face. She landed on the floor with a thump.
    “Dimitri?” she asked, slowly stood up and flicked on the light. He was lying on the bed, stretched out with a red mark on his cheek. He was still fast asleep. She couldn’t fathom how he could be so active at night without waking up, given that he woke her up constantly. But that was the price she was willing to pay for laying next to him. “Dimitri?” she asked again and moved towards his sleeping frame. His breath was starting to deepen and come in rhythmic repetition. “Thanks, fucker,” she said with a small laugh, “wake me up and fall back to sleep like nothing happened.”
    She dared to crawl back into the bed next to him and tensed when he moved towards her. He was like a blind man finding her for the first time though, his fingertips traced the curves of her body as if seeking solace in the patterns on her skin. She sometimes envied his disappearing damaged skin, but never resented his face becoming more and more beautiful. It was more of a longing, wishing she could be perfect for him, erase the years she spent torturing herself. He said he loved her though, exactly as she was. He seemed to find a sort of beauty in the raised ridges of flesh; he seemed endlessly fascinated with her.
    “Love?” he asked her in his deep, sexy voice thick with sleep. She loved hearing him like this, so vulnerable and so close to her.
    “Yes?” she replied and felt his hands pulling at her, dragging her body closer to him to spoon.
    “What time is it? Why are you awake?” he said and nuzzled the back of her neck, just below the collar. The hair