His Precious Flower

Chapter 21

And this is what the aftermath of s*x feels like.

"Oh my God," I groan squeezing my thighs together. "Jac is going to kill me."

Dimitri has been massaging the upper part of my inner thighs for about five minutes now. The

second I tried to roll out of bed, my legs had given out beneath me. s*x didn't hurt last night, but

it certainly stings like a mother this morning and I'm almost in tears. Do v*****s bruise?

"How am I supposed to dance like this?" I whine swatting my boyfriend's hands away as they

only turn me on rather than soothe my pain.

He sighs and shakes his head.

"I don't think you can flower. You should just take these next two or three days off while your

body adjusts. You must remember that when you learn a new move in dance, you hit muscles

you didn't know you had. We stretched one you've never used before last night and now you

need to cater to it."

As much as his accent makes that sound sexy and appealing, I have to remember my purpose.

"I don't have a job that you can take days off from willy nilly. La Bayaderé is showing in just

another month and we need all the practice we can get!"

"Calm down flower," he demands stroking the side of my face as I get worked up. "I will take

you to practice, but I expect you to WATCH. You'll feel even worse tomorrow or take twice as

long to recover if you don't give your gait area a rest. Do you understand?"

I nod with a dissapointed pout. He's not sore. This isn't fair. I'm about to cross my arms and voice

my displeasure when a question itches at me, causing a small frown to form of it's own accord.

Is-was Dimitri a virgin like me? Would he have been sore if it was his first time too?

"Flower?"

I look into his dark eyes and know that I will love him regardless of his answer. Who couldn't

love this man? Either way, my curiosity eats at me.

"Was last night your first time too?"

Dimitri's hand still against the side of my cheek where he'd been stroking my porcelain skin. His

mouth opens for a moment and his eyebrows crease, but no sounds comes out.

His hand moves down to capture my own as he tilts his head in thought. Is he trying not to hurt

my feelings? Am I a conquest? One of many?

He must sense my growing panic as he finally responds.

"You... You are the first woman that I've slept with... Alone."

I frown in confusion.

"What does that mean?"

My boyfriend shifts in his spot and sighs, squeezing my hand in the process.

"You met my brother Ivan. He told you about our families customs and before you, we would

share our women. You are the first woman that I've found enough interest in NOT to share. I told

you before that you were mine and that is the way it will stay."

A small smile tinges at my lips. I was his first, without actually being his first.

"That's the way I like it," I assure him.

He smiles back at me and pats my leg.

"I'll get your clothes and take you to the studio now. Jac will tell me if you try to dance!" He

calls from the closet.

Of course he will. He's a kiss ass.

•••

"1 2 3 1 2 3 AGAIN!"

I sit like a bored lamb at the edge of the room while the other dancers watch groups pull out

numbers and practice their performance as individuals.

Jac was irritated that I can't dance today and even though Dimitri didn't tell him the reason, I

think he has a suspicion. Luca certainly does as he continuously smirks from where he stands

across the room. That bastard knows. He's making fun of me.

"So how'd you make the lead if you're not even going to practice?" A familiar voice states with a

slight snoot.

Alice. She and Mitsy were friends and now that she doesn't have a gossip buddy, it looks like

she's coming to pick on me.

"Just think," I begin matching her ignorant sass with a small smirk, "Even when I'm sitting

perfectly still, you still aren't good enough to get the lead."

She let's out a frustrated growl and stomps back to the half moon line everyone is standing in and

next to her best friend Maca. At least she hasn't come to pick on me. Yet.

As I watch from afar, I realize that I've been here almost four and a half months now. I'm not

even friends with those who had taken me into their group when I first arrived. Mitsy is

suspended. Malcom got moved to a new studio. Luca is my only friend now and we had never

spoken before becoming partners.

Dimitri's presence certainly changed things here and the balance has been altered irreversibly. I

know I'll never get my two friends back. Probably not even if they apologized. I gave them up.

All of this for the Russian man who somehow became my world. Whereas dance was what I ate,

slept, and consumed, it's now Dimitri.

There's only so much I know how do to or what to offer in a relationship, but I remember the

warnings people whisper on the trains and the talks they give their children.

Don't give up your friends for a guy.

It's so counteractive. Were Malcom and Mitsy really my friends? They stopped acting like it, but

perhaps I had begun to neglect them?

I adore Dimitri, don't get me wrong, but am do I adore him too much?

Who else will I loose being with him?

It's hard to measure to which point a relationship becomes unhealthy, but I'm afraid of seeing that

point one day and it makes me more cautious. I'm living with Dimitri and I haven't known him

more than two months.

Should I talk to him about maybe... going on a break?