In Bad Faith

Chapter 44

"Nadya.." I was confused that my dad called me by this name. It was my mom's nickname for me, and I didn't like it coming out of his mouth. Not with a bottle of vodka in his hands, slurring as he spoke. His eyes looked bloodshot from a distance, but as he came closer to me, they became pitch black. He almost looked.. dead?

I didn't understand what was happening, but the moment he started approaching me, I just ran away. I've never ran this fast in my entire life. But I didn't get far, because I tripped over something and fell into a pitch-black hole. My father towered over me with the bottle of liquor still in his hands. He was watching me, laughing, and opened his mouth to start talking.

"Nadya?" I heard my name again, but this time the voice sounded more clear. It made me open my eyes with a sharp inhale of breath. It was just a nightmare. "Nadya, we're late," I heard Misha say as he softly shook my shoulder. My heart was racing, and I was completely out of breath as started looking around me to realize where I was.

It didn't take me a long time, since Misha was standing next to the bed, pulling his pants over his hips. All the memories came back to me. The way we'd kissed in the club, how he carried me home, and then the moments we had shared in this room. In this bed, in the shower, on that sofa. It had been so much different than that time in the office, which had been followed up by feelings of regret and disappointment. That wasn't the case now. No, because as Misha was closing his belt, he looked at me, elaborately. And the way he laid his eyes on me, made me forget the way my dad had looked at me in the nightmare I just woke up from. I rarely ever had these nightmares ever before. It must have been the alcohol.

"Sunshine," Misha told me, noticing I was finally actually waking up. "I am so sorry for waking you up from this seemingly very intense dream.." he told me and quickly looked down at his watch. ".. but it's nine already," he then continued, and my eyes became wide. Nine o'clock? We made an appointment to have breakfast all together at eight-thirty. "Fuck," I whispered, immediately sitting up. And for a moment, I just sat there to try and comprehend this whole situation. We've had the best night of our lives yesterday, and Misha didn't seem to be sorry. After making love, we had even talked about both casual and serious matters, and he wasn't asking stupid questions about birth control. There were clothes everywhere throughout the whole room. It was big chaos, and seeing the empty bottle of champagne tipped over on the nightstand made me realize that I now had the worst headache ever. Well, maybe not the worst, but my head was throbbing from the excessive alcohol usage as of tonight.

And we were late. Fuck. How were we going to explain walking into the breakfast area together, an hour late, and looking like zombies? Think, Nadezeya. I'm always able to come up with a solution, this headache wasn't going to get the best of me. "This is a problem," I then sighed, slowly getting out of the huge bed, which had been incredibly comfortable, especially after falling asleep in there with Misha's arms around me. I looked at Misha, who had a weary hairdo and a tired expression. He looked hungover. He probably was hungover. But that didn't make him even the slightest bit less attractive than how he looked yesterday. In fact, I could get used to seeing this next to my bed every day.

But I couldn't get used to it. Because this was wrong, and I had to stamp that in my brain. But instead of looking panicked, Misha had an amused look on his face, still watching me. I must've been looking like a total disaster, which had to be fixed as soon as possible because we had to show up at breakfast where all our colleagues would be. "This is not funny, Misha," I whined. I called him Misha. It all felt surprisingly natural. "You're a good liar. I trust your expertise to get us out of this situation," he said to me, grinning. If only he really knew how good of a liar I was.

I hummed, thinking, as I got out of bed and quickly put on the robe that I'd worn yesterday as well. "So much trust," I mumbled, and quickly looked up at him to give him a small grin. "But okay, you're trusting the right person," I then told him, but left him in the dark a while longer as I walked to the large mirror that faced the sofa where I'd been able to watch us making love together through yesterday. And as I caught Misha's gaze in this very same reflection, I could tell he was thinking about it too. This really had been the most perfect night ever.

I wiped some mascara away from under my eyes, and then let my fingers glide through my hair in a desperate attempt to smooth it out. It didn't work, so I just tied it into a tight bun. We took a shower together yesterday, so I was somewhat clean, but I needed to go to my room as soon as possible to get myself some clean clothes. I couldn't wear the same thing as yesterday if I didn't want to let everyone know that I had slept with my engaged boss.

"You're having the worst stomach flu ever. It's almost flu season, you know.." I started, my brain still foggy while it tried to come back to life after such an intense night. ".. you've tried to catch as much sleep as possible to be able to survive today, and that's why you're late," I then continued, still trying to get my blonde strands of hair into the bun. I quickly looked at Misha through the mirror, and saw him staring at me in awe. I smiled and turned around to face him. ".. you then called me to fetch you some medicines to get through the day. And I might be catching on to something too, hence this.." I said, gesturing to my face that had clearly been lacking sleep too.

Misha was still staring at me, probably still trying to decide whether he was scared or impressed by me making up this lie so very quickly. Maybe I was making myself suspicious, if Misha knew stories like these were made up so easily in my head. "You really are something, Nadya," he told me, staring at me. And I could tell that he meant it in a good way, because his eyes were still on me as he was smiling. "Perfect. I'm feeling very sick, indeed. Which isn't far from the truth because I do feel like I've been hit by a truck," he then told me, grinning. He walked to the bathroom, after which I could hear water running, and I put on the set I had worn yesterday. This was about to be a real walk of shame, going from Misha's room to my own.

I grabbed the rest of my stuff and before walking out of the room, I quickly went to the bathroom, where Misha was busy brushing his teeth. He looked at me through the mirror with his toothbrush still in his mouth, and god, why was even this so damn hot? "I'm going to get ready in my room," I told him, staying in the door opening. He nodded without a word because he had his mouth full, which made me grin. I loved the way it felt between us now, even though I knew it could be over anytime soon. We were both still in yesterday's euphoric state, but once we were getting out of this hotel room, our normal life would start again. We would probably have the same 'this can never happen again' conversation sometime soon when we get back to New York, and I wasn't ready. I wanted this feeling to last forever.

I turned around and started walking away. In the background, I could hear Misha finishing his bathroom session, and before I even reached the door, I could hear his voice. "Nadya?" he told me, making me turn around to face him again. He then came out of the bathroom and smiled at me. "Thank you," he told me, and he seemed genuine with his words. And even though I didn't know what exactly he was thanking me for, I wasn't going to question him, because I loved how he said these words to me. I had never known criminals could be this nice, too.