behind your back ~ andrei svechnikov

Bonus Chapter!

Sophia and I laid out our towels on soft, sandy Atlantic Beach, taking in the summer heat and ocean breeze on a warm, sunny August day.

"Oh, this sounds like trouble," I heard Andrei say to our right.

Both Sophia and I turned our heads after we straightened our beach towels out, seeing Andrei and Sebastian walking over to us. Andrei had our two year old son Mikhail in his arms and slung around his neck, wearing a little Hurricanes bucket hat and sipping on a carton of apple juice.

I rolled my eyes. "Says you and Sebastian," I retorted, sitting down on the towel. "You're more trouble than Soph and I,"

Both Andrei and Sebastian rolled their eyes in sync and in retaliation, even though we all knew that they were the worst duo.

"Yeah, yeah. I had to go back out to the car so Mikhail could have some of his apple juice. Didn't even get to the sand and he already complained," Andrei chuckled, letting Mikhail down so he could walk around the sand and take everything in. Not that he hasn't been to a beach before, just so Andrei had a break.

"Sounds like you," I responded. "Complaining about something right away? Yeah, he's your son,"

Andrei rolled his eyes. "Anyways,"

I laid back on the towel and closed my eyes. I felt a cool breeze past by, tingling my skin that wasn't covered by my blue bikini and sunglasses I was wearing.

Sophia and Sebastian invited Andrei, Mikhail, and I to spend some time with them at the beach, and since I've been so wrapped up in getting my master's degree in accounting and taking care of Mikhail, I've been in need of a break. This seemed like too much of an excuse to spend some time relaxing and hanging out with Sophia.

"Mom," Mikhail said, and so I opened my eyes and bent back forward, back to a sitting position.

"Uh-huh?" I responded, and he frowned. He looked up at Andrei, who was looking back down at him.

Mikhail looked back me, keeping that frown. "I'm hungry," he said.

Andrei groaned with a smirk, face-palming himself. "Come on," he said. "I got you your apple juice, now you want your fruit snacks?"

I chuckled as I opened my arms for Mikhail to come to me, and so he did. "Don't listen to Dad. He's going to get your fruit snacks," I assured as Mikhail's eyes started to water. Poor kid.

Sophia and Sebastian just kept laughing at Andrei. To be honest, if I didn't have Mikhail, I would've been laughing too.

"You better get your kid some fruit snacks," Sebastian said. "He looks so upset from your shenanigans,"

Andrei rolled his eyes. "You don't have anything in your big bag, Delilah?" he asked, pointing at the white-striped navy blue bag I had brought and sat next to my towel.

"Yeah, but not food," I responded, rubbing Mikhail's back. "You can take a few minutes to get some fruit snacks for Mikhail,"

Andrei blew his tongue at me and we walked away and back to our car to abide by my order.

"Jeez, what's his problem?" Sophia chuckled as Sebastian sat behind her and started rubbing her shoulders.

I shrugged with a smile on my face as I continued rubbing Mikhail's back. "Who knows," I chuckled.

"Does Mikhail know any Russian so far?" Sebastian asked, rubbing deeper into his wife's tanned shoulders.

I shrugged again. I didn't really know the answer to that question. Andrei is the one who's in charge of that, considering he's a native Russian speaker and is a lot better than me.