Hold On, page 2
“I don’t know Michelle… I’m not sure if it’s the colour or the neckline” Michelle knew this was her favourite colour. The confusion on her face was clear to Aliannah. Aliannah did another spin in the mirror before deciding it was not to be. The sales assistant popped up out of what seemed like thin air, holding the same dress but in royal blue.
Michelle squealed again. “This will totally bring out your eyes! You must try it!”
A few moments later, Aliannah returned from the fitting room in the royal blue dress. Michelle gasped. It was perfect. Aliannah twirled and smiled as she judged herself in the mirror. Although she loved the red dress, this blue one was the better choice. She had silver heels and accessories at home that would pair beautifully with this dress.
“I’ll take this one, please,” Aliannah said out loud. She went to the fitting room and changed back into her clothes before heading up to the till to check out. Aliannah was really looking forward to tonight; even though it was Michelle’s birthday, Aliannah was happy to feel good about her outfit choice.
Late afternoon, the girls returned to their building.
“My god, you girls have been fiercely busy today!” Harry greets them by grabbing the cart from his back office, which is loaded with evidence of a very successful shopping day. The girls just laughed.
“All in a day’s work, Harry. All in a day’s work,” Aliannah smiled as they took the cart to the lift and up to their apartment with the promise of sending the empty cart back down in the lift when they had unloaded their haul.
It was primping time. Thankfully, their apartment had more than one bathroom, or they would never be ready for anything. The legs were shaved, the brows were tamed, and the makeup was applied flawlessly. A quick photo shoot on their balcony, and they were ready to go!
The first stop of the evening was the rooftop bar on the Empire State Building for cocktail hour. Looking out over the New York skyline is something Aliannah would never tire of. Often, she would wonder what it would be like to live as a bird, even a disgusting pigeon, purely for the ability to glide through the skies over New York and take in the sights. It must be surreal. They also took the opportunity to dine in the restaurant there to “line the stomachs” before their night continued. It did feel strange to be all glammed up while dishing on a cheeseburger and fries, but needs must! The girls learned their lesson many times: to prepare for a night out, one must eat something first.
It only took a few minutes before Aliannah managed to hail a cab to take them to Zino’s. They were regulars there, and even though Aliannah had been away for the last three months, the bouncer waved them on through the VIP line like no time had passed at all.
“Thanks, Gavin!” The girls chimed as they went into the club.
“No problem, ladies, happy birthday, Mich! And welcome back, Ali! Hope Europe treated you well” Gavin winked at Michelle as he reached to speak to the walkie-talkie strapped to his shoulder.
Gavin was Michelle’s on-again, off-again situation-ship; Aliannah knew she would be going home alone tonight. The club was packed. They were guided to the VIP booth by one of the bottle girls, who brought over a bottle of vodka and sparklers. The music cut and the DJ's voice came over the microphone.
“Ladies and gents, we have a very special guest joining us in the house tonight! Can we all cheer a big Happy Birthday to the one, the only Michelle Westbrook!”
The crowd erupted in cheers and sang as Happy Birthday blared over the speakers. The girls looked at each other and said “Gavin” at the same time. Although they were not exclusive, it was very clear to anyone who looked that Gavin cared deeply for Michelle. He stood across the club by the door, smiling at Michelle as the fuss quietened down before going back to the door to resume his duties. The only person to ever look at Aliannah that way before was Ivan. Aliannah shook her head. Tonight was not about thinking of Ivan; it was about forgetting Ivan. She picked up her glass, downed its contents and grabbed Michelle’s hand to head to the dance floor.
Aliannah let the music take control of her body. She closed her eyes, shook her hips to the beat and lost herself in the momentum. It was not long before a pair of male hands found their way around her waist, and Aliannah indulged the man and ground up against him. The dance floor was so packed it was not long before a layer of sweat covered her body from all the dancing. The man had an Armani shirt on; he looked and smelled delicious. She danced with him all night save for a few dances she had with Michelle, who was beside her.
Pre-Europe, Aliannah would have strongly considered going home with Mr Armani-shirt. However, post-Europe, Aliannah was still processing what happened with Ivan. She thought she was ready to move on, but deep down, she was not. She also had the feeling that someone was watching them, and she didn’t mean Gavin, who would lap the dance floor every so often during his bouncer duties.
She kissed Mr Armani-shirt a couple of times throughout the night, but when the house lights came on and the night was over, she politely declined his invitation to go home with him. Aliannah and Michelle waited at the bar after closing for Gavin to finish his shift. The manager didn’t mind this as the girls would often help with the clean-up while they waited.
“Why didn’t you go with Mr Armani? He was yummy!” Michelle said with her head cocked to one side.
“Oh, I just wasn’t in the mood for any of that tonight. Between the travel home, the gala and our day shopping – I am running on empty” Aliannah laughed off Michelle’s remarks.
All the patrons of the club left fairly quickly, and Gavin got the go-ahead from the manager to clock off a little early for Michelle’s birthday. The manager also gave strict orders. “Get those lovely ladies home safely, Gavin. They are far too beautiful to walk alone in the streets of New York at night”. Gavin saluted his manager and nodded in agreement as he put on his coat and led the girls out the side door of the club.
Michelle was going back to Gavin’s apartment that night, so they all piled into a cab to drop Aliannah at their building on the way to Gavin’s. Aliannah thanked them as she got out at their building and waved goodbye as she walked inside. Harry was at the lobby desk, as always. Does that man ever go home? He greeted her as she walked in.
“You just missed a courier for you, Aliannah.” She checked the time on her phone; it was almost 2 a.m. What courier delivered this late? Harry handed her a large, flat black box with a black velvet bow tied around it. There was no card on the front.
Aliannah looked confused. “I don’t have anything on order, Harry. Are you sure it is for me? It is a very odd hour for a delivery like this.” She examined the box further, flipping it over to check for any indication of who could have sent it or the courier name – there was nothing.
Harry nodded, “Yes, the man said it was for Aliannah Stackton. He was rather odd, now that you mention it. He had a motorbike helmet on, but he wore a black suit instead of bike leathers” A chill shot down Aliannah’s spine. She thanked Harry and took the box up to the apartment.
She set the box on her bed before opening it. As she took the lid off, she gasped. It was the red dress she had tried on in Wilamena’s this afternoon. She held the dress up, and a note fell to the floor. Aliannah bent to pick it up. She turned it over to read and was stunned.
The red looked better on you, darling – I
P.S – No one touches my things
She was right. Someone had been watching her. She thought back over the entire day. She didn’t remember seeing anything out of the ordinary. She felt it at the club, alright, but not when she was shopping. Why did Ivan follow her back here? He broke her heart. He had no right to follow her after what he did.
The rich and wealthy typically think they can do absolutely anything simply because they have millions. Millions do not buy human respect or decency. Millions do not buy manners or true loyalty. Millions do not make a broken heart piece back together. Well, in Ivan’s case, it was billions, not millions. Ivan Kozlov was a 30-year-old Russian billionaire. He made his fortune off the oil industry. He was tall, dark-haired, with chocolate eyes and just the right amount of beard. Ivan owned the Serenity.
Aliannah had stupidly fallen in love with him while working on the boat during her trip. There was a strict rule of not flirting with the owner, but Marcus quickly realised it was Ivan pursuing Aliannah and not the other way around. There was no way Marcus would tell Ivan what he could and could not do on his own boat. She was about to extend her trip when he broke her heart in an unforgivable action. Aliannah did not even speak to him or say goodbye. She just packed her things and left.
Now Ivan was back. Did he really think he stood a chance of redemption? Aliannah would sooner eat the gum stuck to a bus stop than stomach the idea of Ivan being near her again. It would seem she would have to face him sooner or later. Later was the preferred choice. Aliannah decided there that if Ivan wanted to speak to her, he would have to come and do so himself. She would not run from him, but she would not run to him either. She would make him earn the right to speak to her again.
She looked in the bathroom mirror as she prepared for bed. “Asshole! Who the fuck does he think he is!” She nodded to herself and went to bed. She also knew she would have to tell Michelle about Ivan soon since Ivan was apparently running around New York—his audacity after what he had done.
As she lay in bed, she contemplated if Ivan had really come for her. Or was he here for business reasons? She shrugged the notion off and went to sleep.
Chapter Four
Sunday was spent properly unpacking from Europe, catching up on laundry, and general housekeeping. Michelle would not return from Gavin’s until this evening, so Aliannah took full advantage and played the radio on a high volume but not so loud that she would upset the neighbouring apartments. 90s bops were her feel-good songs.
She did not realise how many clothes she had brought home until she finally finished six loads of laundry. Thankfully, nothing smelled like Serenity anymore; the oaky bourbon smells and the odd waft of a cigar were gone from her entire wardrobe. It saddened her to think that she would probably never experience the Adriatic Sea again in all its beauty. She had never seen a sea so clear and so blue. It was enchanting, and the water! My god, the water was so warm that it felt like being hugged by the sea. She often wondered if mermaids were real; would they live in the sea caves deep below where Ivan liked to moor the Serenity at sea? Scuba diving was her favourite thing to do out there. Aliannah would see a rainbow of fish every time.
The lobby buzzer on the wall rang, bringing Aliannah out of her daydream and back to reality. It was Harry. “Aliannah, there is another florist delivery on the way up to you.” She thanked him and rolled her eyes as she hung up the receiver. More flowers? Seriously?
Aliannah opened the door to the courier, and he produced yet another bunch of 100 white peonies. She tipped him for his troubles and closed the door. “Where am I going to put these? I am running out of space!” Eventually, the kitchen table was decided to be the home of this bunch. Soon, she would be able to run her own peony shop if Ivan kept this up.
Ali darling, can we please talk? – I
Peonies were slowly losing their spot as Aliannah’s favourite flower. It broke her heart more to come to this conclusion. “Can we talk? Fucking talk? Is he for real?!” She yelled at the flowers. Unbelievable.
The rest of the day was spent purging. She scrubbed the apartment from top to bottom and cleared out her wardrobe before jumping in the shower and scrubbing herself from head to toe. She made a pizza for dinner and climbed into bed to watch trashy feel-good TV.
Monday morning rolled in, and it was time to resume her usual tasks at the museum. This involved cataloguing inventory from the gala to ensure everything was returned to its rightful place in storage. Aliannah also had to process the new inventory and allocate it to its proper place, be it in storage for a later exhibition date or directly to the museum floor to be the current hot new pieces of the week. The exhibits were regularly cycled in the museum. This kept the interest of the customers, sponsors and donors. She also had to formulate the monthly newsletter to update everyone on what was currently on show and what was to come next. Her job may be mundane, but the historical aspect of the pieces always piqued her interest. Today, she catalogued a lost Reinhart painting from World War II. It was magnificent.
Mid-afternoon, a door-dash courier walked to her reception desk. Aliannah assumed one of the other staff had ordered in. *Delivery for Miss Aliannah Stackton* is what the bag said on it. She remembered she left her lunch on the kitchen counter; Michelle must have returned home and seen it. The smell of the bag made her stomach growl like a drowning whale, so she took the bag up to the canteen to eat. The cheeseburger, fries and milkshake hit the spot perfectly. Aliannah shot Michelle a text of thanks for the door-dash.
*PING*
God, Michelle replies fast! “I didn’t door-dash you?”
Aliannah ran to the window of the canteen. Sure enough, out on the street below was a black SUV with tinted windows. The back passenger window was cracked a small bit. She tried to see if it was him or just a coincidence; cars like that were common on this street as they were only around the corner from the finance district. Of course, money follows money; where else would you put a museum of antiques? Lost in her thoughts, movement in the car jolted her back to reality. A hand and forearm. She knew that forearm anywhere. It was, without a doubt, Ivan. His lion tattoo was confirmation enough.
*PING* An unsaved number had sent her a text.
Thought you might be hungry since you didn’t leave the office at all. – I
She cursed herself for filling out so much information on the employee sheet Marcus insisted upon. It was probably Ivan who insisted. He never showed any interest in the other stewardesses or even the deckhands; he barely spoke to any staff apart from Marcus and Aliannah. Did Marcus hire her because he lost three stewardesses that day? Or because he knew she fit the description of Ivan’s ideal woman? For Marcus’s sake, she hoped it was the former. Aliannah had liked Marcus; she thought him to be a good friend. He was easy to talk to and to have a laugh with. You need people like that when you’re stuck on a boat moored at sea. It’s not like you can just get up and leave. It doesn’t matter how big the boat is, it’s always good to have a friend.
Closing time rolled in quicker than Aliannah expected, and she was glad about it. She was exhausted from the day’s tasks. The SUV was gone when she left the building, and she breathed out a sigh of relief. She didn’t consider Ivan to be a stalker, but the way she had just upped and left Croatia made it clear to him that she did not want to speak. Ivan had a strange way of convincing those around him to come to his way of thinking. This was his way of letting Aliannah know he was around.
Chapter Five
Michelle was waiting when Aliannah got home. She was standing in the sitting room with her arms folded across her chest. She had her “Don’t fuck with me” look on her face. There would be no deflecting this time.
“Well? Are you going to tell me why Mr I is still sending you gifts?” Aliannah looked confused; apart from lunch, she had not received anything today. Michelle gestures towards the couch, another black box with a black velvet bow, smaller than last time. Aliannah picked up the box and opened it; it was a diamond necklace. She rolled her eyes and mentally begged Ivan to stop trying to buy her affections back. Of course, another note…
Aliannah darling, this sparkles just like your eyes and the sea – I.
If she didn’t know Ivan, she would be off the scales creeped out. Everyone knows that men with stupid amounts of money don’t know how to use it respectfully. The more zeros on the bank balance, the less cop-on these men have.
“Ok, Michelle, I am going to tell you who he is,” Aliannah said reluctantly. Michelle jumped onto the couch, got comfortable and patted for Aliannah to sit. Aliannah took a deep breath and began the story.
Michelle’s eyes nearly fell out of her head. Mr. I is Mr. Ivan Kozlov, the Russian oil billionaire. He is the most eligible bachelor in Europe. I.K Oil is a massive company in Europe. You could see the cogs turning in her head. The peonies, the dress, the lunch and now the necklace. This would all be buttons for someone as rich as him.
Aliannah explained how they met, that she was hired to work on Serenity – Ivan’s boat, as a stewardess. She met him on week two of being there. He observed her working as a stewardess for a week before requesting that she accompany him in his activities: beach days, lunch days on shore, snorkelling, and scuba diving. Much to the disapproval of the other stewardesses, they envied her. She was the newbie, and she should not have been chosen for such privileges. However, what Ivan wanted, Ivan got. They could not argue with the big boss man for fear of losing their contracts.
On week five, he cut her employment contract but invited her to stay as his guest. They had become very close during the previous weeks of accompaniment. He kissed her for the first time on the top deck at sunset; from then on, they were inseparable. They went on many dates as the boat cruised up and down the Croatian coastline. They visited lots of little seaside towns and villages and found the most idyllic restaurants. Some days, they just spent time relaxing on the boat deck doing nothing.
