Anna put on her Prada lipstick-print silk pajamas, threw on a pair of pink bunny slippers that Steven had given her for her birthday last year, and decided to go see what company her brother was keeping at this late hour.
She walked down the dark hallway and found Steven was standing in the foyer with his back to her. Suddenly none other than Vronsky himself strutted out of the kitchen with a bottle of Fiji. She took two steps backward, bumped into a wall, and knocked a painting crooked. Not only that, but she let out an embarrassing little yelp that made both boys turn their heads and stare at her. In her bunny slippers.
“Oh my god, Anna, are you okay?” Vronsky asked, taking a step toward her.
“Me? Yes! So great. I mean, I’m fine. Hello.” She whipped around and busied herself by straightening the painting.
“Steven, thank you for your hospitality but I’ve stayed much longer than I meant to,” Vronsky said, not taking his eyes off of her as Anna turned and stepped toward him. He cleared his throat and continued. “I just stopped by to thank you guys for making sure my mother got home safely tonight.”
He had such a soft and wonderful voice to complement his beautiful eyes, which was pretty much the exact same thought he was having about her. Anna wanted to respond but found herself struck speechless by the intensity of his gaze. He continued, “I also wanted to let you know I found the man’s other dog.” He held up his hand, which had a large Snoopy Band-Aid on it as proof.
“Oh no, you’re hurt. Did he bite you?” Anna padded toward him.
“No, no, I’m fine. It’s just a scratch. My mother’s dog walker insisted on the Band-Aid.” Vronsky ripped it off, balled it up, and stuffed it in his overcoat pocket. “The dog’s with her now. She fosters strays so it’s a much better option than a shelter.”
Anna was overcome by Vronsky’s thoughtfulness, and it took all her resolve not to throw her arms around him and hug him. “Oh my god, you’re my hero. That’s so nice of you. I know it was silly for me to worry, but—”
“Not at all,” he cut her off. “It just shows what a sweet girl, I mean, good person you are.” The two of them locked eyes again, and now Anna felt light-headed. She forced herself to look away and put her hand on the wall to steady herself.
“I’m sorry, I’ve barely eaten today, except for that pie.”
“Hey, is there any left?” Steven asked, looking up from his iPhone, oblivious to the situation unfolding before him.
“That’s Lolly’s pie and it’s up to her if you can have a piece,” Anna said, a smidgen more sharply than she should have. This whole unnerving situation was his fault after all.
The three of them stood in silence for another awkward beat. Anna needed Vronsky to leave immediately, but there was another part of her that desperately wished she could ask him to stay for pie, though she couldn’t very well offer it up when she’d just told her brother he couldn’t have any. Oh, what to do! “Thank you so much for stopping by … Alexia. Or should I call you Vronsky? Or is it the Count?” she asked playfully.
“You can call me Alexia. I like it when you say it,” he said to her in a much more serious tone than he intended. It was as if he was no longer in control of his faculties when he was around her. And truth be told, he did like hearing his proper name when she said it. “I should really be going…” Vronsky finally made his way toward the front door.
“Aight, later dude! Maybe we’ll check you at Jaylen’s party on Saturday?” Steven opened the door and Vronsky slowly backed up until he was standing in the hallway waving good-bye. He couldn’t take his eyes off Anna until the door closed in front of him and she was gone.
XIV
Vronsky felt restless when he walked out into the snowy night after leaving Steven and Anna’s building. He waved off the doorman’s offer to find him a cab and buttoned up his coat, wound his long scarf around his neck a few times, and started walking. The streets were practically empty because of the storm, but he barely noticed. His mind was singularly focused on one thing, and one thing only.
Anna K.
Never in Vronsky’s life had he been so taken with a member of the opposite sex. And though he was only sixteen years old, he already had plenty of experience with girls.
Alexia’s father had passed away three years ago, but even when he was alive they never had much of a relationship. Alexia’s mother had primary custody of him and his older brother, Kiril, after they divorced. Entire years would go by without seeing his father, who moved to Thailand when Alexia was only seven. (Rumor had it his father had no choice but to leave the States because of legal trouble, but Alexia never cared enough to find out the real story.) It was Kiril who continually demanded they be allowed to see their father and eventually their mother gave in. She agreed to let the boys go to Thailand for three weeks over the summer with a well-paid nanny, who reported back to their controlling mother.
Vronsky had few memories of his early visits. He remembered discovering Bangkok arcades and spending nearly all his time and money there. But soon his brother introduced him to something that drove video games out of his mind. The first time he witnessed Kiril’s sexual exploits, Vronsky had run terrified from the doorway. The second time he stood watching until his brother noticed him and yelled at him to leave. The third time he refused to leave until his brother got out of bed and forcibly removed him. And the last time he stayed and watched for a long time, his brother unaware of his presence. Alexia had been in Kiril’s closet, rifling through his brother’s pockets looking for cash for tickets to the latest Fast and Furious movie. His own weekly allowance had been spent and his father was nowhere to be found. Alexia had hit the jackpot finding ten dollars in American money and was about to leave when he heard his brother’s footsteps.
Panicking, Alexia crouched in the closet and pulled the door partially closed. Kiril entered the room with a girl close behind him. Alexia watched his brother pick up the girl as if she weighed practically nothing, place her on the bed, and immediately begin taking off her clothes. His brother then started stripping down, but the girl put her hand on his chest to stop him. She set a new pace by slowly unbuttoning his brother’s Oxford shirt one button at a time.
Eventually, the girl spotted Alexia watching from the closet, but instead of telling his brother, she just smiled and put a finger to her lips to let him know his secret was safe with her. Alexia put his own finger to his lips to show her he understood. It was in that moment that he recognized the naked girl before him wasn’t one of the young servants in the household but was one of his father’s girlfriends. This incestuous infidelity blew the young boy’s mind.
Alexia was of course mesmerized by everything he saw and spent the next hour watching his brother and this older woman engage in all sorts of sexual acts. It was this experience that caused Alexia to lose interest in playing video games, as he realized girls were far more interesting. He, too, wanted to feel what he saw in his brother’s face that day: total ecstasy and rapture.
He lost his own virginity at thirteen, but not in Thailand. He was in New York and came home to find his brother back from college, throwing a party while their mother was at Canyon Ranch. Their mother always spent two months at a spa after she got divorced. Kiril told him their mother was like a snake and needed to shed her old married skin to reveal pretty, new scales that she’d use to trap her next husband. Kiril and their mother fought often, always posturing and trying to prove who was toughest. This type of aggression was never Alexia’s way, mainly because their mother always babied him, which he much preferred over her yelling at him.