He's Strong. He's Hot. He's Foreign. (And He's in the Mafia?)

“How was your sleep, darashya?” Peter asked the next morning as I walked into the kitchen.

“Terrible” I muttered, sitting down next to him and slumping over the table, my head buried in my arms.

“Did you have a bad dream?” he inquired, placing a hand over mine. I looked up to see Peter’s calm blue eyes gazing down at me.

“P-Peter…I need to t-talk to you” I stuttered, not looking at him rather staring down the hall at Jeremiah’s bedroom door, “…alone”

“Let’s get in the car then” he said, getting up and taking my hand.

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“What was in your dream, darashya?” Peter asked after we got into the car. We were nestled in the backseat this time, Peter on top of me as I lay across the whole backseat, my arms around his back, his hands stroking my face.

“Peter I have to tell you something, but you have to promise you won’t get mad” I whispered, averting my eyes.

“I won’t…I promise” he soothed, kissing my cheek.

“It’s about Gabe” I said, my voice as low as possible, still not looking at him.

“What is it…Jane? You can tell me anything” he urged, his voice uncertain.

“Gabriel almost raped me…back when I was fifteen…he got me drunk at some party…that’s what I dreamt about that night, but it really happened…and I just can’t get it out of my head” I confessed, my voice shaky.

Peter stared down at me, looking almost…helpless. “Am I the first person you’ve told this?” he asked, talking as though it pained him to speak.

I nodded, closing my eyes as he wiped my tears away.

“Jane…you can be so stupid sometimes!” he exclaimed, getting off of me and sitting on the opposite end of the seat, almost shaking with anger.

“What do you mean? I whimpered, sitting up.

“You can’t just let someone like him get away with something like that!” he shouted, turning to face me. I had never seen him so infuriated with me, “He hurt you, Jane, and I will never forgive myself…” he became lost once more, staring down at me, reaching down to cradle my face in his hands.

Peter continued in a much softer voice, “I will never forgive myself for hurting you or allowing any harm to come to you”

Peter! How could you say that was your fault?! You probably weren't even in this country back then!” I exclaimed, letting out a surprised laugh.

“I feel responsibility for not beating him to a pulp yet” he smirked, bringing me into his lap once more, “And I will never forgive myself for what I did to you that night”

“Just stop it, Peter, you’re being stupid” I muttered, “You have to stop beating yourself up”

Peter chuckled and pressed his lips to mine, pulling me closer.

“I don’t want you to be alone with Gabriel, Jane, this is for your own protection” he murmured between kisses.

“I understand” I said, looking down at my shaking hands resting in my lap.

“I haven’t told how beautiful you are lately, have I?” he murmured, kissing my neck and shoulder.

“I think you forgot to mention” I sighed, melting in his embrace.

“I love you Janey, you are the most beautiful girl I’ve ever met” Peter purred, stroking my hair as I dug my head into his chest, “And I won’t stop fighting your brother until you are all mine”

“I am all yours…my brother’s just a jackass” I giggled, closing my eyes, ready to go back to sleep in Peter’s arms.

“How about I take you out to breakfast? Maybe we can try and forget about this for a little while” Peter whispered, kissing the top of my head.

“Okay...on one condition…” I said, looking up at him slyly.

“What would that be?” he sighed, moving some stray hair away from my face, looking down at me bemusedly.

“I get to drive” I whispered, my mouth inches away from his ear, wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him close.

“And when was the last time you drove, my sweet?” he asked, his arms around my back.

“3 years ago” I mumbled, hiding my face in his shoulder.

“Now, darashya, no offense, but you can imagine that I wouldn’t feel comfortable putting my new SUV in the hands of an inexperienced driver, who may also be classified as precious cargo” he murmured.

“Mmmm…whatever” I muttered, climbing into the front passenger seat.

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I directed Peter to an old diner that I used to go to all the time with my parents when I was younger.

“Was the relationship between you and your brother different when your parents were alive?” Peter asked, holding my hand from across the table. We were sitting in a corner booth by the window, my favorite booth.

“He was always very bossy towards me…but he loved me, I remember every night before I’d go to bed he’d kiss my cheek goodnight and say he loved me, but it all stopped after my parents died, he said it was my fault that they died” I whispered, not looking at him, because I knew if I did I would burst into tears.

“Darashya…you know that’s not true right?” he purred, moving some hair away from my face, trying to get me to look at him.

I looked up at him, tears welling up in my eyes, but before I could say anything, I heard someone say in a bored voice, “What can I get you?” I looked up to see Diane, a girl who went to my high school, was standing in front of us, wearing a waiter’s apron and looking down at me and Peter with tired eyes.

After looking at me for a few seconds, her eyes widened, “Jane?? What are you doin’ back here?!”

“Oh, well…this is Peter Dombrovski, and he’s my fiancé…we came down here to get married” I said quietly, “Peter…this is Diane Peterson…I went to high school with her”

“Hello Miss Peterson, it’s a pleasure to meet you” Peter said, standing up and offering his hand to shake.

“Oh well, it’s actually Mrs. Anders now…I married Mitch, Jane! Isn’t that something!” Diane said, flustered as she shook Peter’s hand. She turned around and said, as if to thin air, “I’m going on break!” She sat down next to me and said, “You sure know how to catch ‘em, Jane. And he’s got that foreign accent too! Are you from Russia?! Oh I bet you are”

“Yes” Peter answered, eyeing me amusedly.

“Oh wow…how’d you two meet?” Diane inquired, leaning in, ready to hear the whole story.

I looked over at Peter and said with a sigh, “How about you explain?”

Peter smiled and said to Diane, “Jane was in a night club, by force as I later found out, I saw her being forcibly held by another man who was attempting to drag her out on the dance floor and I saved her cute little ass…and well we kind of hit it off from there”

I could feel Peter’s hand on my knee under the table. I sighed, almost longingly. Even though I was happy to see Diane after all these years, I longed to be alone with Peter so we could continue our conversation.

“That’s so romantic…I wish Mitch was more like you, he can be such an ass sometimes…he doesn't even wanna pick up Sophia from school…I mean he’s such a lazy freeloader sometimes it drives me wild…but he also drives me wild in the bedroom…if you know what I mean” Diane winked at me and Peter squeezed my knee, shooting me an impatient glance.

“How about you and Mitch and the kids come over Jeremiah’s house for dinner and we can catch up there?” I said quickly. Ha, Jeremiah hated kids.

“Oh okay, Tony might fire me if I don’t start working harder anyways…”

She took our order and left. Peter gazed down at me, taking my hand once more. “It was an accident, Jane, you had nothing to do with it” he growled, squeezing my hand.

“I don’t know sometimes…I could’ve stopped it…if I just knew…” I whimpered, my eyes brimming over with tears.

“No, darashya…it was out of your hands…shhh…don’t cry, my love” he purred, stroking my cheek.