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“It mostly is,” she says, a hint of playfulness in her eyes.
It’s good to see her bounce back from my story so quickly. It makes me feel like she might be tough enough to handle this lifestyle. She’s full of surprises, and I find myself casting less and less doubt her way the more I learn about her.
“Tell me everything,” I say, finding myself drawn to her story unlike anyone else’s. Normally, I’m quite bored by what other people have to say, especially the inert women of my past, but Lola has managed to capture my interest repeatedly. I’m sure she will this time, too.
“I think you already know some of it,” she says, twirling a strand of her hair. “Normal upbringing, only child, and –”
“Only child. That explains a lot.”
She scoffs. “Let me finish before you start dissecting my personality, please.”
“Sorry,” I mutter.
“Anyway, like I was saying, I had a pretty normal childhood. The only thing that set me apart from the other kids was the fact that I was moving all the time. I guess that’s why I like driving trains. I’m always on the move.”
“What prompted your parents to move all the time?” I ask.
“My dad wasn’t great at holding down jobs,” she answers with a laugh. “He could get through an interview alright, but I think he hated having to obey orders from his boss. He got fired pretty often, but he always made it seem like an exciting new adventure when I was a kid.”
I press my finger into my lips, as though to silence myself, but I can’t help but to make a comment. “I see where you get your rebellious nature from.”
“Perhaps,” she says, shaking her hair like she couldn’t care in the least. She likes to play everything off as small and insignificant when it doesn’t make her look good, and parade around her successes like they’re extremely important.
I know the game well because I do it too. It’s all about power, and Lola likes the roll of the dice to be in her favor just as much as I do. She’s just not as willing to admit it.
She pouts her lips slightly, looking out the window as the purple sky lightens a little faster. I can’t believe we’ve been together this long already. Hours feel like minutes when I’m with her.
“Always on the move,” she says, her words a quiet hum against the deep rumble of the speeding train.
“And that’s the entire story?” I ask.
She glances at me, then looks back to the window. Her eyes lose focus. “Pretty much. A few failed relationships later, and I’m pregnant with a Bratva boss’s baby. I don’t think anyone would’ve expected that kind of twist.”
She’s right, and I’m forced to consider how extreme this is for her. Having a baby is a big deal, but changing your lifestyle entirely, being forced to leave the civilian life of comfort and safety behind, is something entirely different.
Before she met me, her life was simple, albeit a bit boring.
Now, neither boredom or complacency will ever catch up to her, for better or worse.
“It gets easier,” I say, shifting a piece on the chess board for lack of anything else to do with my hands. “This lifestyle, I mean. Once you get into it, there’s a lot of good things that come with it.”
“I’m not convinced,” she says, but there’s a hint of a smile on her face. She’s challenging me to persuade her.
“Money, power, and freedom, for starters. Plus, you get me,” I say, tilting my head to the side and grinning.
Her eyelids fall halfway down her eyes and her expression goes blank. “Oh, joy…”
“Not convinced?”
“I thought you were telling me the pros, not the cons.”
I flick my fingers up one by one as I count the benefits out for her. “You never have to work again, you can have anything you want, and you don’t have to travel all the time unless it’s for vacations overseas. Our baby will have everything they could possibly ever want or need, including the best education and access to the Family funds once they turn eighteen.”
“I don’t want them to be spoiled,” she replies, but I see excitement dancing in her eyes.
“They’ll be spoiled rotten, and so will you,” I say with a smirk.
She lets out a long sigh and leans back in her seat, looking out the window again as she tries to come up with another way to push back against the life she’s now contractually committed to. She might think she has a way out, but if she keeps insisting that the baby is mine, she’s going to live with the Bratva. That’s the way this works.
