Searching for Stolen Love Read online

  Chapter 6

  Yelena piled the food from her plate in the corner of the closet. She wedged the metal plate into the loose wallboard and pulled back.

  Then she slid her left hand on one side and her right on the other and pulled hard.

  The board creaked and moaned but came away. She pushed in a little and pulled it out carefully. Nails pried loosed. Then the board came off.

  She set the board in the corner and worked on the next board and the next.

  Once the opening was wide enough, she crawled into a closet in one of the bedrooms. She stood up and reached for the doorknob.

  The door creaked open.

  She heard the TV from the living room.

  The bedroom was filled with crates, and stenciled on each side was, “Handle with Care – Explosives.”

  She saw one box by itself on the floor and pulled the lid off. Rows of hand grenades stacked in the box. She saw hand grenades in movies but never touched one.

  She grabbed one and repositioned the lid over the box again. She shoved the grenade into her bra between her breasts. Then she pried a window open and crawled out.

  She ran and ran and only ran to the one place she knew. She ran to Keith’s apartment.

  Her smiled deepened, and she could no longer feel the icy hands of coldness caressing her.

  Yelena ran to the front entrance and screamed, “Ugh!”

  A large looking country boy and an old man quickly grabbed and pinned her hands.

  Yelena tried to scream, but the old man covered her mouth with a chloroform-saturated cloth. Then everything went black again.

  Yelena awakened an hour later.

  She found herself lying down in a very dark, cramped place. Her heart rate quickened. She must be buried in a coffin!

  Someone wrapped Yelena in a thick wool blanket. She forced her left hand through an opening and used her fingers to feel around. She reached outward, measuring the dimensions of her final resting place. Then her fingers hit something hard.

  Yelena rapped her knuckles on the solid surface and knocked, “Clllinnnnk! Clllinnnnk! Clllinnnnk!” The sounds possessed a metallic hollow ring, like a bell on its last rungs.

  Yelena became confused.

  Then a centrifugal force pushed Yelena's head against the sidewall of the car, and she heard the soft hum of the car's tires gripping the road. She was locked in a car trunk!

  Driver sped around the dangerous curved roads in the Balkan Mountains.

  Yelena fumbled her hands in the dark, searching for the lock's latch. Her fingers touched the latch and tried to move any mechanism, but the lock wouldn’t bulge. The trunk stayed securely closed. Next, she pounded the latch with her fists. Unfortunately, the latch resisted Yelena's futile efforts and remained locked.

  Yelena reached into her bra and felt the coarse grip of the grenade.

  She started to think about Keith. She remembered the first night when she and Keith kissed. First night they made love, hot passionate love. She began to daydream about Keith…

  Yelena sat at her bureau in her bedroom and sketched a woman wearing an expensive dress in her sketchpad. Although she thought she drew well, she would never show it to anyone. She was afraid people would laugh at her. She slammed the sketchbook closed and tossed the pencil onto the bureau.

  Yelena stood up and approached her closet, searching for something to wear.

  She had three pairs of jeans, five blouses, and two dresses, hanging in the closet. She picked the skimpy red dress and quickly slipped it on. Although this dress was over five years old, Yelena only wore it for special occasions, so it appeared new. She thought tonight will be a special occasion. The dress revealed her upper shoulders and arms and formed deep V's along the front and back of her body. The dress displayed Yelena's exquisite chiseled physique and her light creamy skin.

  Yelena sat at the bureau and dabbed a little makeup, a little eyeliner, a couple pats of blush upon her cheeks, and rolled a cherry color lipstick across her pursed lips.

  Yelena smacked her lips together to even out the lipstick. Then she blew a couple of kisses towards the mirror because she knew she looked ravishing.

  Yelena slid into her coat and fished out her pack of cigarettes. Then she placed the lighter and pack of cigarettes onto the bureau, because she planned to not smoke tonight. She wanted her breath to remain fresh and pristine. Keith was becoming more than a little interesting. So who knew what events would unfold tonight?

  Yelena walked out to the living room where her mother sat and hypnotically watched a Spanish soap opera on TV.

  Yelena's mother turned to look at her daughter as suspicion filled her eyes like a tyrannical policeman with a quota to fulfill. She asked in a scolding voice, “Yelena, where’re you going tonight?”

  “Mom, I’m going out.”

  “Do you have a date?”

  “No, Mom. I’m meeting Teah at the Roma.”

  “The Roma! Only thugs and mafia guys hand out there.”

  “Mom, c’mon. The Roma is the only nightclub in town.”

  “But I heard so many things about that place.”

  “I’ll be okay. You worry too much.”

  Her mother's questioning eyes scanned up and down her daughter’s body. “You know in my day, we never had to dress like that to get a guy.”

  “Mom! I’ll be fine.”

  Yelena’s mom looked her squarely in the eyes and scolded, “Make sure you’re home at a decent hour. It’s just that I worry about you.” Then she turned to watch her soap opera.

  Yelena bent over and kissed her on the cheek, and added, “I know, Mom, bye.” She dashed for the door before her mom could ask any more probing questions, or lock her up in the bedroom for the night.

  Yelena met Keith at the water fountain in the center of town. He came early and sat on a bench near the water fountain, wearing a patterned light brown sports jacket, a blue dress shirt with a dark-blue tie, and light chestnut trousers.

  As pedestrians walked by, they stared and gawked at him.

  Yelena's face reddened a little when she saw him. She eagerly skipped to the bench and sat down with a thump.

  “Hi, Yelena.”

  “Hi, Keith.”

  “So—how’re you doing?”

  “I’m doing well.”

  “Are you hungry? Thirsty?” Keith whispered.

  Yelena shook her head no in exaggerated movements.

  “What do you want to do?”

  Yelena blushed a little as her cheeks turned a shade redder while a sly smile snuck across her face.

  “So what do you want to do?” Keith repeated.

  Yelena scooted closer to Keith, removing any cold distance between them.

  “Well then, I guess we’ll just sit here and enjoy the sunset.” Next, he stretched his right arm over and then laid it on top of the bench.

  Then Yelena leaned back, so her back rubbed against Keith's arm.

  Subsequently Keith scooped his right arm around her in a loose embrace.

  Yelena and Keith peered at a flowerbed of red and white Vinca flowers, while a fresh fall breezed caused the flowers to dance in the wind.

  Yelena stared at Keith as her lips clamped tightly. She wondered if she should draw diagrams on Keith's lecture notes because she sent out a myriad of signals, and he ignored them all.

  Keith gazed at her blue eyes and whispered softly, “Yelena, you look really beautiful tonight.”

  Then he began to caress her right cheek and ear with his left hand. He stroked her gently, smoothly, sensually.

  Yelena closed her eyes as the smooth caresses sent her on a journey of ecstasy.

  Then Keith bent down and kissed Yelena softly on the lips. His lips barely touched hers. Then he retreated from her a little and came back for another round. He kissed her firmer, a little deeper, a little longer. Keith's tongue began to search for Yelena's. Then their tongues began to dance and twirl as the Vinca flowers danced in the breeze.

  After se
veral minutes, Keith retreated and lifted his head while Yelena opened her eyes.

  Keith was different from the Bosnians because they were rough and to the point. He fondled Yelena gently, softly. At that point, she knew she loved him.

  They sat on the bench and watched the sunset.

  Sun emanated a spectrum of colors, yellow, orange, and red, transforming the clouds into pink-orange hues. Then the colors darkened until the mountains had hidden the sun.

  During the sunset, Keith kissed Yelena several more times. After each time, their kisses became longer, more intimate, more sensual.

  Then he retreated again and whispered sweetly, “Are you hungry? I know this pizza place, the Heartland. They make excellent pizzas.”

  “I’m not hungry. I’m a little thirsty.”

  “What would you like to drink? Would you like a soda or a coffee?”

  Yelena slowly shook her head no in exaggerated motions.

  “I can get some wine if you like?”

  Yelena began to smile.

  “I know this great coffee shop near the university. They have a good selection of wines.”

  Yelena shook her head no again and whispered into Keith's ear, “I don’t want to be around people, not tonight. I just want to be with you, only you.”

  Keith trembled a little and stuttered, “Oh, okay. Uh, I can get some wine at the store. Uh, uh, maybe we can have, uh, uh, some wine at my place?”

  Yelena smiled brightly.

  Then he came in and kissed Yelena again while his kiss became deeper, more passionate.

  Yelena felt light-headed, drunk from Keith's kisses. She felt a pulsating heat sensation emanating from the center of her body.

  Then they stood up from the bench and walked towards Keith's apartment. Keith lived seven blocks from the center of town.

  When Yelena and Keith approached a dark alley alongside a building, they hid in the shadows and kissed passionately, holding each other tightly, oblivious to strangers walking by them.

  They strolled along the cobblestone sidewalks and stopped a few blocks away from Keith’s apartment. He spotted a small convenience store, Bingo, and ran in to buy a bottle of wine while Yelena waited outside.

  Keith emerged from the shop several minutes later, sliding the wine bottle out of the bag, showing Yelena his choice.

  “Unfortunately, I only saw wines from former Yugoslavian countries. So, I bought this Serbian Red Burgundy wine.”

  Yelena smiled again and whispered, “Thank you. A Serbian wine is perfect.”

  Once they made it to Keith's apartment, Yelena sat on the couch in the living room.

  Keith turned on a little desk lamp, casting the room in dark shadows. Then he turned on his small CD player, and Enigma's third album, Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi, softly filled the room. Next, he lit several fragrant candles and went to the kitchen for two wine glasses and a bottle opener.

  The cork moaned and groaned as Keith pulled it out and quickly filled the two wine glasses, filling the room with a fruity, sweet aroma.

  Keith handed Yelena a glass and raised his glass for a toast, “Let's make a toast. Tonight is a beautiful night. That I should be so lucky to be in the company of such an attractive young woman.”

  They softly clanked their glasses. Keith sipped his wine while Yelena gulped half of hers.

  The Serbian wine went smoothly down her throat, and she tasted something fruity, something mystical. Then Yelena and Keith began to kiss fervently, uncontrollably again.

  Before knowing what happened, Keith and Yelena were lying on his bed with their clothes scattered along the apartment floor. He mounted her, making hot passionate love to her. Yelena didn’t remember undressing, or how she moved from the doorway to Keith's bed, but, after each thrust, Yelena felt an explosion of sensation radiate through her body as if an electric discharge surged throughout her body. Each thrust sent a wave of ecstasy through her body, and Yelena quivered from each stroke floating high in the heavens and clouds, far, far away from Bosnia.

  The thrusts abruptly ended, and he lay motionlessly on top of Yelena. He then scooted off Yelena and lay beside her. Their perspiration began tickling and cooling their bodies, trying to dissipate their hot passion.

  Yelena wanted so badly to whisper in Keith's ear that she loved him. She had fallen for him.

  Keith lowered his head and started to nibble and kiss the nape of Yelena's neck, and subsequently, he made his way to Yelena's left ear, whispering into her ear, “I love you, Yelena.”

  “I love you too, Keith.”

  Although Keith was not the first man she slept with, he was the first man she fell in love with. The boy who took her virginity in high school was the only one who didn’t care what his peers thought – dating a Serbian. Afterwards, he dumped her and told her he could never marry her.

  Yelena planted her head on Keith’s chest while he embraced her, holding her tightly.

  After Enigma had stopped playing, Yelena scanned the room for a clock and spotted one on the wall, seeing midnight was approaching.

  “Keith, I must return home. I told my Mom I would not be out so late.”

  “No problem. I’ll take you home.”

  “No, I’ll be fine.”

  “I insist. A gentleman always walks a young lady home or at least calls a cab for her.”

  Yelena smile broadened and added, “Thank you for the romantic music and the excellent Serbian wine.”

  Then they both slid off the bed to get dressed.

  They took a while to reach the street. Every few seconds, they would stop, embrace, kiss. They didn’t want to say good-bye to each other. Yelena wished to taste the sweetness of Keith's lips…

  Yelena's recollection faded as the driver careened around another dangerous curve, slamming her head against the sidewall again. Then she muttered, “I love you, Keith” while tears flooded Yelena's eyes. “I love you, Keith. Please save me.”