Читать книгу The teacher - Ksenia Albertovna Nikitina - Страница 6

In two weeks

Thomas went into his office, straightened his beige shirt, and untied his tie.

«Hey, you! Rhinoceros with an ass, look what the fuck you're doing! Come on,» he called to one of the employees, coming closer, «Alcohol is a very flammable substance, sucker! Before you start working, read the rules and instructions in the bar! Idiot!»

Shulman went through the bar, but was stopped by Isaac, who was carrying a small brown leather bag with his belongings.

«Tom! Thomas!» Shulman turned around, «Keep your things!»

«So… Did you bring everything I told you?» he asked as he picked up the Luggage. «If you forget something, I'll send you home, huh?»

Thomas went into his office, looked at his watch, took off his shirt, which smelled bitter and acrid with alcohol, and immediately put on a clean shirt over a strong, powerful, full of life body with a wide back, long and otherwise barely noticeable muscles. His hands were firm, and he pulled the shirt over his massive shoulders. Short, curly hair ran from his thick beard to his neck, expanding on his chest, tapering on his lean stomach, and expanding again in the groin area. His fingers began to fasten the buttons from the bottom up, securing the watch chain. Tom had never been particularly frail or weak, but rather thin and wiry, but the war had quickly put on weight. Then the usual jacket and hat. He took the rest of his clothes with him, tossing aside the body-smelling clothes, and crossed the corridor of his pub. Lily sat in front of the mirror in her room, tinting her thick lashes. The idea of Tom meeting her parents didn't particularly appeal to her. It even scared me lash. For one thing, she had her last exam in a week and her last in two, and she didn't need Shulman's help. Second, the Jew himself did not appeal to her as an upcoming prospect. Yes, he was serious, intelligent, gallant, and definitely made a good impression. But what to do with his boorish and rude nature, which was inherited from his mother's milk? Third, he was a real fanatic, although he denied it. He constantly imposed his faith on her. Tom was a despot to her, even if he was very nice and polite. Do it, don't do it! He lived by his own laws and rules, which he tried to impose on her. Fourthly, Shulman was like a father to her, because the difference in age could not be changed, especially if it was a long seventeen years.She could think about it as long as she lay in bed and stared at the ceiling. But as soon as the phone rang, she picked it up, forgetting everything else. The voice on the phone, so hoarse and slow, with a slight accent and a strange drawl that had become familiar in three months, sent a pleasant shiver down her pale skin. They could talk for hours until the girl fell asleep with the phone in her hand, in the middle of talking about everything. Sometimes Thomas indulged in more casual topics, and Lily tactfully avoided them, knowing what it might lead to. And she didn't want to give the Jew hope. Say what you want, but the girl is used to him, to his presence in her life. In the end, under Shulman's cover, she felt weak, even a little childish.

Lily returned to the bedroom from her thoughts, and it seemed to her that it was getting too noisy downstairs. Straightening her dress, she stifled her curiosity and slid down. In the living room, Thomas sat in an armchair, legs spread wide, dressed like a gentleman in a starched white shirt, black trousers, and polished shoes. Shulman could boast of cleanliness and neatness, and this was very much in keeping with Lily's neatness. Grey eyes, furrowed brows, and a short, well-groomed beard. He didn't look like a teacher. The girl slid inside.

«Do you drink? Oh, my God!» she said as she watched her father pour brandy for the man and himself. Tom clearly didn't belong to this group, and her parents didn't even like «the groom.» His older brothers also looked at him askance. The situation was tense.

«Tommy, did you come to visit my parents?» Lily asked a little resentfully, sitting down on the edge of the Jew's chair.

«Why not?» the man said, putting his arm around her slender waist and running his hand over her several times, then yanking her over and sitting her on his knee. Mr. Yung grinned maliciously, but the man did not remove his hand from the small of Lily's back and pulled her closer.

«Lily, you didn't tell me that Mr. Shulman has his own pubs and pharmacies…» The girl looked at Thomas in surprise, and he nodded.

«Yes? I completely forgot!»

Lily first heard about it, thinking that Shulman was just trying to impress her and her parents because of his own cunning. The girl's father was clearly encouraged by this news and considered the candidate less strictly, adding to the points for excellent brandy and a good sense of humour, as well as the fact that Thomas was already firmly on his feet.

For Lily, that meant only one thing: she couldn't leave Thomas now, no matter how much she wanted to. More precisely, Thomas will not let her out of the clutches of the owner.

«The fall-back is to tell my father that Shulman is Jewish,» she decided. They were all sitting at the big table, looking at each other. Thomas seemed a little pensive and distant.

He looked at her brothers. The two big men, two years apart, stared at Thomas. «Puppies,» thought the Jew, turning his attention to her father. A tall man with jet-black hair combed to one side, black eyes, and ulcers and boils on his hands. Still strong enough for his age. Tom looked at his face and couldn't help remembering that he had once served in the same regiment with him. Who would have thought that in a few years ' time Thomas would be sitting here nursing Sergeant young's only daughter? Mr. Yung also recognized Thomas. It is rare to find a live colleague who did not get drunk after the war, where they were taught only to beat and kill. Only a quarter were able to adapt to peaceful life. Jonathan Yung has always been particularly violent. Tom was afraid of Jonathan's mad idea of taking gold teeth, ears, and other parts of a dead opponent's body as a trophy. But Jonathan's particular passion had always been strangulation. A tenacious grip, a couple of minutes, and the man died without bruises or abrasions on the neck.

«And this man created a whole gene pool! It's crazy, that's all,» Shulman thought.

«Lily, Thomas and I went through the war together!» said the man, taking a bottle of spirits from the cupboard, which was made even heavier by the Jew's whisky. Thomas remembered how they had nearly killed each other in a drunken brawl.

«Really?» Lily exclaimed, looking at Shulman. «It's a small world.» Thomas would have preferred not to mention their «friendship.»

The Jew nodded, watching as Lily's father poured him a glass of alcohol. The most interesting thing is ahead, because Thomas doesn't drink.

«Go ahead, drink!» Shulman shook his head.

«Are you a man or not?»

He knows what a person is, knows how they drank such glasses after a fight, and sometimes before. It was like a cheap demonstration in front of his sons that made Thomas sick.

«I don't drink because I'm Jewish.»

The old man grimaced questioningly.

«Dad, what Tommy means is that he's Jewish.»

«Thank You, Lily.»

«What difference does it make to me? Drink this!» This pleased Thomas, and he drank it without flinching, then tossed the empty glass to Lily's father. His oesophagus burned from cheap alcohol, just like in the war.

«That's what I mean, a real man! Give young people a drink and you won't find them under the table for five minutes.»

Tom didn't care, and he watched Lily fail one by one with a straight face.

«Lily, can I talk to you for a minute?»

The girl nodded and rose from the table.

«Excuse me» he muttered, disappearing into the corridor and following her.

They went to the door and went out under the old porch.

Tom took two plane tickets to Jerusalem from his pocket.

«Tommy! You what? My father will blow your head off! He won't let me go anywhere!» the girl stood nervously in the doorway.

«We'll see about that,» he finished, returning to his seat.

A couple of hours later, Thomas and her father were sitting in the living room, preparing to talk.

«You know she's my only daughter!» Yung muttered, twirling an aluminium lighter in his hand and twirling a cigarette between his teeth.

«I noticed,» Thomas said. Of course, he saw that Lily was the only girl of six children. He wasn't blind yet.

«Then listen! If you touch her before the wedding, make a baby, and then run away, I promise I'll find you, do you hear?» Lily's father said through clenched teeth, so that no one in the house would hear.

Tom groaned in a smile as he remembered how he had paid three hundred pounds for her in a brothel. Yes, she didn't sell herself cheap. Could he tell her father?

«That won't happen» Thomas asked, looking at Lily, who was sitting in the kitchen with her mother, playing with a napkin and helping her dry the dishes.

These empty threats are like the wind to Shulman. Even so, the old man wouldn't have done anything to him. Yes, John would have found him, Yes, he would have clung to the Jew. So I'm going to punch Thomas in the face, and then what? Oh, these empty threats of typical empty-headed people. Abomination. Yung unbuttoned his grey shirt, revealing a small tattoo on his chest that said only one thing: the killer. He's an attaché at large and in the world, so let him sit on his criminal ass straight. Because a prison is a prison, and there are other laws that don't stop Thomas from sticking a knife between his ribs. Tom doesn't care that he's Lily's father. Yung saw through the Jew as soon as Shulman entered, setting priorities. Like, all of them are made of criminal test, one dick!

«Let her go abroad with me,» Tom interrupted. I'll pick her up today and bring her back safe and sound on Monday morning.»

«Where is it?» John was wary.

«On a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.»

Yung swayed in his chair.

«What are you, exactly? No!» The old man barked the last word with a grin.

As far as Thomas could tell, it was politics.

«Dad! Oh, my God!» Lily exclaimed as she entered the living room. There was silence. «I'm almost twenty years old, but all I've seen in my life is dirty London and my village!»

From the look in his eyes, it was clear that the girl was Jonathan's favorited child, which immediately subsided, replaced by anger and pity. His gaze slid over the body and face of his daughter, who stood before him like a naive lamb.

«Okay, good.»

Lily was overjoyed, kissed her father on the gray temple, and ran to her room to collect her thoughts.

«Where can I get a kiss?» Thomas looked envious.

The girl's father returned to Shulman, pointing at him.

«You owe me!»

«Oh, the auction is starting!»

Most of all, Tom hated being beholden to someone. This old asshole owes him twice as much for saving his heir and his daughter's anal virginity.

Lily's parents let her go, making sure that Thomas would pay for everything.

Two hours later, Lily and Tom arrived in the East End, and Lily saw his pub for the first time, although not in all its glory, but only the passage between the entrance and his office.

«I thought you were lying! Lily said, smiling as she walked into the office with him. Thomas didn't really want to take her with him, but she refused to sit and wait in the car under a weak degree of dry wine.

«Not today,» he assured her, setting her down on the sofa.

«I'll settle some business now, and we'll go, won't we?» Lily crossed her legs playfully, exposing her thighs beneath her dress. Thomas sat down and began to rummage through the papers to find the right documents and passports, not paying attention to her drunken attacks. Later he will take his own, but not now. His head was full of work, and even the woman could not distract the Jew with her nonsense. The office door opened and Abraham came in.

«You've been missed here!»

«Thomas!» The man nodded, looking around the office, about to sit in the chair opposite, but when he saw Lily in the corner, sitting in the light of a dim lamp, he sauntered over to her. «What kind of miracle is this?»

The girl smiled as she accepted the man's light hand.

Tom jumped up to pull the blue-eyed, pretty bastard away from Lily.

«I Am Abraham Rahim.»

The girl did not know him or the entire criminal world, remaining carefree and naive, completely unresponsive to his name-brand.

«Easier,» said Shulman, taking the woman's hand and kissing it tenderly. «And then we will have a half-breed with such speed!» Abraham just grinned and sat down.

Tom covered her plump lips with his hand. She didn't have to show all her cards. He knows that everything will go wrong. Abraham shook his head.

«All right, let's make a deal, Thomas.»

The man sat down at the table reluctantly moving away from the girl. He pointed at Isaac.

«Take my miracle to the car.» Thomas's gaze fell on her. «Lily, go and wait for me there. I'll be right there. The tone was imperious.

The girl was stubborn, as if she didn't want it, and she laughed at it.

«Actually, I want to sit here!» she said, crossing her arms over her chest and pouting like a small but very sweet girl.

Shulman spread his hands in a gesture of approval, forcing a smile, knowing that she would answer for it:

«Whatever you say, honey.»

«What is your question?» he asked his colleague.

After a few seconds, Lily interrupted, drawing everyone's attention.

«Now I'd like to go to the car and wait for you there!» Shulman spread his hands again and nodded. What the hell was he supposed to do? She had already made a fool of Thomas, and it was too late to move.

«Isaac, take Lily to the car. Lily, put on my jacket, you were cold!» Tom tossed the assistant a jacket, which he immediately passed to the girl, who disappeared through the door, pulling on the heavy fabric. Abraham laughed and took a pack of cigarettes from his pocket.

«Stop poking your head, you idiot! Let's get on with our shitty business, and then I'll go back to my girlfriend,» Shulman said irritably, looking at the smoke from his nostrils. «We're going to go to a place and do some kosher stuff, so let's do it damn fast!»

He nodded.

«You look a little nervous,» Abraham said, « Today you first learned what a boner is?»

Thomas was ready to blow his colleague's brains out, but so far it wasn't in his favor.

«Damn it, Abraham, let's get down to business.»

He didn't want to talk; he was probably just visiting his workers, but he wandered in out of curiosity, because he was sure the whole pub was already buzzing about the woman who had come with Thomas Schulman. The Jew waved a hand at this idiot, collecting the necessary things from the table.

«Is she eighteen?»

Tom nodded irritably, searching for his passport, which he had forgotten.

«Do her parents know you're Jewish?»

Shulman straightened up.:

«Look, Abraham, you're really making fun of me. I'm leaving, and just try to ruin something here while I'm gone!»

Abraham stubbed out his cigarette and handed him the passport on the other side of the table.

«This girl is playing you all she wants. I'm sorry,» he said, rising from his seat.

«Oh, it's just a distraction, right? As soon as the fish is put on the hook, it will spoil its mood by how everything around it will change, and most importantly,» said Tommy, «we will switch places, so to speak.»

«For some reason, this is cruel, even cynical…» Abraham chuckled, adjusting his collar. «A little girl and a grown-up sly Jewish uncle.»

Cruel? Cynical? And this is what the man who steps over their heads and bathes in human blood tells him. And they say this is the end. It was almost midnight when Lily and Tom arrived at Heathrow and checked into the hotel, looking wearily around the room with its many pieces of furniture in the hall, a large bed in the bedroom, a kitchen with a full refrigerator, and a spacious shower room.

Lily looked around with delight.

«Everything for me?»

«It's all yours,» he assured her, dropping the bags at the entrance.

Lily hugged the Jew tightly from behind and kissed him lightly on the shoulder blades. Tom didn't know what to think, and turned slowly, trying not to startle her. His face was level with hers, and his lips were close to hers. Thomas kissed her.

«Like it?» he asked in a whisper, holding the soft face in his right hand.

«Is this a room or a kiss?»

Tom laughed a little, letting her study the rest, and headed for the shower. Half an hour after the bath, Lily was sitting on the back of the sofa, still enjoying her surroundings, not wanting to waste the time allotted until morning on sleeping. Tom handed her a sliced green Apple, and she crunched it into her mouth. She tapped her slender legs against his chest, which was wrapped in a large Terry-cloth robe. Gentle hands buried themselves in his hair and sensually massaged his tired head. The man leaned his head back against the seat, peering under the fabric of her robe.

«Tommy!» she exclaimed, pinching the tip of his nose.

In response, he bit her hip and received a light blow to the top of her head.

«It hurts! Teeth and nails are the dirtiest place, Mr. Shulman!»

Tom ignored her grumbling, touching his lips to her knees and thighs, gently stroking the outside of them, lifting his hands to her buttocks. Thin skin, soft and cool, with lots of goosebumps, but so smooth. She stirred, stopping chewing the Apple as his kisses quickened on the inside of her thighs, down to her calves and back again. Shulman did this alternately, hearing only sobs and agitated breathing.

«You smell so sweet.»

She shrugged.

«Soap?»

«Noo… childhood.»

The Jewish voice became even more hoarse and low, a little relaxed. Shulman turned to face her, knelt, put his fingers on her legs, climbed up the robe, and untied the tight belt. Her eyes were like huge saucers with dark edges, so excited and scared. She leaned against the wall, leaning away from Thomas on the back of the sofa. Tom's hands went back to his thighs, tracing them and drawing invisible patterns. Another movement, and they were higher, under the Terry cloth, making their way to the buttocks. The edges of the robe began to slowly part, revealing a cleavage between her Breasts, a flat tummy, and a chest. When his gaze slid lower, Lily was already covered, tying the straps.

«Tom, don’t!» She squeezed his fingers on her buttocks, squeezing them until they were almost blue. The Jew held out his hands in front of him, as if she were an exhibit in a Museum that he couldn't touch even if he really wanted to.

«Why?» His trousers swelled with the effort, and he lowered himself to her thighs, covering her again with kisses that she clearly liked, his fingers brushing her ankles.

«Do you know what my father will do to me?»she asked in a trembling voice, looking down at Shulman.

He knew what her father would do to him, but for some reason he was drawn to her even more. Forbidden fruit is sweet.

«He won't find out, will he? If you don't tell him, he won't know anything, right?»

Lily nodded uncertainly, meeting his gaze with a mixture of shame and interest. Let's just say it was a routine lice check. And they tested not only Thomas, but also Lily, a Tough nut to crack, if I may say so, who knows her own worth and is afraid of her father. Tom wasn't going to take her just like that, in some hotel, in some room, on some couch. First she must become a Jew, which is why they are going to Jerusalem. And then they will see.

«No offense, but I can't,» she said, her voice trembling with emotion, and Lily swallowed a few words and got up to leave.

«I won't be offended.»

His hands opened and he released her, forcing her to jump over the edge of the sofa, head for the bedroom, and dive into bed with a relieved smile.