"Why should I bother?" he said evenly, finally looking up at me. "It's not like I haven't seen you. Besides, you've been getting ready for an hour and I heard Lissa. I figured the period where privacy is a must was over."
Ouch. I couldn't believe he said that. Yes, he had seen me naked on more than one occasion, but the way he had said it made it all sound like something nasty and vile. By the amped up anger and disgust that came off her, Lissa picked up on it, too. I glanced at her and frowned at her expression. She was glaring at him in that way that usually made me think it was caused by the fact that she was a Spirit-user. At the moment, I had no doubt it was entirely her and the fact that Dimitri was being uncharacteristically mean. Neither of us understood his behavior, but I wasn't going to let Lissa fight my battles. That never ended well for everyone involved.
"You're just sour, because Viagra can't even begin to solve your problems in the bedroom," I said in that artificial Sweet-n-Low tone that I adopted when I am massively pissed off and on the verge of killing someone. "Don't worry, love, your secret's safe with us. Now why are you in my room?"
Rose! Lissa chastised through the bond, trying to sound disappointed. I could feel amusement, though, and it was obvious she was trying not to laugh. My attention wasn't on her much, however. No, most of my focus was on Dimitri. His mask had slipped, and I could see he was furious. There were other things there too. Pain? Regret? Maybe the faintest hint of amusement? I didn't understand that at all, but at the moment I didn't really care. I was waiting for an answer. He seemed to realize that to, because he suddenly stiffened and his emotions left him once more.
"Your date's waiting downstairs," he said plainly.
I frowned at his back as he turned it to us and walked out of the room. I shook my head and grabbed my purse. I quickly promised Lissa I'd tell her all about the date and then hurried off down the stairs to find Marco sitting in the living room, being entertained by Christian. I froze in my tracks before either guy could see me. Seriously, Christian playing entertainer could not be good. Sure, we have grown to live with each other but it was definitely in that sibling rivalry sort of way. You know, the brother annoys sister so sister punches brother and brother destroys her favorite shirt. Yes, we really have stooped that low.
"No way!" Marco exclaimed, sounding shocked and a little scared. "She really did that?"
"Christian!" I whined. "What damage did you cause to my reputation now?"
"I was just telling your date here," he answered smugly as I approached. "How your last boyfriend needed to get surgery to retrieve a very valuable part of his anatomy after he pissed you off."
Adrian, I thought with a sigh. A little after Dimitri's abandonment, I decided to give Adrian a chance. He was a great guy but we had gotten into a huge fight about trust and some stuff like that. Dimitri's name came up, and I ended up kicking him a little too hard in his family jewels. We hadn't talked to each other since.
"Maybe you should tell Belikov that story," I mused. "He's finding it very difficult not to push my buttons."
Marco shook his head, but otherwise appeared amused. He got to his feet as I grabbed my coat. The ride was silent but surprisingly comfortable. I was surprised when we stopped at IHOP. I raised my eyebrow at him and he just chuckled.
"Oh c'mon," he said. "It's breakfast no matter the time, and this is a human establishment. Besides, it is kinda still breakfast for us vampires."
"Yes, but we aren't vampires," I reminded him.
"We're half vampire," he corrected.
I laughed and just shook my head at him as we entered the restaurant. It didn't take long to be seated. The waitress came shortly after that, and I ordered a Coke while he ordered some coffee. We just looked through the menu in silence until the waitress came back with our drinks.
"Are you ready to order?" she asked.
"Yeah I'll have the blueberry crepe," I said.
"The BLT," Marco said.
She wrote it down and disappeared. We started talking then. I learned some interesting things about him. He was born in Chicago, but he grew up in Miami. There he attended a school like Vladimir's. After graduation, he stayed on as a school guardian. That bit I already knew, but he went a little further. He went into his childhood a little, and talked about a friend of his from the school. His tone was a thick show of fondness, but there seemed to be a bitter underlay. It was so small and insubstantial that I wasn't sure if I had even actually heard it.
We talked about me mostly, especially once the food came. He wanted to know how old I was and how I got assigned to Lissa, but managed to be allowed freedom to have my own life. I answered his questions as I honestly as I could but avoided delving into mine and Lissa's relationship to much. When it came to Dimitri, I completely shut him down and suddenly wanted to go home.
"You know what, Marco?" I asked after we had both finished eating. "I think we should call it a night. I had fun and would love to go back to Poison Ivy, but I'm just not in a clubbing mood. I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry," he said. "We can dance some other time."
He called for the check and paid despite all my protests. I was bad when it came to that aspect of dating. The car ride back home was silent, and I didn't feel as uncomfortable as I had most of the night. I was actually something of a mess. The mention of Dimitri brought my good mood down drastically as I remembered how close we had once been and compared it to the enemies we seemed to have become. I was grateful that Marco didn't intervene and just let me mope a little. The second I was home, I searched out Lissa and found her sitting on her bed with Christian - who was in the middle of kissing down her neck when I barged in.
"Out, Firecracker!" I barked.
He rolled his eyes and grumbled a little about how this was his room as well as Lissa's. I paid no real attention since he had gotten off the bed and sauntered out of the room regardless of his displeasure. Soon as the door shut behind him, I began in on my rant.
"The date couldn't have been better, but he had to ask about my relationship with Dimitri," I said. "Why is it he has to ruin everything for me? Why is being such an ass? I don't understand it, Liss. Marco took me to IHOP and we were going to go back to Poison Ivy, but I can't shake off Belikov's idiotic behavior long enough to enjoy myself. I mean, what is his deal? It should be me who is being the unreasonably nasty one. Why did he take my job?"
"Well," Lissa said slowly, thoughtful. "Did you ever consider that maybe he's. . . jealous?"
"Jealous of what? He left me!"
"I know, I know. I dunno, Rose. I sort of overheard a conversation he was having with Tasha earlier. He seemed really upset about something. Tasha kept saying how he couldn't hide it from you forever and to just tell you. I couldn't really make sense of it and wasn't given any more time to eavesdrop because Tasha spotted me."
"Ugh! I think I'm getting a migraine," I complained, rubbing my temples. "I can't deal with this right now. I'm gonna go take a nap."
I turned without waiting for a reply and headed to my room. I slipped out of my outfit and into a pair of gray sweats and a tank before crawling into bed. I was actually surprised how easily sleep took me. My nap must have lasted a while, because when a knocking on my door finally woke me, I was feeling revived and well-rested. So, I got out of bed and answered the door to see Tasha on the other side. To say I was surprised was an understatement. We hadn't spoken to each other at all really, and I certainly hadn't gone out of my way to make her feel welcome. Still she was standing in front of my bedroom door.
"Can I help you?" I asked, as emotionless as I could, but I could here the hint of disdain.
"We need to talk," she said, brushing past me and into my room without invitation. "He's going to be furious with me, but you need to know a few things. You also need to be aware that I can't tell you everything. Only Dimitri can do that."
I was so confused and annoyed until she said Dimitri's name. My confusion turned to curiosity, and my annoyance shifted to him. Why was Tasha willing to tell me what was wrong with him, but he couldn't even talk to me himself. Well, one thing was for sure, at least I was going to get some answers. They were long overdue to me, and I deserved them. I motioned for her to sit on my bed, but I took my vanity set chair. It was then that I truly realized just how mean I'd probably been to the woman over the years.
"So?" I pressed awkwardly.
"Well," she began, getting comfortable on my bed, "you should know that there was never anything going on with me and Dimitri."
"Wait, but he kissed you!" I exclaimed. "I saw him."
"Yes, it happened," she said. "I'm not going to deny it, but this is a part of the story I can't delve too deeply in. It was my idea but the kiss wasn't entirely what it seemed. He didn't leave you for me, Rose. He would have never done that, and I would have never asked him to. I would've loved for there to be something between us, but you two were perfect for each other. He's not going to tell you anything. He's not going to let you in this time no matter how badly he wants to. Trust me, he does not enjoy keeping this from you. It's why he's so..."
"Nasty to me?" I supplied when she gave up trying to find the word she was looking for. She nodded sympathetically so I continued. "Why are you telling me all this if you aren't supposed to?"
"This is killing him," she said. "It's why I jumped at the chance to come down here so soon before the wedding. I thought that if he saw you, and realized that nothing was going to go wrong, that he'd be happy to take you back." She paused to chuckle a little. "Of course I wasn't counting on his stubbornness and your temper. Well I should go before he realizes that I'm not in any other room of the house."
"He doesn't want you talking to me?"
She paused in the middle of standing up and said, "He doesn't want me to meddle, but I told him I would set a few things straight with you whenever I got the chance. He's been spending most of his time keeping me away from you. Though, I'm not sure if it's because he's afraid of what I might tell you or afraid of you using me as a punching bag."
I just stared at her blankly as she straightened up. The conversation may have answered one of my questions but it also gave me some more. I watched her walk to the door just as it opened. I froze as Dimitri barged in. He definitely didn't look happy. I think I was the only one scared though, and he was glaring at Tasha and hadn't even glanced at me.
"Oh don't give me that look, Dimitri," she said, chuckling lightly. "I only told her what she needed to hear and would you stop being an ass to the girl. I know you were taught better manners than this. C'mon, Dimka, lets go. Apologize to Rose for barging into her room and not even bothering to acknowledge her so we can go and you can yell at me for not listening to you."
I just sat there frozen. I wasn't sure what was going to happen, but I was surprised that Tasha seemed unperturbed by Dimitri's bad mood. He glared at her a little bit longer before he turned to me and finally spoke. To say I was nervous was an understatement. I mean, all we've been doing was fighting and ripping at each other. This should be interesting at least.
Thank you for all your wonderful reviews and there's some input that I'm dying to comment on but that would so ruin things for you guys. So this is going to be painfully difficult for me, but I will say this. Tasha for once isn't that bad guy everyone portrays her as. I don't know. Yes, it's obvious she likes Dimitri and wanted him as more than a friend, but she just doesn't seem the type to be a bitch about not getting her way. The way her personality is makes me see her as a lot more understanding than that. Maybe she was a little upset about it, but I don't see acting out maliciously.
