CHAPTER TEN
Lissa emotions had been so strong that I hadn't felt myself collapse, but when I came back to myself I was half on the ground and half in Dimitri's arms.
I looked up into Dimitri's eyes and saw utter worry in them.
It felt good to be held by him and his hand that he had often had to pull back from stroking my hair in the past was gently pushing my hair from my face.
"Are you alright, is Lissa alright?" Dimitri asked.
I nodded my head slowly, being ripped into Lissa mind that fast sometimes left me a little disorientated.
"Yeah, she's just being question about my disappearance." I replied.
I would have really enjoyed staying in Dimitri's arms but I knew it wouldn't be long before someone figured out which direction I was going. We needed to keep moving. Also I found that I was feeling strange about having Dimitri's arms around me, again memories of my imprisonment in Siberia came flooding back.
I shook my head a little, to shack the memories away and then I pushed out of Dimitri's arms and slowly got to my feet.
He didn't try to help me up; I think he knew that I would have seen that as him thinking me weak.
"We need to go." I said.
Dimitri nodded and got up.
We both headed to the SUV, silence falling over us again as we got back on the road.
The silence lasted for the rest of our trip into Manhattan.
I kept running over Dimitri's words before I had been pulled into Lissa Head. I kept telling myself that I was mistaken he couldn't have been about to kiss me.
Any normal person would probably just ask, but I was so over being hurt by him. So I just kept my mouth shut, I know, totally new concept for me but what can I say, every bodies got to grow up sometime.
It's just my luck that I would learn the need for self preservation now.
As we were crossing one of the bridges into Manhattan I turned to Dimitri.
"So, where are we staying?" I asked
"Trump International." He said uneasily.
That stumped me a little, I was on the run, and surely we should be keeping a low profile.
"Who booked that?" I asked
"Abe did, he figured that after your time in that prison cell you would need a little luxury."
"Okay, but shouldn't I be keeping my head down." I said voicing my earlier thoughts.
"That was what I suggested, but Abe decided that Trump International would be the last place anyone would think to look for you."
"Yeah, I guest thats right." I laughed. Trust Abe to go about things completely different to what everybody else in world do.
I looked down at myself, taking in my appearance. I wasn't exactly in a prison jumpsuit but I certainly wasn't dressed for an upmarket hotel.
Dimitri noticed me evaluating my appearance.
"Abe also gave me a bag of things for you to wear." He said.
"Are they in the back?" I asked, and Dimitri nodded.
We didn't have long before we reached our hotel so I jumped in the back of the Explorer and pulled the suitcase from the very back of the vehicle.
If nothing else after looking through the suitcase, I had to say either Abe or one of his staff members had incredible good taste when It came to clothing and footwear.
It took only a couple of minutes to decide on a fitted pair of black hipster dress pants, a cropped fashion tank and a nice pair of black Prada heals. I figured at almost 6am on a Saturday morning looking like I had just finished partying for the night would be a good cover for checking in this early in the morning.
When I moved back to the front seat I pulled down the visor and used the mirror to make sure my hair was looking half decent and my face clean.
When I was done I looked over at Dimitri who was just turning back to the road.
"Interesting choice of top." He said, trying to sound nonchalant, but failing.
I looked down at myself. I had a very nice figure, months of hard training had given me a trim waist line and a flat lightly muscled stomach, which lead up to my nicely rounded chest (a gift of Dhampir genetics).
"I figured I would go for the I've-been-clubbing-all-night look, gives us cover for checking in at 6 o'clock in the morning." I replied also failing at keeping my voice cool and even.
Dimitri nodded, obviously pleased that I was thinking ahead.
"That fits with the rest of the cover."
I gave him a questioning look.
"I'm playing your bodyguard; Abe thought we should be undercover." Dimitri said in explanation.
I took in Dimitri's appearance then. He wasn't wearing his usual off-duty attire, but instead his guardian formal.
I sighed in appreciation, damn, he still looked good.
When we arrived at Trump International, we were greeted by a valet and a bell boy.
Dimitri exited the SUV first and came round to my door and opened it.
Before Lissa's parents had died, I had dressed in the latest fashion and played the high roller part at Lissa's side happily, but now I felt uncomfortable.
As I walked forward to the main door of the hotel the bell boy went around to the back of the car to get our luggage and Dimitri fell instep just behind me.
I held my head high as we walked through the foyer to reception, trying to project confidence instead of unease.
As we came to a stop the clerk asked for our reservation name, but before I could even fathom an answer Dimitri stepped forward.
"Belikov, Roza Belikov." Dimitri answered.
My head snapped to look at him. He didn't return my look.
After that the clerk did the usual check in routine and the bellboy who had our luggage showed us to our rooms.
We were on the fourth floor. Our suite was gorgeous.
It was a two bedroom apartment, very modern with a huge flat screen T.V. in the lounge. Both rooms had king size beds and an ensuite.
I walked in to the lounge area after making a sweep of the apartment.
Dimitri was tipping the bellboy.
After another 30 seconds we were alone.
I stood looking at Dimitri for another 30 seconds; he held my eyes with his.
I broke eye contact first, this thing with Dimitri was doing my head in, and I had to have some time to myself.
Not only did I need space from Dimitri, I needed to decide what to do about my mission.
I turned and took a step toward the room I had claimed as mine.
"Rose." Dimitri pleaded. "We need to talk."
I spun on my heel and looked at him.
How dear he plead with me. I was the one who had been turned away, time after time, after saving his life. I was the one that had been left alone by him.
I was fuming, the rage in me building again like earlier on the side of the road. I knew It wasn't truly my rage though; it was the darkness that I was siphoning away from Lissa that was amplifying my own feelings.
I took a few deep breaths. I loved Dimitri but his not coming to me in my cell had done a lot of damage.
"Dimitri, I can't do this, not now. I have other things to worry about."
He kept his face straight, but something flashed in his eyes. Pain.
"Rose, I need to talk to you."
That was it; he needed to talk to me.
"You need? What about what I need? For the last few months my entire life has revolved around what you need." I spat at him. He just stayed still not saying a word.
"You have no idea what I have been through since you got taken from St Vladimir's. And before you start with the whole guilt thing about Siberia, don't."
He went to speak but after a quick breath I started talking again.
"Nothing that you did to me as a strigoi could even compare to the torture I went through watching you running out of that cave, Nathan jumping on you and ripping into your throat." Hot tears slid down my cheeks as I remembered.
"I went to Siberia Dimitri; I went to kill the man I loved. You have no idea what that did to me, especially when I got home and found that I had failed. I hadn't just failed at killing you, I had failed you. But I had hope. I found out about Robert Doru, about his claims of restoring a strigoi to its former self. I clung to a small hope even when people thought I was crazy.
"I had to do a lot of things to get to the bottom of the story but I did it. And then Lissa managed to fix you. And then you left me again. You didn't have a choice when Nathan turned you, but you had a choice when you told me to forget you, when you told me that your love had faded."
I took a steadying breath. I wasn't yelling but my voice was uneven with tears.
"And now you tell me you want to talk." I snorted with indignation.
Finishing my speech I just stood, looking at Dimitri, not even sure if I wanted him to say anything back.