Thank you for the reviews :)

I know some of you are upset about last chapter, but I hope this chapter will make things right for you. Also, the reason for Dimitri's reaction will be explained in this chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy.

CHAPTER 21

DPOV

I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe what just had happened and still… I'd seen it with my own eyes. I'd seen how Adrian had kissed Rose. Right before my eyes. And Rose knew I'd been watching them dance. Why did she let him kiss her? Why didn't she stop him? Why would she do that to me?

But she'd told me she'd pushed him away. Was that true? I hadn't seen it. I'd left as soon as I saw Adrian moving in on her. If I hadn't left, I would've probably done something stupid, like punching Adrian in the face for kissing my girlfriend. I'm sure that would've raised some questions so I had no other choice than to get out of there. On my way out, I'd seen Sonya give me a look that said: I told you so. Of course, she had seen them kiss, too. I bet she was going to tell me tomorrow how she'd been right all this time and I had been wrong.

I walked back to my apartment, hoping the fresh air would calm me down, but it didn't. I was still as mad as hell. And hurt.

I slumped down on my couch, covering my face in my hands. I took a deep breath and tried to forget about the whole thing. But I couldn't. To make matters worse, it reminded me of Tasha, of what she'd done to me. Only this time it hurt ten times more, because I loved Roza more than I'd loved anyone in my entire life.

And now I'd broken up with her without hearing her out. I know she told me she'd pushed Adrian away, but I didn't know if I could believe her. I'd believed Tasha once and it had been a mistake to believe her. But Rose wasn't like Tasha…

Suddenly, I heard a knock on the door. I didn't answer. I didn't feel like getting up and answering the door. Anyway, who would visit me this late at night? It was probably Sonya. I guess she couldn't wait until tomorrow to rub it in my face.

But the knocking didn't stop. Sighing, I got up and strode toward the door. I threw it open and was about to yell at Sonya to leave me alone, but I quickly shut my mouth when I saw it wasn't my sister but Rose at the door.

"Rose, what are you doing here?" I asked not so friendly.

"Can we please talk?" she asked. "Or can you at least listen to me before you make up your mind about me?"

"I'm not really in the mood to-"

"Please, Dimitri. Please just listen," she said pleadingly.

I sighed. I couldn't resist her when she was looking at me like that so I stepped aside and let her in.

"Thank you," she said.

It was quiet for a while. She looked up at me, her face stained with tears. It tugged at my heart and I ached to hold her in my arms, but I had to remind myself that I was still mad and hurt and that I couldn't pretend that everything was okay.

"I know what you're thinking right now," she said at last, "but I swear, I didn't kiss him back. I pushed him away, but you didn't see that because you'd already left. You have to believe me. I didn't want to kiss him, Dimitri."

"Why should I believe you?" Please give me a reason to believe you… Please give me a reason to forget about tonight…

"Because it's true," she said, looking desperate. "I would never lie to you."

I sighed and decided to finally say what was bothering me and why it was so hard to believe her. "But when you were dancing with him, you looked so happy. It looked like you were enjoying being there with him. You were smiling and then he suddenly started kissing you…" I sighed again. "I don't know. It just looked like you were more than happy to be with Adrian tonight."

Or maybe I was just paranoid, jealous and afraid to lose her to him. Because it would be so much easier for her if she was with someone her own age, someone she could spend some time with, someone she could go out with on the weekends, someone she could go to dances with… If she was with me, she couldn't do all that.

"I wasn't!" Rose said. "I only wanted to go to the dance tonight so I could see you. Adrian wanted to dance and I figured that was okay… And the reason why I was smiling..." She bit her lip, but then shrugged. "Well, to be honest, I was just pretending that I wasn't with Adrian on the dance floor, but with you." She hesitantly looked at me through her eyelashes. "I know that's silly, but well… I might've been dancing with Adrian, but in my thoughts I was with you the entire time."

I stared at her, speechless.

"And before I knew what was happening, he kissed me," she continued. "He was a little drunk, I think. Maybe that's why he did it, maybe not. I don't know."

I snorted. "He's in love with you. That's why he did it."

"If I'd known he would kiss me, I wouldn't have danced with him. I even wouldn't have gone to the dance with him," Rose said. "I love you, Dimitri. Only you." Her voice broke and her eyes filled with tears again. "I don't want to lose you." She wiped at her eyes. "You have to believe me."

And I did. I finally believed her.

Taking a few steps forward, I closed the distance between us and kissed her. She was surprised, but responded to the kiss immediately. I pulled her closer to me as she wrapped her arms around my neck.

"I'm sorry," I whispered when I pulled away. "I'm sorry for walking away like that, without hearing you out."

"I'm sorry for going to the dance with Adrian," she whispered back.

"No, I overreacted. I should've known you wouldn't do that to me. I'm sorry, Roza."

I kissed her again, wrapping my arms around her and holding her close.

-M SCENE-

Quickly, our kisses grew more passionate and she wrapped her legs around my waist. We kept kissing as I stumbled through my apartment to my bedroom. Gently, I put Roza down on the bed. Kicking of my shoes, I hovered over her and moved my lips to hers again. As I left a trail of kisses down her jaw line to her neck, she tugged at my shirt. Taking the hint, I pulled away from her neck and quickly unbuttoned my shirt before taking it off. I leaned down again and pressed my body closer to hers, kissing the sensitive spot behind her ear. Moaning softly, she dug her fingernails into my back.

I placed a soft kiss on her lips before peeling off her dress. I returned to her lips and as we continued to kiss, my hands moved to her back to unclasp her bra. Her lips moved along my jaw, her teeth grazing my neck, causing me to groan. God, I'd never needed her as much as I did right now.

Her hands moved down my chest and to my pants, unbuckling my belt. After removing my jeans, I hovered over her again. We were both breathing heavily by now. Slowly, I kissed down her body and when I reached her panties, I pulled them off and threw it on the heap of clothes next to the bed. My boxers followed suit.

Moving on top of her again, I kissed her lips one last time before burying myself inside of her. Rose gasped and I stilled.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

She nodded and wrapped her legs around my waist, pushing me deeper inside of her. I groaned and, pressing my lips against hers, thrusted my hips forward. I tangled one of my hands in her hair as we rocked our bodies together.

My breath came in pants as I moved inside of her at a frenzied pace. Her body tightened around me as she cried out my name and that was my undoing. I collapsed on top of her, utterly spent, and rested my head in the crook of her neck, placing a soft kiss on it.

-END M SCENE-

After a few moments I lifted my head to meet her eyes and as she looked at me lovingly, I couldn't believe that an hour ago I'd had doubts about her feelings for me. I was such an idiot.

"You're a fool for thinking I would want to be with Adrian, you know that?" she said, caressing my cheek. It was like she could read my mind sometimes.

I smiled. "I know."

RPOV

I opened my eyes and sighed, knowing that I had to go back to school before my mother would come to pick me up. Sighing again, I forced myself to roll over to the side of the bed.

"Don't go," Dimitri whispered. He grabbed my arm and pulled me back against his side. "Stay. Please."

"I can't," I said regrettably. I wanted nothing more than to stay in his arms all night, but I couldn't. I had to leave. "My mom is going to pick me up in about half an hour. I have to go."

Instead of letting me go, Dimitri pulled me closer and wrapped his arms firmly around my waist. "I don't want you to leave," he said, kissing me softly.

He looked at me pleadingly and I was really tempted to stay, but I couldn't do that. My mom would freak out if she didn't see me at the school gate at midnight.

"Please." He pressed his lips against my neck.

I closed my eyes briefly before giving in. "Fine. Maybe there's a way I can stay, but then I'll need to call my mom."

Dimitri's face brightened immediately and finally he let me go. I sat up and tried to find my purse in the dark.

"Where's my goddamned purse?" I muttered.

"I think it's here," Dimitri murmured as he flicked on the lights and bent down to pick something up. "Here you go."

"Thanks," I said, taking it from him. I searched for my phone and dialed my mom's number. It didn't take long for her to pick up.

"Is everything alright, Rose?" she asked, her voice edged with worry.

"I'm fine, Mom. Don't worry," I responded.

"Then why are you calling? I thought I needed to pick you up at twelve?"

"Umm… Would you mind if I'd stay over at Lissa's tonight?" I asked.

It was quiet for a moment, but then at long last she said: "Sure… If that's what you want."

Huh. This was easier than I'd thought.

"Thanks," I said.

"I have to work tomorrow so I can't pick you up at Lissa's. Can Rhea drop you off?"

"Sure. No problem," I said. "I'll see you tomorrow night then, I guess."

"Yeah. Good night, honey. Have fun," she said.

"Thanks, Mom. Good night."

I disconnected and immediately dialed Lissa's number.

"Rose, are you okay? Where are you?"

I rolled my eyes. Sometimes Lissa sounded a lot like my mom. "I'm fine, Liss. I'd like to ask you something."

"What do you want to ask me?" I heard a rustle in the background and then her irritated voice, "No, I'm not giving you my phone, Adrian. You can apologize on Monday!" She cleared her throat and said, "Sorry about that. So what's your question?"

"Do you want to be my alibi?" I asked. "I told my mom I'm staying over at your place."

"Oh, you worked things out with Dimitri?" she said. I could almost hear her smile. "Got it. If she asks me something, I'll tell her you were with me all night."

"Thanks, Liss. I'm sorry I took off like that."

"Don't worry about it. I would probably have done the same."

I tried to concentrate on what she was saying, but Dimitri was distracting me when he started to place soft kisses on my neck and shoulder.

"Rose? Rose, are you still there?"

"Huh? What?" I said, blinking. I turned to Dimitri, putting my hand over the speaker, and hissed, "Stop it, Dimitri."

He just grinned and pressed his lips against my cheek and then moved to the corner of my mouth.

"Hey! I can hear you!" I heard Lissa yell through the phone.

I smacked Dimitri's chest playfully and he looked at me in mock outrage, which made me laugh.

"What are you doing there?" Lissa exclaimed. "Never mind. I don't want to know."

"Sorry," I said.

"I'm assuming everything's alright again?" she said. "He believes you?"

"Yes," I said smiling.

"Good. Tell me all about it tomorrow. I have to go now."

"Okay. Bye, Liss." After she'd disconnected, I put my phone away and turned to Dimitri. "Why are you always distracting me when I'm on the phone?"

Dimitri gave me a crooked smile. "As if you mind. Besides, you're always distracting me in class. It's only fair."

"I don't distract you in class!"

"Yeah, you do," he said.

"How? I'm not doing or saying anything," I said frowning slightly.

"You're distracting me by just being there," Dimitri said. "Do you know how hard it is to concentrate when you're in the same room?"

"Sorry," I mumbled.

Smiling, he lay back down and grabbed my arms, pulling me against him. I snuggled closer to him and rested my head on his chest. He kissed the top of my head and stroked my hair. I was on the verge of falling asleep when he said softly, "Thank you for staying here, Roza."

I smiled. "You're welcome."

Dimitri shifted and flicked off the lamp on his nightstand. I rolled onto my side and he spooned me, wrapping his arms around me.

"Goodnight, Roza," he whispered as he kissed me behind my ear.

"Night, comrade," I murmured tiredly.

In a matter of seconds, I fell asleep. That's how exhausted I was. Hours later, I woke up because I was hungry. My stomach was growling so hard, it had woken me up. Great. Luckily, Dimitri was still asleep and hadn't heard a thing.

Disorientated, I squinted at the clock. It was eight in the morning. I sighed and wanted to get up, but Dimitri was wrapped around me tightly, still sleeping peacefully, and I didn't want to wake him up, which I definitely would do if I moved. I tried nonetheless – very carefully. It didn't work, though. Not even a minute later, he stirred.

"What are you doing?" he asked groggily, nuzzling my neck.

"I'm trying to get up," I said, trying to push him off me. He just wrapped his arms more tightly around me. "But I obviously can't."

"Why would you want to get up?" His head suddenly shot up. "Did you want to leave without waking me up?"

"No, I'm just hungry," I said. As if on cue, my stomach growled.

Chuckling, he rolled off me. "Do you want me to make you something for breakfast?"

"No, you don't have to get up," I said. "You can get some more sleep if you want."

"But-"

I silenced him with a kiss and got up. Dimitri looked at me as I got dressed and I winked at him before leaving his room.

Searching through his kitchen cabinets, I found cereals. Taking a bowl, I filled it with the cereals and milk. Not even five minutes later, the door to his bedroom opened and Dimitri walked out, half naked.

"I'm going to take a shower. Don't go anywhere while I'm gone," he said.

"I'll stay right here," I promised.

He smiled and walked over to me to kiss my forehead before heading to the bathroom. I got up from my seat and went back to his bedroom to retrieve my phone. Walking back, I checked if my mom had called me, but she hadn't. I'd received a couple of texts from Adrian, though, saying that he was sorry and would like to talk it out. I ignored him. I was still too angry at him, but when I'd cooled off I guess we could talk.

I continued to eat and as I munched on my cereals, there was a knock on the door. Startled, I looked up and dropped my spoon with a loud clatter in the bowl. I glanced at the clock. It was half past eight. Who would be here this early in the morning?

There was another knock on the door and then a voice said, "Dimka, I know you're here! Open the door!"

I recognized the voice immediately and I started to panic. Dimitri's sister would freak out if she found me here.

"Dimitri, if you don't open this door right now, I'll use the spare key!" she threatened, pounding on the door once again.

I gulped. Maybe I should go hide in the bedroom. Just when I was about to get up and get away before it was too late, she opened the door, spare key in her hand.

"Oh!" She looked at me, wide-eyed.

"Hi," I said nervously as I straightened my dress, trying to look a little bit presentable.

"I didn't expect you to be here," she said, eyeing my outfit. "Certainly not this early."

I suddenly realized I was wearing the same dress as last night and how this must look for her. She'd probably figured out that I'd stayed over here. I turned bright red as she looked at me disapprovingly. I was still mad at her for the things she'd said to me last week, but right now I was too embarrassed to say something about it.

Mrs. Hale cleared her throat and asked, "Where is Dimitri?"

"He's in the shower," I mumbled, avoiding eye contact.

She sighed. "I'll just wait, then."

An awkward silence fell. I was kind of surprised she hadn't started screaming at me yet for being here so I guess this was progress. Not knowing what to do or say, I sat back down and ate my breakfast.

After fifteen more minutes, the door to the bathroom finally opened and Dimitri walked out – still half naked.

"The shower is all yours, Roza." He hadn't even noticed his sister was in the room. "But I think we should shower together next time," he said teasingly. "To save some water, you know-"

I almost choked on my cereals and quickly looked over at Mrs. Hale, who was looking horrified. That's when Dimitri noticed her.

His eyes widened slightly and he said, "What…what are you doing here, Sonya? And how did you get in?"

"Spare key," she said, holding it up. "But if I'd known you weren't alone, I wouldn't have come."

Dimitri walked into his bedroom and when he came back, he was wearing a shirt. "It's not because I have a spare key under my doormat you have to use it every time," he said, buttoning up his shirt. "It's for emergencies."

"Well, this is an emergency," she said defiantly. "I need to talk to you. In private," she added, glaring at me.

"About what?" he said.

"About what happened last night," she said, crossing her arms.

I bit my lip. I hadn't known Mrs. Hale had been at the dance last night. And apparently she'd seen what had happened there. This was just wonderful. I really wasn't making a good impression on her.

"There's nothing to talk about. Everything's fine," Dimitri said.

"I'm aware of that," Mrs. Hale said dryly, "but I'd still like to talk to you."

"Umm…I'll just go," I said as I started to get up.

"No, you don't have to go," Dimitri said quickly. "It won't take long."

"You sure?" I asked.

He nodded. "Just stay here. We'll go somewhere else."

"Okay," I said hesitantly.

Dimitri gave me a small smile before heading to his bedroom. Mrs. Hale followed him inside. The door closed behind them and sighing, I sat back down. I looked at my cereals and suddenly didn't feel so hungry anymore. Instead, I just waited until they came back. They were probably talking about me, about what had happened last night at the dance. She was probably trying to convince him he should dump me.

At first I didn't hear anything, but then their voices started to get louder and louder until I could hear everything.

"Have you lost your mind?" I heard Mrs. Hale shouting. "You've got a student in your apartment! Don't you realize how dangerous this is?"

"So? I love her and she loves me! What does it matter if she's my student?" Dimitri shouted back.

"It matters, Dimitri, and you know it! You might love her, but do you honestly think she loves you back? Last night, she was kissing with another boy. If she really loves you, she wouldn't do that!"

"Adrian kissed her. Rose pushed him away immediately. It didn't mean anything to her!"

"How would you know? Last night, you seemed pretty much pissed off."

"That's because I didn't know the truth! But she explained me everything last night and I believe her."

"She's only using you!" Mrs. Hale exclaimed.

I tried to ignore the voices coming from Dimitri's bedroom, but it was impossible. I wished I'd just left. Now I had to hear them fight. About me. I'd tried to avoid this by not telling Dimitri about my conversation with his sister, but it'd been for nothing.

"That's not true!"

"Remember Tasha? You used to believe her every time and see what happened? I tell you now, it's going to happen again if you don't break things off with Rose! It already did. Last night!"

I frowned. Who was Tasha? Was she an ex-girlfriend of Dimitri?

"Roza is nothing like Tasha. Don't you dare to compare her to Tasha!" Dimitri yelled. If he'd been angry before, he sure as hell was now.

"What do you think is going to happen when someone finds out you're having a relationship with your student?" I was hoping to hear some more about this Tasha girl, but apparently Mrs. Hale had been taken aback by his tone when she'd mentioned Tasha so now she was trying a different tactic. "What do you think will happen? You're going to get fired! Maybe they'll even throw you into jail for dating a minor!"

"Rose is eighteen!"

"She wasn't when you started dating her," Sonya shot back, "and that doesn't make it right! She's still your student. You're making a big mistake, Dimka. It's not too late to end it. You can still tell her it's over."

It was quiet for a while. Then Dimitri said at last, "No. I won't do that. I love Rose. It doesn't matter what you think or say. I won't break up with her. So you better get used to it."

Mrs. Hale let out a frustrated cry. "You are both so stubborn! Neither of you realizes this has to end!"

"What do you mean? You talked to Roza?"

"Yes!"

Oh shit. This was not good.

"When?"

"Does it matter? And it's not like it helped. Like I said, she's just as stubborn as you."

"What did you say to her?" Dimitri demanded.

"I told her to break up with you, because you won't do it."

"You said what?" Dimitri said, outraged. "How dare you to talk to her behind my back and tell her to break up with me? What's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you?!"

"You tried to ruin my relationship with Roza! How could you do that? You're my sister."

"I did it because I don't want to see you get hurt!"

"Don't give me that crap. You did it because you can't stand it that I'm with Rose. Because she's my student." He sighed. "Look, if you want to tell someone, just go ahead and do it! But stop trying to convince me I'm better off with Roza. I'm sick of hearing it."

"You know I would never tell this to someone. I don't want you to lose your job. I just want you to realize that what you're doing with Rose is wrong."

"I don't care if it's wrong. To me, it feels right."

"Fine," Mrs. Hale snapped. "I won't talk about it anymore. I won't meddle anymore. But I've warned you many times. Don't be surprised when she turns out to be like Tasha!"

The door opened and I almost jumped up in surprise. Mrs. Hale strode past, not even glancing my way, before slamming the door shut behind her. I cringed at the sound.

Dimitri appeared in the doorway. "I guess you heard everything, huh?" he said.

I nodded and quickly blinked a few tears away. Sighing, Dimitri sat down next to me. He looked at me, but I didn't want to look up. I didn't want him to see the tears in my eyes.

"Maybe she's right," I said in a small voice. "Maybe you should break up with me."

"What?" Dimitri said and he shook his head. "Why would I break up with you?"

"I don't want you to get in trouble because of me," I responded.

"That's not going to happen, Roza." When I didn't say anything, he took my hand in his. "Hey, look at me," he said softly as he put his fingers under my chin and tilted my face. "I won't get in trouble. Neither will you. Don't listen to Sonya. She doesn't understand. And it's not her business, anyway."

"But-"

"I love you, Roza. I don't want to lose you," he whispered, giving me a desperate look. "Why didn't you tell me about what Sonya has said to you?"

"Because I didn't want you to fight with her about me," I answered, sniffling.

"Roza… You need to tell me these things. I don't want her to talk to you like that. She has no right," he said, pushing a strand of hair behind my ear. "Promise me you'll tell me next time she does something like that again?"

I nodded, wiping at my eyes. "I promise. I'm sorry. I just didn't want to make things worse."

"Shh, it's okay." Dimitri pulled me into his lap and wrapped his arms around me, rubbing my back soothingly with one of his hands. I wrapped my arms around his neck and buried my face in his chest. His lips brushed against my ear and he told me over and over again how much he loved me.

I looked up at him and gave him a small smile. "You missed a button."

"Hmm?" he said absentmindedly before looking down. "Oh."

As I started to unbutton his shirt, Dimitri watched, his arms still wrapped around me.

"There," I said when I'd finished buttoning up his shirt again. "That's better."

Dimitri leaned in for a kiss. "Thank you, Roza."

It was quiet for a while and I pondered if I should ask Dimitri about the woman Mrs. Hale had mentioned several times. He'd been pretty mad about that, though, so I didn't know if it was a good idea, but I really wanted to know more about her.

"So, um, I couldn't help but hear you talk about this woman…Tasha…" I said hesitantly. "Who is she?" When I saw the look on his face, I quickly added: "If you don't want to talk about her, that's fine. I was just-"

"No, it's fine," Dimitri interrupted me gently. "Tasha is my ex-girlfriend. I met her when I first moved here."

"Oh." I'd already figured that Tasha had been his girlfriend, but I wondered what she had done to him. "Why did you break up with her?"

"She cheated on me," he said. "With a friend of mine."

"Oh." I bit my lip. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked."

"No, it's okay," Dimitri said, giving me a small smile.

"So…how did you find out?" I asked.

"Well, we'd just moved in together and after a while I started to get suspicious. Sometimes she would go out at night. Alone. And one time I saw her flirting with my friend. So I asked her if something was going on and she assured me there wasn't anything going on…and I believed her, because I loved her." He sighed. "But then, one day, I caught them in our bed."

I stared at him, shocked. "Oh my God," I whispered.

"I left and came back later that day to pick up my things. He'd already left, but she was still there and told me it had been a mistake, that it would never happen again." He shook his head slightly. "But no matter what she said, I couldn't forgive her for sleeping with my friend."

I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him tight. "I'm really sorry, Dimitri," I said softly. "You didn't deserve that."

"It's fine, Roza. I was angry and hurt at first…but I'm over it." He looked up at me and gave me a small smile. "And I'm kind of glad that it happened, because otherwise I might have never met you."

I smiled.

His smile disappeared and he said, his voice soft, "I'm really sorry about last night, Roza. But when I saw Adrian kissing you… It just reminded me of what happened with Tasha and for a moment I thought it was happening again. Only this time I felt ten times worse." He sighed and looked at me, pained. "I love you more than I ever loved Tasha and I can't bear the thought of losing you."

"You won't lose me, comrade," I said, kissing him softly. "I love you and I would never do something like that to you. No matter what your sister says, I would never do that to you."

"I know that," he responded, smiling.

"And if I ever see the bitch who hurt you, I'll kick her ass," I said.

"That's not necessary," Dimitri said, but he smiled reluctantly. "I don't care about her anymore. She's my past. You are my future," he said, his smile growing wider.

I blushed and averted my eyes. Holding my face in his hands, Dimitri pulled me in for a kiss. A kiss that said, 'I'll never let you go'.

Long chapter! I hope you liked it and I hope you can understand why Dimitri was so upset. Anyway, next chapter Eddie and Rose are going to have a talk. Hopefully, it will go well :)

Have a nice day/evening!