Redemption

I guess I kind of left it on a bit of a cliff-hanger on the end of the last chapter XD Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this chapter and please keep the reviews coming.

Lyrics: I've told you before, your tears don't fall. I've been here before, they crash around me.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Dimitri's point of view

All that was running through my mind was thoughts of how pissed I was about Christian. How could he do that to Andre? How could he pretend to be my friend when he knew it was him who killed my brother!? All I wanted to do was lash out at him. It had been so long since the last time that I really lost my temper. When I was a kid, I was always known as the one you wouldn't want to mess with. Since then, I had managed to sort myself out and establish some level of control on my temper. The last thing that was going through my mind right now was control.

And then it all melted away. It was as soon as the words 'I love you' slipped from Rose's lips. Yeah, I may have dated a lot of girls in my time, but that's all it was. A couple of dates and then that would be it. It was always just a bit of fun...nothing serious. Not once in my life had a girl as sweet and beautiful as Rose told me that she loved me.

I stopped the attack on Christian and allowed my fists to drop to my sides as I turned to face Rose who seemed to be cowering away from me in fear. As soon as my eyes were on her, the look of anger seeped away and was replaced by a look of devotion.

"What did you just say?" I asked, my voice coming out in a croak as a smile rose to my face.

"I said I love you" She admitted, now standing in front of me with confidence. "I don't want you to get hurt and I don't want you to end up in even more trouble than we have been in lately."

The mention of Christian sparked that anger within me once again. It wasn't to the point where I felt as though I was going to start beating him up again, but it was enough for Rose to sense what she had just done.

"Well, what do you expect me to do?" I questioned as I looked at Christian with disgust who was pressing his hand against his lip that was bleeding profusely. "Rose, he killed Andre. Andre was your brother. How can you not be angry about this? How can you want him to get off free?"

"Believe me, I'm mad" She shot back. "I'm too mad for words right now, but smacking him in the jaw isn't going to solve anything. Neither is turning him in. Don't you think he's had punishment enough? He started off with apologising as he tortured himself with guilt. Honestly, I think he was intending to stay away from us…but then he met Lissa. I bet he never expected to fall in love with her. I bet he never expected her to fall in love with him either. But it happened. It was an accident, Dimitri. So, he's going to tell Lissa what happened and then she's going to decide what we do with him"

At her words, I finally calmed down enough to take two steps back. How could I be so selfish? Sure, I was pissed at this whole situation, but she was in the exact same boat as me. If she can manage to keep her cool at this, so can I.

"You're lucky I like you so much" I sighed.

Rose's point of view

He likes me. That's it. He likes me. God, how could I be so stupid? Of course he doesn't love me like I love him. Hell, we've barely been going out five minutes. I just thought that with all the history we had between us, he'd realise that what we had was real and serious. I guess I'm easily fooled.

"Nope, you're lucky I love you so much" He rectified, fixing me with a smug grin as he wrapped an arm around my shoulder, a kiss then dropped on my head. And just like that, I flung my arms around his neck and pressed a rough kiss to his lips. Damn him, how could he do that to me? How could he make me believe that he only liked me?

"You're a foul prick sometimes" I hissed in his ear. "Do you know that?" I could feel his arms tightening at my waist as he allowed me to nuzzle into the crook of his neck.

"Of course I know that" He sighed blissfully as the wind chopped at the bare skin on our arms. "You know I love you, right? More than anything else in this world"

"Seriously, guys" A voice interrupted. Goodness, I'd completely forgotten that Christian had been standing there. I guess I'm easily distracted. "Can you two wait to do this until later? I've got something that I need to tell Lissa, remember?"

"You are in no position to tell us what to do" Dimitri snapped. It seemed as though it was going to take a hell of a lot more to get him to forgive Christian. "Come on, before I change my mind and turn you in."

The walk back to the house took longer than I thought it would. Even with Dimitri's fingers laced with mine, I couldn't shake the feeling of worry from my chest. This whole situation had to go completely wrong. Someone was going to reach their breaking point…I couldn't tell which one I would be most scared of: Dimitri or Lissa.

Christian's point of view

How on earth had I managed to get myself into this situation? I really thought that an apology would be the only reason I would have to speak to Rose and Lissa. Hell, I never once thought that I would end up falling for that girl. From the moment I first set eyes on her, I vowed to never let anything hurt her again. I couldn't stand the thought of her having to go through more than what she already had. As much as I wanted to keep her safe, it seemed that I was the one who was really causing her the most pain…and I was about to cause her even more.

Without a doubt, this was the hardest thing I had ever had to do in my life. I no longer cared about the consequences that I would have to face. They could drag me to prison and I wouldn't shed a tear or feel sorry for myself at all. I just couldn't stand the thought of facing the shame that they would all force onto me.

The door soon came into focus and my heart began to pound heavily in my chest. This was it. There was going to be no turning back now. It seemed that I was going to have to face the fears that I had been running away from for so long. There was no redemption for a guy like me.

"Thank God!" I heard a feminine voice exclaim before I saw Lissa running straight towards me. Her arms locked around my neck as she barrelled straight into me. God, this really was going to be a lot harder than I thought it would be.

"Lissa, please don't" I grunted as I grabbed her wrists in my hands and pushed her away from me. I tried my best to ignore the look of hurt on her face. I couldn't allow her to present me with any affection…not when I was about to crush her.

"Christian, what's wrong?" She asked, only concern flooding her face and beautiful features.

"Look, I have something serious that I need to tell you" I sighed, pulling her down to sit on the doorstep with me as Rose and Dimitri watched from a distance. "I know that you're going to hate my guts as soon as you hear what it is"

"Christian, I could never hate you" Lissa laughed as she leaned back against the door as though this was just a casual discussion about the weather.

"Lissa, please just listen to me" I whispered. "It's about Andre" At the mention of her brother, Lissa silenced immediately and her face took on a solemn quality. "When you said that the driver just left and never turned himself in…well, what I'm trying to say is that I was…the…driver" Her face now took on confusion.

"What are you talking about?" She asked. "You couldn't have been the driver…no…you couldn't possibly have been the driver"

"Lissa, I was the driver" I sighed. "I wouldn't lie about this"

"But you did" She interrupted. "You lied this whole time. You've been pretending that you liked me"

"No, none of that was a lie" I hastily shot back. I couldn't let her think that I had completely been a fraud. "Honestly, I really do like you. You're such an amazing girl. You're so sweet about everything and you're just so bubbly. How could someone not like you?" She said nothing. All she did was look at her shoes as though she was ready to burst out in anger. "Look, I know this is a long shot, but are you ever going to forgive me? Are you going to turn me in?"

She stood up and moved to the door. Just as she cracked it open, she turned back to face me. "I'm not going to tell anyone else about this. No, I'm not going to turn you in. I'm sure you've suffered enough with your guilt. Forgiving you is a completely different story. Maybe in time we can find a way to work through this. For now I need my space."

She took a step through the door. I knew I should leave it…shouldn't press matters when she was the fragile, but I just had to know.

"Lissa, why are you so understanding of this?" I asked. She looked thoughtful for a moment before answering me.

"It's not that I understand you" She began, biting her lip as though she didn't want to offend me even after all I had done to her. "I just know that Andre wouldn't want me to behave like a bitch when it came to you."

"But you're fully within your rights to" I reminded.

"That may be true" She answered, a glint of a smile on her face. Or maybe I was just imagining it. "But Andre still wouldn't think it was acceptable" With that said, she shut the door on me and left me to sit on the doorstop with Dimitri and Rose staring at me.

"You should go" Rose sighed as she approached the door with Dimitri by my side. I gave a curt nod before walking past them, meeting Dimitri's shoulder on the way.

"Don't you dare think that we're done talking about this" He warned, once again wrapping his arms around Rose as though she was his anchor. Oh god, I could hardly wait for Dimitri's chat with me. All I can hope for is that Rose is there to keep him calm. I guess it's no more than I deserve.

Hmm, I guess this chapter isn't as long as the others. Even so, I managed to get it up a hell of a lot quicker than the last chapter. So, I hope you all enjoy this chapter and please keep the reviews coming. The feedback on the last chapter was amazing!