Heyy people! Miss me? I am very sorry I took so long to update. I've been struggling with some personal issues and I completely lost all motivation to write but I guess I'm back. I won't promise to update regularly because I know I won't be able to, but I'll try to not let months pass by again. Although my issues are still not fixed, I'm trying to keep myself together. Enough of my rambling.

WARNING: This chapter includes a scene that is a little violent. Nothing major but I'm just letting you know.

Rose POV

If annoyance was a person, its name would be Adrian Ivashkov.

I don't have anything against the guy in particular. He's polite enough, though a bit of a player, resulting in sistematic attempts to flirt with you anytime he opens his mouth.

He made his way through the trees, towards us and when he got closer, he stopped dead in his tracks.

"Sorry, man. I must've lost track of time." Dimitri said as he put on his duster.

"No biggie. Just wanted you to know that we're getting ready for that thing, you know?" Adrian gave Dimitri a weird look, before his gaze fell on me.

What thing did they need to get ready for? It was obvious I wasn't supposed to know.

"Rose Hathaway, am I correct?" Adrian's lip twitched, like he was trying not to smile. There was something about his expression, not exactly mocking but not just being polite either.

"Yes, you are."

The way he was looking at me, up and down, as if he was checking me out (which, being Adrian, he probably was) was making me nervous, but I refused to let him see that.

Dimitri coughed and looked at his friend with a scowl on his face. It would be a funny sight if it were in another time.

"You ready, Dimka?" Adrian questioned.

"Yeah." Dimitri answered.

He was acting so serious, any trace of the vulnerable side he'd shown me was gone. Well, not exactly gone , more like hidden.

As I watched the two boys having a glare competition, Adrian smirking and Dimitri scowling, I remembered something Adrian said. He had said he'd been looking everywhere for Dimitri, right? Depending on his real effort to find the russian, that must've taken at least a few hours.

I know it's crap logic, but hey it's late!

My eyes widen.

Fuck!

It's late! It's been hours since the party, since the cries and laughs quieted down and the music faded.

Holy hell, I'm so screwed!

"What?" Both boys said in unison, interrupting their contest. Dimitri seems to have won, so that's good, I think. They were both looking at me, confusion all over their rather atractive faces.

Oh, wait...

"Did I say that out loud?" I asked,sheepishly.

Adrian chuckled while Dimitri tried to hold back a smile.

"Yeah, you did, Little Hathaway." Adrian said.

"Little Hathaway?" I arched my brows, due to my inability to raise just one.

"Little Hathaway." He confirmed, grinning.

I shook my head, disbelieving. I "met" him minutes ago and he already has a nickname for me.

"Anyway, what's the matter, Rose?" Dimitri questioned, stepping closer to me with concern filled eyes.

"What time is it?"

I had tried to find that out myself, but when I checked my phone, I had no battery left.

"It's 3 a.m." His eyes widened with surprise. Maybe he was so caugh up talking to me, he didn't notice the time flying by.

A girl can dream.

"Oh, is it past your curfew?" Adrian snickered.

I glared at him and, wisely, he shut up. Turning to Dimitri, I spoke in a low tone.

"I have to go, my mom's gonna kill me."

At the mention of her, Dimitri's features hardened and he nodded.

"Come on, we'll take you home."

We made our way through the trees slowly because of the absence of light. With the moon lighting our path, the park felt more sinister and haunting and while I was a fan of watching horror movies, I wasn't jumping at the possibility of starring in one so I walked a little faster. Trying not to fall on my face in the process. The wind bristles through the branches, reminding us that the sun is long gone, and I shiver despite the leather jacket enveloping me. I guess this type of jacket only does a good job in warming people when the sun's out.

Should've thought about that sooner, Rose.

We finally emerged from the trees, making our way to the park's exit where Adrian's shiny black Audi A7 stood. It was a nice looking and expensive car that only brought more questions to my already overcurious brain. I mean, Adrian wasn't rich, not at all. None of the guys were, yet almost every one of them had a nice car. Too nice, for this neighborhood anyway.

They were involved in some shady shit, that much was obvious because they're all around 18 years old and although most of them had a job, I doubt it was the kind where you could afford to buy a brand new car.

Besides, a girl from my class tried to save enough money to buy one, but she had to stick with an used one from one of those car lots that have a stupid name like "Tucker's super trucks".

In her defense, she worked at McDonald's.

Getting off topic.

"Nice ride, although I'm more of a sucker for classics. What's the horse power on this one?"I inquired, genuinely intrigued.

Cars and all things related were a big interest of mine since I was little. I used to wish I could have a father that would fix cars with me like I saw in movies. It was childish and I soon learned that real life was much more different from the one shown in the big screen.

My eyes swept the vehicle, my fingers itching to run themselves in the cool metal and gripping the wheel covered in quality leather, before glancing up to discover the cause of the sudden silence.

Adrian and Dimitri were both staring at me, Ivashkov's head cocked to the side, both jaws dropped. I quirked my brows, again cursing my inability to lift just one, walked to them and stopped right in front of them.

Nothing.

Uncrossing my arms, my hands reached up to their faces.

Nope, still not a word.

Trying really hard not to snort, I closed their mouths before any drool could come out. Or a fly come in, who knows? Life is full of surprises.

"Okay, now it's just creepy. Wake up?" I snapped my fingers right in front of their faces and the two living statues broke out of their transe.

Dimitri was the first to speak.

"You like cars?"

"Yeah, so?" I said, nonchalant.

"Nothing, it's just that pretty much every girl in this world doesn't understand the first thing about cars and is afraid to get a little dirt under their fingernails." Adrian shrugged, like this was common knowledge.

"Well, hum, I'm going to ignore the sexism in that sentence because that's downright insulting. But yeah, I like cars. Love 'em actually." I stated, rewarded with looks of awe from Dimitri and curiosity from Adrian.

A funny look crossed Dimitri's face, something resembling determination but he just commented "Interesting." and opened the back door of the Audi for me. I thanked him and soon we were on our way to my house, which was only 10 minutes away.

I gave them the adress and Adrian quickly drove through the hood's familiar streets, immediatly recognizing the location. I tried to keep my thoughts as clear of my mother as possible. I only wanted to worry about her reaction when absolutely necessary. During the drive, I managed to distract myself by interrogating Adrian's annoying existence about the specifics of his car. Power, speed range and a million other things. I think he was actually glad to pull over so I could stop talking. I got off the car and waved them goodbye.

"Thank you for the ride." I smiled, reaching the sidewalk.

They rolled down their windows at the same time, but Adrian or Asshole, whichever sounds better, spoke first.

"No need to thank me, Little Hathaway, the pleasure was all mine."

I smirked.

"Indeed it was." Come on, he set himself up for that one.

My eyes fell on the beautiful russian, whose eyes were already placed on me. He smiled at me, leaving me feeling a little warmer.

"See you, Roza."

"Roza?" I asked, confused.

He scratched the back of his neck, eyes focused on anywhere but me andembarrassment plastered all over his features.

"Er, Rose, I meant Rose. Well, goodnight then. Or morning." He said, quickly. Way too quickly.

I hid a huge grin behind my hair, waving goodbye and climbing up the stairs two at a time until I reached my porch, in time to see them drive off the street.

Fishing my keys from my jean's pocket and unlocking the door seemed to take forever as my anxiety spiked in fear of my mother hearing me. I prayed that her constant intoxicated state would pose as a sleeping pill. If she was hammered earlier in the evening, she might have passed out. I knew I was grasping at straws but didn't everyone lately supported positive and wishfull thinking?

"Cinderella finally decided to come home! I was wondering when you grace me with your obnoxious presence."

Fuckkkk!

Her alcohol induced slurred voice filled the silence on our living room, the hair on the back of my neck stood up and I leaned to the door in search of support. The cenario was a disaster. Bottles scattered everywhere, some broken, some spilling the rest of its contents to the floor.

"Hey, mom. I'm -"

"A poor excuse of a daughter. I work hard all day to abide for you and how do you repay me? Staying out late while you should be cleaning this house and making our dinner." She got up the couch, yelling.

The urge to cry was crushing but I swallowed my sadness away, searching that numb place within me that acted as my shield, my armor against this woman.

"I'm sorry, I lost track of time, it won't happen again." No emotion could be detected in my voice.

At this point, I just wanted her to stop screaming. If she didn't, she would atract the neighbor's attention and I would have to hear whispers on the street tomorrow. Or today, actually. Janine kept grumbling loudly, kicking bottles and shattering them against the bookshelf next to me. I ducked and tried to dodge the shards, gaping at her. She was batshit crazy.

"Stop!" I shouted before covering my mouth. I shouldn't have yelled back to her, she hated it.

"What? Who do you think you are?" She came at me and before I could reach the safe haven of my room, my mother grabbed a fistfull of my hair and tugged it, pulling me to her.

I yelped in pain, begging her to let me go.

"Not getting rid of you when I found out I was pregnant was the biggest mistake of my life."

Tears fell down my cheeks at her harsh words. I knew, I already knew she didn't care about me so why did it hurt so damn much to hear her say that?

Janine released me abruptly and I fell down on all fours, my scalp burning with pain. I ignored it and stood up, looking at my mom dead in the face.

" I HATE you!" I cried out.

A hand instantly connected to my cheek in a painfull motion, the taste of blood on my tongue.

"You won't talk to me like that! Now get the hell out of here." She growled and I ran to my room, locking the door behind me, before I slid sown to the ground, pulling my knees to my chest. Loud sobs broke out of me, rendering me incapable of keeping them locked tight inside of me. My mind could no longer find that numb place that took the pain away, that took everything away. Feeling nothing sounded better than being miserable. For now, at least.

I sat there, against the door, for a long time until my breating came back to normal and the physical pain faded away. Eventually I remembered my phone was dead so I plugged it to the charger and turned it on. It was blowing up with unread messages from Liss and Ambrose and, not feeling like worrying them with my issues, I replied to their texts quickly, saying me and Dimitri got lost in conversation, but I was already home, safe and sound.

I threw my phone on the bed with the sound on, and looked over my window, attempting to survey the damage caused. Apparently the neighbors didn't hear anything.

Good.

A car lock ring tone disperses the fog in my mind, my focus on the green notification light on my screen. Sitting cross-legged on my bed, I opened my messages.

There was only one, from an unknown number.

"Hey, I'm sorry if I'm disturbing you or something, just wanted to check in and see if you were alright. Was there any trouble with your mother?

- D"

What?

Confused, I stared at the screen until the pieces started to puzzle themselves.

D.

Dimitri.

Dimitri texted me.

I frowned. How? We didn't exchange our numbers, did we? I replayed the night in my head and came to the conclusion that no, I didn't give him my phone number. The frown is replaced with a smile and I'm surprised to find myself covering my mouth to smother a giggle. My fingertips hover over the keyboard, excitement leading to indecision.

Dimitri's text is sweet and caring, but I'm conflicted between not worrying him or unburdening myself.

I go with the first one.

"Everything's fine, she was out like a light when I came in. Speaking of disturbing, how the hell did you get my number?

- R"

While waiting for his reply, I saved his contact on my contact's list, on my favourites. His response comes a second after that.

"Glad you're okay. Have a good night (or morning).

P.S. I don't disclose my connections."

A/N: This is the longest chapter I've written so far, hope you liked it. Please, please leave a commentl if you enjoyed this chapter. It would mean the world to me :)

How did you guys think Dimitri got her number? And how do you feel about Rose's fight with her mom?

Btw I'm not a car expert or know it all, not by a long shot so if anything I wrote is wrong I apologize. If you spotted any mistakes, pls let me know in the comments so I can correct them. See u next time