Okay, so it took me a little over a week but at least it wasn't a month like last time! Sorry about that again :/

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Stop Being a Coward!

Chapter 21

Rose was more determined than ever to find out what relationship Adrian had with Abby Badica. She knew that they knew each other from court tutors when they were younger but she had no clue how close their relationship might have been.

Her mind wandered to the various things that she thought Adrian could be hiding. He had probably slept with her and never called her again or was a complete dick to her afterwards. That seemed like something 'playboy' Adrian might do. She had been warned about his drinking and sleeping around, how he really was a bad boy but something about that image and the look in his eyes whenever Abby was brought up just didn't feel right. Something different had happened.

Had Abby broken his heart? Was she the real reason he had turned into a playboy? Something about that conclusion just didn't seem right either. She was too nice and didn't give off the 'heartbreaker' vibe. Maybe she had changed over the years to the pleasant woman Rose had met this morning. Or maybe this was just a front she put on when she was being a realtor. Rose couldn't be sure but Lissa could usually pick up on sketchy people and she seemed to like Abby just as much as Rose did.

If neither of them broke each other's hearts then what the heck happened? Abby seemed to remember Adrian in a good light so Rose didn't think she was harboring hateful feelings towards him and Adrian seemed more scared of the situation then ashamed or mad.

There was only one thing she could do and that was go directly to the source. Rose marched back across the street and into the house that would soon be her best friend's.

"Abby?" Rose yelled as she marched into the front door.

"Yes Rose?" Abby called from the kitchen that Lissa still seemed to be looking around with glazed over eyes. If Rose didn't know that Lissa was smitten with the place, the drool on her chin would have given it away.

"I have a question, what exactly was your relationship with Adrian?" Direct and to the point, that was the Rose Hathaway style. She wasn't going to beat around the bush anymore.

"Well, we didn't really know each other all that well. I told you how we had the same tutor here at court right?" Abby asked and Rose nodded. "He was always so nice but terribly shy. He hardly would talk to me at all. Ms. Berkovich was our only tutor that set up our sessions like a classroom. We usually met with our other tutors for one on one sessions but Ms. Berkovich actually had us all come in together. Adrian was assigned to be my lab partner. It was like an Animal Behavior class. Anyway, while we were lab partners, Adrian would hardly ever talk to me. He seemed to be popular with the other kids and always talked to them but anytime I showed up, he got really quiet and wouldn't talk to me or look at me. And I tried to talk to him away from class but he was always so shy, he would find reasons not to be around me. I have to admit though, even though he ignored me, I had a little crush on him. I always thought he was cute and seemed like a nice guy." Abby's cheeks reddened at her confession and she looked down at her feet, not wanting to meet Rose's gaze.

"Adrian was shy? Are you sure you are talking about Adrian Ivashkov? Great-nephew of the Queen Adrian Ivashkov?" Rose replied, wanting to make sure that they had the same guy. The Adrian she knew was never quiet or shy. She couldn't get him to shut up sometimes.

Abby nodded, "yeah, that's the one. It's weird though, I heard that he had a reputation before I moved to court of being a lady's man but he never came on to me, hardly spoke to me at all. I guess he just didn't like me that much." Abby's voice was a little sad. "Then he transferred to that school on the coast and I haven't seen him since."

"Oh no, I know he liked you, I just can't figure out why he wouldn't hit on you or try to get in your pants. The Adrian I know doesn't let anything stop him once he is on the trail of a pretty woman." Rose commented, her mind turning with this information. How could Adrian of all people be shy?

"This is the one, we will take it." Lissa seemed to snap out of her trance and look back to Rose and Abby. "Oh, Rose, I didn't even know you were back."

Rose laughed, she'd never seen Lissa completely lose it like that. This had to be THE house for them.

"Shouldn't you speak with Christian about it first?" Abby asked, pulled her attention away from Rose and back to Lissa and the sale.

"I'm pretty sure that we can't pull him out of the theater room for long enough to say yes so my decision is the one that counts. I love it. Where do we sign and when can we move in?" Lissa laughed, Christian still hadn't reappeared. Lissa knew that Christian loved the house as much if not more than her and certainly wouldn't object.

"I will have to have the offer drawn up and I will need a cashier's check for the down payment. Then we submit the bid to the sellers and if they accept we just have to wait till the close date to sign the final papers. Then everything is yours. The house has been on the market for a while so I think we can negotiate the price a little bit and I know the sellers are eager to get rid of the place since they moved out of the country just over two months ago. If we pick a fast close date, I don't see why we couldn't have you moved in within two weeks."

"Think we can rush it a bit and have it done by next week? I can't wait to get out of guest housing." Lissa replied, excitement threaded through her voice as she jumped up and down in the kitchen, eager to get the ball rolling.

"As long as they accept the offer, I don't see that it would be a problem. Why don't I go back to my office and get the offer together. I can meet you somewhere in about," Abby paused to look at her watch before looking back towards Lissa, "an hour and a half? You can sign the paperwork and I can fax the offer to the seller's realtor. Can you get a check from your bank?"

"That shouldn't be a problem." Lissa replied.

"Great. I will see you then. If all goes well then you just might have your answer tonight, tomorrow at the latest." Abby grinned at Lissa. She was always so excited by first time homebuyers. Their enthusiasm seemed to be contagious and Abby caught it every time, just like the flu when it came around.

"Let me go get Christian and we will go to the bank. I can't wait!" Lissa was so excited about this being her first home. It reminded her some of the home she had grown up in but much more modern. It definitely suited her and Christian. There were plenty of guest bedrooms as well so hopefully Rose would live there too, at least for a little while. The best of both worlds. Lissa grinned at Rose and Abby and ran towards the game room that she figured Christian would be enamored by.

The gears in Rose's mind were already spinning. If she could get Adrian to meet them before Abby showed up then she could see just how Adrian would act around her now. She didn't believe for a moment that Adrian could by shy, especially around a woman, but seeing is believing and that's just what she planned to do.

Knowing that Adrian was mostly likely going to be at his favorite place around this time of day, Rose asked Abby, "so what do you think about meeting at Joe's?"

"The bar?" Abby asked, perplexed as to why Rose would want to meet at the bar.

"Yep, I think it is the perfect place. They can sign the papers then we can have a celebratory drink." Rose smiled at Abby.

"Sounds like a plan." They had just agreed on the place when Lissa and Christian showed back up. Christian was grinning from ear to ear and Rose knew that he definitely agreed with Lissa decision to purchase this place.

"This place is perfect." Christian smiled as he walked up to the other two ladies, his right hand clutching Lissa's left.

"Well let's get going then." Abby said, showing them out. "I will drop you off at Court National and then head to my office. Can you guys make it to Joe's or should I pick up back up?"

"It's only a few blocks from the bank." Rose relied, "we can make it." Abby nodded and unlocked her car. Lissa and Christian needed no further direction and jumped into the back, still extremely happy and oblivious to the world around them.

"Alright." Abby smiled at the trio as she pulled up outside the bank. "I will meet you at Joe's."

Rose, Lissa, and Christian smiled at the realtor and got out of her vehicle. "Come on guys, let's hurry. We have to beat Abby down to Joe's"

"Why are we going to Joe's anyway?" Christian asked, "Adrian will probably be there and he was acting like a douche this morning."

"He is the exact reason we are going there Christian. But you can't mention anything about Abby meeting us to him or he will bolt. I wanna see what happens when they run into each other."

"Do they know each other?" Christian asked, still oblivious to what was going on with Abby and Adrian.

"Yes they know each other, were you not listening earlier or is your brain stuck in buy a house mode?" Lissa asked, giggling at her boyfriend. "Although I don't blame you. Come on," she pulled Christian's arm towards the correct office in the bank, "let's get that check so we can buy our new house."

Lissa literally had stars in her eyes and Rose was really happy for them. The house was amazing and she knew that she would have fun there too. Moving them in would definitely keep her mind off of Dimitri. She really wished he would be back soon.

After business was taken care of at the bank, Rose rushed Lissa and Christian the few blocks down the street towards Joe's. She was ecstatic when she saw Adrian's BMW sitting in front of it. She figured he would be here even though it was only 5 o'clock. They had about thirty more minutes before Abby would meet them.

"Remember what I said guys, absolutely no mention of Abby meeting us here. Just say that you found a house and we are celebrating but don't bring her up okay?" Rose reminded Lissa and Christian of what she was planning for about the fifth time on the short walk from the bank.

"We got it Rose, geez!" Christian shook his head, "you know, maybe you shouldn't be meddling in other people's business."

"You know, maybe you should keep your mouth shut before I put a boot in your ass." Rose replied in a sickly sweet voice as she gave Christian a saccharine smile.

Christian rolled his eyes, "I'm just saying that I think you are playing with fire and it isn't your element."

Rose narrowed her eyes at him and Christian put his hands up in defeat, "I had nothing to do with this. Don't come crying to me when it blows up in your face Rosie."

"And don't call me Rosie!" Rose hit him across the back of the head.

They had just reached the door and entered to find Adrian at the bar by himself. The poor guy looked a little defeated and you could tell he had had a drink or two.

Dimitri sighed in his seat. They had reached the airport in just enough time for him to be escorted through security and onto the plane. He still wasn't sure who his benefactor was that had gotten him on the flight but he was grateful. No one had met him at the airport and no names had been mentioned that he was aware of.

He was in first class, which was something new for Dimitri as he had never ridden on a commercial plane in the first class section. He had ridden on private jets that the Academy owned and on Ivan's private jet but something about riding with a bunch of humans made a commercial jet different. The lady on the next row had her teacup poodle, Baby, under her seat and she kept talking to him as though he were more than a dog. He was surprised she hadn't bought a seat for the tiny white mut since she was obviously enamored. He'd never seen anyone coo so much over an animal. The lady had practically pulled out her wallet before takeoff to show all the passengers pictures of her lovely little fur ball.

Some movie about vampires that sparkled in the sun was playing and Dimitri laughed at the ridiculous thought. He chose to ignore the movie and read his favorite Louis L'Amour novel, Frontier, that had been packed in his carry-on. He was glad his mother had remembered to stick that in there for him. No matter how many times he had read that book, it always excited him.

His flight was scheduled to land in Amsterdam in a little over an hour and he would be switching planes to a private jet that obviously belonged to whoever had gotten him on this excursion. Not wanting to speculate on just who that might be, Dimitri settled in and let himself be pulled into the old west, ignoring the lady talking to her dog as well as the old man beside him that was not only snoring but had a thin line of drool escaping the left side of his mouth.

An hour and a half later, Dimitri was finally able to got off the plane he had been on since Novosibirsk. The pilot had held all passengers on the plane until the teacup poodle was securely back in his crate. His owner had snuck the dog out when the flight attendants weren't looking and he had been sniffing up and down one of the isles. The dog had gotten a little too close to Dimitri and as animals did not like dhampirs, he had gone crazy. They finally found the little guy hiding behind the first aid kit in one of the cabinets in the flight attendants quarters. How he had gotten into the room without them noticing and opened the cabinet to hide will always be a mystery.

Dimitri laughed a little at the face the women had given him when they were getting off. It was like she knew he was different but wasn't quite sure how. A tall dhampir man was waiting at the gate to show Dimitri the way to the private part of the airport.

He was escorted onto the tarmac and still didn't recognize anyone that had helped him. No one spoke to him at all; they just knew who he was. It looked as though the entire staff were dhampirs which was not surprising seeing as most of them had been working in the hot sun.

A small dhampir woman who obviously was not a guardian showed him to the plane while the other man took his bags around to what Dimitri assumed as the luggage compartment.

The woman, Mary if her nametag was correct, showed Dimitri up the stairs and into a cool airplane cabin. The air conditioned room was a nice change even though Dimitri loved being out in the sun.

Dimitri looked towards the back of the plane where he could just make out a mass of red curls over the back of one of the seats. The color was one he would recognize almost anywhere.

Just like that, it clicked. He felt kind of dumb for not figuring out what was going on sooner but right now he didn't care, he just wanted to get back home to his Roza. He took a deep breath and headed towards the back of the plane.

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