Chapter 9

Adrian's POV:

She slowly unbuttoned my shirt, still moving her hips with mine. I love you. I love you. All I wanted, but couldn't say. Her aura was pink, tinged with red. The colors for passion, lust, and love.

Pulling it off, she kissed me again, and I moved forward on the couch. She wrapped her legs around my waist, her arms wrapped around my neck to support herself. I stood up, and went to the bedroom, her clinging to me, closing the door behind me. If anything happened, it would not be on the living room couch.

She meant more to me than that. She meant the world to me, and just to have her here, even if we weren't doing what we were doing, I would be content. I would be content just to hold her hand in public. For a moment, I thought about our plan, and the dare. She couldn't be doing this for those things; she wouldn't do that to me. She knew it would pain me too much to do this and see her walk away. It would be crushing. I sat lay her out on the bed, and I kneeled over her. She wouldn't have that, and she got to eye level with me, kissing me so passionately I almost wouldn't care if this were because of the plan. It's not. She wants this. I told myself. Running her hands down my arms, she pulled my shirt off me, and I pushed her onto her back, kissing her again.

* * *

Rose's POV:

I woke up in Adrian's arms, with a god-awful hangover. I just sat there for a minute, not wanting to move, until I realized I wasn't wearing a shirt, and neither was he. The events of the night came flooding back to me. "Adrian!" I shook him, and his eyelids slowly opened.

"Hey."

"What the hell did we do last night?"

"You don't remember?"

"Oh I remember!" He grinned, getting up and kissing me again, pushing me down on the bed again. I responded for a minute, but something seized me. "Oh god. I'm just. Ugh." I stood up, completely confused about what had happened the night before. All I knew was I needed to let this out, all of this emotion. I ran out the door, grabbing my shirt off the floor and pulling it on my way out. I remember hearing Adrian call out for me, but I didn't care right now. All I cared about was punching something before I punched someone in the face.

I got to the gym, and found a few punching bags for boxing. Setting them up in the practice room, I started punching and kicking them, not even bothering to find my gloves.

Why did I get myself in that situation? I asked myself. Punch. Because I'm Rose Hathaway. Kick. And I do stupid stuff like that. Punch.

Did I love Adrian? Kick. Kick. Punch. Did he love me? Kick. He claimed to. But did he really just want to get me in bed?

"Rose?" Someone called behind me. I turned, Lissa. She was staring at me, like I was a stranger. Her eyes flicked to my knuckles, bloody from the force of my punches. I hadn't realized. "Are you alright?" Her voice was concerned.

I turned away from her, starting up my punching again. But her hands were on my shoulders then, and I felt the cuts heal on my hands, and my mood lighten. "Its my fault." She told me softly. "The darkness." She clarified. I turned toward her.

"What?"

"I sent you the darkness. I-I'm sorry." I looked down to see she hadn't done anything to herself. "It got to be too much, and I just couldn't handle it." She paused. "Christian was worried, and he told me give it too you." Wow. Thanks Christian.

"God Lissa." I sighed. "But that's good. Do it when you get too overwhelmed. I don't want you doing anything."

"But I feel so bad letting it all out into you." She said, slumping to the ground, wrapping her arms around her knees.

"Don't." I went back to my punching. "I have ways of dealing with it." I all made sense now. Normally, I wouldn't have gotten so angry with Adrian. And I wouldn't have run out on him like that. I looked back to her, and saw a tear roll down her cheek.

"I can't keep doing this to you." She said, her voice wavering. "Why did this have to happen to me?"

I sat next to her, and moved her face so she was looking at me. I held out my hand, just dried blood now. "You see that? That right there?" I said, pointing to the places where the wounds had been. "That is a gift. And I'm here, alive. That's a gift too. The gifts make it worth it for me. So don't worry about it. I'm here, and we'll handle this together. It's a balance, but we can make it work."

I really wanted to end it now. I'm sorry it's a good two hundred words short, but I can get to the next chapter soon!