Chapter 10

I spent the night on the couch, skillfully avoiding Adrian until I was ready to explain. We packed, in silence. Today was our last day, and we were leaving in ten minutes. I finished and walked over to put my bags in the hallway. I'd talk to him on the plane.

"Lissa I can't do it." I confessed a minute later, in front of the hotel.

"Oh you'll do fine." She assured me, and she pulled me towards a limo pulling up.

We got into the limo, and Christian, Dimitri, and Tasha followed. Adrian came a few minutes later, sitting opposite from me.

The ride was short, and silent. We got to the airport later, and were boarding our plane quickly. I made sure to be last to get on so I could sit in the empty seat next to Adrian.

He looked at me, then looked away. When I saw him sneak another look at me, I pointed at my head, then lay my head back on the seat and tried to fall asleep.

"Adrian?" He appeared, and we were in the same garden we always were. "Adrian let me explain."

"You don't have to." He said bitterly. "The worst thing you possibly could have done was leave me then."

"Adrian. Let me explain."

"Why?" He interrupted

"It wasn't me. Well it was. I was just confused about what happened, and Lissa sent all of her darkness into me, and I just had to do something. I couldn't handle it. I couldn't stay." I told him.

"What?"

"Lissa sends the darkness to me, through the bond. She's only done it three times, so I'm still getting used to it." I explained.

He just stared. "Adrian, Adrian please."

A single tear, a small tear, but one nonetheless, fell down my cheek. "Please?"

He crossed over to sit next to me on the ground, pulling his arms around my waist. "I've never seen you cry." His green eyes glinted in the sunlight I'd never seen him in in real life.

"I don't, usually." The tear hadn't been followed by only ne other, and Adrian took the opportunity to kiss it off my cheek.

"Its alright. Don't cry." I buried my face in his chest. Rose Hathaway does not cry over a guy. But this statement had been proven wrong when Dimitri had left me.

Then I knew. I knew what was happening, how I felt about him. All I could feel, all I could feel was love.

"Rose." He said about ten minutes later, kissing my hair. "What do you want to do now?"

One thing came to my mind. "Go swimming." He stood up, and pulled me with him. "Suit me up." I said, and he touched my shoulder, and my jeans and tank top turned into a maroon nikini he'd once complemented me in. His own clothes changed into a pair of dark blue swim trunks. He picked me up bridal style, and walked the few steps to the small house that held the pool. He threw me into the pool, and I felt myself sink in the hot water.

Adrian cannon-balled in after me, sending a huge wave into my face. He was near me now, and he was tall enough that he could touch the bottom of the pool. He wrapped his arms around my waist, and pulled me closer to him so I could feel his chiseled chest against my stomach. "Why do you have to be so damn sexy?"

"Why do you have to be so pushy?"

And then he kissed me. It was all that I had missed the past two days, and all that I had wanted. He slowly walked forward into the shallower part of the pool, to where I could touch the bottom of the pool too, and against the edge of the pool, where he pressed his body against mine, no space left between us. Placing my hands on the sides of the pool, I pushed myself up so I was sitting on the edge of the pool, and I was now taller than he was. Winding my hands into his hair, I knew it. I never wanted this to end.

* * *

Adrian and I had soon resorted to Marco Polo. "Marco?" I called, turning in the pool.

"Polo, you're way off." He informed me. I turned to where his voice was, and started waling forward, "Adrian!" I groaned. "Where the hell are you?"

I suddenly felt someone slap my butt. Spinning around, I tried to catch him before he could move. Nope. This was his dream, and his voice was suddenly further away. "Can you teleport in these dreams?"

"Technically… yes. But I've only tried a couple of times."

"Were those times during this game?"

"Maybe." There was a splash, and I darted out to where it was, grabbing his arm.

I pulled him close, murmuring, "I win." against his lips.

"Fine. But I want a rematch."

"Rose Hathaway doesn't play rematches." I said to him.

"But Adrian Ivashkov does." He replied, and closed his eyes.