Chapter 14

Rose's Point of View

I dragged myself out of bed as the sun started to set. Lissa eventually fell asleep and was snoring lightly. I shuffled quietly around Eddie's room and took a quick shower. 2 hours until my confrontation with Dimitri. My heart pounded wildly at the prospect of seeing him and I suddenly felt nausea consume me again. Damn Lissa and her hormones, I silently cursed as I swallowed deeply. Now my Strigoi-meter would be less accurate because of her pregnancy. I applied some make up onto my eyes, trying to conceal the dark circles that were forming below them. Satisfied with them, I decided to make my way downstairs to see what Adrian has in his fridge for breakfast, not that I would be able to eat any of it. He didn't have anything good, so I decided to take a walk to the nearest café.

I sat quietly in a corner with my coffee as I observed Guardians changing shift – this was usually a busy time in the café; shift workers ending their shift and grabbing a quick bite before retiring to bed, and early risers starting their shift, grabbing an espresso to kick start their day. I managed to remain rather inconspicuous in my corner. It was rather out of character for me, but I wasn't up to chit chatting. I looked at my watch; half an hour to go. I gripped my coffee cup tightly, downed the last of my latte and started to make my way towards the park. It was a Sunday evening; there wouldn't be anyone there, which was why Lissa chose it as a place for Dimitri and I to meet – it was on neutral ground, and we would have some privacy.

Dimitri was already there waiting; I saw his back turned towards me as I approached the park bench. He was pacing. My heart ached – was it only two days ago that he held me in his arms and told me he loved me? It seemed like forever. As if sensing my presence, he turned around. Our eyes met and immediately, I felt myself long for him to wrap his arms around me, to tell me that everything was okay. I saw his face soften and convinced myself that he must be feeling the same way. Maybe we could work through this.

'Roza…' he started towards me. My phone beeped at that time and I glanced down at it. It was a text message from an unfamiliar number.

I flipped it open and waited for it to load. 'Rose,' Dimitri was standing in front of me now. I glanced up at him and caught a whiff of his shampoo and aftershave. It was an intoxicating mix. 'I can explain,' he said, his eyes begging for forgiveness. I stayed silent. My phone was taking a long time to load.

'It's not what you thought,' Dimitri insisted, 'I was…'

But I cut him off halfway, gasping loudly at what turned up on my phone. It was a picture message – it read: thought you might be interested. And underneath it was a picture of Katrina straddling Dimitri's near naked body. Dimitri must have glanced down at my phone because he started gripping my shoulders and saying, 'No, it's not like that,'

I shook my head in disbelief. My mind was swirling and I felt like I was going to faint. I couldn't believe I was naïve enough to think we had a chance at working it out. I shook his hands off me, avoiding his eyes. 'How could you…' my voice was staggered, barely recognizable.

'Rose you have to believe me, I didn't do it,' he begged.

I laughed bitterly and threw my phone at him, 'you have a twin brother I don't know of now?'

'Roza, please…'

'I'm sorry. I can't do this anymore,' I said, backing away from him. My heart was in pieces and I was barely able to keep myself from falling apart in front of him.

'No, you have to listen to me…'

'No, it's over. I'll never be able to trust you again,'

'Don't say that…' did I see tears creep out of his eyes? I was silently astonished; Dimitri never cried; but it was too late for tears, too late for apologies.

'I'm sorry…' I said softly, 'It's over,'

And like that, I felt my world end.

I remained somewhat catatonic that day, moving around Eddie's room like a zombie. Lissa tried repeatedly to call me but all I did was text her back to let her know I was okay, not giving away anything. I avoided our house like a plague, dreading that I would run into Dimitri. I knew I would have to go back some time; I needed to find another place to stay. I couldn't live in Eddie's room forever. My mind whirled with all the possible things I had to do. How was I going to continue guarding Lissa without facing Dimitri? I would have to clean out my room, and throw everything that belonged to Dimitri out. I'd have to do the laundry because his scent would have lingered on my sheets. I sobbed into Eddie's pillows as I thought about Dimitri.

I turned on the radio, hoping that there would be a happy song that would cheer me up but instead, all I got was Taylor Swift's Teardrops on my Guitar. Great, I thought miserably as she crooned about crying over a guy. I felt myself slowly choke up again. I thought I had finished crying, but as the tears rolled off my cheeks, I realized that the tears for Dimitri would keep coming.

I wondered what he was doing now but stopped myself before I could spiral into a darker hole than I could dig myself out of. I turned the radio off as an idea hit me. Nothing heals a broken heart faster than a rebound; Adrian would know of good places where I could get some hot Dhampir or Human to take my mind off everything. I decided to sneak back into my house to have a shower, freshen up and change into a killer outfit. Thankfully, Dimitri was nowhere to be found; but as I predicted before, my room was filled with reminders of him. Shoving thoughts of him to the back of my mind, I toweled my hair dry and pulled on my most figure hugging top and my shortest skirt. I paired them with killer heels that made my legs look like they went on forever. I tousled my hair in a way that made me look like I had just gotten out of bed and loaded some mascara onto my eyelashes.

'Adrian, are you free tonight?' I rang him and he picked up on the first ring.

'Always,'

'It's over; I want to party,'

'What?' he said incredulously.

'I'll be at yours in 2 minutes,' I said promptly and hung up, not giving him a chance to protest. I strode out of my room and towards Adrian's house. I caught a few wolf whistlers on the sidewalk as I exited the front gate of my house. I knew the boys were checking me out so I decided to single one out and wink at him – he didn't know what hit him. I bumped into Dimitri around the corner and for a split second, something in me went cold but I quickly composed myself and gave him my brightest smile.

'Where are you going?' he demanded, clearly disapproving of my attire.

'I don't think it's any of your business anymore,' I said bitterly as I walked away from him. His eyes bore into my back as I entered Adrian's front gate, trying to look as calm as possible. I was sweating profusely, anxious about what he would do; a part of me willed him to come after me, to declare his love for me; the other part of me wanted to get away from him as quickly as possible. He didn't come after me, and I didn't know whether to rejoice or despair at that. My life was turning into one big oxymora.

Adrian's eyes widened with surprise when he saw what I was wearing. 'Is what you're wearing even legal?' he asked, unable to tear his eyes away from me. I grinned at him, 'You like it,'

He frowned at me, 'Of course I do, but that doesn't mean you should be wearing it,'

'Live a little,' I flashed him my sexiest smile. It caught him off guard but he didn't say anything about it, merely smiled at my charms.

'Come on, I want to celebrate my new found freedom. Where's the nearest watering hole?'

Adrian and I set off to a nearby bar that was frequented by humans. I wanted a place where I wouldn't be recognized because I was planning on getting wasted. I ordered two bottles of Vodka and Adrian raised his eyebrows silently at me. 'Here,' I showed him the picture of Katrina and Dimitri that was on my phone as I downed a shot of Vodka. I felt the alcohol burn my throat as I gulped it down but welcomed the giddy numbness that followed soon after.

'The bastard,' Adrian swore, angrily, 'I'm surprised you didn't kill him,'

'He's not worth it,' I shrugged, downing another shot of Vodka. It was my fifth shot by now and my inhibitions were starting to break down. It was Sunday and so it was rather quiet at the bar, with only a few people in dark corners.

'I'll kill him for you,' Adrian offered gallantly.

I smiled at him, 'Thanks for being the sweetest,'

'Anytime,' he smiled back, tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear. It was a gesture I always associated with Dimitri. I felt tears start to well up again but I pushed them away.

'Do you know Lissa's pregnant?' I said, desperately trying to distract myself away from thinking about Dimitri. Adrian's mouth fell open, 'Oh that is just too weird,'

I laughed, 'You should be happy for her!'

He laughed guiltily, 'I am. Wow, that's massive news! I'm very happy for her and Christian but… Wow!'

'I know! It's amazing, as if she doesn't have enough on her shoulders already!'

He shook his head, 'She's going to have to give up something – she can't be a Spirit user, politician and full time mother all at the same time,'

'She's brilliant; she'll figure it out,' I said, immediately defending Lissa. She was the most capable person I knew.

'Of course she's brilliant, I never doubted that,' Adrian defended himself, 'But it's hard being good at everything,'

I nodded, 'She has all of us; she'll manage,'

'Yes,' Adrian agreed, 'she does have all of us,'

'Just like you have all of us too… Especially me,' he added softly, looking at me tenderly, 'I hate seeing him hurt you like this,' I stared into his deep green eyes and took in his handsome features. He was staring back at me too, and I wondered how long ago it was when I had actually properly looked at him. Whilst Dimitri was darkly seductive, Adrian was handsome in a cheekier way. Maybe it was the alcohol, maybe it was my broken heart, but before I knew it, I leaned in and kissed him lightly on his lips. I felt him stiffen but I persisted.

Not long after, I felt his resolve dissolve and he kissed me back. Suddenly he pulled back, 'This is wrong,'

'Which is exactly the way you like it,' I whispered seductively through my alcohol fuelled haze. I had finished a bottle of Vodka by now and was barely thinking straight. I pulled him towards me and crushed my lips against his. The rest of the night went in a blur – I remembered kissing him, I remembered his arms around me, I remembered us laughing and finishing up another bottle of Vodka before deciding to stumble back to Court; well, I stumbled, Adrian made sure I didn't fall over myself. The last thing I remembered was falling into Adrian's bed with his arms around me.

I woke up to the biggest hangover ever. I leaped out of bed and swayed a little, heading towards the bathroom and immediately retched into the toilet bowl. I must have drunk a whole keg of beer or something. After vomiting my guts out, I went to rinse my mouth in the sink and that was when I saw that I was dressed only in Adrian's t-shirt. I blinked at my reflection in disbelief. Oh. My. God. What happened last night? I screamed mentally at myself.

I walked downstairs to see Adrian was sitting at the breakfast table reading a newspaper. When he saw me, he asked, 'feeling better?'

'Adrian…' I stammered, 'What happened last night? Where are my clothes?'

He grinned at me, 'you were pretty hot and heavy last night; feeling a little frisky huh?'

I felt the color drain from my face.

'What's wrong? You seemed to demand it last night,' he grinned at me. He was half naked himself, looking like he just had the time of his life. Thankfully, Eddie was over at Mia's and did not have to witness my fall from grace. David tactfully removed himself from the kitchen when he saw me.

'I was drunk!' I spat at Adrian, once David left the room, 'You took advantage of me!'

'Hey, you seemed pretty willing babe,' he laughed, putting down his newspaper, 'By the way; you threw up on your clothes so I had to change you and all I had were my clothes. Maybe you can start leaving some of your clothes at mine; maybe we should think about moving in together now that you and Russian dude are ka-poot,'

I narrowed my eyes murderously at him and at the same time blushed furiously. I couldn't believe I had slept with him; I couldn't believe he actually did it whilst I was drunk off my face. I could hardly remember anything that happened. I reached out for my phone and saw 10 missed calls from Dimitri. Ignoring them, I punched in Lissa's number.

'Where have you been?' she demanded as she picked up after the first ring, 'You're supposed to be at St. Basile's. We've been looking for you all morning!'

'I'll explain later; I need you to go to my room and pick up some clothes for me and bring them to Adrian's room,'

'What? What the hell are you doing there?'

'I'll explain later; hurry!'

Adrian chuckled as I hung up the phone on her, 'Look babe, don't worry, I'm sure they'll grant you sick leave,'

'How much did I drink?' I asked, groaning as I sank into a kitchen chair, ashamed and embarrassed of what had happened.

'Two liters of Vodka,' he said matter-of-factly.

I groaned and held my head in my hands, 'I shouldn't have had that much,'

'That is true,' Adrian said sagely and I shot him a nasty look. I didn't know whether to be angrier at him, at myself or at Dimitri. I felt like I was about to burst from all the emotions raging within me. An urgent knock on the door signified Lissa's arrival. I jumped up and opened the door for her, grabbing my clothes from her and rushing to the nearest bathroom to change before she had a chance to ask me anything. I could vaguely hear her grill Adrian for the details so by the time I emerged she was standing with her hands on her hips, fuming at me.

'I know, I know, I'm not proud of it,' I said dejectedly.

'I was so worried about you when you weren't in your room this morning! And when you and Adrian both didn't turn up, I didn't know what to think,' she started, 'And Dimitri…'

I stopped her, 'I don't want to talk about him,'

'It's over? Just like that?' her voice was rising hysterically, 'Did you even give him a chance to explain?'

'Don't give me that Liss, what would you do if you found Christian being straddled by some naked girl whom he apparently met one night?'

She winced, 'It could've been a misunderstanding,'

I shoved my phone towards her. She blinked disbelieving at it and slowly said, 'Well… You still don't know it's entirely real,'

'Stop defending him Lissa! He cheated, it's over,' and with that, I stormed out of Adrian's house, only to bump into Dimitri skulking around the corner.

His beautiful brown eyes were filled with pain and accusation. 'Didn't take you long to get over things,' he said angrily.

'You didn't even wait until it was over!' I yelled, storming off to my room, my head throbbing from the alcohol receding from my body and from the drama that was spinning out of control around me. How dare he judge me, I thought angrily as I slammed the door to my room shut, feeling ashamed and embarrassed, not only with my one night stand, but for using Adrian as a rebound. I had embarked on a mission to find an anonymous rebound but ended up with Adrian instead. My love life was just about to get even more complicated, as if it wasn't complicated enough.