A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for the late update. I had this chapter all typed up about a week ago, but somehow it managed to delete itself. And I had to retype the whole thing up...which was very annoying. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not, in any way, profit from this story and all creative rights to the characters belong to Richelle Mead.
The original content, ideas and intellectual property of this story are owned by Ms. Belikov. Please do not copy, reproduce, or translate without express written permission.
PREVIOUSLY ON SAVING ME...
"Tell me you love me!" He said in that bone-chilling, distorted voice. "Tell me I'm the one you want! Say it!"
"Fuck. You." I spat in his face.
The sinister look in his eyes made me recoil. The man stepped forward, slid his hands up my neck, capturing my jaw in his palms. "You never learn, do you?" He pushed his mask halfway up his face, and before I could get a good look, he bared his teeth and shot to my neck, biting my flesh.
The pain stole my breath away.
My last thought before I blacked out was: God, somebody please help me.
But nobody ever did. The days turned into weeks and the weeks turned into months. I'd lost hope of my parents finding me or the police still searching for me. The case had gone cold, I knew it. The kidnapper was clever and cunning in his ways, they'd never catch him, and no one would ever save me. I could only hope to die soon and quickly, that way this hell would be over.
The only person who came for me was my kidnapper, and all he did was torment me.
I was alone. No one there to rescue me. So I accepted the hurt and dealt with it, because it was all I had.
RPOV:
"Again!"
"Screw you," My feet slowed down, muscles in my legs screaming at me. "I'm done."
"You still have another mile."
"I'm. Done. Asshole." Painfully slow, I limped my way over to the water fountain and drank my weight in liquid.
"Bet you wished you stretched out better." Dimitri's tone was bored as he flipped yet another page of his battered western novel.
"Does it please you to see me in pain?" I asked, wiping the sweat from my forehead with the inside of my shirt.
"When you don't listen to what I advise you to do? Yes. Yes, it does. But at least you'll learn a lesson out of it. Your body is going to feel even worse than it does now in the morning. Just wait and see."
"You sick son of a b-"
"Ready to spar?" Dimitri's smile was a devilish one, full of anticipation. One that turned me on like there was no tomorrow. He climbed to his feet.
"You got it, big boy." I followed him over to the blue mats. When he resumed a fighting stance, I mimicked the movement, lowering in to a crouch.
Without warning, the God reincarnate launched forward and delivered a blow to my ribs.
"What the fuck?" I choked on air, clutching my throbbing side. Gratefully, the otherworldly pain subsided to a buzzing numb feeling. "That was a sucker punch, you wuss. Fight me like a man."
Dimitri's mouth roared with a full-out belly laugh, which combined with the hurt I'd just experienced, pissed me off like hell. "Correction, that was an unexpected hit. Works like a charm on your enemy, doesn't it? Try it some time."
I came at him at a dead run, using all of my weight and strength to plow in to his body—
I got knocked down, my ass hitting the padding with a thump. As I shuffled to my feet, cursing and rubbing the sore spot on my bottom, I was struck with the thought that I hadn't seen him move an inch when I'd charged him. "How'd you take me down?"
"Not me." His dark-pink, full lips twitched in to a small smile. Those bottomless eyes trailed down my body, over the private gym floor, and up a punching bag.
"Oh, my God," I V8'd my forehead. "A freeking punching bag took me out?"
"You weren't paying attention."
"Yeah, you think," I scoffed. "I was too busy trying to take you out."
"Stupid move on your part."
Two fingers jammed into my solar plexus, right over my breast bone.
I bit my lip, not willing to give him the satisfaction of showing him that had really stung. "If you wanted…" I grunted, "…to touch my boobs…you could have just asked. Don't be so secretive."
His leg sailed through the air and connected with my shoulder, jerking my body to the left, causing me to stumble and nearly loose my footing.
"Stop doing that."
Another hit.
"Doing what?"
Another hit.
"Stop!"
Another hit.
"Hmm?"
Another hit.
By this time, my whole body felt like the punching bag that had knocked me down. My skin was covered in red spots and welts and forming black and blue bruises. As for the pain? Horrendous. Nearly unbearable.
But I was a fighter, not a quitter.
"Stop hitting me!"
"Make me."
Driven by some inner rage and hidden turmoil and buried secrets of my past, I hissed like a cobra and advanced on Dimitri, hopping on his back and taking him down to the floor from behind.
My mentor must have been surprised my by my attack, because otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to lay a finger on him. He was lethal in fighting, obviously having been trained by the best of the best his entire life. The military, as he'd told me, had shaped him up to be the man he was—the tough heart, hard exterior, and incredibly stubborn mind.
Rolling him over and straddling him and clamping a hand over his thick throat was about as hard as picking answers about him out of his private and guarded brain and heart, but I did it. And I was exceedingly successful.
One after another, fists and elbows and knees and legs flew, and as the strikes were thrown, I was dimly aware that I was in control…because I was the one who was doing all the hitting.
A powerful rush poured throughout my body, sparks igniting in my chest, triumph singing in my veins.
I ran the town.
The man in the masquerade mask didn't.
I was my own person.
He no longer owned me.
I was free of those chains and the torture and the sick love my captor had professed to me time and time again and the hours he'd beat me after I wouldn't repeat those three words back to him when he so desperately needed to hear them.
Suddenly, my past sucked back to me. So overwhelming that I was unable to differ it from the present and reality…and Dimitri.
All I knew was that my target was in front of me.
And I had to destroy it.
That little revelation had me hitting even harder than be for, throwing all of my weight into the strikes I was inflicting on the person beneath me. I gave it all I had, losing myself in the fight.
And got it right back.
Suddenly, I was flipped over and thrown on my back. A nanosecond later, a tremendous weight was slapped on me, pushing the breath from my lungs, immobilizing me.
"Get away from me!" I bared my teeth, growling.
"Easy there, girl." That voice was oddly familiar.
It wasn't distorted by an electronic device.
Somehow that calmed me, but still, I wasn't prepared to let my guard down.
When I opened my eyes, my vision was blurry, and all I saw was red from my rage.
Instinct had me lifting my head off the floor.
Fear had me smashing it against my opponent's nose and mouth.
There was a loud curse in a language I didn't understand, then something hard grabbed my chin and squeezed my features together. "Roza, listen to me." Heavy breath. "Everything is all right. You're with me. You're safe…now let me see you open those familiar, warm, beautiful brown eyes."
Slowly, no longer afraid, I peeled open my lids and blinked. "Dimitri?"
"Hi." He smiled, releasing his grip on my face and brushing his long fingers down my cheek, light as a feather. "Thank God, you're back. Was worried there for a second."
I blinked fiercely, everything around me turning blurry, but not from the panic attack I'd had.
That's when I felt the wetness on my throat and chest. I brushed my skin, then lifted my fingertips to the fluorescent lighting above. They were covered in deep crimson liquid.
My head snapped up and I stared at Dimitri.
It was his blood. The lower half of his face and neck were covered in it, dripping off and landing on me. But I didn't care in the slightest. The only thing that mattered was making sure he was okay.
"Oh, God," I studied the forming black eyes, the swollenness of his narrow nose. "I broke it…I'm so sorry."
"It's fine," he said gruffly, snapping to his feet.
"The hell it's not," I said as he grabbed my hand and hauled me up. "I hurt you."
Dimitri shrugged. "I've had worse done to me."
"I'm so sorry." Was all I said, because it was the only thing I could.
His smile was surprising, and even though there was blood running in to his perfect white teeth, he was incredibly beautiful to me. "That was a mean head but you gave me. Wasn't expecting it. You pack some power behind your hits."
I beamed. "Really?"
"Yes. And before that? It was hard to hold you down. You're as strong as you look. And I'm not just talking about the outside of you."
His words warmed me more than a day out in the blistering sun would, and I felt a thousand feet tall in his presence. "Only because you make me that way."
The instant those words left my mouth, I wanted to suck them back in like a vacuum cleaner. Dimitri stared at me, his dark eyes flashing with surprise and something else I couldn't put my finger on.
"You could not be more wrong about that," he finally said. "You are so much stronger than I am."
I gaped, giving him the are-you-crazy look. "Um, not to be rude or anything, but have you seen yourself in the mirror? Your shoulders and chest are huge…twice the size of the average man. And your stomach is incredible…I wish mine were that hard and flat. And your legs? They look so powerful, all muscle, not an ounce of fat."
God, what the hell was I saying? Someone needed to tattoo IDIOT into my forehead, in big, black, bold letters.
Something odd passed over his battered face. "You are perfect just the way you are. And you want to know why you're twice as strong as I am?"
When I nodded, he continued, "Because of what you've been through. What you've survived. If I'd gone through half of the things you have endured in your life, I know that I wouldn't have come out of the situation as great as you are.
"I may have spent my whole life in the military, and gone through some of the hardest things I've ever done in my time there, but…it's nothing compared to you. You are the strongest woman I have met. And it's an honor to be protecting you."
I lifted my eyes to meet his solid stare. "Really? You believe that?"
Dimitri lifted a closed fist, pressed it over the left side of his chest. "With all my heart."
It wasn't that his gaze made me uncomfortable, it was just too intense. And I didn't feel worthy of his honesty, so I averted my eyes to the floor and cleared my throat. "Thanks. So, yeah, um, we should get you cleaned up."
Dimitri touched his face, as if just remembering the pain and blood again. "Right. Let's go."
When he headed for the doors, I said, "Wait. The bathrooms are that way."
"We're going home," he said. I felt a tinge of satisfaction at him having called my apartment home. "Safer there. If I had to, I could secure the area…but frankly, I think I'd scare the customers away looking like this."
"Let me at least get you a towel," I headed for the supply closet in the back of the private gym Dimitri had rented us, having deemed the public one, "too risky." According to him, being alone in here was much safer and easier for him to protect me
An opportunity to be in a closed pace alone with him? I didn't complain. Not at all.
"You afraid I might get blood on the seats and floor of your car?" Dimitri teased, winking.
I handed him the towel. "Her name is Honda. And no."
"No?" The God reincarnate mopped up the mess on his face, wincing only as he passed the cloth over his swollen nose.
"Nope. Dad's got blood remover in the trunk of his Bentley. A shovel and a metal bat, too. By the way, remember that next time you decide to be nasty with me."
He gave a throaty chuckle, then flinched.
My brows came down in concern. "We should really go to the hospital and get that checked out."
"Trained as a paramedic. I'll be fine." Dimitri gripped his nose, and twisted.
The sickening cracks made me nauseous as he broke his nose again, rearranging it back to the shape it was.
"There," he took a deep breath. "All better. Now, let's go home. We'll cook something to eat. You look hungry."
"Sit." I ordered, pushing down on thick shoulders.
"Whatever." Dimitri replied gruffly, parking it on the porcelain toilet seat. "Did this room just get ten times smaller? I feel as if I'm suffocating." he tugged on the collar of his T-shirt.
"You're such a baby," I rolled my eyes. "Now be still. Silence is golden."
Surprisingly, he listened to me as I grabbed a few fresh washcloths out from under the sink and dowsed them in warm water.
"This is going to sting like a bitch," I warned, bringing my hand up.
"Don't worry about being gentle with me," he squeezed his lids shut. "I can handle it."
"Good. I didn't peg you as a pansy." As I cleaned his face, there was no ignoring the static buzz in the bathroom...the one that had my body flushing with heat and kicking up my heartbeat until it was racing in my chest.
"You're touching me," Dimitri's voice was all gravel. "And…you're not having an attack."
The events that happened in the private gym swam in my head. And I thought, well, I'd been touching him all over then, hadn't I. But this was different. I wasn't in some kind of living-in-the-past, psychotic rage. I was just me.
And I was defiantly touching him now.
"You don't scare me," I scrubbed the dried blood of the edges of his perfect mouth, then wet the washcloth under the stream of water and wrung the towel out. "For some reason, when I touch you, I just feel…normal. It's hard to explain."
"I understand completely well."
"Hmmm," I murmured, dragging the cloth along the hard angles of his jaw. "Do you."
"Would you tell me about your nightmares?"
I was so thrown off by his out of the blue question that I lost rhythm, slipped, and poked him in the eye.
As he winced and blinked like crazy, water welling up, I threw the washcloth down and gripped his shoulder. "Shit. Are you okay? I'm so sorry."
"I'd feel better if you quit digging your nails into my skin..."
Immediately, I snatched my arm back and cursed.
Dimitri chuckled. "You don't want to answer my question, do you?"
"It's not that…it's just, I don't know. No one's ever asked me about it—well, no one except the shrinks. But I didn't want to talk with them about it."
"Do you want to talk with me about it? Because I'd love to listen."
As I hesitated, the God reincarnate slipped what I liked to call his "bodyguard" mask on, voiding his face of all emotions. "I understand that it's private. Wrong of me to ask. I apologize."
He made a move to get up, but I not so gently shoved him back down on the closed toilet seat. "Don't go." It was more of a command than a request, but I didn't care. I wanted him to stay.
Dimitri relaxed. "Look, you don't have to. I don't want to make you uncomfortable—"
"I do want to talk about it with you, but I'm afraid of what you might think of me afterwards." God, if he turned out to be as disgusted with me as I was with myself, I didn't know if I could deal.
"You're worried that I would judge you?"
Slowly, reluctantly, I nodded.
"Although I may have met you just recently and I don't know a whole lot about you, Rose, what I do know is that nothing, absolutely nothing in this world could make me think less of you."
My heart exploded with happiness, and I had the absurd urge to burst in tears. "Thank you…" My voice cracked. I cleared my throat harshly, trying my best to keep it together. "No one has ever talked to me the way you have."
"And no one has ever taken care of me the way you have, so gentle and kind." Dimitri got to his feet. "So let me be the one to help you…for what it's worth."
He gestured to the toilet seat. "Sit. Please."
I did.
After grabbing a fresh, wet washcloth, he brought it to my throat and gently slid it down my skin, cleaning off his dried blood. The water was warm dripping down my neck, its color a rusty pink.
"I apologize for getting this all over you," Dimitri murmured, eyes fixated on his job. The strokes of the cloth were barely there, and the way he moved the washcloth against me held the grace and concentration of a painter creating a masterpiece with a blank canvas.
"It's all good," I laughed. "And I'm sorry, for you know, breaking your nose and giving you two black eyes."
"It's all good," Dimitri repeated my words, smiling. "I guess we're even now."
"Mmm-hmm."
I decided in that moment that I would tell him everything about the time I was kidnapped. Just not tonight. Tonight was not the right time.
After the towels were disposed of in the garbage after a promise of buying me two new packages of them, Dimitri went into the kitchen to fire up the stove and I followed him.
"I thought we might start with something easy tonight," he said.
"Hmmm?"
"Cooking. I'm going to teach you how to put the kitchen to proper use without burning it down to the ground."
Oh, I knew more than one way to put the kitchen to proper use, I thought, but it involved a whole lot of no clothing and honey on Dimitri's naked skin and me licking it off like a starving bear in the forest—
"You okay?" he asked, staring at me strangely.
"Yeah," Blushing from head to toe, I forced myself to go stand by him. I felt ashamed, like I was intruding on something private for thinking such dirty thoughts about him—
What the hell. Why was I lying to myself? I wanted Dimitri. So badly sometimes that my body ached for him. God, what I wouldn't do for a night under the sheets with him, the two of us in a passionate and wild tango match. And then afterwards? We'd cuddle up together in the bed, just warm skin against warm skin...
I sighed dreamily, wishing my fantasies were a reality.
"Are you listening to a word I'm saying?"
"Yup."
"What was the last thing that came out of my mouth?"
I want you, Rose. "Something about cooking."
His deep chuckle was music to my ears. "You are outrageous," As he walked over to the fridge and pulled something out of the freezer, I didn't mind the view of his backside. Dimitri turned around, handed me two T.V. dinners.
"Are you serious?"
He stared at me.
"You said simple…not preschool."
"As far as your knowledge in the kitchen? You are a toddler. Deal with it. We're starting with this."
"And we'll work our way up to food that doesn't taste like a soggy phonebook?"
"Of course."
"Fine. But you're getting the one with the meat loaf in it."
Thirty minutes later, I pulled the wrack out of the oven and was surprised to find the aroma made my stomach rumble. "Smells delicious."
"It taste better cooked in the oven rather than the microwave, doesn't it."
"You got that right," I said. "Oh, hey! Yaay me! Right? Because I actually cooked something successfully—"
My foot caught on the corner of the kitchen rug, my body lurched forward and I nearly slammed my hip against the sharp edge of the countertop before Dimitri's arm snapped out and he helped steady me.
Unfortunately, he wasn't able to save the food. The two trays slid off the tin foil of the wrack and slapped against the floor.
"Shit!" I shouted.
Dimitri lips twitched as he bent down. "You spoke too soon."
After the mess was cleaned up and I'd made ham sandwiches for us both, I brought out the plates, along with a package of chocolate chip cookies and two Sprites.
"Here," I offered Dimitri his plate, which he gently took with a thank you. "How's your nose doing?"
"Could be better..."
Before he was finished talking, I hopped up and headed for the bathroom, grabbed the bottle of aspirin, then headed for the freezer.
"This will help," I handed him the bottle of pills and ice pack. "And again…I'm really sorry."
When I turned around to head to the recliner, Dimitri grabbed my hand and spun me around. Looking into my eyes, he squeezed my palm and rubbed his thumb over my fingers. "I know you are. And I forgive you, even though there isn't really anything to forgive. Please don't feel guilty about it. Just think of it as…a blessing in disguise."
"How so?"
"I was able to see how strong you are,"
The grin that played across my face was something I couldn't have stopped had I wanted to. "Translation: I now know that you could kick my ass."
"You're cocky, you know that?"
"I like to think of it as confident."
"Hmm. You're riding a thin line there."
"I know something I want to be riding." The words slipped out of my mouth like they'd stepped on a banana peel. A hand slapped to my mouth. "Sorry. No filter between the brain and the mouth."
There was a moment of awkward silence.
And another.
And another.
The quiet was so deafening that I wanted to scream.
But then Dimitri's chest quaked and he threw his head back and roared with laughter.
It took only a split second before I joined him. The feelings rushing through my body were wonderful, for the first time in a long time, I was myself. Free of the past and emotional torment and constant fear of being abducted again.
"You are so beautiful when you do that," he murmured, dark eyes trained on my mouth.
"Do what?"
"Laugh." he said simply. "You look so happy, full of joy, at peace, so…free."
For no apparent reason, the truth tumbled out of my lips, and I wasn't embarrassed by my words…no, not in the slightest. "I want to kiss you."
Something flashed across his eyes, and I gasped the instant he stood up and wrapped his arms around me. As he took me down to the couch and placed me in the cradle of his hips, I was still in complete shock, but I quickly snapped out of it, not wanting to miss the possibility of being with him.
His touch was more than I could ever dream of, making my whole body come alive, my skin scorching in delicious flames. I was shaking all over as I shoved my hands into his shoulder-length brown hair and fisted my fingers with the silky mane, waiting for him to make the first move.
Dimitri breathed heavily through his flared nostrils, and a second later, his gaze locked onto my lips, and he licked his own in anticipation.
He lowered his head down and pressed his mouth to mine, kissing me so hard.
I closed my lids and absorbed the feeling of him, that raw male power that seemed to radiate sex. The sensitive skin of his lips was tortuous with its satin softness and gentleness as it rested against mine, unmoving, as if he were savoring every second of this kiss too.
Dimitri's large hands slid up my thighs and gripped my waist, pushing me deeper down against his body.
I lost it. Completely.
No longer in control of my actions, I went wild, throwing my arms around his neck and kissing him with everything in me—body, mind, and soul. And when that contact wasn't enough to please me, I gripped the his broad back, running my hands up and down the thick cords of muscle there.
When Dimitri's tongue penetrated my mouth and darted around, tasting sweeter and more satisfying than any candy in the universe, a loud moan escaped my mouth and I shoved my chest against his, my breasts getting smashed in the process.
I didn't mind in the slightest, and apparently Dimitri didn't either, because what he did next shocked the hell out of me but also excited me like nothing else in the world.
He laid me down on the couch. Covered my body with his much larger one. Slid his palm under my shirt, up the heated skin of my stomach. Cupped my left breast over the black silk of my bra, squeezing firmly.
If I had been on fire before, I was in hell now. Because Dimitri's touch was too much, but not nearly enough at the same time. If that made any sense.
We broke apart for air. The sound of our desperate, loud breathing was the most erotic thing.
Dimitri met my eyes, his were black and wild and positively blazing. Unlike anything I had ever seen before. "Let me make love to you," he growled. The expression on his face was that of a lover…generous, hungry, full of promise. He looked like he was ready to pleasure me…and was really going to enjoy it.
In spite of the fact that I was a twenty-two year old virgin and completely inexperienced in that area, I felt so confident and beautiful. Screw that, I felt like the most desirable woman on the planet.
And that was all thanks to Dimitri and the way he was staring at me, waiting for my approval.
"Yes," My voice was husky, breathless. "Please—"
"Holy shit," Someone said. "Whoops. Um…well, this is awkward."
Both of our heads snapped up. Dimitri scrambled off me, pulled a gun from God knows where, and pointed the muzzle straight at the chest of…
"Christian. Jesus Christ. You scared me shitless." I arranged my shirt, smoothed my tangled hair down, tried not to appear all hot and bothered.
Christian's ice-blue eyes were wide. "Didn't mean to cock block, buddy, My bad—"
"We weren't doing anything," Dimitri said in a hard tone, shoving the firearm in his pants and covering it with his turtle neck.
"He's right," I stood up. "We were just looking for the remote. You know how it gets buried deep in those couch cushions. Oh, there it is. Darn thing!"
"Riiiiiiiight." Christian drawled. "Anyways, Lissa wanted me to bring this over. It's that cake you love that she bakes. That coffee cake with the fresh blueberries? Yeah, that one. Here you go."
As he handed me the pan, I asked, "How did you get in here?"
"I was wondering the same thing." Dimitri's eyes were sharp as they darted all over my small apartment, searching everything and not leaving a single detail out, as if he were expecting the Boogey man to jump out any time.
"Spare key." He dangled the brass in the air. "I wouldn't have use it, but you didn't answer the door when I knocked—"
Dimitri cursed in his mother tongue.
"—and yeah, um. Boy, have I mentioned how awkward this is? Well, I'm out. Lissa's waiting for me. She says she loves you. All right, sleep tight, guys. Night."
"Night."
The door shut and there was a little click as Christian locked it from the outside.
"I cannot believe I didn't hear him. If that had been anyone else…you could be dead right now." Dimitri said.
"You were distracted. It's understandable."
"Yeah, well, it's not going to happen again. I won't let it."
With that, he left the room shaking his head and muttering swear words under his breath. It was clear as day what he was feeling on the inside: disappoint. Disappointment with himself because he felt like he'd failed me.
Chest heavy and heart aching, I dragged my feet across the beige carpet and made it to my bed, wishing that Dimitri was there to hold me as I pulled the covers to my chin and rested my eyes.
He never came.
And I was left to my nightmares. This one was a particular favorite.
It was the one where I escaped.