𝐈 𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐎𝐋𝐃 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐈 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔 ▸ After Spokane Rose is perilously close to breaking. Discovered in her bed, Dimitri is forced to leave the Academy. Let down by almost everyone she knows and cares for, pulled between duty and love...
"Of course milaya. Besides unless you want Abe to come and collect you, you'll need me to drive," Dimitri chuckled.
"I do have a license you know, Comrade," Rose said sweetly.
"Not happening," Dimitri mumbled. "Besides I want to be there."
Abe had sounded beyond surprised to hear from Rose and was willing to make himself immediately available to meet – that evening if it suited her. Rose had explained she wanted a day to get her thoughts and questions in order, so they'd arranged to meet at a restaurant in the closest large town to St. Basil's for dinner the following evening.
"Thank you for agreeing to meet with me," he'd said after they'd made their plans. "After Sunday I hadn't expected you to call."
"After Sunday I had no plans to. But you're right. I do have things I want to know."
Saying goodbye, Rose played with her phone - checking out the picture of her molnija. "I'm glad they're done now," she said to Dimitri with a sigh, sending it on to Lissa, Eddie, Alberta, and her mother.
She was standing beside Dimitri when she heard footsteps approaching from behind them. Inna must have finished her reps. Dimitri chuckled as he could feel Rose tense beside him.
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The pool night had ended up being a lot of fun. Dimitri introduced Rose to friends he'd trained with and other Guardians he knew, and was proud to see their envious glances when he held her against him or drew her to him for a kiss. Rose had looked amazing. The skinny jeans, tight button up shirt, waist-length leather jacket and heeled boots she wore had shown every gorgeous curve to advantage, and to his delight, she'd worn her hair down. Something about the way it lay cascading down her back in soft waves kept drawing his fingers to it. It was longer than she usually wore it, but he supposed she hadn't had a chance to get it cut in a while. He made a mental note to ask her not to, he loved curling the ends of it around his fingers.
They'd chatted easily. Dimitri was eager to hear about the gossip he'd missed since he was away and his friends were keen to hear about St. Vladimir's and what it was like working in America. After an hour, one of the Guardians cracked open the vodka, passing around shot glasses. Dimitri had a couple of shots, and then they started to play pool. Rose watched while Dimitri played in a pair against another two Guardians. He was actually not too bad, but the other team was better – so Dimitri and his partner had had to have another round of shots. Then Rose played in a pair with Dimitri against the victors.
"Don't worry if you don't get any down," he'd whispered to her, kissing her with lips that tasted of vodka, "I'll sink enough, so it's not embarrassing." But that hadn't been the way it worked out. Rose broke and sunk five in her first turn. On her second she finished the game.
"You never told me you can play pool," Dimitri complained, sitting Rose on his lap and playing with her hair.
"There's not a lot to do on the summer holidays at the Academy, Comrade. The Guardians taught Mason and me how to play from the time we were old enough to hold a cue. If you think I'm good, you should have seen him! Neither of us had any money, so we used to bet against the Royal Moroi students to make some cash. Never lost a game!" she laughed.
