Building the Tension | ✔ | 18+

Chapter 6c

Author's Notes:

This sub-chapter will be much shorter.  It's sort of PG-13-ish.

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Dimitri's Point Of View:

I couldn't believe how much Roza was beginning to mean to me. Even if I couldn't still taste her lips, still feel her touch on my skin, still picture her beauty, and still smell her wetness on my fingers, It would still be difficult to be apart from her, knowing that she truly loved me - and had chosen to be with me. Once we could finally have a public relationship, I don't know that I would ever want to be apart from her again. I couldn't wait for that day.

Patrolling along the periphery of the wards was brainless work that didn't require much focus, but I still knew it would be a challenge to watch where I was going. The further I got from Rose's room, it should have gotten easier to think clearly, but instead, my thoughts became muddled with the conversations she and I had earlier and what she would tell Adrian or Vasilisa in the coming days.

A small part of me still wondered if Rose was really certain of her heart and her feelings for me. It felt wrong - in too many ways - to think of her as a child, but there was simply no denying her inexperience. How could I really be sure she knew her own heart well enough to know that she was in love with me? What if she later chose to regret being with me? I was beginning to feel absolutely convinced that I could never love another woman again after loving Rose. No matter how much I loved her - no, because of how much I loved her, I just couldn't allow myself to ruin her life - her entire future, really - simply because of my own feelings.

In some ways, Adrian truly was the better man for her, even if I didn't want to give her up. It would definitely be hard to keep Adrian from noticing an illicit relationship, if he is going to be pursuing her romantically himself. Even if he hadn't said anything thus far, there was no way I would trust him to keep our secret, especially with what he had at stake. The repercussions of us being discovered wouldn't be limited to just me. This was a problem either I'd have to find a way to deal with, or Rose would.

Princess Dragomir, however, loved Rose like a sister. If Roza trusted her, then I had absolute faith that as long as she felt that it was what Rose wanted, Vasilisa would hold on to Rose's secrets at all costs. It would be good for Rose to have someone to confide in.

As I rounded the northern gates of campus, my phone started chiming. I looked at the screen. "New text message from Yuri Bondar"

I clicked into the message. It said, "12:52 AM: Patrolling high school dhampir dorm now. Your girl is having nightmares again."

I sent a reply text back, asking only, "Are you sure?" She couldn't be asleep yet? Especially if she was doing what I asked her to do.

Within a couple of seconds, I got another reply. "12:54 AM: Yes. She's moaning and screaming like she is fighting really hard - like in the caves. Heard your name several times."

I had to adjust my pants, thinking about what could cause the woman I love to be moaning and screaming my name over and over again in her bed right now.

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Author's Notes:

How nice it is to see Rose and Dimitri happy together, even if it is on the DL?  Our favorite couple is in for some extremely difficult times in some of the chapters to come, but I had a plan for the layout of this story all along and I promise that it will turn out good for Rose and Dimitri together in the end.

Here's my question of the week:

Do you think you could keep a forbidden romance (office romance, student/teacher, cheating on a boyfriend/girlfriend, etc.) a secret? If so, how long do you think you could keep it up?

When I was 18 and in college, at my first office job (I started college young), I worked for a large company where fraternizing with co-workers was prohibited and I briefly dated a man on my work team, who happened to be 28 at that time. Not only was keeping it a secret hard, but it also meant that both of us had to physically and emotionally distance ourselves from each other during work hours. Every time I had the chance, I would let my hand linger on his. If we were alone somewhere at work, there were secret touches or kisses. I don't think we were 'in love', by any means - or that we even really had strong feelings for each other -, but eventually, the relationship just fizzled out because it was exhausting to hide it and we were never together, even when we were together.