Unforgiven - Complete

Chapter Two

"Dimitri," she gasped, overcome for a moment. The want in his eyes, the feel of his strong arms holding her even though the threat of falling had passed. For just a second, it was as though nothing bad had happened between them. A hopeful look crossed his face, and it was like a bucket of ice water over her.

"You'd better not go around grabbing women like that, your girlfriend wouldn't like it," she said coldly, stepping backward and out of his grasp.

Dimitri dropped his hands to his side as if he'd been burnt; his hurt and disappointment plain for all to see.

"I told you, she's not my girlfriend," Dimitri mumbled, sounding defeated more than anything. Rose wasn't sure how a guy over six and a half feet tall could suddenly appear small, but somehow Dimitri did.

"Girlfriend... Skanky ho who'll open her legs to any guy with a pulse... Who you choose to swap body fluids with is nothing to me. No offense, Christian."

"None taken," he assured her.

"Liss?" Rose said, giving her best friend a look.

"Let's go," Lissa said, flashing Dimitri an apologetic smile before taking Rose's arm and heading off down the corridor.

"If only I could get her to listen to me," Dimitri moaned despondently. "I just wish she'd give me a chance to explain."

"Dude? We've been best friends since you landed here in middle school, so I'm going be honest with you. This is something you can't explain your way out of. You really fucked up," Christian said, looking at him sympathetically. "I don't think she's ever going to forgive you."

That was the worst part of all this. Dimitri was crazy about Rose. From the moment Christian had started seeing Lissa at the end of Sophomore year, Dimitri and Rose had been thrown together. The four of them had hung out almost every moment that summer, so no one was surprised when a kiss thanks to spin the bottle had signaled the start of something major. By the time their Junior year started, they were an established, solid couple.

Not that they didn't have their arguments. Rose was pigheaded and Dimitri stubborn as hell. But even as they were fighting, they already imagined the making up – so neither could stay angry for long.

"Are you all right?" Lissa asked, dragging Rose into an empty classroom.

Blinking back tears, Rose was fanning herself with her hand, trying not to cry. Because if she started, she knew she wouldn't be able to stop.

"It felt so right Liss? Being back in his arms! Even though my head kept reminding me of what he'd done – how he cheated on me – my heart wanted him to kiss me and not stop. I'm so confused!"

"Aww, sweetie. It's the first time you've seen him. You're bound to still have feelings. But at least it's over and done with now, right? You knew the first time was going to be hard. Now it's over it will get a little bit easier every time!" Lissa had a Pollyannaesque ability to see a silver lining in any situation. It was one of her most endearing, and also most annoying traits.

"Maybe if I'd just... you know... he wouldn't have felt the need to be with Tasha?" Rose whispered, voicing her guilty fears. "I mean, he never tried to pressure me, but I could tell he was turned on when we made out... He must have wanted to?"

"I'm sure it wasn't that," Lissa said supportively, although she had secretly wondered whether all this would have happened had Rose and Dimitri been sexually active.

"But you and Christian have been doing it for ages. Maybe he thought I was never going to?" Rose moaned. "Maybe he thought he might as well do it when the chance came up because he thought I didn't want to?"