Trust Me

We packed up quickly before heading out on our way. I didn't know where we were going, I just followed Adri obediently. He seemed to have some idea of where he wanted to go, and I suspected that he wanted to go find the Careers. I wondered who would be with them. Terra was dead, Adri was with me, Ingrid was out on her own trying to find me, and Kip had been a target ever since I mentioned him to the Careers. It was just Parq on his own, as far as I knew. I wondered if he and Jill had stuck together or not. I knew that she was part of our alliance (though just because I'd asked for her), but did Parq have any reason to keep her now that I wasn't part of the alliance?

More and more worries started to invade my thoughts. What if Jill was with Parq when we found the Careers? Would I have to kill her? I didn't know what was worse; having Jill mercilessly slaughtered by Parq or another tribute, or having to kill her myself. And if Kip was with them, too...I would really be stuck. I couldn't kill the other tribute from my district. I just couldn't.

I suddenly ran into Adri's back without warning, and that sent me flying back. I landed on my back, effectively knocking the wind out of myself. If it weren't for the large pack on my back, however, I knew my injuries would have been far worse. "What happened?" I stammered out as soon as I could breathe again.

"I stopped, and you weren't paying attention, so you ran into me." Adri said, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, watch where you're stopping!" I snapped. He rolled his eyes and made a sound deep in his throat – I couldn’t tell if it was a chuckle or a scoff – before he turned around and kept walking.

I watched him for a few moments, trying to gauge his mood, before I ran to catch up to him. “So, where are we going?” He was silent. “Are we going to find more water?” Still no reply. “Do you think there’s a lot of those pools around here?”

I took a few more stops before I realized that he’d stopped. I turned around and saw him watching me, biting his lips to keep from grinning.

“What’s so funny?” I asked, hearing him suppressing chuckles.

“You’re making it too damn hard to stay mad at you.” He accused.

“That’s kind of the point. If all else fails, I turn on the signature District 4 charm.” I drawled, striking a pose. I placed one hand on my hip and tried to look mock-alluring, though when I went to lean on the tree next to me I missed and fell on my side onto the rock.

Adri burst into laughter. “Is that part of your signature charm, then? The inability to remain upright for longer than five minutes?”

“Of course it is. Look at how easily it’s worked on you.” I said, willing to let him mock me if it would keep him from being angry.

“Oh, really?” He murmured, raising an eyebrow and giving me a suggestive half-smile. I felt my stomach give a funny kind of twitch at the amused sexy look he was giving me. He was trying to look sexy. He was trying to play mind games. That’s all it was. I couldn’t possibly be attracted to him for anything more than a mind game. He was the enemy, I told myself, yet the funny flips my stomach was doing told me that it didn’t matter why I found him attractive – all that mattered was that I was now looking at him in a whole new light.

“Yes. You’re completely under my spell.” I said quickly, trying not to be too flustered as I attempted to ignore the flirty look on his face.

“Is that so?” He took a few steps closer to me, and I tried to subtly shift away from him only to realize he’d backed me against a tree.

“But of course.” I tried to stand on my tip toes in an attempt to seem taller so I could properly challenge him with an eye-to-eye glare, but he was too tall for even that.

“You must tell me your secrets, sweetheart. How is it that you’ve managed to get me so completely infatuated with you and your dazzling charm?” He asked, stooping his head slightly lower. We were eye-to-eye, with me on my tip toes and him crouching over, and our faces were too close for my comfort.

My old instincts kicked in from my time with Finnick at the arena, and my first instinct was to not let him know that his little mind games were getting to me. I tried to think of something clever and witty to shoot back, but my brain was drawing a blank. I opened my mouth anyway to see what words would come out, praying I’d get lucky, but all that came out was a squeak.

He chuckled and out of nowhere he pressed his lips to mine, gently lifting my face to his. His lips were warm as they caressed mine perfectly, though I was frozen with shock and didn’t kiss him back. I realized suddenly what was happening, and I gave him a sharp slap to the cheek before I knew what I was doing.

He withdrew, raising an eyebrow and giving me a grin as though this meant that he’d won the mind games, and I realized the mistake I’d made. I had to fix it.

I quickly reached up and grabbed a handful of Adri’s shirt in each of my hands and pulled him back down to my level, pressing my lips to his roughly. I wrapped my arms around his neck and ran my fingers through his hair. I had expected him to freeze out of shock like I had, but he didn’t even hesitate. As soon as my lips were on his, he was kissing me back with even more enthusiasm and intensity than I was kissing him with. He lifted me up, forcing me to wrap my legs around his waist to keep myself from slipping, and he pressed me firmly against the tree. The trunk of the tree dug into my back as our chests were pressed tightly together, and Adri began to run one hand through my hair and one hand down the side of my body.

This is wrong, Winnie. This is very, very wrong. This boy might have to kill you, and you might have to kill him. All of Panem is watching you. Finnick is watching you. These thoughts were enough to snap me out of it, and I quickly drew back. “I hardly think this is appropriate for the cameras,” I said, my voice hoarse as we both panted for breath.

He rested his forehead against mine and chuckled softly. “Oh, sure.” He said sarcastically, evidently not believing my excuse. He still thought he’d won that round – probably because he had, I realized. I wanted to hit myself for being so stupid.

“We should get moving again.” I murmured, ducking under his arm quickly to escape the circle of his arms pinning me against the tree.

“I won,” He murmured in my ear before stepping past me, taking the lead once again. I grabbed a pinecone off the ground and threw it at the back of his head angrily, but it missed by a mile. He saw the pinecone go flying over his shoulder and whirled around to laugh at me. “Nice aim, 4. It’s a good thing you’re better with knives than you are with pinecones.”

I glowered at him and grumbled, “Just hope the next thing I throw at your head isn’t a knife.”