Trust Me

Adri started to peel off his damp clothes, hanging them over a nearby branch for them to air dry. I watched him out of the corner of my eye to make sure he didn't try anything funny again, but he just sat down in nothing but his soaked pants and stared at me blankly.

"Are you going to keep staring at me?" I demanded after a few moments of pretending not to notice his eyes on me.

"Why not? You're a strange sight. You're sitting in a pool fully clothed, still covered in blood." Adri pointed out.

"Well, I'm hardly going to strip down with you sitting right there, am I?" I grumbled, though as he mentioned it I was suddenly aware of how heavy my clothes were when they were soaking wet.

"That's not a good reason. You've slept with me while being naked, which is far more intimate than just taking a much needed bath when I'm around." Adri scoffed.

"We made a rule that we both had to wear clothes at all times. And you're breaking that rule right now!" I hissed. I was still angry at him for what he'd done earlier, though I knew it wasn't his fault. He'd always tried to play mind games, but now they were really starting to get to me. How could I have let him get inside my head like that?

"Rules were made to be broken, sweetheart." He said with a chuckle. "Unless you're too much of a prude to even wash up."

I knew he was toying with me, and yet I felt determined to prove him wrong. "Fine!" I yelled. I heaved myself out of the water so I was sitting on the edge of the pool and pulled off my shirt as fast as I could, throwing it at him. The soaking-wet fabric landed with a loud and wet smack, drenching him with even more water as it landed on his face.

"That was unnecessary," He said flatly, pulling my shirt off his head and giving me a pointed look.

I pulled off my pants and threw them at him again, and they landed across his chest, sending even more water down his body without saying a word to him.

"So was that." He said in the same bitter tone. He leaned over and dunked my clothes into the rock pool, and I froze.

"Wait! No, don't do it. I'm sorry!" I pleaded, desperate.

He glanced up at me with a confused look on his face. "What?"

"Don't throw my clothes into the pool. I get it, you want payback, but making me walk around naked for the rest of the Games is a little harsh." I said, babbling uncontrollably as I tried to talk him out of it.

He continued to look confused for a few more seconds before a mischievous look came on his face. "I was just going to wash your clothes for you, but that's not a bad idea. What price will you pay to get your only set of clothes back?"

I glowered at him. "You're an evil and cruel creature."

"So far all I hear is, 'Please, Adri! Please throw my clothes down to the bottom of that deep, dark pool!'" He said, craning his neck towards me and cupping his ear as if listening for something from me.

I grimaced. "What do you want me to do?" I said, not wanting to bargain with him.

He put on an exaggerated thoughtful expression, stroking his chin and pursing his lips as he tried to put on a show. "It's not much fun to just have you do one thing. For the rest of the day, you've got to do whatever I tell you to do."

I glared at him for a moment and he smirked back at me. I suddenly lunged at him, my hands outstretched as I tried to grab the clothes from his hands, but I landed on him instead. He stretched his arms out and crushed me against his chest as he tried to hold me back and away from my clothes. I squirmed furiously, both of us slipping around as we were still wet from the pool, but it was getting nowhere for either of us.

"Do you remember what happened last time you attacked me like this?" Adri demanded, rolling over so I was pinned between him and the ground. He sat up, straddling my stomach, and dangled my clothes above me with a victorious grin on his face. "Last time you almost burned us both to a crisp, and this time you could have drowned us both."

"I'm from District 4. I'd hardly drown." I said with a scoff. I saw wet blood trailing down my body and for a moment I worried that one of us had gotten cut, but I realized that fighting with Adri had loosened up all of Kip's blood from my skin, mixing with the water and streaming down my body.

"You're also a klutz." He said with a scoff.

"Will you get off me?" I demanded as he tightened his legs around me, still straddling me.

He threw my clothes off to the side, and they landed on the rock a few feet away. I breathed a sigh of relief that he hadn't thrown them in the water -- yet, anyway. Whatever he had planned, it couldn't be any worse than that. He grabbed one of my wrists in each of his hands and pulled them up over my head, staring at me with an amused half-smile on his face. "You're too much trouble, sweetheart. Sometimes I wonder if I could ever handle you." There was a softer, gentler tone to his voice. He wasn't mocking me now, but I couldn't figure out exactly what he was doing.

I stared up at him, not even daring to blink. I was afraid of what would happen if I took my eyes off him for even one second. I wanted to say something, but I couldn't find any words to say.

He let out a low chuckle and lowered his face slowly to mine, lightly caressing my lips with his in a gentle and completely unexpected kiss.