Suddenly Destiny was taken out of what felt like a trance from holding Romans gaze for so long.

She was taken out of it when she heard a familiar voice.

"Destiny honey!" Lady Willow called out.

"You missed the fireworks sweetie where were you?" She asked.

Destiny's confusion was all over her face as she exited Romans room.

She made it down the stairs to the main room.

"Fireworks?" She asked.

"Des, I texted you when you were in the shower to meet us outside" Eric told her.

Suddenly Destiny grabbed the phone that she hadn't touched all morning from her back pocket.

Her notifications were filled with messages from Eric telling her about the fireworks and asking where she was.

Destiny was still confused though.

"You guys know what fireworks are?" She asked hesitantly.

"You guys have fireworks in your world too?" Wynter asked her.

Destiny nodded.

"Well yeah, their like these explosive things that you buy at a store to set off in July" Destiny explained.

They all stared at her like she was crazy.

"Why are you guys staring at me like that?" She asked nervously.

Suddenly Roman came downstairs.

Lady Willow finally spoke up.

"Sweetie our version of fireworks is just Roman putting on a fire show for us" she explained kindly.

"He did it as a way to apologize for the incident." Lady Willow continued.

"And it was beautiful" Eleanor said.

"Yeah truly you would've loved it Des" Eric agreed.

"Speaking of which what were you even doing?" Arlo asked suspiciously.

"Oh well I got out of the shower and started looking for you guys" Destiny admitted.

"For half an hour?" Arlo asked.

"And why didn't you check your phone? Or come outside?" He sounded more and more pushy with each question he asked.

"Umm" Destiny started getting nervous.

She quickly looked over to Roman.

"I got lost?" She said in a questioning voice.

Arlo laughed.

"Destiny sweetie you've been here for a while now there's no way you got lost" Wynter suddenly said.

"Yeah no shit. She's lying." Arlo spat back.

"Well why would she lie? She has no reason to" Elena said.

"Because she was up to something" Arlo spoke again.

Destiny could feel her body getting warmer as she got more nervous.

"Okay okay knock it off" Romans voice broke off the accusations.

"She was in my room looking for me, when I found her and we started talking." Roman explained.

"She wasn't 'up to' anything, now can you stop accusing her, she's innocent" Roman defended her.

She wasn't sure the word "innocent" was the best way to describe her considering...some things but she did appreciate him defending her in that nerve racking moment.

"How do you know?" Arlo asked.

Roman sighed.

"Because I trust her. And you should too" Roman told him honestly.

"Right. And why would I trust a girl I barely know?" Arlo snorted.

That was when Lady Willow I cut in.

"Arlo! That's enough. Stop treating this poor girl like she's a threat. I trust her and I have welcomed her into my home to be cared for. Not to be degraded and accused. Stop it now" Lady Willow demanded.

"Whatever. Trust her all you want, but she's human, that's all she'll ever be to me" Arlo said and stormed upstairs to his room.

Destiny felt hurt by that.

"Thank you" She thanked Lady Willow quickly before Eric walked over to pull her into a warm hug.

"Anytime sweetheart" she answered.

"You okay Des?" Eric asked worried.

Destiny nodded.

"I'm fine, thanks" she told him not so honestly.

He nodded but his eyes gave away that he didn't fully believe her, but also didn't want to push the subject if she didn't want to talk about it at that moment.

Later that day...

It was late at night and everyone was up in there rooms.

Well everyone but Eric and Destiny.

They were in the living room, both reading.

Destiny couldn't focus on her book.

Her mind kept taking her back to what had happened earlier that day in Romans room.

The stuff she read...

The things he said...

The things he thought..

The look in his eyes...

She wanted so badly to do something about it.

Except she couldn't.

Everything she's heard about Roman and the thought of "doing stuff" with him all led to one specific result.

Death.

But why?

Yes he was nearly three times her size but people can't die because of sex right?

She felt so jittery and her eyes couldn't focus on the words on the pages any longer.

She closed the book and put it down before running her hands through her hair and sighing.

Eric looked up from his book.

He raised his eyebrow at her in question.

"Sorry I'm stressing" she apologized.

Suddenly he closed his book and sat up, already invested.

"Stressing about what?" He asked her.

She looked at him and gave him an are-you-serious look.

Shit.

"I don't really wanna talk about it" she told him honestly.

"Yeah kid that's not an option right now. If it's occupying your mind and making you all flustered then I think it's something that you should talk about. Now spill" Eric told her.

Mentally she was rolling her eyes because she knew how unapproving he was going to be. But physically she knew Eric wouldn't tolerate that kind of attitude so she began talking.

"Well it's about.." she started.

"Roman" he finished her sentence and looked at her seriously.

She sighed.

"Yeah"

"You still hung up on him?" He asked her.

Destiny looked down at the floor.

"Yes" she mumbled. She felt like feeling this way and talking about it disappointed Eric and that was the last thing she wanted to do.

She looked up at his eyes and saw how they were urging her to continue.

"He just.. he makes me feel.. different you know? He's so misunderstood. He's so gentle, and kind and sweet. Yet at the same time he's so rough" Destiny spoke honestly.

Eric was nodding the entire time until he heard and processed the last word that left her mouth.

Suddenly he stopped nodding, his eyes widened, and his jaw dropped slightly.

"Umm Des, how exactly do you know he's 'rough'? He asked her hesitantly.

Suddenly her cheeks turned a bright red.

Eric's eyes widened even more.

"You didn't..." He started but she cut him off.

"We didn't. But when I was in his room earlier, looking for him, I saw he has this journal. And I know what you're thinking but I promise I'm not a snoop, I wasn't gonna look at it but it was already opened on his bed side table and I saw my name. I saw my name multiple times. So I got to reading and..." She paused.

She felt like she was in highschool again gossiping with her best friend.

Kelly

God she missed Kelly.

Except she wasn't in highschool anymore. She was in another world, with a different person who somehow over a short amount of time has become someone who she also considers her best friend.

Destiny looked at Eric with hesitation in her eyes.

"Please continue Des, I'm not gonna judge" he urged her on.

"He fantasizes about me Eric" she whispered.

Eric's mouth opened, but no words came out.

So Destiny continued.

"He thinks about me. In the dirtiest ways. He literally described everything he wants to do to me" she looked at him, begging him with her eyes to respond.

Eric sat back and nodded slowly.

"And what do you think about the things he imagines doing...to you?" Eric asked her.

Destiny sighed and looked down.

"I want it. I want it all." She told him honestly.

But before Eric could say anything she continued.

"But that's not all I want. I want to get to know him better first, if he'd let me" she told him.

Eric nodded.

He sat forward again. His face nothing but serious and concerned.

"Destiny. I need you to listen to me, and think about everything I'm going to say okay?" He told her.

She nodded, sitting forward as well.

"You are HUMAN. You are 19 years old. 5'3, maybe barely 100 pounds." He told her.

Destiny nodded because he was spot on about everything.

"You thought I was big? Roman is NOT human. He is a magical being. Not only is he around 6'8, but he's 300 pounds. Most of that is muscle. His arms are the size of both of your thighs put together. AND he possesses the ability to make and control fire." Eric explained to her.

He looked at her and continued.

"Roman has a very hard time controlling his ability. He creates fire out of literally nothing anytime he feels any strong emotion. You've already seen what he can do when he's angry, and when hes scared. What do you think he'll be able to do when he's extremely happy? Or when he's experiencing that pleasure? That pure bliss?" He asked her seriously.

Destiny processed everything he said.

She couldn't feel anything but hurt.

"But you don't know that it'd be destructive" she told him.

"And you don't know that it wouldn't" Eric replied angrily.

"My advice is no. End of discussion Des, I care about you too much to see you hurt because of some guy" he told her as he stood up.

Destiny felt tears begin to form in her eyes.

She looked up at Eric with pleading eyes.

"If you cared about me, you'd care about how I feel. And that 'some guy' is your brother" she told him as tears rolled down her cheeks.

He looked down at her with nothing but love in his eyes.

"Goodnight Des" he said as he kissed her head and walked up to his room.

"Night Eric" she mumbled.