Dried and Dying Roses (BWWM)

Eighteen: Love Bites

The door opened silently, and Isa met his gaze in the mirror after looking away from the scars she had been staring at in silence. Her shirt lay discarded on the floor.

His eyes stayed locked on hers for a minute before trailing down, and landing on the scars he had but there months before.

"Shit," He cursed, taking a step towards Isa. The woman flinched away from him, but she was cornered between the wall and the sink. She felt the blood start dripping from her nose the second he came closer, and she looked to both her left and right for an escape, but even as petite as she was, Isa wasn't able to slide past him.

"I'm sorry," She whispered, her voice hoarse a tears leaked down her cheeks, "I'm so, so sorry, Adrian. I didn't mean to upset you. I only-"

Adrian cursed again, lifting his hand to touch the scars, and Isa flinched even harder, closing her eyes as she waited for the pain to consume her again.

It didn't.

Adrian pulled her into his arms, where Isa hung limply, shaking against the giant of a man who held her body against his. She felt him lean over, seconds before he handed her a cool towel, pressing it to her nose, and only letting go when he saw she had a good hold on it.

"Isa..." He sighed, massaging the back of her neck as she sniffled into his naked chest, not caringthat the cool towel might have bothered him, "Isa, baby-"

"Don't call me that," Isa immediately responded, pulling away from him, taking the wet cloth away from her face when she was sure it had stopped bleeding, and wiped at her nose, "I'm fine, here," He took the towel.

He opened his mouth to speak, but Isa shouldered past him roughly, determined to get her questions answered.

"Why'd you kill her?" Isa finally asked after he returned from putting the dirty towel in his washing machine.

Adrian sat down on the floor instead of resuming his seat once more, and Isa noticed that the things he had been throwing around were once again back in place, "She didn't feel like you. She didn't compare."

"Bullshit!" Isa snapped, "Tell me the real reason."

Quite confidently, Adrian responded immediately.

"That is the real reason," Adrian said calmly, leaning back on his hands as he continued to speak, "I don't care if you believe me or not, that's the truth."

Unbelieving, Isa rolled her eyes, "Why'd you sleep with her in the first place?"

"My best friend told me I was pussy whipped, that you had me under your control and I wanted to prove to him that you weren't shit to me."

Isa nodded, not even asking if she meant anything to him now, she knew the answer was no, she wasn't stupid.

"Why'd you follow me home the first night?" She asked after a few beats of silence.

Adrian shrugged, "I wanted you. My feral side wanted you."

That was a stupid answer. Isa told him so. Adrian only shrugged.

He was really giving her the answers. Isa was shocked. She could tell he wasn't lying.

"Who else did you sleep with while you were sleeping with me?" Isa finally asked the question that had been haunting her. Adrian only shook his head and shrugged. Isa scowled at him harder than she ever had before, "So how many is that? Five? Six?"

"Just her," Adrian muttered, "And she wouldn't stop moaning, and it didn't feel right, and I got mad and killed her.It felt wrong, like I was cheating. That was the only one."