"Give me your lips, love,"
She continued to stare blankly ahead. They were at her museum, and Isa was admiring her favorite painting-the replica of course- seeing as Adrian had somehow gotten his hands on the original, the couple sitting on the bench as she stared at the copy of the work of art she had been admiring since she could remember.
"Isaline,"
"Give me an idea, and I'll give you my lips," She finally responded, "Help me understand how I can help you, Adrian, and I'll give you my fucking lips."
Those large slate eyes of his left hers then, as he stared ahead for a second, running his fingers through his hair before looking back to Isaline, "You don't have to help me Isa, I've been doing that for three decades, I'll be fine until I die."
She wasn't having that, and she let that be known, "Do you not remember what you said to me that day? I'll wait," There was a beat of silence as Isa let her angry gaze burn into Adrian in a way it never had before, "Of course you don't remember; you were drunk off your motherfucking ass!"
A dark red tinge that started just below the base of his neck and quickly spread up to his cheeks, and even back into his hairline and the tip of his nose showed Isaline that he was ashamed of how he had been dealing with his grief and guilt, and any other time, that blush would have turned her on, would have had her pouncing on him, ready to defile him, but not today, not three days later when he had finally started to behave like himself once more.
The first day Adrian stayed locked in one of the rooms she was banned from until late at night, ignoring Isaline after telling her for the first time that she couldn't help him. It was also filled with drinking.
Day two was spent with Adrian nursing one of the largest hangovers Isaline had probably ever witnessed someone else have. And she spent most of the day nursing him. Day three, Monday, the current day, was spent with Adrian trying to act as if nothing had occurred at all, while Isaline refused to forget what she witnessed. They had both gotten off of work, Adrian around eight, and Isa just after nine.
He found her sitting on the bench in the middle of one of the exhibit rooms and that's where they had stayed.
"You said that I was made for you, and even I couldn't help you. You were mad at me," Isa whispered that, "You said it was bullshit. You were disappointed, and you didn't say it, but I let you down. I didn't live up to your expectation. I don't want you think that about me.... Not when I should have been able to help you!"
That really got to her. These past days, all she had been trying to do was help him, and being constantly told that she wasn't helping in even the slightest broke her heart. If she couldn't comfort him, then what was she good for, besides being his sole blood and sex supply?
Nothing.
She was a failure, that's what the fuck she was.
"I didn't mean that," Adrian finally responded in that quiet voice of his, "You know that,"
"I know that you were in pain and I couldn't help you. I tried, and nothing worked-"
"We need to go home and talk," Adrian cut her off, "I'm not going to argue with you in a museum. We're going to talk about this okay, and you can tell me everything that happened too, because I still can't figure out how I marked you, or how those pictures of my daughter got hung up."
With that, he took her hand in his, and gently pulled her up, handing her the expensive black purse that she was carrying that day, and wrapping his arm around her waist as they headed out the museum, waving at Isaline's God father as they left. Even he seemed to be able to sense the tension between the two, and he'd only been in their vicinity for less than a fraction of a second.
Adrian walked her to her car, but didn't let her climb inside, leaning her against the driver's door, his monstrous hands resting on her shapely hips , his six foot, four inch frame towering over her five foot, five inch frame (the plus four extra inches coming from the wedges she was wearing). Isa wrapped her arms around Adrian's waist and rested her head in the center of his chest, letting out a quiet sigh as she enjoyed the simple touch.
Isaline was still dealing with the separation anxiety that came with Adrian's changing her. He told her it would never fade, and Isa hated feeling so needy. Adrian had brought it upon himself to come visit Isa at her store when he was on his breaks, bringing and eating lunch with her, so something as simple as him sitting next to her set her soul on fire in a way that she loved, but being in his arms?
That was heaven.
Pure nirvana.
She wondered sometimes if that love to be in his arms that she had, even before she fell in love with him, which blossomed when she was turned immortal by him had something to do with how he had mistreated her as a human. Maybe it was an unconscious need she had as a human, that she was sometimes too fearful to voice or do anything about, and now that she was immortal, something that seemed as trivial as a hug was a huge thing, because she could gain it, and he was so easy to give it.... and because when she changed, those feelings so slow to grow while she was human had burgeoned when she woke up from that metamorphosis of mortal to immortal, leaving her with a need to constantly be around her love.
He said he had felt it from the beginning, but it was easier for him to push away, he'd been dealing with what she had been for five months for over a year.
"I love you,"
She felt and heard the quiet sigh that left Adrian as he cupped the back of her neck, "Do you really?"
Isa nodded, looking up and letting her grey eyes meet his gaze, her own somber as the Judge of Truth as she spoke, "Yes really. I wouldn't say so if I didn't mean it,"
He still didn't say anything which bothered Isa. It made her feel very uneasy, so it was like instinct when she took his chin between her dainty fingers and pulled him down until her lips were brushing lightly against his, "Why don't you believe me? Did I do something?"
Adrian shook his head, thumping his forehead against Isa's, "No. I just don't want you confusing thankfulness for me being there when Ron died for love. You know I love you and how much I love you. I don't need you getting my hopes up just for you to realize in a few weeks that what you thought was love was truly gratitude."
She would've never guessed that on her own. That man's mind was something Isaline knew she would never fully understand the workings of.
"You think so differently," She murmured in an awe that she couldn't hide, pushing some of his wild curls from their faces. The severe winter weather had died down for about two weeks, but even as they spoke, the wind whipped around the two violently, and fluffy snow turned to ice.
It didn't bother Isa, but she knew Adrian would say something about her being out in the dangerous weather very soon. Before he could, she wrapped those arms around his neck, and slowly brought his lips those last few centimeters towards hers until they met gently.
Just when she felt Adrian becoming more into the kiss, Isa pulled away, biting on his nose in that way she couldn't explain why she loved to do, "I love you, Adrian Marquise Lew."
He responded immediately that time, "I love you too, Isaline Brianne Lew; you sweet, sweet woman,"
She shuddered both from the sound of her maiden name being replaced with Adrian's, and from the feel of his lips falling back to her, so full of passion and need, and...well love.
His lips started off moving against hers slowly, but that quickly changed as one of those large hands gripped the loose strands of Isaline's natural hair that had leaked from the conservative bun she decided to go with that morning. As Isa gasped, Adrian's hot tongue forced its way into her mouth, and her sound of slight pain and surprise turned to one of ardor as his powerful muscle dominated the warm cavern that was her mouth.
Within seconds, she completely forgot they were in public, and outside in the view of whoever happened to drive by.
Just as a loud sound of need escaped Isaline's lips, and Adrian's hand came up, taking her throat in a light chokehold that sent an arrow of lust, need through her so strong she felt as if she would pass out from the force behind it, a loud wolf whistle sounded, and the two pulled away to see Adrian's long-time friend James Marnens leaning out the window of a large Hummer, "Now that I've witnessed it, I can definitely see you as choker, Ade!"
Isa blushed, pressing her fingers to her lips as Adrian's gaze left hers, and he looked over, watching as his friend pulled into the parking lot. His fingers were still around her neck, his thumb resting lightly on the left side while his four, long, strong fingers stayed spread across the right side, squeezing in just the slightest while that thumb caressed her skin softly. Though it was the middle of the worst winter Isaline had seen since she was a child, heat was flowing through her body as if they were standing in the parking lot in the middle of an Indian summer instead of quite the opposite.
The couple watched as the large, older vampire made his way towards the two, a large smile on his handsome face.
Watch yourself.
Isa looked up at Adrian with an incredulous look on her face, Really?
Adrian raised a serious brow at her, Yes, really. Watch what floats around in that pretty head of yours.
"I haven't seen you two in weeks!" James crowed as he clapped Adrian's back roughly before smiling down at Isaline, knowing her boyfriend wasn't going to let him come anywhere near her, "Sweet Isa, how are you and the baby doing?"
Isa smiled up at her friend, "Good, good. We go in to find out the gender in three weeks."
The three talked for a little while before James presented an offer, "How about you two come to Chaos? Leonardo is there with a new arm piece, and so is Nicole."
"Male or female?" Adrian barked at the sound of his sister being with someone in a way that wasn't completely platonic.
Isa was just surprised that he had to ask the gender. She never thought about what Nicole's preferences may be.
"Male,"
Adrian was shaking his head, "Okay, baby. Follow me to this club, and we'll go home and talk after I beat some ass, alright?"
Isa was shaking her head with a loud sigh, "You are just like Matthias and Isaac. Just like them,"
Adrian nodded seriously, "Of course I am. I'll be damned if my sister is dating- "
"Adrian, that woman is almost a hundred and six years old. What if she found her mate or her tied?"
"Tied?" That was James.
Isa didn't miss the glare Adrian threw at him, but continued to talk, "Or maybe she was just lonely and wanted a companion."
"Well, she could have called us to watch a movie, maybe Leo if she was lonely." Adrian responded curtly, jumping into his car, and pointing at hers, indicating she would follow if she knew what was best for her.
With a roll of her eyes, Isa climbed into her car and followed Adrian, speaking to her unborn child, "I hope you're a boy, because if you're a little girl? You'll quickly learn that your Daddy is an absolute mess."
At Chaos, which happened to be the first club she went to with Adrian, the one where he bit her, Isaline walked into the strip club with her man, the couple hand in hand as they entered.
The same stripper that was there when Isa first came was doing her flawless tricks when the two entered, and Isa felt a wave of protectiveness, of pride flow through her when Adrian didn't so much as look at the woman who was beautiful from what Isa could see. She had olive toned skin, her eyes were closed so Isa couldn't see the color, but she was sure that they were stunning no matter the color.
This unnamed stripper was tall, her legs seemed to stretch on to infinite lengths, the length where she would be just a few inches shorter than Adrian, just long enough to wrap around his waist.
Her abdominal muscles were carved out to perfection and her stomach was flat...and...not pregnant, two things that Isaline was, and that-
"What the fuck are you doing?" Adrian snapped at her, throwing her off guard when she saw that he was no longer pulling her towards his best friend, sister, and their respective dates, but to what she was sure was a private room.
"U-Uh, nothing?" Isa responded in a tone that was more questioning as she waited for Adrian to say what was bothering.
He was livid, his face pulled taut, and his grip on Isa's hand was even tighter than his expression, "Then what the fuck was that?"
"Was what?" Isa asked, her eyes wide in her confusion, "Baby what's wrong, I'm confused, I didn't say anything!"
Adrian's response was immediate, "I didn't say that you said anything, you were fucking thinking it! Why the fuck was I getting pictures of some stripper broad in bed with me?"
"Maybe I'm interested in a threesome," Isa shrugged jokingly as her gaze left his.
"I'll go out there, pull her off that pole, and blow her fucking brains out, don't play with me," Adrian snapped.
Isa knew he wasn't playing, and that kind of scared her.
"Are you....insecure?" He whispered the word as if it were one of the worst ones he'd ever uttered, and Isa let out a quiet sigh.
She hadn't been until she started noticing all these women these past few weeks, women who were skinny and beautiful, and-
Adrian's hand took her face roughly in his grip, "Are you fucking serious?" He roared, dragging her towards a mirror she hadn't noticed until she was standing in front of it.
He ripped off the red winter jacket she was wearing, exposing the brown knit sweater-dress that enhanced her growing belly and crème tights she was wearing, finished off with a pair of brown wedges that she and Adrian had gotten into a little tussle over her wearing that morning, one where Isa had to promise him that she'd put on a nice little satin something for him that weekend if he left her alone about her shoes.
The silence only lasted about two seconds before Adrian's booming, angry voice was filling the small room again, making Isa flinch, "Look at yourse-" He cut himself off when he saw her shying away from him because of his voice, "Look at yourself, baby,"
She did, took in her wide eyes, only wider because of how scared she was, her lips were chapped from the cold, and bruised from Adrian's lips on hers-
"Not at just your face," He growled, resting his hand on her belly, "Look at your body, look at your skin, look at that baby, what I did to you, Isaline. LOOK!"
"Okay, okay," She whispered, doing as she was told.
"Tell me what you see," Adrian said gruffly, "Let's see if your own description of yourself matches the ones that I write about you,"
"Y-You write about me?" She whispered, shocked at what she had heard.
Adrian didn't answer her, "Go,"
"Um..." Isa frowned at her reflection, trying to come up with the words, "M-Medium to light brown skin, and-"
"Wrong," Adrian cut her off once more, offering his own adjectives to describe her epidermis, "A beautiful, sun kissed, tone of café au lait that would make any man with vision and common sense fall to his knees."
Isaline's lips were pursed, eyes wide as she looked into Adrian's seeing just how serious he was. The tears begging to fall from her eyes were being held back by a force Isaline had no clue of the source because it sure as hell wasn't her.
"Describe your hair for me,"
"Black, kinky...pretty," Isa loved her hair, but couldn't seem to find the words to convey that.
Adrian had her covered once more, "No. Her hair was such a dark shade of brown that to the human eye it could be counted as black. The kinks and coils that made up the voluminous, sexy entity that was her mane fell down to her mid back, but she had them tamed into a sleek bun on this day, which enhanced the beauty that only he got to see on a daily basis ten-fold. When it was down, the effect was even more breath taking. Grey eyes she inherited from her transition from human to vampire from the man made for her were a molten silver that seemed to harden into stone the second she became upset. Upon the inner brow bone of her left eye, there was a dark beauty mark that her long eyelashes brushed every time she blinked. When she smiled, those wide, round eyes disappeared to mere slits, and her button nose would wrinkle up as if she had smelled something foul. Her plump lips pulled back to expose pearly, glistening-"
"Adrian stop," She whispered as she tried to turn around in his arms, but he wouldn't let her, didn't listen, he kept going, now describing her body, "She had a natural curve to her hips that most women went under the knife to achieve, and while she wasn't unhealthily thin, she was small, the perfect size to fit beneath his body, to mold to his own. Her thighs, her hips, her ass...they all held the amount of fat but more muscle that Adrian could hold onto with ease, and they were all natural. She was healthy, with a flat stomach, muscular legs, a -"
He stopped when a sob fell from her lips, "Isaline, you're fucking beautiful, okay?" He told her roughly, "That bitch out there? She hasn't a thing on you, looks, personality, none of that, and I'd never want anyone else but you and to top all of that beauty, all of that flawlessness, I have a child growing inside of you, which is all that I've wanted since I met you, and you look amazing, sexiest thing I've ever seen in my life...besides you naked underneath me, of course. I don't give a shit about any woman that isn't you, and that isn't my blood, and I will want you until the day I die, even after we have twenty kids, and we're over three hundred years old. I love you, every part of you, sweetheart. Every. Single. Part."
Isa didn't say a word, she couldn't. She could never get used to Adrian say such sweet things to her, complimenting her. She didn't know that that was something she wanted, no needed to hear; something that could make her feel better, something so simple. She hadn't known what to do with that growing, timorous feeling she couldn't seem to fight, even with how irrational she knew it was. Del had even warned her about such a feeling, but Isa hadn't believed that it could apply to her until it actually did.
That shit hurt.
"Give me a hug, baby girl," Adrian murmured, and Isa whirled around, wrapping her arms around him, and pulling him into the tightest hug she possibly could between her stomach, and what little strength she had.
"I...." She gasped, hiccupping as she buried her face in his neck, taking in that scent, the one that mixed with hers, but not enough to overpower his own and turn it feminine. That scent had been one she associated with home since he saved her.
Adrian's strong arms wrapped around her, and rubbed her back lightly, rocking her as she slowly tried to get herself under control. When she finally did, Adrian pulled back slightly so he could look down into her eyes, "I don't want to hear another thought like that leave your fucking mind, do you understand me?"
She nodded silently as he wiped her tears, then pressed his lips to her nose, followed by her forehead, each cheeks, her eyelids, and lastly her lips, in a deep, rough kiss that took Isaline's breath.
"Okay?"
"Yeah," Isa sighed, taking his hand in hers, and taking a deep, deep breath, "Let's go on with this family reunion."
When they emerged from the private room, five pairs of eyes were already on the couple. Nicole was the first to move, leaving the man sitting with her alone, after shoving a handful of money into his hands. Isaline met the woman halfway, the two hugging as if they hadn't seen each other in years, when it was only about four days in reality.
"Everything okay?" Nicole asked her into her ear, as she rubbed her belly, "Baby okay?"
Isa gave her a reassuring smile after seeing the distrusting look that she shot at her baby brother, "Peanut's fine, Nic. We just...I just needed to have a little pep talk is all, baby, I promise."
Nicole nodded, pressing her lips to her temple, "Alright. You're starting to sound like Annaleigh with that baby shit, you know."
Isa nodded, a faint smile ghosting her lips once more, "You sound like the people you're around the most, hence my potty mouth and calling everyone baby."
"Amen to that," Nicole muttered, patting Isa's belly lovingly once more, "You been taking care of him these last few days?"
Isaline acted as if she didn't hear that, and Nicole let out a low whistle before she greeted her brother.
The first words that left Adrian's lips were, "Who's the dick you were sitting with,"
Nicole smirked at Adrian, her green eyes shining, "A dick I'm going to be sitting on later,"
Adrian was not amused, his face darkening as he shoved past his sister, making a beeline for the unknown man. Nicole used her power to pull him back to where he was standing, "Kidding brother. That is Shamus, he's a photographer, wanted to meet me and...you know check out my winter line."
"Don't like him," Adrian grunted, glaring at him, "You keep Leo with you when you have to meet with this fucker, okay?"
Nicole shook her head, pressing her lips to Adrian's cheek as she patted the right side roughly, "I'm the oldest, baby brother. You seem to forget that."
Adrian wasn't going for that, so Nicole continued, "And, he's been making bedroom eyes at the broad on Leonardo's arm since I spotted them about an hour ago and beckoned them over. Human guy, doesn't know he just found his soul mate. She was waiting for you to get here so that she could pull him off."
"How do you know that?" Isa asked, confused.
Nicole winked at her with a sly smile, "Old flame. Me and baby girl met up in the bathroom, and she told me she wasn't dragging me in for a quick fuck on the sink, but to ask me how to get her human mate alone. I passed the info onto Leo the Lion. Call me a match maker."
"I'll pass," Adrian muttered, pulling Isa to the group, where Leo greeted the two with excitement, and the woman, Fatima the firefighter vampire, took her mate off, and the two were not seen again for the rest of the night.
Poor Leo.
"I'll take a stripper home, don't worry, sweet pea," He winked at Isa with one of those lazy smiles of his, "You need to start blocking your thoughts again before they get you in trouble, little sis."
"They already have," Isa muttered as she waved over a dancer, and paid her to dance on Leonardo, "Adrian and I are leaving now, Leo. Have a good lay,"
"And the same to you, Mrs. Lew!" Leo called, mock saluting Isaline making her roll her eyes as she walked out the building with Adrian's large hand in a more than secure grip.
So I have only been out of school for less than a week, and my sleep sched is already fucked up from writing through the night. 915 AM where I am, and I'm going to bed.....