Eight
Isa wanted a change, so she did something she had never done in her years of owning Sweetie's Bookstore.
She took a break.
Calling Ryan, the two worked together until they had set up everything that would need to be taken care of in her absence. Isa was one hundred percent sure Ryan could handle the store on his own.
"Where are you going, Miss Ford? If you don't mind me asking?"
To self-destruct, She muttered to herself before answering her waiting employee, "I just need a break Ryan, you know? I haven't had one, and I think a good week and a half away would be great for me. I need some time to myself."
She wasn't lying. Isa did need to be alone, and desperately so.
Two weeks after the incident with Adrian, and she still thought about him all of the time, she still wanted him, she could vividly remember what it felt like it have him between her legs, or kissing up and down her body. She remembered the feel of his body under her own lips as if they were there minutes before instead of weeks.
He haunted her dreams, whether they were having sex, or he was telling her how worthless she was, she thought about him every night, it never failed.
So, Isa packed up her things after informing her family that she would be away for a while, and she left, into the next city over where no one would know who she was. She got a nice hotel room, and bought a few bottles of wine before she checked in, then proceeded up to her room, where she sat on the bed, contemplating what she was going to do with a completely blank schedule for over seven days.
There was a small part of Isa that wanted to find a man, sleep with him just to prove to both herself and Adrian that she was a good partner, but her virtue was getting in the way, along with fear.
What if she really was a bad partner?
Then Adrian would be right, and that was the last thing that Isaline Ford wanted, though she was confused as to why she was proving herself to a man who wasn't even there.
Pouring herself a glass of wine, Isa lay back onto the couch in her luxury hotel room, in only a spaghetti strapped shirt and panties, staring off into space in content.
As usual, her mind floated back to the angry vampire she had kicked out weeks ago and heard nothing from, and she scowled, downing the glass in a few swallows before pouring another, "I hope he finds a girl to sleep with, and takes a disease away from her," She muttered darkly, before sighing, closing her eyes, and shaking her head, "No I don't." She whispered, running her fingers along the arm of the couch, "I just want him. Damn it."
She hated how conflicted she was. Things would be so much easier for Isa if she just felt one negative emotion towards Adrian. She just wanted to be angry, not hurt, not confused, nor missing him, just angry.
If only things were that simple.
By her fourth glass, Isa was just past tipsy, and she stood up, stumbling to pull on a pair of shorts as she made her way out of her room, still shoeless. She didn't care.
"Time to self-destruct," She muttered as she made her way down to the bar, throwing herself into a barstool lacking the grace of a lady.
"What would you like, ma'am?" The bartender asked. He was the complete opposite of Adrian with short, straight hair that lay across his forehead, bright green eyes, and a perfect smile.
Isa wasn't attracted to him at all.
"Just a..glass of wine," Isa sighed, grinning back at him, "What's your name?"
"My name is Max," He told Isa as he poured her glass of wine, smiling all the while, "And yours?"
After taking a more controlled sip, Isa answered with a sigh, "Isa," She smiled, playing with the stem, "Isa Ford."
"Well Miss Ford," Max the bartender grinned, leaning across the bar towards her, "You seem like a very, very nice lady."
Isa's smile vanished, and the happy smile that had once graced her lips was replaced with a hurt, blank look.
Just like Adrian said. Everyone would always see her as nice.
She came crashing back down to Earth at the innocent compliment, tears welling in her eyes as she slammed her money down to the bar, pursing her lips, "T-Thank you," She sobbed, stumbling out of the bar, leaving Max the Bartender confused as to what just happened.
Isa ended up on a curb, in the hotel parking lot, leaning against her car as she cried, resting her head against the bumper. She felt as if from that one thing the bartender said, that she was already living up to Adrian's unauthenticated prophecy. She hated it. Long after her tears had dried, hours later, Isa was still sobbing.
Her throat was killing her, she felt like she had been swallowing sand for hours on end. Everything Isa lived for, she felt was wrong.
Her moorings, once built on bedrock, were now built on sand; weak, crumbling, wet and dirty sand.
After the first passerby gave her a uncomfortable look before jogging past her as if she were unstable, Isa climbed into her car, where she could cry in...peace in her cold car.
Her teeth were crashing against each other violently as she shivered inside her vehicle, face dried from the saltiness of tears that were no longer aqueous. Isa felt as if she had lost her being, all because some man she knew nothing about but his name gave her a compliment, said she was nice of all things.
Isa lifted her cold hands, feeling her dry, cold face, her swollen eyes, parched throat, and so tired that she was no longer feeling the effects of fatigue. She had been sitting in her car for over twelve hours.
"What is going on with me?" She whispered, sitting with her head resting against the vat door for a few more minutes before finally climbing out, the cold seeping into her lion house shoes not chilling her more than she already was.
By the time she made it up to her hotel room, Isa felt as if she were about to pass out, so she made herself some coffee, ordered room service, and turned on the TV, watching the news as she sipped on the hot beverage. She had wasted half of her day sitting in the car, so she decided, the other half was destined to be wasted by sitting bundled up in front of a TV that she wasn't watching, that way she could sulk and simmer in her own confusion. Human contact was what Isa was not ready for after those few sentences that preluded Adrian's departure had left her so up in arms.
Isa's phone rang, and she picked it up, cutting the ringing short, and ending the call from her mother.
Having the time to rehydrate, the second that Isa saw the home screen on her phone, her favorite picture at the museum sent her on her next rampage, tears blurring her vision and more importantly, her judgment. Grabbing all of her things, Isa called the front desk after she had packed, arranging her payment to be made the moment she exited the elevator, and the receptionist was ready for her, eyeing Isa as she bounced in place impatiently until the transaction was complete, before thanking her quickly and flying to her car.
"Come on, come on," Isa chanted through daily traffic, sighing every time the traffic moved. Isa hated rush hour.
The moment she got home, Isa burst into her room, pulling everything from her walls, the copy she had bought of her favorite painting falling to the floor with a thud, followed by her blood red comforter and sheets, along with any dark, or abstractly dark picture, painting, or sculpture, all of them crashing to the ground, and the more perishable crashing and shattering on contact.
By then, Isa was a sobbing mess, "I have a personality!" She cried to no one in particular, throwing an expensive sculpture against her wall, "I wish I never gave myself to him! I should have never-" She collapsed then, crying on her bedroom ground, faintly registering the feel of herself falling onto sharp pieces of glass, clay, stone, and wood.
She was bleeding when she finally snapped out of whatever trance she was in, lying on her floor. Isa grunted, then whimpering when she tried to stand up and her palms dug into shards of glass.
"Oh," She sighed, glaring down at her hands in shock, before stumbling to her door, opening it to make her way to Mrs. Mosely's home so that the woman could help her with the glass, and came face to face with Adrian.
He gently pushed her back into her home, as Isa's eyes trailed over the face she hadn't seen in weeks, tears already streaking down her cheeks as she shook her head, "No," She whimpered, her voice catching, "I can't- I-I can't do this anymore, I can't-"
"Isa you're sick." Adrian stated matter-of-factly.
"I'm not," She whispered, smiling sadly at him, "I just want you to go, Adrian. I can't hurt anymore."
Adrian stared at Isa sternly, shaking his head as he ran his finger across Isa's cheek as he let his eyes trail down Isa's- who knew not that she was bleeding from several different places- body, "Isaline, you have glass all over you." He murmured, wrapping his hand gingerly around Isa's glass free wrist, "And you have a fever."
"You don't care." Isa whispered, staring at her naked toes, "You don't care at all."
He nodded grimly, "I don't. "
"Then leave," Isa pleaded, hiccupping as her tears ran down her cheeks, "I'm begging you to leave, Adrian. Please."
"You're begging me?" He asked softly, taking a step away.
Isa sighed, nodding her head as her eyes slid closed, "I am,"
"Then, think of that begging as why I'm staying. How I love it when you beg." Adrian cooed, pulling Isa to her room.
Digging her heels into the ground, Isa shook her head, her face crumpled with defeat, with humiliation, "Don't make me go in there," She pleaded.
Adrian nodded, picking Isa gingerly up and carrying her into her room, then bathroom, briefly looking at the mess as he entered, "Isaline, you've made a mess."
Isa didn't respond, upset that she didn't get to finish removing her room of anything that reminded her of her missing personality, of the Museum, of herself or the man standing in front of him.
Adrian ran her a cool bath, then stripped Isa of her sparse clothing and grabbing a pair of tweezers before proceeding to pull every foreign, sharp item from her body before placing her in the tub.
Isa flinched, hissing half from the cold of the water, half from the memory of him taking her in that very tub. "I'm disgusted with myself." She whispered, staring at Adrian's white arm.
"A lot of people are disgusted with you, Isaline Ford." Adrian murmured, running a towel over her face.
Isa's honey eyes looked into Adrian's steel one's with confusion, "They are?"
"Of course they are," Adrian cooed as he proceeded to wash her, "You are nice, Isa. Nicer than many have ever witnessed. It's gross. They don't like it when people stray from the flock like you have."
Isa was slowly sliding away from him, curling into a ball as she listened to things that she already knew, "Are you....disgusted with me?" She whimpered, swallowing thickly."
Adrian quirked a brow at her, "I have already voiced how I felt of you.... I told you I was disgusted with you, made it very clear."
"Of course you are," Isa croaked, lying her head on the side of the tub, her back now facing the man she was so confused and hurt by. She felt dead, cold, and lost even as she felt Adrian's fingers trace the ridges of her spinal column.
Adrian made Isa feel as if she were alive. He brought heat into her body, made her warm with lust, burn with anger and Isa couldn't figure out why. Never in her life had Isa felt the way she felt with Adrian towards anybody else.
Isa was taken out of the bath tub, then Adrian pulled her clothes on her. Isa offered no resistance, now feeling the sickness Adrian was speaking on. It wasn't until he put her in the bed that Isa fought, jumping out of his arms, shaking her head, "No." She cried, "I can't sleep in here."She whispered as she stumbled into her living room before lying down on her couch, covering her shivering body with the blanket draped over the back of the couch.
When Isa woke up, she saw Adrian asleep on the love seat in her living room, and shot up, running to the hardware store and grabbing the whitest, plainest paint she could find, along with brushes and rollers, paying for them all, and making her way back home. The second she got there, she felt like a teen, sneaking in so she wouldn't wake the man who was still asleep.
She did so successfully.
Adrian found Isa hours later doped up on cold medicine, and close to comatose, painting at her walls with scary determination. To Isa's enjoyment, she had put all of her paintings and any sculpture that had survived her wrath were now locked up in her attic.
She had been to the store, bought white sheets, white pillow cases, white walls, white furniture. Her room, her sanctum, then only place she could have everything she was interested in without judgement was now plain.
Now she had personality.
"Isaline, what's all this."
"I have personality now, Adrian." She told him, eyes watering with tears, tears of hurt, tears of loss and confusion, "R-Right? Now that I threw away all my art, I don't go to the museum, will you still be disgusted with me? Will everyone else accept me now?" Through her tears, she sounded hopeful, "Now, you can stop hating me."
Something flashed across Adrian's eyes so quickly that Isa couldn't register it in her medicated state before his face was passive once more.
Feeling defeated Isa collapsed onto her bed, when she received no answer, "I give up," She whimpered, "I quit. I can't make anyone happy. I don't even know who I'm trying to make happy. You? Me- I was already happy. Everyone else? I don't know."
"I will always be disgusted with you," Adrian murmured, staring at Isa. She couldn't stand the sight of him, "I want you to remember that." As he spoke, he leaned into Isa until his lips were on hers, rough and coaxing. She responded with everything that was in her being, her hands running up to his shoulders before cupping his face, though she was crying the entire time.
For the few minutes Isa had been plain, she discovered that she hated it. It wasn't her to fit in, Isa couldn't be like everyone else, even if some people didn't like her. If what her room was, was how Adrian thought of personality, it was hell, and Isa wasn't going to take part in it.
"Why are you here?" She panted after pulling away from Adrian, "You.. You've been messing with my head since you left."
Adrian cleared his throat, pulling away from Isa with an uncomfortable look, "I underestimated my self-control when it comes to keeping from you."
Perplexed, Isa stared at him in shock, "What?"
"You heard me." Adrian snapped, scowling at the small woman.
Isa look of discontent was far more extreme than her counterparts, "So you think you can just come here after what you said to me, and everything would be fine and dandy? Adrian, you... You know what you said to me! I have-"
"Been going insane since I said it." Adrian finished for Isa, glaring at her, "I know. I've been watching you. I saw you at the store, at the hospital, everywhere you go, I've been. I know what you've been doing. You've been crying, and not going to the museum, and keeping the store open late."
Isa reeled, glaring at him, "I don't have personality." She said lowly, her lip curling in disgust, "The only thing I will ever be good for is what's between my legs. You're disgusted with me, everyone's disgusted with me. I'm worthless."
Isa was crying by then, but she pushed through her tears, through her hurt so she could speak, yell at him, "Adrian, all I wanted was to get to know you! You intrigue me like I never have been before, and you maul me, and verbally attack me for that! When I said I wanted you gone, I meant that. If I didn't make it clear enough, I meant that I didn't want to see you ever again."
Adrian closed his eyes, cutting off his view of Isa, and Isa from the view of those silver eyes; she knew he was vulnerable at that moment, and that was why he had cut her off from seeing into his mind in the way that she could.
"You don't mean that." Adrian whispered, opening his eyes, "You was sigh my name at times. You missed me."
"Just because I missed you doesn't change anything, Adrian." Isa cried standing up, and whirling around in a circle with her arm outstretched as she showed him the room as if he hadn't seen it, "Do you see what you've done to me Adrian? You drove me to this! You drove me crazy!"
He didn't speak, just ran his hand through his hair as he listened to Isa's hurt voice.
"I learned my lesson the first time. You can't get to me anymore." Isa's voice was thick with emotion as she wiped away her tears. Adrian finally spoke, minutes into a tense silence, "I don't know what you expect of me, Isa."
"I don't expect anything from you but the guaranteed fact that in the end, you're going to do and say whatever the fuck you want to to me, no matter what I say, or what I do, and I hate it that you have this effect on me! I regret ever meeting you."
"You don't mean that, either."
"Why are you here?" Isa screamed, exasperated, beyond fed up. Adrian shrugged, "Stop asking me questions Isa."
"Get out." She pushed through gritted teeth.
Adrian's black locks flew as he shook his head. Isa scoffed, leaving her room, disgusted with both it, and him. One person had never gotten to her like he did, and it left her reeling at even the mere thought.
With a strangled cry, Isa threw herself onto the bed in one of her guest rooms, screaming into the pillow until her throat was raw before finally giving up the fight with her consciousness she had been resisting from the cold medicine.
When she woke up, his body was pressed into her side, his head nuzzled into her neck, and arm thrown over her waist. Isa was disgusted immediately, but also filled with an intense need for him that centered between her legs. As a sigh left her, Adrian's tongue swept against the skin of Isa's neck, making her shiver before she scooted away from him, sitting up, and sitting cross legged in front of the man who was still lying down, "I think that you missed me."
"I missed your pussy. I missed your body." Adrian confirmed easily, crossing his legs and throwing his arms up behind his head, propping him up as he stared Isa down. She didn't falter under his gaze, "Did you find someone to get along with?"
Adrian shrugged at Isa's question, "I wouldn't be here if I had."
"Yes you would." Isa responded confidently, "Just as I can't seem to keep away from you, you can't stay from me either."
When he didn't respond, or look at her, Isa smirked, "I know you probably didn't, but I hope you missed me so bad it hurt. I hope that I drove your mind crazy like you did mine." She murmured quietly, running her fingers across his stomach, "I hope that one day you hurt as much as you hurt me... or I wish I could hope that without feeling bad."
"I probably will, Isaline," Adrian murmured, "I'm a bad, bad man. I've already started to get what's coming for me. You don't even know."
Isa frowned, confused at the statement. He had opened up to her in the tiniest amount,but Isa had no idea what his words mean, "Maybe it won't be as bad as you thought."
"It's already worse than I thought." He whispered, steel eyes burning into hers, trying to make her understand.
"I don't understand what you're talking about." Isa whispered, leaning over him.
Adrian's face went from open to emotionless in seconds as he glared at her darkly, sneering at Isa and leaving Isa reeling from the whiplash, "Of course you don't, you don't understand anything."
"Leave," Isa sighed, closing her eyes, "Just go,"
Adrian shook his head, kissing his teeth as he smirked at her, "Make me."
"I'll leave then," Isa snapped, wiping her running nose with her arm, jumping up and walking out of her house, hearing Adrian call faintly, "I'll be here when you get back!"
The asshole.