Eighteen
The room was destroyed. It had taken Isa less than five minutes to piss him off.
She sat on his couch, her hand covering her mouth as she watched the giant man in front of her standing in the middle of the room, with random pieces of furniture and game pieces flying around his head before flying off in opposite directions.
"Adrian, I was only joking!" Isa gasped, standing up and trying to make her way to him. The flying objects were getting in her way, though.
She had caught him staring at her as she thought of what to ask him first, and playfully asked him if he was experiencing the effects of that crush he had on her. She had never seen him react to something she had said so quickly.
Isa was lying on her back on the couch, Adrian sitting top of her, his black eyes full of fire, as he glared down at her, "This is why I let my pride stop me from trying to fix things with you! You ruin anything I try to make right before I even get to fix it!" He roared, gripping her wrists in his hands and holding them above her head. He was madder than she had ever seen him before.
Isa's heart was pounding out of her chest as she watched his fangs appear, and she started shaking the second she saw them emerge, tears welling in her eyes, "Adrian, please don't bite me!" She cried, trying to shrink away from him, "I swear I didn't mean it, I was only playing!"
Adrian scoffed, his voice lowering as he hovered over the shaking human beneath him, "I'm not your fucking friend, don't play with me. I could kill you. I told you the last time you tried that shit with me that if you ever said anything like that to me, that I'd make those-" His fingers stabbed into the healed wounds from the first time he had attacked Isa. She flinched back into the couch as if he struck her, "Look like a walk in the park. Do you want to go through that again?" Isaline couldn't speak. Still shaking, and quite violently so, Isa sobbed, nodding so heard her neck started to protest. Her eyes, she was crying so hard she couldn't see, she couldn't breathe.
He had threatened her with the one thing that scared her more than anything else had in her entire life.
"Now," He murmured, running his fingers down Isa's cheek before climbing off of her and sitting down back where he had originally been, "Ask away, Isa."
"W-Where's y-your rest...your restroom?" Isa hiccupped, scrubbing at her eyes with the heels of her hand, she couldn't breathe.
"Right across the room, by the corner," Adrian sneered, watching as Isa stumbled into the bathroom under his direction, slamming the door behind her.
She leaned against the door, her hands covering her mouth and trying to hold in the sobs fighting to come out. Isa was losing. She couldn't hold them in anymore, the sobs tore through her body so hard she was shaking, her chest felt as if it were closing in on itself more and more the longer she cried, but she couldn't stop herself. She was hysterical.
Nausea took over as her stomach lurched, and Isa just barely made it to the toilet in time, as she emptied everything she had eaten before finally the only thing that came up was acid. Isa rested her head against the bowl until she could actually breathe.
She was in the bathroom for almost an hour.
After finally getting a hold on herself, and able to push down the fear that was once again making her stomach roll, Isa stumbled to the sink, rinsing her mouth off, then leaning against the sink. Her once practically flawless brown skin was red and splotchy, her hazel eyes were bloodshot, her nose was red. Her usually moisturized lips were chapped almost painfully, and Isa groaned, splashing some water on her face as well.
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."
"Why can't I leave you alone? Why can't you leave me alone?" Isa asked, "If I'm not your slave, then what am I?"
Adrian groaned, "Honestly?" Isa nodded, did he even need to ask that? "When a vampire feeds from a human, sometimes they come across one who's blood is so good, they both become addicted to each other. It's called a tie. I'm tied to you, and you are to me. Neither of us can help it, your blood was made for me, and I was made to consume your blood. I'll never be able to feed from anyone else."
Isa frowned, then nodded. That made complete sense, "What about mates like in the books, do you have one, do they even exist?"
Adrian pursed his lips, shaking his head at Isa, "They exist, but I don't have one. I only have you, who I'm tied to. You don't get both, it leads to too much drama."
"Do you want a mate?" Isa asked Adrian quietly. Once again, he shook his head, "I only want the one I'm tied to."
The way he was looking at her was making Isa squirm. He looked confused, but completely sure of himself at the same time, maybe even guilty, but she couldn't figure out why.
"What does that mean for...us?" She mustered up the courage to ask. Adrian's came a few minutes later, and he looked as if he were struggling with the answer, making Isa feel very uncomfortable. "It means that you...you are mine. I'm obsessed with you, which you know from the drawings and my behavior at times, and you belong to me. I'm yours as well, and one day I will change you. I will mark you one day as well to show the other vampires and super naturals who you belong to, and when you change, you will mark me."
Isa scoffed at that, but her sneer slowly turned to a look of understanding. That explained why she was so possessive of him, why they couldn't stay away from each other. At the same time, she was lost. "What if you didn't want to be tied to me or whatever?"
"I don't," Adrian immediately muttered, spitting out the two words as if they were poison, "I have no choice in the matter."
"You hate me, don't you?" Isa asked with a frown, "Because I feel like you do, like you would be glad if I just disappeared off the face of the Earth, because you'd be free of me. You could...tie or whatever to someone else."
He didn't answer her, he broke gazes, pursed his lips, and let out a deep sigh. Isa nodded, "I know the answer to that." She whispered, pursing her lips, "You'll never like me. I'm too...me...for you to like."
He only sat there, staring at her as if he had no need to say anything when Isa had already stated what he was thinking. He only shrugged carelessly once.
"You can take me home," Isa finally spoke a while later, not able to hide the air of irritation in her voice. She thought having her questions answered would fix things, but it had only seemed to have pushed her even further into the dark,"I can tell when I've overstayed my welcome."
"You haven't," Adrian whispered, finally looking up at her with a frown.
Isa fingered her scars, looking away from him, "Well I feel like I have."
"You haven't," Adrian insisted, standing up, and falling onto the couch next to Isa.
"Sure," Isa snapped, leaning away from him as he slid closer, then pulled her into his lap.
She was fine simmering in his lap until he started leaning forwards. He was staring intently at her scars; when she noticed -that's when she started to get scared.
"Adrian, leave me alone. Don't touch them, don't bite me." Isa whispered, her voice shaky and high with distress.
He didn't listen. He leaned into her, holding her in place when she tried to climb out of his arms, and he kissed them.
He kissed the scars.
A loud whoosh of air left Isa's chest as she breathed out a heavy sigh of fear, then relief when she didn't feel those sharp fangs enter her skin as he pressed his lips to each bite repeatedly, sending waves of heat and confusion through Isa's body as she panted, her eyes closed as those fangs she feared so much didn't come anywhere near her.
"This is the first time I've seen these since they've healed." Adrian murmured, looking up at Isa, "I know I bit you- I remember that-but you hide these, and you hid them well. I...I forgot about them until we were in the bathroom."
I haven't, Isa thought and spoke bitterly.
"I'm," He kissed the left bite mark, "Sorry," He kissed the right one. Isa was shaking her head, almost robotically as he repeated the apology three more times before shocking the hell out of her when he pulled her tightly to his chest, hugging her in a way that made Isa feel like he was putting her back together after she had fallen apart.
Her arms slowly came up, wrapped around his muscular shoulders as he buried his head into her neck, "I'm so sorry, sweetheart. I'll never do that again. I promise."
"Don't say that to me if you don't mean it." Isa whispered, "I'd rather you kill me then do that again,"
"I mean it, Isa." Adrian whispered, kissing the side of her neck. She jumped when his fangs scraped against the skin before he kissed her in the same spot once more, "I shouldn't have done that to you. I've never seen someone that I'm....close to so scared of me before than when you were just underneath me. I don't like it."
"You make my skin crawl," Isa admitted, "Every time I touch them, which I do a lot, I think of you, and I'm disgusted. You branded me."
"I know," He murmured, running his fingers down the ridges in her spine as he spoke.
They sat in silence, Isa resting her head on his shoulder, staring off blankly into space before she spoke again, "How do you consider me close to you when you can barely stand me? That doesn't make sense."
He only shrugged, not giving her an answer. Isa climbed off of his lap, pulling her shirt down from where it had ridden up before walking out the room without another word.
She wandered until she found what seemed to be a guest room, and walked inside, sitting on the window seat of the room on the second floor of Adrian's house, thinking about everything he had told her.
Her being tied to him was the most prominent thought as she sat by the window, staring out into the darkness with a deep frown set on her pretty face.
It all made sense, but it didn't feel right to Isa. It didn't seem right at all, but she couldn't place why she felt the way she did. She didn't think he was lying to her, but the pieces were fitting together. She felt more lost than she had upon meeting the immortal man.
"I thought having answers would help," Isa murmured to herself, shaking her head as she rested her head against the window, playing with one of the white pillows she had pulled into her lap. She was obviously wrong.
Apparently she had dozed off, because Isaline woke with a start as she felt herself being lifted, a scream building up in her throat, and escaping as she struggled against whoever was holding her. She had forgotten where she was, waking up in the unfamiliar house.
"It's me, shut the hell up," Adrian commanded, scowling down at Isa as she shut her mouth immediately, sighing as she stopped fighting against him, wide eyed as she stared up at the man who was carrying her up to his room, letting out a sigh of relief as she recognized his voice.
Adrian threw Isa onto his bed, where she landed ungracefully with a grunt, wincing at the awkward position her arm was in from when he dumped her. When Isa looked up, Adrian was no longer standing on the edge of her bed, but standing with his back to her in his closet.
He was back to the ill-mannered Adrian she knew. With a sigh, Isa crawled under the warm blankets, curling up in a ball on the edge of the bed as she tried to fall back asleep, but she couldn't, so she just lay there. When Adrian slid into the bed behind her, then pulled her body against his, Isa stiffened, no longer used to the man.
The two hadn't had physical contact in months; Isa had finally gotten used to the loneliness that consumed her at night, and now, with the man who was the sole root of her months of ruined sleep lying with his chest pressed into her back, Isa didn't know what to do.
"Relax," Adrian murmured as if he had read her mind, sensing her change in body language.
Minutes passed, and Isa did try to relax, but she couldn't, not with Adrian so close. Her body was going haywire.
Adrian's arm was wrapped around Isa's waist from behind, one of his legs wedged between hers, just like they used to sleep, and Isa's heart was racing, her body was on fire as his fingers slid down her stomach until they were resting right above her pantie line, where he pressed his fingers into Isa's skin, pushing her bottom half back into his aroused member. Isa gasped, sitting up, and scooting away from him, "Adrian, I can't do this!" She exclaimed, her hazel eyes wide as she stared down at the man who was looking over at her as she continued to ramble, "I'm not used to you anymore. I'm used to being alone. You've been gone so long, I can't handle this. My body's going crazy just from you being pressed into me. I'm going to go crazy." She rushed out, pressing her shaking fingers against her chest, right over her heart, which felt as if it were about to explode out of her chest.
"Well that's your fault," Adrian shrugged, "No one told you to get a fucking security system, so that's all on you."
Isa's face twisted up in irritation as she glared at Adrian, "Adrian, you cheated on me, what did you expect, me to just shrug it off and welcome you with open arms?"
His face fell void of any emotion as he stared at her, a black brow lifting as he rolled over onto his back, propping his head up against his folded hands after placing them behind it, "Cheating insinuates that we were in a relationship, which we're not and never have been. I was free to do who and whatever the fuck I wanted to."
"It doesn't matter, we were monogamous! I didn't sleep with anyone else, and I trusted you would do the same!"
Adrian shrugged carelessly, "Once again, we are not together so I can do whatever I want to. I shouldn't have to answer to some clingy human when I'm doing what any single person would do."
She had lost him. Even knowing that the sweet Adrian from earlier was gone, and there was no arguing with the one she knew so well, Isa fought anyways, "What happened to it didn't feel right, like you were cheating on me, Adrian? You obviously felt some type of loyalty to me if you felt bad during and afterwards! You came apologizing to me today! I didn't come crawling back to you, so that means something."
"It doesn't mean shit besides the fact that I want to get my dick wet after almost three months of a dry spell because you're still pissed off because I fucked someone else!" Adrian screamed right back at her. Isa didn't let his growing fury deter her though. He screamed louder, and so did she.
"Oh yeah," Isa snorted, nodding her head with a sneer that looked like it belonged on the face of the man she was fighting with, "I almost forgot how good of a lay I was, how no one would ever want me because I'm so nice. Well Adrian, I don't care what you say, because deep down I know you must want me more than you're letting on because you wouldn't keep coming back to me if you didn't, no matter how different you try to act. You were vulnerable today, you let me in your home, where no one you've slept with has ever been before, so no matter-" Isa cut off as he finally sat up, and crawled across the bed until he was on his knees, hovering over her with the darkest look Isa had ever seen on his face.
She scrambled out of his bed, almost falling in the process of trying to get away from him, but he gripped the front of her shirt, and pushed her into the wall, his eyes flashing with anger and hatred as his heated gaze got even hotter.
He was going to hurt her.
"Do it!" Isa screamed, ripping her shirt off, leaving her in her bra and sleeping shorts, "Hurt me like you want to! Break the promise you just made to me!"
He stared down at her, cursing lowly before pulling away, sitting down on the edge of his bed, bent over and gripping his hair in his fists as Isa stood in the corner, panting as she glared at him. Balling her shirt up, she threw it at him as hard as she could, "People think I'm weak, fake because of my heart, that I'm acting, but you are the most inconsistent person I have ever met in my life. You're a coward, a bitch, Adrian." She hissed, shaking her head in disappointment as she slid down to the ground, sitting with her legs crossed her she watched him sit so still he looked like a statue sitting on the huge bed.
"I was excited to get to understand what was going on between us tonight, maybe get to know you," She whispered, knowing he could hear her perfectly, "I should have known it wouldn't go right, and deep down, I did know, but as usual, you just had to go and ruin it for me. I'll probably never get the chance to be as intimate as I was with you in that room on that couch ever again. All I ever wanted was to get to know you. I didn't know something so simple would cause so much drama."
The couple that was just mere hours ago bonding, on their own little dysfunctional plant, was now eons apart though they sat less than seven feet away from each other.
Isa wasn't even disappointed. She knew this night was going to go wrong, even as excited as she was to get to meet a new part of Adrian. She was sad.
Sad that she believed he would truly open up to her.
Sad that they would never be on the same page.
Sad that though she had so much respect for him, he seemed to have no capacity to even recognize what respect was with her.
Those few hours they had sat and talked like people...like friends, Isa loved it, and now they were back to square one.
She sat on the floor, in the darkness of Adrian's room, while he sat on the end of his bed. Neither spoke. Neither wanted to.
Isa wondered what had happened to him to make him so angry. She felt bad for him; she had never met a person like him. She was drawn to that darkness in him, but she wanted to see him happy, she wanted him to smile and laugh and enjoy himself, but was unsure if he could ever completely give himself up to an emotion that contradicted everything she knew about-as little as it was.
"I feel like if I truly give up on you, that I will never be able to function the same," Isa spoke up what felt like an eternity later, grunting as she stood up and her bones popped in protest from being in the same position for so long. She walked over to him, taking his wrists in her small hands-they couldn't even fully wrap around his- and pulling them away from his face, tipping his head up so he could look at her, then brushing his curls from his face as she smiled softly at him, "Give me something, anything , so I can know that if I stay, it'll be worth it." He pulled away from her, out of her grasp completely, making her smile fall as she sat on the bed next to him, "Please?"
"I'm not convincing you to do shit," Adrian told Isa darkly, sitting stiffly next to her, "Do whatever the fuck you want to."
With that, he got up, and walked out of the room.
Adrian
Slamming the front door, he silently made his way out to his backyard, past the open space, and deep into the woods, no destination in mind, he just had to get away from her before he put his hands on her, and he'd never forgive himself for that.
His mind raced faster than before the longer he walked about, trying to calm himself.
He was so close to telling her she was his Promised, his forever. She asked all the right questions, he could have told her easily, but he couldn't.
He couldn't let her know how much she really meant to him, that he'd never be able to let her go, no matter what either of them did, so he came up with the Tied bullshit. It wasn't even a real thing! It took everything in him to make that lie believable, and he almost danced with joy as Isa, sweet, beautiful Isa took it into stride so easily.
She trusted him.
He didn't know why, or how, but she trusted him. He almost felt bad for lying, almost, but he just couldn't tell her yet.
Dealing with Isaline Ford was becoming harder and harder for Adrian. His sister was right, he was taking advantage of the fact that she could never truly leave him alone. He didn't care that she was upset with him over Bianca, over him not being around like she wanted him to, he just wanted to hold her, and be inside her.
His mind flashed back to the look of fear that crossed her face when he had gotten mad earlier, when he threatened to bite her like he had the first time. It made his stomach lurch, he was disgusted with himself for hurting her like that. He wasn't at first, hell he barely remembered the scars like he told her, but seeing them earlier that day, he felt beyond terrible.
He had destroyed her flawless skin. Those bite scars were large, shiny, and jagged. He had never done anything like that before, but she just pissed him off so badly, Adrian couldn't control himself around Isa.
She was too sweet, too sexy, too smart and intuitive, too caring.
She was too much for him. Adrian could handle sex hungry sluts, but not the woman who didn't understand why he loved to devour her body not only with his own, but with his hands, his mouth, his tongue.
He taught her how to please him, how to please herself, and she took it all into stride, those doe eyes of hers wide with wonder and excitement as she learned that she could control Adrian with just a wayward swing of her hips, or by the type of shoe she wore. She wasn't used to it, but she loved it, he could tell. He loved it.
Adrian's obsession with the woman sitting inside his house, on his bed, was becoming dangerous. He had feelings growing inside him that he refused to acknowledge, to understand.
"Damn it!" Adrian roared, spinning, and ramming his fist into the closest thing possible, watching seconds later as the oak tree fell as if it were a feather, not a decade old, giant part of the forest that was on his property.
She was fucking with his head without even knowing it, asking him to give her hope, wanting to be close to him.
She was in his house for fuck's sake! Lying in his bed!
Slowly, Adrian made his way back inside, and up to his room, sliding through his cracked door to see the brown skinned beauty that was his mate sitting in the center of his bed, a black leather bound book resting on her raised knees that he knew was one of his sketchbooks.
Even in her pajamas, Isa was the most breathtaking thing Adrian had even come across in his eighty five years. Her skin was perfect , even with the marks that she would permanently have from him losing his temper, her hazel eyes that were always shining with compassion and patience. That beautiful smile of hers, that seemed to stop his slow beating heart whenever it was directed within just his vicinity, not even at him.
Isa didn't know it, but she was the best thing to happen to Adrian, no matter how much she pissed him off, and he would never tell her that she was either.
He stood in his doorway, watching her for a while, watching as she would smile down at the drawings of herself that he had done so tediously, making sure every last feature was perfect.
When he walked in, she didn't notice, until he sat down on the bed, only then she jumped, then looked up at him, placing a hand over her heart as she shrieked, "Oh my God, Adrian you scared the hell out me!" She sighed, closing the book.
He said nothing, sliding back into bed, and watching as Isa did the same, as far away as she could from him before turning away from him, reaching over the bed, and coming back with the same sketchbook, pulling out picture, smiling at it, and handing it to Adrian, "I took it one night while we were watching a movie at my place. You're almost smiling in it," She whispered, shame heating up her cheeks as she looked away from him.
Isa was smiling brightly at the camera from where she was lying on his chest, only the side of his face visible as Adrian smiled so faintly it could barely count as a smile at the TV. His fingers were buried in her soft hair, and Isa had not a care in the world it seemed.
We're so wrong for each other. He thought, staring down at the picture before placing it on his nightstand, and looking at Isa, "I'll get a frame for it tomorrow," He murmured, reaching over and pulling the small woman against his chest, burying his nose in her wet hair, taking in her delicious scent before finally speaking,"Isa?"
"Yes?" She whispered back, pulling away from him to meet his eye.
"Thank you for that," He said quietly, watching as she bit her lip, before nodding almost dutifully at him, "It's no problem, Adrian."
She had no clue what he was thanking him for, because he wasn't talking about the picture.
He was talking about for letting him into her house that first night. He wouldn't say he was thanking her for changing his life, because that he wasn't,but he was thanking her for finding her way into it.
As she dozed off, Adrian Lew sighed, pressing his lips to his oblivious mate's forehead, before going to sleep himself, already dreading the moment he would have to wake up next to her the next morning.